CLRRENT GARDEN LORE. 



management. It is usually tbe manufacturer who does 

 this, yet he would be very ready to resent it if his rival 

 in business were to begin to cut prices in such a way as 

 to deprive him of his legitimate profits. He should 

 have some regard for the profits of the hard-working 

 farmer or market gardener. — American Ctiltivator. 



Managing Quince Trees. — Quince trees eight years 

 old and as many feet high fail to bear for a correspond- 

 ent. They blossom only to blast. This is possibly 

 owing to imperfectly fertilized ovaries. Spraying will 

 not remedy it. If growing very thriftily they will not 

 fruit so soon as when forming only a moderate growth. 

 They will set fruit in good time. Do not forget to find 

 the borers in the trunk, at the surface of the soil. 

 Here is where many quince growers fail. — Josiah 

 Uoopt's, in A'e'o York Tribnne. 



Banking up Celery. — In handling we tried string, by 

 winding once around each plant and then going on to 

 the next, keeping the string taut enough to hold the 

 stalks in place. This was a decided improvement over 

 the way of holding the stalks in place by earth until the 

 rest of the soil was put in, but when it came to taking 

 the string off the soil would be tramped around the 

 plants and the leaves and upper part of the stalks would 

 be torn off. Someone thought that paper string might 

 do, and it would rot off and not hurt the plant. We had 

 to hunt all over the city of Columbus and finally found 

 what we wanted. We put it on several thousand plants 

 and found that very little injury was done, and this hap- 

 pened by the careless putting on of the string. The 

 plants were held in position by the string until a rain 

 came and settled the dirt around the plant and wet the 

 string enough so it would give way to the growing plant. 

 Some of the plants we gave a second banking before 

 the string gave way and let the plant spread. We 

 invented a little device for putting the string on, I 

 took a tomato can and punched a hole through the bot- 

 tom of it, nailed it to a stick, and then with a piece of 



pantaloons' suspender, 

 with the buckles, fas- 

 tened it to the right arm 

 above the elbow, and at 

 the wrist, letting the 

 string run out at the bot- 

 tom of the can and be- 

 tween the thumb and 

 front finger. With this 

 one can wind celery 

 all day, if his back does 

 not get to aching too 

 badly. This is all the 

 drawback I have found to it yet. — E. C. Green, Oliio 

 Experiment Station, in Ohio Farmer. 



Iris Fimbriata. — This little iris has a graceful habit, 

 and is so floriferous that it can be employed with good 

 effect in several ways. Like numerous other members 

 of the family, its flowers are, however, somewhat fugac- 

 ious and are not adapted for cutting. The »plant is 



compact in habit and is consequently well suited for 

 culture in pots, and being somewhat tender it is safer in 

 a greenhouse than outside ; in fret, comparatively few 



Hilling Celery. 



Iris Fimbriata, 



positions suit it, except in the warm southern and 

 western counties, where I have occasionally seen it 

 tried, but not with very encouraging results. For some 

 years I have grown it entirely for greenhouse decora- 

 tion, and as I have a good stock, by forwarding some 

 and retarding others I manage to keep up a fairly long 

 succession of flowers. These are of such a soft pale bluish 

 mauve relieved by orange markings that they appear 

 very distinct arranged with other plants having more 

 brightly colored flowers. A moderate light loam, ample 

 root space, and plentiful supplies of water during the 

 growth and flowering, are the principal points in its cul- 

 ture and need special attention. — Journal of Horticul- 

 ttire. 



How to Get Rich Land. — The dark, rich soil of 

 swamps or meadows should be drained. After it has 

 been relieved of surplus water, such soil proves very 

 productive for all kinds of crops, and will bear cropping 

 for many years, requiring very little in the way of fertil- 

 izers. Many men who have sold farms in New Eng- 

 land and gone to the West to secure rich land, might 

 have secured land almost as rich at home by draining 

 their swamps and meadows. The expense and loss in- 

 curred by selling out and removing west, if they had 

 been expended on the home farm, would have put it into 

 so productive a condition that there would have been 



