IV IN D FA LLS . 



509 



per package. Pointing to another lot, he asked, "What 

 do you want for them ? " Answer, " $4. 50. " Surprised 

 at this higher rate, he asked, ' ' Let me see them. " " No ; 

 — Parker Earle's name is on the top of those boxes, and 

 we do not want to open them for any one." That name 

 alone was sufficient to sell them at an advanced price. 

 Mr. Earle had made a reputation by always furnishing 

 the best, with no sham interiors. A similar case oc- 

 curred with the owner of a fine pear orchard in western 

 New York. The commission man in Philadelphia found 

 that the kegs of pears were all good through the packages 

 — there were no special selections for the exteriors, and 

 no scrubby ones inside. The consequence was, that it 

 was not necessary to open those kegs to purchasers in 

 order to obtain an advanced price, and many of them 

 were sold while yet on the cars, long before arrival. — 

 Country Gentleman . 



How to get Rid of Moles. — Soak grains of corn in 

 Fowler's solution of arsenic and drop into the runs of the 

 moles. Inside of forty-eight hours the mole will cease 

 operations. The mole is said not to eat seeds. It is true 

 the American mole does not eat them when they are hard; 

 but when they begin to germinate and are soft, he does 

 eat them ; and the solution of arsenic, being almost taste- 

 less and odorless, does not arouse his suspicion that it is 

 not safe to go ahead. — D. W. F., Hanover, Ind. 



An Easily Made Garden Roll. — Wishing to roll down 

 some freshly laid road material in one of my garden 

 paths I got out my Planet Jr. and taking off the drill at- 

 tachment and putting on the broad wheel used in drilling 

 seed, I wrapped a large stone in cloth and laid it on top 

 of the tool. The arrangement gave me a narrow, weight- 

 ed roller, and on pushing it along the path I soon had it 

 nicely rolled down. The road material was a rather 

 clayey sand. Gravel would have been too rough for such 

 a light roller, but for the work in hand my loaded Planet 

 Jr. did the business. After the work was done the stone 

 was lifted off and the tool was as good as ever. The 

 cloth on the stone prevented injury to the paint. — Ama- 

 teur. 



New England vs. Old England. — I have alluded to 

 the general absence of walls or fences, not only to sepa- 

 rate one villa from another, but to protect all from pub- 

 lic intrusion. It is rare that there is any division between 

 private property and the road along which the tram-car 

 passes. This is enough to account for the fact that gar- 

 dens, except on large properties, are rarely seen. The 

 English cottage, with its strip of ground, cram-full of 

 color, its paling and wicket gate, is unknown in the east- 

 ern states. In California the waysides are bordered 

 with geranium, cactus or pampas grass, woven into an 

 impenetrable hedge, behind which you see that in every 

 available inch of ground arums are thrusting up their 

 white cornucopias ; eschscholtzias fling down their gold 

 before the door, while roses enlace their white and crim- 

 son arms above it. True, nature asks little here from 

 the hand of man, while in the east she requires to be fed 

 and carefully tended. When I remarked how little flori- 

 culture seemed to interest the dwellers in New England, 



I was always met by the same reply : " Labor is so dear. " 

 " But. " I objected, ' ' with us the city clerk, returning to his 

 suburban home at the end of a hard day, the railway por- 

 ter, nay, even the laborer, who has been delving for 

 eight or nine hours, will turn to with his spade at the bit 

 of garden he has made round his cottage ; and somehow 

 the flowers seem to bloom there more abundantly than 

 in the rich man's demesne hard by." The fact is, the 

 true love of flowers, the patient, careful love — not the 

 cupidity for cut roses at $2 apiece — does not seem to be 

 inherent in the national character. In Miss Wilkins' 

 charming tales of the New England middle class you see, 

 by the way the flowers are mentioned, that they are an 

 accident, not a daily interest in village life. In the cities 

 men are prodigal of bouquets to the ladies they desire to 

 honor, and a favorite belle is " bunched " to an embar- 

 rassing degree if she desires to appear impartial on the 

 occasion of a great ball. But this is far away from the 

 healthy pleasure that, in England, country folk of all 

 ranks take in the rearing of flowers. — Hamilton Aide, in 

 Nineteetith Century. 



Bury the Garbage. — People with small gardens are 

 often perplexed by the "waste" question. What shall 

 be done with the rhubarb leaves, the turnip tops, the 

 useless pea vines and other rubbish? Then, there is in 

 summer the matter of the garbage and waste from the 

 house. 



The ground, the pure, sweet earth is the best disin- 

 fectant and deodorizer known. Collect all the waste 

 material and bury it. It will soon decay and enrich the 

 ground. To dispose of garbage, dig a hole at least iS 

 inches deep and bury it, covering it well with fresh soil. 

 In this way a troublesome matter is quickly and easily 

 disposed of and a good insurance is taken out against 

 evil smells and sickness. There is no excuse whatever 

 for the dreadful pail sometimes seen at the back door. 

 Interment is the only safe and sure plan. In August 

 weather it is best to bury house waste every day. 



Government Seeds Tested. — Sometime last spring, 

 a clergyman who boards with us and has no use for seeds, 

 received several packets from a member of congress and 

 handed them over to me. Most of them were old varie- 

 ties which have been supplanted by better ones, and I 

 did not care to give them room or waste time upon them ; 

 but there was one packet marked French Chartier radish, 

 which, being a good variety of recent origin, I thought 

 might take the place of a 5 cent packet in my regular 

 supply of seed. On these packets I found printed, "Please 

 report results," and with your permission, I will make 

 my report through the columnsof The American Garden. 

 The seed was sown in a cold frame ; and at the same time 

 and in the same frame, I sowed French Breakfast radish, 

 received from a commercial seed house. The seed came 

 up fairly well, but it required some two or three days 

 longer for it to vegetate than it did for the Breakfast, 

 indicating that it was old seed. I did not count all the 

 specimens of each and every variety represented in this 

 one packet, but there were a half-dozen or less of the 

 genuine French Chartier, a few each of red, white and 



