NEW YORK, JANUARY, 1881. Vol. I— No 4. 



Third Series. 



e Anerieaa § ipfeii 



A QUARTERLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL. 



Devoted to the Gardening Interests of America. 



ONLY 25 CENTS A YEAR. 



SINGLE NUMBER 10 CENTS. 

 DR. F. M. H EXAM ER, : : : Editor. 



B. K. BLISS & SONS, Publishers, 

 34 Barclay Street, New York, 



To whom all orders should be addressed. 



Entered at Post Office at New York as second-class matter 



CONTENTS OF 



Warn ^Mmmivajf HSmmmmw 



Foe January, 1881. 



Page One— Table of Contents— To Our Readers- 

 Winter Gardening. 



Page Two— The Vegetable GARDEN-Seasonable 

 Hints— Dwarf Peas-Hots Beds, by P. T. Quinn. 



Page Time— Hot Beds continued— Compost Heap 

 —The Biggest Potato Story— Large Yield of 

 Corn— New Vegetables— New Potatoes. 



Page Four— The Fruit Garden— Seasonable 

 Hints— The Niagara Grape— The Cuthbert 

 Raspberry— Keeping Winter Apples— Selection 

 of Varieties. 



Page Five— Winter Pruning, by Josiaii Hoopes— 

 The Grape House, by James Wood— Changing 

 The Bearing Year — Cultivating- Orchards- 

 Seedling Peaches— Keeping Cider. 



Page Sir— The Flower Garden— Flitting- and 

 Flirting among Flowers, a poem by Clark W. 

 Bryan— Seasonable Hints— Wild Garden Expe- 

 riences—Keeping Flowers— Hyacinths. 



Page Seven— Pinks, Carnations, Picotees and Per- 

 petual Carnations, by John Thorpe— Rustic 

 Work. 



Page Eight— Lawn and Landscape— Pruning 

 Evergreens— Asparagus as a Lawn Plant— The 

 Window Garden and Greenhouse— Season- 

 able Hints, by Damon— Soil for Pottingby * * * 

 —Propagating Geraniums, by W. M. Bowron— 

 Plants for Hanging Baskets. 



Page Nine— Rural Life— Farm Gardening, by 

 Clark W. Bryan— Foreign Gardening— A 

 Garden in Para, by E. S. Rand, Jr.— Ivy in Am- 

 sterdam. 



Page Ten— Household Pets— Keeping- Parrots 

 —New Publications— Answers to Corres- 

 pondents. 



Page Eleven to Sixteen— Advertising Department. 



TO OUE READERS, 



With this number closes the first volume of 

 The American Garden, under its new man- 

 agement, and we may, with some satisfaction, 

 look over the work accomphshed, for we are 

 convinced that few, if any, of our readers 

 have not derived pleasure or information from 

 its pages. No class of business men scruti- 

 nizes the columns of a paper more critically 

 than advertisers, and we may, with gratifica- 

 tion, refer to our advertising pages for a larger 

 list of advertisements of the highest character, 

 and representing more varied interests, than 

 can be found in any similar publication. This 

 evident recognition of the worth and popular- 

 ity of our paper will add increased energy and 

 strength to the year's work before us. 



With the next volume we shall present to all 

 subscribers a Beautiful Colored Plate of a 

 Group of Pansies, a real work of art and an 

 appropriate ornament to any drawing room. 

 In addition we offer to every subscriber, as 

 a premium, his choice of either of the follow- 

 ing seeds, on each package of which directions 

 for their cultivation are given. 



Pansy Seeds, a package of twenty -five seeds 

 of the varieties represented in our plate. 



Wild Garden Seeds, a package containing a 

 mixture of upward of one hundred varieties of 

 Flower Seeds, sufficient for a square rod of 

 ground. 



Blt'ss' 1 American Wonder Peas, a trial pack- 

 age of this peerless variety. 



The value of the picture and a package of 

 Premium Seeds is more than the subscription 

 price, so that no one subscribing for The 

 American Garden can receive less than his 

 money's worth. 



Will our readers do us the favor to let their 

 friends share the benefits of these generous 

 offers ; will they kindly show this number to 

 those of their friends who are interested in 

 gardening and ask them to become subscri- 

 bers. All new subscribers who will send now 

 their subscriptions for the next volume will re- 

 ceive this number without charge. 



Short, concise articles on horticultural mat- 

 ters, and reports of practical experiments and 

 experiences in the garden, will be thankfully re- 

 ceived and appropriately acknowledged. 



WINTER GARDENING. 



One of the greatest charms, and indeed most 

 of the ennobling influences of gardening, con- 

 sist in the constant contact and communion 

 with nature, into which it necessarily brings 

 us. The care of plants — whether it is the 

 stately Palm and marvelous Orchid in the lux- 

 urious conservatory, fragrant with tropical 

 perfumes, or the lowly Turnip and Cabbage 

 in the kitchen garden — leads us, with every 

 step, to the study of nature, its influences and 

 laws ; it sharpens our observation, quickens, 

 our perceptions, enlightens our judgment, and 

 brightens our hopes ; it teaches us patience 

 combined with perseverance, and develops the 

 most tender, as well as the most noble, senti- 

 ments of the human heart. 



Now, at the beginning of a new year, al- 

 though our out-door gardens do not present 

 the brilliant hues nor the grand luxuriance of 

 the summer months, there remains enough to 

 link our memories of the past with the hopes 

 and anticipations for our future endeavors. 



Our shrubs and trees, while resting from 

 their year's work, are not idle in collecting new 

 material for further development. The forms 

 aiid individual characteristics of each one can 

 now, while denuded of their foliage, be stud- 

 ied much better than in summer, so that a 

 judicious system of pruning and training may 

 be decided upon. The Hyacinths and Tulips- 

 which we planted a month or two ago, are slow- 

 ly and steadily extending their roots, gathering 

 strength under the friendly shelter of ever- 

 green boughs and snow, to unfold their brilliant 

 flowers as soon as the life-giving rays of the 

 spring sun bid them to rise. In the loosened 

 soil the silent forces of nature are ever busy 

 by disintegration, decomposition, and combina- 

 tion, and by absorption from the air, to replen- 

 ish the spent fertility of the garden and 

 feld. . 



In like measure the mission of these long 

 winter months seems to be to refresh and 

 strengthen our languishing energies and over- 

 taxed minds, to develop and mature plans for 

 the future and to garner strength and vigor 

 for their successful carrying .out." Without 

 forethought, carefully matured plans, and 

 sufficient preparation, permanent success is 

 never obtained in anything, 



