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THE STUDY OF HORTICULTURE. 


BY J. C. BLAIR, 
Professor of Pomology and Chief in Horticulture, University of Illinois. 


ISSUED MONTHLY. 25 CENTS A YEAR. 
One ent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 
| . M. PARKER, Taylorville, I11. 


7 
whAALs { 


NEw SERIES, No. 13. WHOLE No. 25. 
AYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS, SEPTEMBER, 1902. 


Domine Apple Tree. 


“There was practically only one general horticultural 
commodity a hundred years ago and that was the apple.” 
— Cyclopedia S American Horticulture. 


INTRODUCTION. 


The city with its noisy streets and many storied 


buildings has always seemed to the country boy or girl a_ 


fascinating place in which to live, while city children flock 
to the parks and try to picture what it must be to live in 
such a beautiful place all the time, for to the city child 
the country is just a great park. Almost ali of us have 


ane) a 

this unfortunate habit of being dissatisfied with our sur- 
roundings, and it is one of the best signs of our times that 
the children of the farm homes are learning to see the 
things that make farm life what it should always be—the 
ideal life, because it is the very nearest to Nature herself. 
In the country one has but to step out of doors to watch ~ 
mother Nature rearing her children. Here in the hedge 
is the thrush’s nest, and there a chipmunk slips out from 
a fallen tree and pops up on his hind féet to watch us. 
All about are the little vines and plants and bushes which 
Nature looks after through the entire year—never forget- 
ting to send them the sunshine and rain in summer, or 
the warm blankets of snow or leaves for their wintry beds. 
In Nature’s garden are all these growing things and’none 
can learn their secrets more easily than the country chil- 
dren. Here in these natural gardens of meadow and for- 
est, roadside and river bank, are learned the mysteries and 
the beauty of outdoor life. An immense storehouse of 
unexplored treasures lies in the very farm which we have 
sometimes wished might be changed into busy city streets 
with ‘‘something going on’’ aside from the eternal quiet- 
ness of growing vegetation, _ 

Turning from the wild places where Nature gardens 
for herself, to the farms all about us, we find that not all 
those who live on farms engage in the same pursuits for 
eafning a living. They may all be farmers in the broad 
sense of the term—but one is a stockgrower, another 
raises corn and other grains, while still another devotes 
his energy to growing fruit or vegetables—or both. Of 
the latter you will hear it said that he is a horticulturist. 
Now this series of lessons is to treat of horticulture, and 
you will probably wonder if anything with so long a name 
can possibly be made interesting. 


= 


ip aft a 
WHAT HORTICULTURE IS. 


Let us first learn exactly what is meant by the word 
‘horticulture’, and we can then decide whether or not it 
is likely to prove an interesting study. Nowif you will 
take your dictionary and look up the word “horticulture’’, 
you will find that it is derived from the two Latin words 
‘“hortus”’ and “cultura”. The dictionary will also tell you 
that the meaning of these two Latin words is—‘‘hortus” 
—a garden, and ‘‘cultwra’’—culture. Here we have it 
exactly—and easily—‘‘garden culture”. But just here we 
must be careful, for in these days we have narrowed down 
the word garden to mean a little place where we may 
grow a few vegetables or flowers—and after that—lots of 
weeds. Now where the old Romans used the word “‘hor- 
tus” they meant an enclosed place, and so with the Ger- 
man word “‘garten’”’, and this enclosure might be of any 
size up to the limit of the farmer’s possessions, Within 
this enclosure were grown fruits, flowers, vegetables, and 
trees for useful or ornamental purposes. So the growing 
of all these things is what is meant by the term horticul- 
ture. Ifa man undertakes to grow grapes as the means 
of earning a living he has taken up that branch of horti- 
culture called viticulture or vine culture; if he grows ap- 
ples, pears, quinces, plums, cherries, nut fruits, oranges, 
or lemons—or the small fruits—such as strawberries—he 
has followed that branch of horticulture called pomology. - 
The culture of vegetables is a division of horticulture 
known as olericulture, and is of increasing importance in 
the United States. In many sections of Illinois hundreds 
of acres are yearly planted to rhubarb, melons, asparagus, 
and tomatoes; these are shipped in many hundreds of car- 
loads to the people of the cities. So you see the tables 
of city homes far away are provided with vegetables per- 


cede 
haps: grown quite near your home. The most beautiful, 
if not the most interesting divisions of this great field of 
horticulture are floriculture and landscape horticulture. 
By floriculture is meant flower growing, either for the 
home or for the purpose of supplying city markets with 
potted plants and cut flowers, which are in great demand 
in all large cities, especially during the winter. Land- 
scape horticulture is the growing of ornamental trees, 
shrubs, and other plants for the purpose of adding beauty 
to city and country home grounds and to public parks, 
etc. Landscape gardening, which is often considered a 
part of horticulture, is really one of those arts which we 

term fine arts, such as painting, sculpturing, etc. It is 
the arranging of plants and other objects of beauty in 
any outdoor space in such a way that the result may be a 
pleasing picture. | 

Now in all this growing of fruit, flowers, and vege- 

tables, do you not think we can find something to inter- 
est and instruct us? There ought to be a great deal. 
We have studied physiology in order to understand 
the development of the human body—our physical make- 
up. We have studied botany and know quite a little 
about plants and their parts and habits. We need to 
know something of zoology too, if we are to adjust our- 
selves properly to the world about us. But between plant 
life and human life there is a connecting link which we 
miss if we study only botany and physiology. In study- 
ing botany we learn the various parts of the wild flowers 
and where they may be found and who their relatives are. 
Why not add to this something still more important, a 
knowledge of the proper growth and care of those fruits 
and vegetables upon which we are largely dependent for 
our healthy development? 


cal et 

We are not taking up this work with the hope that it 
will make horticulturists of us. You do not expect to be 
a physician or a nurse because you prepare your physi- 
ology lesson daily. Our studies, if wisely selected, teach 
us how to live. In order to know how to live so that we 
can do the most good to the greatest number we must be 
in touch with the animal and plant life about us. So 
whether or not we ever expect to live on a farm or grow 
fruits and vegetables, it will be well to know something 
of that industry which is furnishing a means of livelihood 
to an increasing number of our fellowmen each year. 
Then, too, there is something of still greater importance 
than food-supplying and money-making in horticultural 
work, and this is too often forgotten. Who can measure 
the good we receive from an interest in the things of na- 
ture, from outdoor exercise, and companionship with trees 
and flowers? Do you remember that Longfellow said in 
one of his beautiful poems :— 


“Go out under the open sky 
And list to Nature’s teaching!” 


We will greatly increase our happiness and our store 
of health and wisdom if we follow this advice. 


If you have read the quotation on the first page of 
this leaflet, you may rightly guess that horticulture a 
hundred years ago, had not become the great life work of - 
thousands of busy people. - People in those days grew 
what fruit they. wanted or went without it. Apples were 
practically the only fruit that could be found in the mar- 
ket, and these probably only found their way there be- 
cause the farmer's trees had produced more than he cared 
to make into cider. How interesting it would be to trace 
the history ot the growth of horticulture considered merely 


oF ee 
as a business; then how much more so to find what has 
been written about it during the past hundred years, and 
how the new varieties of fruit have come into existence, 
and then pushed their way into market. But to follow 
all this would take more time than your other studies will 
allow. For example in 1817 one hundred varieties of 
apples were grown in this country. In 1892 the number 
of varieties had swelled to more than two thousand. 


Strawberry Picking in Southern Lilinois. 


So you see we cannot hope to do more than go by 
leaps and bounds over the field which horticulture covers 
in all its divisions. | 
Fifty years ago there were no large fields of straw- 
berries to be found in the United States. To-day there 
are hundreds of acres of this fruit in Illinois alone. The 


—— 
above photograph was taken in the fields of George W. 
Endicott at Villa Ridge, Illinois. | 
( : — fruits. 


Pano 4 Small fruits. 
eee Herb-like fruits. 
{ Grapes. 
( Kitchen or home gardening. 
| Market or commercial garden- 
| _ | Olericulture ........ . ing. 
Horticulture..... 4 | Gardening under glass or vege- 
l table forcing. 
: Amateur flower growing. 
Floriculture ........ | Commercial flower growing. 
| oe Cee ee The growing of ornamental 
| ees 4 trees, shrubs, and other plants 
met 


for the purpose of adorning 
| public or private grounds. 


THINGS TO DO. 


1. Count the seeds in each grape of a cluster. Does 
the number vary? 


2. Find out how many varieties of grapes are grown 
in your neighborhood, or shown in your local market. 


3. Compare a grape and apple leaf and write a de- 
scription of each. 


4. Make a drawing of each, showing the veining. 


o). Tell how many trees a fruit grower can plant in 
an acre if the trees are set thirty-five feet apart ? 


“The district school cannot teach agriculture any 
more than it can teach law or engineering or any other 
profession or trade, but it can interest the child in nature 
and in rural problems and thereby fasten its sympathies 
to the country.” —L. H. Bailey. 


“The soil, cultivated plants, domestic animals, are 
not ape and elementary things, easy to be apprehended 


OCT 29 1902 
Meee 


and comprehended. If we are to know them in any accu- 
rate sense, we must see straight and clear and long.’’— 


Dr A. Co T rite. 


“Horticulture is the growing of flowers, fruits, and 
vegetables, and of plants for ornament and fancy.—Cyclo- 
pedia of American Horticulture. 


Some books worth buying for the school or home 
library. Each month one or more books will be sug- 
gested: | 

Garden Making, L. H. Bailey, $1.00, Macmillan Co., N. Y. 
The Amateur’s Practical Garden Book, C. E. Hunn and L. H. 
Bailey, $1.00. 


Lessons With Plants, L. H. Bailey, $1.10. 
First Lessons With Plants, L. H. Bailey, $.40. 


Davenport’s Study of Farm Animals. 


This series consists of 12 eight-page leaflets which treat of the 
origin, nature and habits of the common farm animals. They are 
intensely interesting and of great practical value. 


These leaflets were prepared especially for school reading, and 
may be used in all grades above the third. Their use will bring 
pupils into close touch and sympathy with our domestic animals, 
and at the same time give them a high regard for the blessings of 
mankind. 


Price, only one cent a copy in quantities of ten or more, alike 


or assorted as desired. Sample set of the 12 numbers only 10 
cents ee 


Shamel’s Siude of Farm Crops. 


These leaflets were written especially for school reading and 
study to meet the growing demand for instruction in the essentials 
of agriculture. 


The boy who reads fhese leaflets will use his mind as well as 
his body when doing the work on the farm. He will have a keen 
interest in the germinating seed and the growing plant. The sim- 
ple experiments and suggestive questions will set him to investiga- 
ting in a manner that will be both pleasant and profitable. 


There are 12 eight-page leaflets in the series. Price, only one 
cent a copy in quantities of ten or more, alike or assorted as de- 
sired: Sample set of the 12 numbers only 10 cents postpaid. 

C. M. PARKER, Publisher, 


Taylorville, Iliinois. 


~ > - 
opies MNeceivec 


: $6 1903 


on 


ADD. | 
SFHE STUDY OF HORTICULTURE. 


aey o | BY J. C. BLAIR, 
—ae ‘Professor of Pomology and Chief in Horticulture, University of Illinois. 


ISSUED MONTHLY. 25 CENTS A YEAR. 
One cent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 
C. M. PARKER, Taylorville, Til. 
THIRD SERIES, No. 2. WHOLE No. 26. 
TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS, OCTOBER, 1902. 


WHERE AND HOW PLANTS FEED. 


The waves at work grinding up the rocks into sand. 


_ This picture was taken on the shore of Lake Michigan and it 
shows how the waves are constantly rolling the stones about and 
grinding them up. This same thing is done by all rivers and 
bodies of moving water. 


WHERE PLANTS FEED. 
_ In the first lesson we said that the effect of good food 
is readily seen and the stock farmer never forgets this. 
When he has stock to fatten he does not turn the animals 


98 
into a bare. pasture. They must have food. containing 
fattening properties; they must have plenty of water and 
must suffer neither from cold nor heat. a ae 

These same things must be done for the plants of the © 
field and the trees of the orchards if they are to produce 
good crops for the harvest. Every farmer knows what 
grains will fatten his stock and day by day_he can judge 
of the quality and measure the quantity at feeding time; 
but the food that plants like and thrive upon he cannot 
see and so he often forgets that they need anything more 
than just a place to send their roots into—that is to say— 
a place to hold onto. Then no matter what the weather 
has been he blames it when the crops are poor and forgets 
that while these same crops were getting ready for the 
harvest he gave them nothing to eat. Yet plants are just 
as hungry as growing boys and can eat almost as much. 
The food that the farmer feeds his cattle is taken from 
the corn-crib, granary, or haymow, but plant food is hid- 
den away in that wonderful store-house of plant food— 
the soil. But this food is not always stored away in a 
form which the plants can use and sometimes there is 
none at all where it is most needed. This is the reason 
why thinking farmers are studying the soil to find out all 
its hiding places for plant food and learning how to get 
at this food as the plants need it. The study of the soil 
goes so deep into the mysteries of the formation of this” 
earth that men who have studied it all their lives still feel 
that they know little about it after all. 

WHAT THE SOIL IS. 

Can you believe that it is really rock dust? Take up 
a handful of the soil and examine it. It scarcely seems 
possible that this powdery material was ever a rock. Yet 
it was, although now it is something more for it is mixed 


\ 
au 


se 


ee ae 
with decaying plant life—everything from the tiny moss 
that lives its life and dies, to the giant tree that lies fallen 
in the forest. This decaying vegetation, together with 
manures and various fish and animal materials, often ap- 
plied to the soil, makes up what is called the organic 
matter of the soil. Then there is the soil moisture and 
soil atmosphere. This latter differs in several particulars 
from the air we breathe; soil atmosphere containing more 
water vapor and less oxygen; and considerably more nitro- 
gen and carbon dioxid. 
THE CHARACTER OF THE SOIL. 

If the soil is made up of large rock fragments, we 
say itis stony. Stony hillsides in many states make the 
farmer’s life miserable. Let the rocks be several degrees 
finer and we say the soil is gravelly. If finer still then 
sandy and so on until we have the sticky clay that in rainy 
weather will fill the wagon wheels almost to the hubs if 
the road bed has not been covered with gravel. There 
are many other ways of classifying the different kinds of 
soil but these lessons are only meant to serve as little 
guide posts pointing out a few paths that it is hoped will 
prove interesting enough to lead you farther. 


SOMETHING MORE ABOUT SOIL COMPOSITION. 

The foods that plants get from the soil are thirteen 
in number—among which are phosphorus, nitrogen, iron, 
sulphur, potassium, calcium and several others. There 
are few soils which do not contain the most of these, but. 
this does not necessarily mean that the plants grown in 
these soils will therefore have enough to eat. This is de- 
pendent on the condition of the soil and the composition 
of the food elements, 

_ We could not eat dry flour—yet we live largely on 
articles of food made from flour. We combine it with 


poy ee 
milk or water and yeast and make bread. Upon bread 
our digestive organs can easily act. Now when we say 
that plants use phosphorus and nitrogen, etc., as food, we 
do not mean that they absorb these separately, but that 
when compounded with other food elements and dissolved 
in the soil moisture, these food elements are taken up by 
the plant. 

For instance, the two gases, nitrogen and hydrogen, 
combined form ammonia. This is absorbed by the plant 
and the nitrogen helps it to make a strong stalk. Nitro- 
gen is the most important food of plants, while the next 
is phosphoric acid which makes hardy and fruitful plants. 
Decaying vegetation aids the plants in getting phosphoric 
acid, or it may be added to the soil in manures, bones and 
phosphoric rocks which have been treated with acid. 
Potash is another important plant food, making woody 
tissue and starch. Wood ash contains all the potash 
which the burned wood had absorbed while it was a grow- 
ing tree, so it is a very valuable application to the soil. 

All of these plant foods, or fertilizers as they are 
called in commerce, may be bought and put into thesoil, 
but your mother will tell you that it is cheaper to bake 
than to buy bread. In all probability, mother nature has 
stored away more food than all the growing crops in his 
fields could use, if the farmer does his part by thorough 
cultivation of the soil, or tillage as it is called, and by 
adding such fertilizers as are produced right on his own 
farm. Nothing should be allowed to go to waste on the 
farm. 

HOW SOIL IS MADE. 

Nature has more than one means at her command for 
fining the hardest of granite. All of the bodies of run- 
ning water are helping her by grinding the pebbles over 


ene 

and under and around each other, taking offa corner here 
and there until they are like little bullets and still each 
day they lose a little more until they are ground to 
dust. Then when this powder has been made it is washed 
hither and thither until some time when there is high 
water it will be cast up on the fields. Water-carried soil 
is called alluvial soil. Frost breaks up the rocks and the 
winds blow particles from place to place and in some 
countries even earthworms play an important part in help- 
ing Nature inher soilfactory. The air too wears the rocks 
away; the surface of them becoming soft and scaling off. 
This is repeated until after long years perhaps there is 
nothing left of the original stone. But perhaps the most 
wonderful way of making rock dust is that by which most 
of the soil of eastern North America and northern Europe 
is made. Ages ago these regions were covered with gla- 
ciers or sheets of ice, as Greenland is. Prof. Tarr, of 
Cornell University, tells the story of glacial soils in Na- 
ture Study Leaflet No. 15. He says: 

_ ““The bottom of the ice is like*a huge sand paper 
being dragged over the bed rock with tremendous force. 
It carries a load of rock fragments, and as it moves ob- 
tains more by grinding or prying them from the rocks 
beneath. These all travel in towards the edge of the ice, 
being constantly ground finer and finer as wheat is ground 
when it goes through the mill. Indeed the resemblance 


is so close that the clay coming from this grinding action 
is often called rock flour.”’ 


This soil which we have been considering, and from 
which plants obtain their food supply is usually very 
shallow, sometimes not more than a few inches deep, but 
_ beneath it is what is known as the sub (or under) soil. 
Into this sub-soil the roots of most horticultural plants go 
for moisture and some little food, but mainly for the pur- 
pose of support. Plants, such as apple trees must hold 


pues 
themselves firmly to the soil in order to support their ex- 
panse of branches laden with fruit, and to endure the 
attacks of wind which would blow them over if they had 
not a sure and solid foothold. 

This old monarch of the forest fell “many years ago 
and now. has so nearly crumbled to dust that only a por- 
tion of its length is visible. This is one way which Na- 


Decaying Vegetation. 


ture has of adding organic matter to the soil. The decay- 
ing of leaves and all other vegetation contribute to the 
same purpose. Already the seeds that dropped on this 
fallen trunk have sprung up into sturdy young trees. 
HOW PLANTS FEED. 

We have learned a little about the place eS shiek 
plants derive their chief food supply and of what that food 
consists, so now a word to explain the manner in which 


they take up this food obtained from the soil. It is im- 
possible to go into details in this regard, but it is one of 
the most- difficult of plant operations for us to understand. 
The roots of plants have more than one duty to perform— 
they hold the plant steady in the soil; if fleshy roots, they 
are a kind of storehouse for feeding the growing plant, 
as little bean plants are fed; but their main duty after all 
is to absorb moisture—this water being laden with the 
mineral salts which are the main food of the plant. In 
order to absorb this moisture the roots send out tiny root 
hairs which act as mouths to drink it in. There are so. 
mary of these root hairs and they are so small that they 
can take up moisture from every little particle of soil 
which they are able to get at, until the soil is as dry as 
dust. These little root hairs never grow into roots them- 
selves, but die off when no longer needed on the old and 
woody roots. | 


Now the moisture taken up by the root hairs would 
do the plant no good if it could get no farther, so the 
food burdened water is carried up through the woody tis- 
sue of the plant to the leaves. It travels up through the 
youngest woody ring in a tree; in corn it is carried up 
through the thread-like fibers which can. be seen in the 
pith; in plants having netted veined leaves and herb-like 
growth, it ascends in the tissue between the pith and the © 
bark. Having reached the leaves that portion of the wa- 
ter no longer of use to the plant is evaporated and the 
mineral salts are left behind to be used as food. But you 
must not understand that the soil is the only source from 
which plants derive food. Some plants. (a family of them 
called Leguminosae) get their nitrogen by means of their 
roots from the air and not as others do from the soluble 
salts in the soil. All plants get the carbon which they so 


eae 
much need from the air and have little breathing pores in 
their leaves which are called stomata. These stomata are 
the doors which allow the carbon dioxid of the air to come 
into contact with the living cells of the plant. Here the 
sunlight and the green of the leaves work together in a 
way which is not easily explained and make a starch of 
the carbon and the hydrogen and oxygen of the water which 
has been absorbed. Since plants can only use very 
much diluted food just think how many pounds of water 
must pass through the leaves as vapor before a pound of 
actual food has been received by the plant. If you wish 
to see for yourselves this water vapor which the plant 
gives off, cut off a leafy stem from a geranium say, and 
put the stem down through a cork into a bottle of water. 
(The hole may be bored through the cork so that it will 
fit closely about the stem.) Then tip a glass jar over the 
whole thing and before long you will see the water mist 
all over the inside of the jar. a i 


QUESTIONS. 


1. What work does the soil do for plant lifer 

2. How many different soils can you find in your own Abcatity? 

3. In order to see what effect it will have on the seed, put a 
potful of black soil in a shallow pan and bake it thoroughly. Plant 
two or three beans in this soil after it is replaced in the pot. Plant 
two or three beans in black soil unbaked. Watch germination of 
each. 

4. Write 150 words telling how the soil is made. 

5. What is sandy soil? Clay? Loam? 

6. What is meant by ‘‘fertilizers’’? 

7. What machinery does the farmer use when he tills his field? 


SOME BOOKS FOR READING AND REFERENCE: 
The Soil—Prof. King, University of Wisconsin. - 
How Crops Feed, How Crops Grow—Johnson. | 
The Soil—Nature Study Leaflet 15—Cornell University, Prof. 
Tarr. 


Be ioe | A 
WtStHE STUDY OF HORTICULTURE. 


a AM BY J. C. BLAIR, 
py Rrofess of Pomology and Chief in Horticulture, University of Illinois.: 


ISSUED MONTHLY. | | af 25 CENTS A YEAR. 
One cent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 
. M. PARKER, Taylorville, I11. 


THIRD SERIES, No. 3. 3 i | - WHOLE No. Lt. 
TAYLORVILLE, Intinors, NovEMBER, 1902. 


THE ORCHARD. 


University of Lllinots Orchard in Clean Cultivation. 


If nothing but neatness were the result of such a 
method of caring for the orchard it would still be worth 
the trouble and expense. But when the well-being and 
productiveness of the trees are so much increased by 
cultivation, then surely the fruit grower cannot afford not 
to cultivate his fruitland. © | eee 


INTRODUCTION. 
If your father grows corn or any other field crop, or 
oat 3 have been out j in the eeprlry during seed time, Leis 


: —2— 

know that the farmer prepares his fields very carefully 
before sowing the seed and then continues to cultivate 
long after the plants are growing bravely. Fruit trees 
are just as sensitive and respond just as quickly to good 
care and intelligent treatment as does corn, oats or wheat, 
but how seldom are they so well treated! It is within 
the last ten years as an outside limit that any fruit grow- 
ers in this State thought it worth while to till their or- 
chard lands. They hadn’t time and it wouldn’t pay 
anyway. These were some of the reasons given and it 
has taken a long time to convince even a part of them 
that it doesn’t pay to do any other way. There are still 
many who refuse to believe the evidence of their neigh- 
bors’ flourishing orchards and continue to let the weeds 
almost hide their fruit trees. When these poor trees 
once in several years make a great effort and give them a 
fair crop of apples they laugh at the neighbor who goes 
to the trouble of cultivating—and in the years when the 
trees are too discouraged and weak to set fruit some flaw 
in the weather is hunted up to account for it. But one 
by one the little army of earnest growers who treat their 
orchards well and expect to be repaid for it by a good 
harvest is growing larger and the time is not far distant 
when the man who does not believe in cultivating and 
caring otherwise for orchards will do it BS: just be- 
cause his neighbors all do. 


It is not possible in this little leaflet to go into all 
the details connected with the successful growing of fruit 
trees. We can only try to make it clear why certain 
things must be done or not done, for there are a few 
principles in the matter of orcharding that cannot be 
overlooked if we are to get first-class results. ‘These 
principles can be best explained if we confine them to the 


= 


growing of one kind of fruit—the apple for instance. 
Not all orchard fruits require the same treatment, but if 
one has learned just what an apple tree needs from its 
baby days to old age, it will not be difficult to understand 
the care of other trees. So for this lesson we will talk 
only of the apple tree’s needs. | 


WHERE TO PUT THE TREES. 


In planting an orchard,.or even a single tree, it is 
very necessary that a good place be selected for it. By 
this we mean one which is higher than the surrounding 
land if possible, and naturally well drained—or tile- 
drained. It too often happens that the poorest place on 
the farm is given to the fruit trees. Select a rich soil or 
one that can be made reasonably so, and if the orchard 
slopes to the north or northeast much will be gained. 
Indeed in many sections such a slope is almost a neces- 
sity in apple growing. This is because the trees on such 
a slope will not bloom as early as they would if on.a warm 
and sunny southern slope. Sometimes a late spring frost 
catches these early-blooming orchards and nips off an 
entire crop. So a delay of even a day or two may mean 
all the difference between no fruit and an abundant 
harvest. 


WORKING THE SOIL. 


When the farmer sows his corn in the spring time 
he is careful to prepare a good seed bed—for the seed 
would not germinate well nor would the young plants 
thrive unless the soil were lightened up and warmed by 
thorough stirring. Now the young apple or other fruit 
tree must have as carefully prepared soil in which to be 
set out after being received from the nursery, for while 
there may be plenty of food in the soil the plants may 


aS 
starve because the food is not in a form which they can 
use. For some reason many fruit growers do not think 
of this fact, and so thousands of young trees die each 
year because they have been made sickly by their effort 
to find a congenial feeding place in the sod or hard, un- 
broken soil where they were planted. The life of any 
orchard tree and its ability to grow paying crops in later 
years is in proportion quite largely to the care with 
which the soil was prepared before it was set out. It 
may help us to better understand this matter if we recall 
the fact that no plants on the farm require more food and 
moisture than do the orchard trees. Just what tillage does 
for the plant has been better stated in ‘“‘The Principles of 
Fruit-growing’’, by L. H. Bailey, than anywhere else and 
it is quoted here to show you that plowing is not the mean 
thing that some boys believe it to be, but a wonderful 
service which may be done for plant life. 
“1. Tillage improves the physical condition of the land,— 

(a) By fining the soil, and thereby presenting great- 
er feeding surface to the roots; 

(4) By increasing the depth of the soil, and thereby 
giving a greater foraging and roothold area to 
the plant; 

(c) By warming and drying the soil in spring; 

(7d) By reducing the extremes of temperature and 
moisture. 


“2. Tillage may save moisture,— 
(e) By increasing the water holding capacity of the 
soil; | 
(4) By checking evaporation. 
“3. Tillage may augment chemical activities,— 
(¢g) By aiding in setting free plant food; 
(kh) By promoting nitrification; 
(7) By hastening the decomposition of organic mat- 
ter; 
(j) By extending these agencies (g, h, i) to greater 
depths of the soil.”’ 


aa 
The best preparation for the apple orchard therefore 
is deep plowing followed by careful cultivation with disc 
and smoothing harrow. In the case of only a few trees 
spade up the ground deeply and fine it with fork and 
rake. 


It is usually preferable to set the trees in the spring 
time, and this being true, the plowing should be done 
the fall before. It would be much better to plan for the 
orchard four or five years or even longer before the trees 
are to be set, but this is seldom done. If this method 
were followed, crops which require the best of cultivating 
could then be grown on the soil, thus putting it into good 
condition for its future use. If the soil is poor, crops 
which require the addition of manures should be grown. 
Such soils can often be put into excellent condition for 
apple trees by growing clover, cow peas, or some other 
plant belonging to that family which, as we learned in 
the last lesson, have the ability to gather nitrogen from 
the air. This crop should not be harvested, but when 
mature should be plowed under, thus adding considerable 
vegetable matter which, when decayed in the soil, enables 
the soil to retain a greater amount of moisture. With 
the soil in good condition, the next thing to be done is 
the setting of the trees. 


THE PLANTING. 


Before the trees are actually put into the ground it 
is important that the best trees obtainable be chosen for 
the planting. The life of the tree is so great and its 
ability to pay handsome returns to the owner are so sure 
that it is not economy for any one to place in the soil a 
tree not already well started and in good condition. This 
simply means that in buying the tree one must first be- 


2=§=s 
come acquainted with a reliable nursery firm—anxious to 
produce and to furnish to his customers nothing but 
strong, healthy and well grown nursery stock. It is 
very important that the plant be carefully dug, and if the 
nurseryman is a good one, he will see that the plants 
have been so removed from the nursery as not to destroy 
too many of the roots and rootlets. These roots must not 
be allowed to dry out before they are set in their place 
in the orchard. The trees as they leave the nursery 
should be carefully packed and boxed so as to keep 
them from drying in air and sun. Im placing the 
trees in the ground set them about as deep as they 
were in the nursery—that is to the crown of the plant. 
The distance which apple trees are set apart in the or- 
chard is governed somewhat by the varieties planted, but 
it seldom pays to set them closer than thirty feet apart 
each way and the best commercial orchardists in this 
State, those who grow winter fruit quite largely, such as — 
the Ben Davis, set the trees forty feet apart. The trees 
should be set straight in the row—not only because when 
so set they are more pleasing to look at but because it 
indicates a degree of carelessness or -untidiness if they 
are not soset. There are various methods by which the 
rows of trees can be planted straight, but there is not 
space in this lesson to explain these, nor is it necessary. 
If you have trees to plant and a sincere desire to have 
them planted in straight rows, you will hit upon some 
plan of your own for doing this. In placing the tree it 
is usually best to dig the hole considerably deeper than 
is needed for the tree and fill it in again until the right 
depth is reached. This enables the young tree to get 
its first food easily and encourages it to send its roots 
deep down into the soil instead of out laterally. Fill 


aa 


ae 
in the soil around the roots slowly, having some one 
straighten out the little rootlets, and pack the dirt firmly 
around them. Be sure that no air spaces are left among 
the mass of roots—that is, each and every root throughout 
its whole length should touch the soil at every point. All 
injured roots should be removed with a sharp knife or 
saw before the tree is set, for injured roots are often the 
starting points and causes of decay. 
LATER OULTIVATION. 

After the trees are in their places the soil for a space 
of five or six feet on either side of the rows should be 
carefully pulverized the first year. The remaining space 
between the rows may be used as a place in which to 
grow annual or yearly crops. For such a crop it is best 
to select a plant requiring much cultivation, such as corn, 
potatoes, etc. 7 

Kach year, for seven or eight years, the space culti- 
vated on either side of the rows must be widened as the 
feeding rootlets of the growing trees reach out farther 
and farther. At this age the trees will probably begin 
to bear their first crops of fruit and then no other crops 
must be grown on the soil and the ground must be most 
carefully cultivated. You see if other crops are taken 
from the orchard lands the trees have been robbed of all 
the food and moisture used by this annual crop. 

The cultivation giving best results starts as early in 
the spring as the soil will allow and is kept up until the 
trees have about matured their growth for the year. The 
plow is the cheapest and most satisfactory pulverizer and 
is the tool which should be used for the first breaking of 
the soileach spring. This compels the roots to go deeper 
into the soil and they will thus escape injury from the 
plow. ee | a | | 


iG 

After plowing, the ground should be thoroughly 
disced and then finished off with a smoothing harrow. 
All later cultivation for the season may be with this latter 
implement. Once each week and after each rain, when 
the ground has become dry enough for working, the sur- 
face should be gone over with the smoothing harrow. 

It should be borne in mind that soil so treated is in 
-bad condition for winter for the rains and melting snows 
will wash the fertility from the soil and the roots of the 
trees will be more surely injured by exposure to changes 
of temperature. In July, or early August, a crop of rye, 
oats or vetch should be sown in the orchard—something 
that will make a ‘blanket of vegetation. This protection 
is well named a cover crop, and when plowed under in 
the spring time adds organic matter to the soil. | 


The most serious mistake an orchardist can Geko 3 is. 
to allow a grain or hay crop to be grown in his. orchard 
to steal moisture and plant food from the trees’ store- 
house. During. the entire life of the tree after it has 
commenced bearing this plan of clean cultivation should 
never be given up. 


Pruning, spraying, and other important matters con- 
nected with the orchard, will be treated in some of the 
lessons next pees = | 


REFERENCE READINGS. 
Bulletin No. 52— Orchard Cultivation, Illinois pee te Ex- 
periment Station. 
Bulletin No. 59—Orchard Management, Illinois Agricultural 
Experiment Station. nog =f 


In connection with this lesson it would be well to memorize the 
‘‘Planting of the Apple Tree’’, by Bryans a poem familiar to the 
most of the older generation. ea 


Ee A TEN 


“THE STUDY OF HORTICULTURE. 


BY J. C. BLAIR, 
Priésfessbr of Pomology and Chief in Horticulture, University of Illinois. 


Ne 


ISSUED MONTHLY. 25 CENTS A YEAR. 


af 
10 5 
ef 


\ One cent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 
OPY 8B. é C. M. PARKER, Taylorville, Iil. 
THIRD SERIES, No. 4. WHOLE Ma. 28, 


TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS, DECEMBER, 1902. 


WINDOW GARDENING. 


‘“We would have flowers in every home, for their sunny light, 
for their cheerful teachings, for their insensibly ennobling influ- 
uence.”’ 


In this month of keen winds and biting air let us 
take up a division of Horticulture that may be carried on 
indoors and now that autumn frosts have killed all out- 
door plants, it will not be amiss to substitute the growing 
of those plants which have come to be called house plants 
because they are willing to live indoors with us and 
brighten our windows with beautiful foliage and flowers. 

You know, of course that many plants will sicken 
and die if an attempt is made to grow them in the house, 
so it is necessary to make a careful selection of plants for 
indoor growing, and since we cannot all be experienced 
florists, it is well to ask some one who has had training 
in the business to help us in selecting material for our 
window garden. There is one great charm about window 
gardening and it is this—every one may have such a gar- 
den if he will, for every one has a window, while not all - 
of us have lawns where we may do our bit of gardening. 
The poor child of the tenement often has a sturdy geran- 
ium which is not ashamed to hide its roots in a tomato can. 
Piants respond eagerly to loving care, no matter whether 
they are in the tenement or in the beautiful home of some 
more fortunate child. If you care little for plants 
and mean to neglect them when you feel like it, don’t 


— 

bring them into the house at all, for nothing is quite 
so pathetic or so disagreeable as the sight of long- 
stemmed, few-leaved, starved and forsaken plants. Bet- 
ter a bare window from fall to spring, than such a win- 
dow garden. But there is something so interesting as to 
_ be almost exciting in watching over and feeling responsi- 
ble for the beautiful development of some choice specimen 
of the plant world. If you have never ventured to grow 
a house plant and feel very helpless, yet anxious to learn, — 
do not start with too many. Take perhaps only one or 
two, say a vine and some easily grown plant, and study 
them and you will soon learn to read their wants in the 
appearance of their leaves and stalk. Then when you 
think you know how to care for these add another to your 
collection and you will be fairly well started along a most 
pleasant path. Window gardening has charms that no 
other manner of gardening can rival. _ 


SELECTING THE WINDOW. 


The first thing necessary in starting a window gar- 
den is a suitable window. Any window is better than no 
window at all, but if you have several windows from 
which to select the best one for a general collection of 
plants during the winter, select one at the south side of 
the house. Next in choice after the southern exposure is 
an east window which will answer very well for all those 
plants which care little for much direct sunlight. West 
windows are not likely to suit your plants well as they 
generally prove too hota place for ordinary plants. Ferns, 
pansies, umbrella plants, etc., will thank you for a north 
window if you see to it that they do not suffer from the 
cold, while geraniums, the beautiful foliaged coleus and 
other heat-loving plants will flourish in the south window 
which you made first choice. Begonias, marguerites and 


ee 
fuchsias with their gracefully drooping flowers, et do 
best in the east window. « 


Sti WHAT TO.GROW. 


As you have probably not had much experience in 
growing plants indoors, it will be wisest not to attempt 
too much the first season. Crowded plants do not thrive 
so well as if they have plenty of room in which to develop 
and you may become weary of caring for too large a fam- 
ily of plant children, since it will be an unfamiliar task 
at first. 

I would suggest that you start your collection with 
one or more geraniums. “These are old fashioned flowers, 
it is true, but they are liked by all and bloom freely with 
ordinary care. Geraniums that are to bloom during the 
winter should be taken from the garden early in Septem- 
ber, if you wish to use old stalks. Shake the earth all — 
away from the roots, prune the plant into good shape and 
then pot with fresh soil and keep your plant shaded for a 
week or so. Then let it have sun and water, and in two 
or three months it will be ready to reward you for your 
care. If you prefer to start a new plant from the garden 
geranium stalks, cut a firm young shoot or stem so as to 
leave one or more buds on the cutting, set it deep in sand. 
and in a few weeks it will be ready to pot. 


I think you will enjoy making the acquaintance of 
the bright faced Chinese primrose. This cheery plant. 
with its spring-like fragrance will probably give you flow- 
ers larger than any other one in your window. It requires 
constant moisture, but not muddiness. If the drainage 
in your pots is poor so that the water stands in the soil, 
the primrose will die off. It will probably be best for 
you to buy the seed if you wish to attempt to grow prim- 
roses. For choice plants in next winter’s window garden 


=f gee 
sow the seed this coming April, according to the general 
directions under ‘“‘Seeds.”’ 


There are few plants which will give you greater 
pleasure for your indoor garden than pansies which you 
may raise from seeds. Secure a package of the very best 
seeds and plant them according to directions given else- 
where. When the little plants have formed two leaves they 
may be transplanted into small pots filled with very rich 
soil, that is, soil containing a great deal of well rotted ma- 
nure. These plants do not like too much bright sun and 
will do well in a north window if there is a chance for the 
afternoon sun to reach them from a west window. If you 
plant them in a month or two, you will have splendid plants 
to bed out in the spring and when these are through blos- 
soming if cut back a little and the flower buds nipped off 
whenever they appear all through the summer they will 
blossom again next winter. Pansies are very easily grown 
if you only give them enough to eat; that is, a good rich 
soil from which they can take up what they need in the 
way of plant food. The following list offers a pleasing 
‘yariety: Vaughan’s Giant, of the following colors: pink, 
purple, coal black, violet blue, Aurora, Parisian Striped, 
Golden Queen and Masterpiece. 


If your mother has a fuchsia ask her to allow you to 
take a cutting; then try your skill in raising one of these 
plants yourself. They are easily grown and ever since 
they came from South America, their native home, they 
have been a favorite for the window garden. Put your 
cutting in damp sand, according to directions under “‘Cut- 
tings’ in the next lesson. As soon as rooted transplant 
into rich soil in what is called a three inch pot. As soon 
as the main branch has started up well, tie it to a small 
stick and see if you can train your plant to a good shape. 


a 
When the branches are two or three inches long nip out 
the tip of each one and two or three branches will start 
from each. 
Carnations are so beautiful and possess so refreshing 
a fragrance that you will feel well repaid for what care 
they require. J remember seeing one in a farm house 
window a few years ago, the flowers a beautiful dark red. 
There were so many blossoms on the stalks that I asked 
permission to count them. Buds and flowers taken to- 
gether numbered more than one hundred. So you see 
they are worth while. Perhaps no other plant demands so 
Tich a soil in order to produce fine flowers. There are so 
many varieties that you might have a fine display with no 
other plants than carnations. | 


You must not think your winter garden complete 
unless you have a few at least of the beautiful flowering 
bulbs. For more than three hundred years hyacinths 
have been cherished by plant lovers and they are today 
the most frequently sought for winter window decorations. 
But freesias, tulips, crocuses, narcissuses, lillies and best 
of all the beautiful cyclamen, all deserve a place in our 
affections even if we haven’t room for them all in our 
windows. Any of these bulbs may easily be grown in 
pots, although nearly all of them are hardy even in the 
northern states. The same method of treatment will do 
for them all and the catalogs from which you select your 
bulbs will usually tell you all that is necessary about the 
care of them. However it will not be amiss to say a word 
about their planting. A pot six inches across and the 
same in depth will be best for your bulbs. Place only 
one hyacinth bulb in each pot, while three or four nar— 
cissus or tulip bulbs, or even a dozen crocus bulbs may 
be put into a pot of the same size. There is nothiug 


=§= 
special to be said about the soil, almost anything will do, 
even pure sand or moss will be found all right if kept 
damp enough. After the bulb is placed so that about 
one fourth of it appears above the soil, press the ground 
firmly into place, water it well and put the pots down cel- 
lar for about two months. Then bring them up to the 
light to brighten your Christmas holidays. 

SEEDS. 

You have planted seeds of corn and beans, and know 
something of the process of germination, so no more space 
will be given to the method of growing plants from seed 
than to give a general principle or two which governs the 
growing of all plants in this manner. A shallow box not 
more than two inches deep is best for this purpose, one 
with cracks or holes in the bottom through which the 
water will readily drain. Fill within one half inch of the 
top with leaf mold from the woods if you can get it. If 
not take equal parts of sandy soil and well rotted stable 
manure, or if in the city, street sweepings may take the 
place of the latter. Whatever the soil is made up of it 
must not be firm and heavy enough to discourage the little 
plant from seeking the light. Press this soil level then 
scatter the seed evenly on top and cover witha thin blank- 
et of earth and press smooth again. Then water the 
earth well and keep the box comfortably warm, about 60 
degrees or considerably cooler than the proper tempera- 
ture of your school room. Water the box only when the 
ground seems dry—you see there is not so much need of 
water as long as there are no thirsty tiny roots to drink 
it. Unless the small plants become sickly or too closely 
crowded they may be left in this sociable home for sever- 
al weeks and then transplanted as gently as possible eith- 
er into: pots or the open garden as the case may be. 


—J— 

Growing plants from seed is a more satisfactory way than 
to purchase plants from some one else. If this latter is 
done you have missed the first of their life story and will 
not feel on such friendly terms with the plants. It is a 
cheaper method too, for you see the florist charges for 
doing that which you might have done but didn’t. How- 
ever, not all plants will grow from seed and from many it 
is best to take cuttings. 


GENERAL SUGGESTIONS. 


While some plants need more water than others, do 
not make the mistake of keeping them all in pots of mud. 
As long as the soil seems moist to the touch it is a safe 
rule to give no water. When the water has been ab- 
sorbed the soil will dry; then it should be watered liber- 
ally. 

Plants need fresh air. Open the windows on mild 
days but do not allow the wind to blow across the plants. 
It is better to open the windows every day, if the plants 
are somewhat protected on very cold days, than to open 
them wide once in a while and chill the plants because 
they are not used to the out door air. 


Keep your plants clean. They cannot be healthy if 
they are covered with dust. If you wish to wash the plants 
without removing them from the window a sponge is the 
best for the purpose. If you remove the plants from the 
window then a sprinkling or shower bath is best. Ona 
mild day when the rain is falling gently set all the pots 
out of doors. 

Too great heat during the day will make your plants 
look sickly. Most plants prefer a cooler air at night even. 
if it drops as low as 45 or 50 degrees, but there are some, 
begonias, the coleus, etc., the hot house plants, which 
-prefer an even warmth. There are others, such as the 


_ oe 

geraniums which are very easily pleased and accommo- 
date themselves to almost any circumstances. Such of 
course are easiest to grow in our ordinary living rooms. 


Give your plants a little extra food about once a week. 
This fertilizer is made by putting one or two shovelfuls 
of manure with one pint of charcoal to kill the odor, in a 
bucket half full of boiling water. This amount of fertil- 
izer will last for a couple of months if you keep adding 
water as you remove the fertilizer for your plants. Use 
it not too strong. The color should be like weak tea, 
when the proper strength. Simply use itin place of pure 
water once a week and the plants will grow more vigor- 
ously. | 


Pick off all dead leaves, being careful not to injure 
the stems. 


If green flies come to feast on your plants, water in 
which tobacco stems have been soaked until it is tea col- 
ored, may be sprinkled on the leaves. This method is 
better in window gardening than to burn damp tobacco 
stems for the odor is very disagreeable. 


Watch the under sides of the leaves for red spiders, 
and if you discover any, sponge the plant thoroughly 
with very weak soapsuds. 


QUESTIONS. 


1. What is Floriculture? 

2. Write a history of some plant which you have grown. If 
you have never grown one, now is a good time to begin and you 
can keep a diary of its progress. 

3. What are some of the difficulties in growing oes in the 
house? 

4. If some one in your neighborhood grows plants success- 
fully in her windows ask permission to observe them now-and then 
and to ask questions as to how it is done. 


~OPY 8B. BY J. C. BLAIR, 
Professor of Pomology and Chief in Horticulture, University of Illinois. 


ISSUED MONTHLY. 25 CENTS &A YEAR. 


One cent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 
C. M. PARKER, Taylorville, Il. 


THIRD SERIES, No. 5. WHOLE No. 29. 
TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS, JANUARY, 1903. 


THE MULTIPLICATION OF PLANTS. 

If we had no way of compelling plants to reproduce 
their kind, that is to multiply, there would be no nurseries 
from which to buy young plants of any desired varieties. 
Nature would manage things in her own way and if the 
wind and the weather and other agencies happened to 
scatter her seeds, where they could grow, that would be 
so much the better, but it would be a very uncertain way 
of getting one’s plants. We could never be sure just 
where the seeds had found a lodging place and started to 
grow. ‘So you see there may be ways of improving on 
Nature’s methods, that is, there may be methods more 
suited to our ideas of push and enterprise. Man, there- 
fore, collects the seeds which have been produced and 
makes his seed bed just where he wants it. He puts the 
seeds in it, and knows, that if he has obeyed the princi- 
ples that govern seedage, he can go right to that bed 
later on and find the young plants in a definite place and 
not scattered about in Nature’s unfenced gardens. If he 
prefers he may perhaps take a portion of the parent plant 
and produce a new plant without seed. 

These then are the two general methods which we 
may employ when we wish to increase the number of our 
plants. One method is called propagation by seeds, the 
other propagation by division of the plant. The word 
propagation is taken from the Latin language and in hor- 


ae : 

ticulture is defined as the artificial multiplication or re- 
production of plants as contrasted with their natural mul- 
tiplication which Nature looks after. 


You may wonder why it would not be easiest and 
best to propagate all varieties from the seed. It some- 
times happens that after plants have been cultivated for 
some time, and are much improved in appearance by this 
culture, their seeds are weakened and cannot be relied 
upon to germinate; or by growing near each other two 
varieties may have become mixed so that their seeds 
would not come true. You know that the pistil ofa 
flower must be fertilized by pollen dust in order to pro- 
duce seed. If this pollen dust is from the same plant, 
probably the seed will produce plants like the parent; but _ 
suppose another variety be growing beside this one and 
that the wind or insects or some other agency should 
carry pollen from one plant to the other, then the seeds 
of these two plants might be like either one of the par- 
ents or be so mixed as not to be like either. So where it 
is desired to create new varieties this exchanging of pol- 
len is done by hand, instead of trusting to the natural 
methods of pollination. One cannot be sure of the result 
unless he attends to the pollination of the flowers himself. 
With plants which are called annuals, because they live 
their whole life in one year and die, or with biennials 
which have a two year life, it is the custom to use seeds 
instead of any of the other methods of cultivation. This 
is also the case with field grains, forest trees or seedlings 
to be used for grafting, and, as we learned before, when- 
ever man wishes to produce new varieties. 


If the gardener desires to grow a new plant just like 
one which he already has he will be more certain to suc- 
_ ceed if he takes some portion of the root, stem or leaf and 


‘ = 


=a 
plants it. Just what part he shall take depends on the 
plant which he is dealing witb, for different families of 
plants are propagated in different ways although some 
grow readily no matter what method is employed. Some 
plants, as mint, are more easily grown by division than 
by seeds. Some plants, the horseradish, sugar cane, etc., 
rarely produce seed, consequently new plants must be ° 
grown by dividing the parent plants. 
PROPAGATION BY SEEDS. | 

Something of the method of growing plants from 
seed has been suggested in.a previous lesson but there is 
so much to be thought of and so many things to be re- 
membered in this operation that lies at the bottom of 
much of our plant culture that we cannot go over it too 
often. 

First of all, care must be taken that the seeds select- 
ed are the best possible for the purpose. Seed from infe- 
rior, sickly parent plants will never produce first class 
plants. Again seeds may fail to grow because they are 
too old. Some seeds remain in good growing condition 
for many years, as for instance cucumber seeds which 
after perhaps ten years of waiting to be planted will pro- 
duce plants when put into the soil. Starchy seeds, such 
as rice or wheat, will continue in germinating condition 
longer than oily seeds like those of thesun-flower. Other 
seeds may have been gathered too young or before they 
had matured. Such seeds do not contain as much of a 
food supply for the embryo as is in a fully grown seed. 
However seeds not quite mature usually germinate sooner 
than ripened ones probably because the seed coat is not 


so hard. Or the seeds may have been damp when gath- 
ered and put away. In this condition they are in danger 
of moulding in warm, or freezing in cold weather. In- 
‘sects or disease may have injured them. 


— 

You must see by this time that it would hardly be 
wise to plant a large field with one or many varieties of 
seeds without knowing first whether the seeds are in 
prime growing condition and likely to produce high 
grade plants. A simple little seed tester that you may 
like to use for testing your own garden seeds is made as 
follows: Take an old table plate that is not cracked or 
broken. From thick cloth cut two circular pieces the 
size of the plate. Dip them in water and wring out 
most of the water. Spread them on the plate and _ be- 
tween them put some of the seeds from the lot you wish 
to test. Cover the plate with a pane of glass or another 
plate and place in a living room comfortably warm. The 
glass cover prevents the moisture from evaporating. Ex- 
amine the seeds frequently and record the number that 
fail to sprout. There is of course great difference in the 
length of time it takes different kinds of seed to germi- 


nate. 
After the seed has been tested and found satisfac- 


tory, the soil which shall have been crumbled thoroughly 
is to be pressed down firmly over the seeds; only a thin 
covering of soil is usually better than a heavy layer. The 
soil should be patted or rolled close about the seeds _ be- 
cause they cannot absorb moisture so well if they only 
touch the soil at a few points. This soil should not be 
muddy or the oxygen will not be able to penetrate it and 
reach the seeds, for they need air just as we do. Seeds 
having very hard coats will germinate sooner if put in ~ 
warm water and allowed to soak for a day or two. Seeds 
should be sown at the time stated by the seedsman of 
whom they are bought. 
“MULTIPLICATION BY SUCKERS, STOLONS AND LAYERS, 

After you have become skillful in growing plants 

from seed you will be interested in trying some of the 


ie 


—5— 

other methods of producing new plants. The easiest way 
of all is what is known as propagation by suckers, for 
nature does nearly all the work herself. Shoots that 
grow up into the air from stems or roots that are under- 
ground are called suckers. Blackberries and red rasp- 
berries are common examples of plants that may be propa- 
gated by suckers. Plants produced from suckers have 
usually less strength than the parent plant and each new 
generation is likely to be weaker than the last. The only 
part that man has to do in growing plants by this method 
is to cut off the stem or root that joins the sucker to the 
parent plant, and transplant the new plant. 

A branch curving downward until it touches the 
ground and sends out roots is called a stolon. When the 
roots have developed sufficiently the new plant may be 
separated from the old one by cutting off the stem that 
joins them. The black raspberry propagates itself natu- 
rally by means of stolons. A layer is really just an artifi- 
cial stolon. To try your skill at this method of propaga- 
ting, take a stem of a currant which is near the ground 
and cover one of the joints or nodes with the soil. A . 
node, as you have probably learned elsewhere, is the 
place where a leaf joins or has joined the stem. At these 
joints growth seems most active and from them roots 
usually start first when cuttings or layers are being made. 


CUTTINGS. 


A cutting is the name for that piece of a plant which 
if cut off and planted in proper soil will grow and become 
like the parent plant. This cutting may be a portion of 
the stem, the root, a leaf or only a part of the leaf. It 
’ may be taken from the hard and ripened wood of a tree, 

or from the green stem of a geranium; it may be only the 
ragged fragment of a begonia leaf standing in the sand, 


pe 

or simply a bit of root two or three inches long. So, 
although it is an easy matter to take a geranium slip and 
grow from it a sturdy plant, you must realize that this is 
only one of the many methods of propagation by cuttings, 
and that you might spend years in experimenting with 
plant cuttings and then have much still to learn. 

Hardwood cuttings, that is, those made from ripened 
wood, are best made in the fall and stored in sand, moss 
or sawdust in the cellar until spring. Such cuttings may 
vary in length, but it is best to make them not less than 
six nor more than ten inches long unless there is a scanty 
supply of stock from which to take them. Grape cuttings 
should have from two to three buds, while cuttings from 
the bush fruits, as currants and gooseberries, which have 
shorter joints, will contain anywhere from five to ten buds. 

By the making of greenwood cuttings one gets re- 
sults more quickly, as roots develop speedily. A shoot. 
may, however, be either too old or too young to make a 
satisfactory cutting, and this can be very easily discoy- 
ered. Bend the shoot, and if it snaps off clean it is in 
prime condition to grow, but one that bends or crushes 
is probably too old, although it may bend because too 
young to have developed any power of resistance. After 
these green cuttings have been made (and perhaps you 
will be wise to select geranium or coleus cuttings for 
your first experiment), they should be set firmly in sand, 
and kept moist enough to prevent MS and protected 
from the sun for a week or so. _ 

In making cuttings use a sharp knife. Plant them 
as soon as made. Keep their heads cool and their feet 
warm; that is to say, the ground ought to be warmer than 
the air. The object of this is to coax roots to develop 


before tops. Covering cuttings with tumblers or mason 
jars retains moisture and protects the cuttings. 


“ap 


—A_— 
GRAFTING. 

The usual method of propagating our fruit trees and 
even many of those trees which we plant solely for orna- 
ment is by grafting. Grafting is the joining of a certain 
part of one plant to some portion of another plant in such 
a way that their cambium layers unite. For example, if 
we are propagating the apple, young plants (seedlings) 
are grown, the roots of which are used as the stock or 
base. To this stock we unite a part of a twig (here called 
cion) which is taken from a tree of that variety which we 
wish to multiply. The stock may be one year old, and 
is dug in the fall after the leaves have fallen, and packed 
away in a very cool cellar and prevented from drying out 
by a covering of moss or sand. In January and Febru- 
ary, the months in which grafting is usually done, these 
young seedlings are cut off at the crown and the roots 
divided into pieces three or four inches long. (The crown 
of these seedlings is the part where the stem issues from 
the surface of the ground.) These pieces of root should 
be joined to the cion in the manner described later. 


* The cion is a portion of a twig four or five inches 
long and containing two or three buds. These twigs are 
cut from the trees in the fall or winter months. before 
hard freezing weather sets in, and may be stored in a 
cool cellar in the same way as the stocks. There are many. 
ways of joining the cion to the stock but most nursery- - 
men prefer the method called whip ° grafting. A long, 
slanting cut is made on the stock and a corresponding 
one on the cion. Each of these cut surfaces is split so 
that in putting the two together they are a little dove- 
tailed. In making this union care should be taken that 
_the inner bark of the stock and cion unite on one side at 


least and they should be held in this position by a band- 


FEB 11 1903 
— 

age. No. 18 knitting cotton soaked in melted beeswax 
is excellent for tying together these two pieces. It is 
not necessary that the entire cut surface should be cov- 
ered with the wrapping material. After the operation of 
grafting is over, these little grafts may be packed 
away in sand, kept a trifle moist. When the time 
comes for planting out in the spring it will be found 
that the stock and cion have grown together or united 
slightly. The ground which is to receive these grafts 
must be moderately rich and well fined. The entire 
stock and the greater portion of the cion should be cov- 
ered with soil and this well firmed around the plant. In 
a short time there will be a little tree of the same variety 
as the tree from which the twig or cion was taken. Ifwe 
had planted the seed from this tree instead of grafting its 
twigs, the young plants would probably have been unlike 
the parent plant. If we had planted the twigs directly 
in the ground instead of attaching them to stocks, we 
would find that they would not readily grow roots. This 
is why we resort to graftage instead of cuttings when 
propagating fruit trees. ; 


& 
NOTES TO THE TEACHER. 

1. Assist the pupil in discovering as many specimens of the an- 
nual, biennial and perennial types of plants as are to be found in 
the neighborhood. 

2. Explain to the pupil what is meant by the cambium: layer, 
using twigs from fruit trees. 

3. Take a shoot from the grape vine and show what is meant 
by a node and an internode. 

4. See that the terms stock and cion are clearly understood. 

5. Assist the pupils in making some whip grafts. When each 
pupil has had practice in making a number of these, store away 
the grafts according to directions and set them out in the spring. 
Have the pupils make careful notes of the condition of the grafts 
before storing, at the time of planting and at least once each- 
month after growth commences. 


eee OT UDY OF HORTICULTURE. 


BY J. C. BLAIR, 
Professor of Pomology and Chief in Horticulture, University of Tlishois: 


ISSUED MONTHLY. 25 CENTS A YEAR. 
One cent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 
LIBRARY OF : C. M. PARKER, Taylorville, II1l. 


WHOLE No. 30. 


synghnt Entry 


Nah \o%n: THE SCHOOL GARDEN. 

. fee ‘““The garden is Nature’s best school.”’ 

A\o ip at is a new thing to think about, isn’t it? A 
school garden! One might almost believe that we are 
going to talk about German schools where school gardens 
are no novelty. But here in IJlinois it will be an unusual 
sight—this school garden—yet there are going to be 
many of them in the course of a year or two;such a num- 
ber that we almost dare to hope there may be ‘‘enough 
to go round’ so that every schoolhouse shall have its 
garden plot just as every homestead does. The best way 
to bring this about will be to make the garden you under- 
take in your district a success. Its fame will spread to 
the next township and next year there will be a garden 
over there possibly as good as your own, and so the 
gardening interest will spread wider and grow deeper 
until Illinois pupils and teachers will wonder why they 
didn’t think of gardens long ago. They may be the 
means of increasing attendance, studiousness, and many 
other school virtues which sometimes are in danger of 
being forgotten when daily tasks become lifeless and 
uninteresting. 

It seems strange to be thinking and writing of gar- 
dens when all out doors is covered with a thick blanket 
ofsnow. For almost two months yet there will be blustery 
weather when one’s teeth would chatter at the mere 

_ thought of working in a garden. But gardens to be a 


a 

success must be planned for and laid out on paper or in 
the mind long before the actual work of seed time begins. 
One must determine where the garden is to be, what will 
grow best in that soil, where and in what amounts the 
seeds are to be bought, what treatment the soil must re- 
ceive from start to finish. The tools must be selected 
and put in working order, and not before all of these 
things are more or less thought out, should the ground 
be broken for the garden that is to be. 


THE GARDEN SPOT. 


Many people really believe that almost any place will 
do for a garden, and it is a pleasant fact that with care 
plants can be coaxed to grow in the most unpromising 
spots. Still when preparing to test, for the first time, 
one’s skill as a gardener, it is safest to argue that the best 

lace on the farm is none too good for the garden. Nor 
is it an indication of the wise farmer when we find the 
home garden in some out of the way corner where per- 
haps nothing else could be planted with success. So 
when there are several places from which to select the 
ideal garden site, it is well to remember that an eastern 
or southern exposure is best; that is with a slope facing 
either of these points of the compass. This land should 
be well drained; and a rich and somewhat sandy soil 
should be selected if the best results are to be expected. 
With the school garden, however, one’s choice is neces- 
sarily somewhat limited, as the lot surrounding the school- 
house is small and no choice of location is left to the 
young gardeners. They must take whatever space they 
can find unoccupied or shaded by buildings and trees and 
make the best of it. Let us suppose then that the teacher 
and pupils know just what part of the school premises 
is at their disposal for gardening purposes, and in order 


to have some definite peg 
on which to hang our les- 
son suggestions, we will 
limit the garden space to 
ten by forty feet. A long, 
narrow strip is best suited 
to most school grounds 
and may be placed near 
the fence or on the border 
of the play ground. The 


accompanying garden. 


plan may help in laying 
out your school garden. 
The location being select- 
ed, the next thing in or- 
der is to decide just what 
to plant. 

WHAT TO PLANT. 


Since these little gar- 
dening hints will find 
their way to school in both 
Northern and Southern 
Illinois, probably into 
each of the many counties 
of the State, it is not to 
be expected that the varie- 
ties which are mentioned 
in this lesson are in every 


case the very best that 


could be selected for each 
particular garden. You 
Must use your eyes and 
_ your questioning powers 


: WEST 
| | 2 Rows High Sweet Peas 
=~ 4 
oS 
= Ss. 
: | 2 Rows Bush Sweet Peas = 
> = 
a 
Y | | 2 Rows Dwarf Sweet Peas 
ares 
Ge: 
ae Bee 
= ! 2 Rows China Asters Q 
Eye 3 |. 
sg | Ss 
a : 2 Rows Balsams = 
os a 
ae Shirley Poppies = 
‘<i i California Poppies = 
(nel 2 
eo 1 | 
= S 2 Rows Petunias 
O . 
rz ‘ 
Sy = 2 Rows Dwarf Nasturtiums 5 
a 3 
mo a 
Fiat 2 Rows Phlox Drummondi = 
> 
w 
—_:} | Dwarf Zinnias 
= : Onion Sets 
age Se 
>< ? nion gee s 
a Lettuce | 5 
re} 
— | | Potatoes : 
: | Radishes = 
= w 
She _Tomatoes 
: 
* | Sunflowers 
eT 


HLYON 


a 

and find out for yourselves just what varieties are best 
suited to your own locality. The list given here is only 
intended to suggest some plants which are the commonest 
and earliest of culture among our annuals. You have 
learned in an earlier lesson what an annual is, but it will 
make an interesting chapter in your garden note books if 
you will devote a few pages to these friends who come 
and stay through the whole summer season with us and 
then die. Make up a list of all the annuals you meet 
during this coming spring and summer and record some- 
thing of the manner of their growth, the appearance of 
their foliage, and all you can learn about the way in which 
their seed is borne. You will feel on much friendlier 
terms with these garden people if you know something 
about their home life. Try it and see. When a seed 
catalogue is picked up there is such a wealth of pretty 
things from which to select that one is a little dazed and 
not quite sure whether or not he wants anything at all if 
he cannot have all. So for a first garden it is best to 
cling to the old friends and to hunt them up in the best 
catalogues you can secure. A list of several reliable 
seedsmen is given on the last page. There are so many 
first-class catalogues issued that the list was restricted 
to only five names. Senda postal card to each of these 
five at least and ask them to send you their 1903 cata- 
logue. This they will gladly do without expense of 
postage. 

Sweet peas, petunias, phlox, nasturtiums, asters and 
balsams are all old friends of your mother and she will 
gladly tell you about these annuals and how to grow 
them. New varieties of these are put out each year and 
each year finds them more beautiful than ever before, so 
a word as to some of the new varieties of these old favor- 


| —i5— 
ites. Of the sweet peas you will want to include the tall, 
bush and dwarf varieties. Not so much because of a dif- 
ference in the flower itself, but as an illustration of the 
different form in which these grow. 


LIST OF SWEET PEAS. 


NAME. COLOR. 
fermene Perry, extra carly. Pink and white. 
Rereer Me MeESPNIGE ge Pure white. 
Moneny Tennant.-2- 2.2 Haat J ae Rosy heliotrope. 
(EE ee ae ee White with scarlet stripes. 
a a kee es. Deep indigo blue. 
750 | Lois SS ee aa eee Gene ere Scarlet (dwarf). 


Blanche Ferry and Blanche Burpee may be secured 
in tall, bush or dwarf variety as desired. Sweet pea seeds 
should be put to bed in the garden at the earliest possible 
moment after the frost is out of the ground. 


Nasturtiums, like sweet peas, delight to climb high 
or keep close to the ground, according as the tall or dwarf 
varieties are chosen for planting. For the border fence 
climbers the tall varieties of the desired colors should be 
selected. For bedding in rows the dwarf varieties should 
be chosen. Almost any of the varieties will prove satis- 
factory if selected from a reliable catalogue. They do 
well on even a poor soil. If too much plant food is pro- 
vided, you will find plenty of nasturtium foliage but your 
plants will be too fat and lazy to produce flowers. 


Of the other flowering plants for your garden you 
will be safe in selecting varieties according to the colors - 
you desire, with what help the catalogues give you, for 
the seedsman usually gives warning whenever certain 
varieties are less satisfactory than others. 

The vegetables also may be selected from the cata- 
logues with the aid of suggestions from some one in your 
own locality who has had experience in gardening. 


HGee 
PREPARING THE SOIL AND PLANTING THE SEED. 

As early in the spring as the soil can be worked 
without sticking to the spade, dig up the area laid out for 
the garden, taking care to remove all grass roots and 
weeds. Around the border of the garden run the spade 
down deeply so as to cut off all grass and other roots. 
Repeat this operation at intervals of one or two weeks 
during the season so as to prevent the grass roots from run- 
ning in under the bed and robbing the flowers of moisture. © 
When the spading can be done in the fall, so as to allow 
the freezing and thawing to mellow the soil, very much 
will be gained. The amount of moisture which the soil 
can hold for the crops will depend largely on this first 
preparation of it. The finer and more mellow the soil, 
the greater the amount of water it can hold. It is import- 
ant therefore, before the seeds are planted, that the ground 
be deeply worked with a spading fork. If the ground to 
be planted is of a sandy nature or of a heavy clay char- 
acter, some decayed organic matter such as leaf mold or 
well-rotted manure should be worked into the soil. 
Rake down the surface until all the lumps are pulverized 
and a smooth seed bed secured. 


A fence board eight feet long may be used for mark- 
ing off the rows, which must be straight. On one edge 
of this board you may cut notches eighteen inches apart 
for convenience in laying off rows the right distance apart, 
as indicated in the garden plan. 

Follow the directions given by the seedsman on each 
package both as to time and manner of planting the 
flower seeds. These directions are usually correct and 
are complete enough to meet your needs, since space is 
lacking here for complete suggestions. In planting sweet 
peas, hollow out the row two or three inches so that plenty 


™ 
en 


ee 


} eae 
of moisture will be kept at close hand. Cover up 
the little seeds with an inch thick blanket of earth, 
after pressing them down firmly, and let them alone, 
merely raking over the surface now and then. The 
ground should be shaded if possible. A light sprinkling 


_of straw or leaves over the rows may serve this purpose. 


This beautiful vine likes a very cool bed and often dis- 
appoints the gardener by shriveling up when hot weather 
comes if the ground is not protected from extreme heat in 
some way. Where the tall sweet pea refuses to grow be- 
cause of the heat, the bush sweet pea may take its place, 
for it has so many fibrous roots that it can find nourish- 
ment long after the tall sweet pea will die of thirst. The 
dainty bright little faces of the Cupid sweet peas first 
peeped out in the light of California sunshine. These 
_ dwarfs are never more than five or six inches high and 
have flower stems a trifle too short for the ordinary vase, 
but they are very beautiful for borders or window boxes, 
with a mat of foliage that keeps the ground moist. Ina 
very damp climate this very mat of foliage that is such a 
protection in a dry soil, may hold too much moisture and 
mildew. 


As with most annual plants, care must be taken not 
to let seeds develop too early or the blooming of your 
sweet peas will soon be at anend. Whena plant begins 
its work of maturing seed for another generation of 
plants, it gives up the labor of producing new flower buds. 

Long before the flower seeds are planted—say about 
the middle of March—tomato seeds should be sown in 
fine soil in a wooden box which is three or four inches 
deep, to be kept on the window sill in the schoolroom. | 
The small plants should be thinned out soon after they 
_ germinate, otherwise they will crowd each other and 
spindling plants will result. After they have made their 
second leaves you must again thin them or transplant 
some into another box. In May they may be set in their 
‘own place in the garden. Care must be taken in trans- 
planting. As large a ball of earth as is possible should 
_ be taken up with the plant. They should be set out late 


MAR 27 19 


8) Gee 
in the day, say after school, and should be shaded for a 
day or two from bright sun, so that they will not wilt. 

You probably know that potato vines are multiplied 
by planting—not seed (excepting where new varieties are 
wanted )—but pieces of the potato tuber itself. cut so that 
an eye or bud is left on a piece of the potato. The 
planting of the potato should not be made before the 
first of June if you wish to study them during the fall 
term of school. Late varieties should be selected for this 
June planting. It would be well, however, to include a 
few hills of early varieties, such as the “early rose” 
which should be planted as soon as the ground could be 
worked and which would give additional material for 
study in the early spring. “At about four inches deep 
they will do best as they may creep out on top of the 
ground if planted too shallow, and if too deep you will 
find it discouraging work to dig up your crop. In actual 
garden practice potato rows should be three feet apart, 
but in your small garden crowding a little was necessary. 
It was an old garden custom to “hill up’ ' potatoes—that 
is make a mound around each plant—but this is not 
economy of time and labor nor is it necessary if the plant- 
ing was made deep enough. 

Keep down the weeds and keep in the moisture by 
using your hoe and rake lightly all through the growing 
season. Do not water your garden. It will not thank 
you for this mistaken kindness. You can give it a more 
constant supply of moisture by cultivating it well. 

The next lesson will contain additional suggestions 
regarding the school garden. 

Insist on haying Bailey’s “Garden Making” or 
“Vegetable Gardening’, by Samuel B. Green. These 
will give you much help in arranging the home garden 
which you wil] want to have next year. 


LIST OF CATALOGUES. 


J.M.. Thorburn. & Go. ,, New: York,.N..¥. 

Peter Henderson & Co, 36 Cortlandt street, New York, N. Y. 
J. C. Vaughan, 84 Randolph street, Chicago, Til. 

Henry A. Dreer, 714 Chestnut street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

W. W. Barnard & Co., 161 E. Kinzie street, Chicago, Ill. 


THE STUDY OF HORTICULTURE. 


BY J. C. BLAIR, 


= LjpRam@tekesspr of Pomology and Chief in Horticulture, University of Illinois. 
CONGRESS, ess Tee Leese Poe: Ss 
Copies ASSWED MONTHLY. 25 CENTS A YEAR. 


fe cent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 
PR 4 1902 C. M. PARKER, Taylorville, I1]. . 


opyyight Entr 
4° HEARD SERIES, No. 7. WHOLE No. 31. 
Y AS\ lL, TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS, Marcu, 1903. 

cory &—— 


THE PLANTING OF SCHOOL GROUNDS. 


‘“There are two objects to be attained in the planting of school 
grounds—the making of a picture and the raising of plants for 
study.— Country Life. 


I have dared to hope that you have been sufficiently 
interested in the work suggested in the past lessons to 
make your preparation for this year’s Arbor Day a little 
better than ever before. I know, of course, that you have 
not neglected planting something or other each year by 
way of celebrating this only holiday in which horticul- 
ture has a full showing, but it isas necessary to make defi- 
nite plans for the planting of trees and other ornamental 
plants as it was to plan the school garden. That is why this 
lesson follows the one on “The School Garden’. You will 
remember that another lesson on the garden was to follow 
the last one, but in that way our Arbor Day plans were 
going to be too late for use this year, so it was deemed 
best to postpone the second garden lesson a month. 

MAKING THE PLAN. 

I do not know just what plans you have carried out 
on other Arbor Days. Perhaps in some schools they 
were like that one of which I heard the other day. The 
teacher told me about it in order to show me just what 
could be accomplished in an emergency. It was fourteen 
years ago that she began a spring term of school, just two 
days before the first celebration of Arbor Day was to take 
place in that district. A letter received from the super- 


be Ars 
intendent during the first day, informed her that Arbor 
Day had been proclaimed and that a planting of some- 
thing or other must be made. There were fourteen pu- 
pils and to them the letter was read. By way of response 


eleven infant trees, ranging from six inches to two feet in 


height, were brought the next day and planted in the 
small school ground where a woodpile was the only eyvi- 
dence that such things as trees existed. The teacher 
knew nothing about tree planting, but some holes were 
dug in a row along the fence, and as if to encourage the 
further observance of Arbor Day, eight of the trees actu- 
ally grew. In about such a haphazard fashion as that 
many of our school grounds have been planted; neither 
teacher nor pupils knowing the laws governing such 
plantings. 

This is why a plan carefully drawn beforehand seems 
to be the surest way of getting just the result one desires. 
Now I am not going to give you any sample plan for you 
to copy or work from. What I wish you to do after 
carefully going over this lesson with your teacher is this: 
Take a sheet of paper and make a map of your school 
yard. Then by little dots show just where you think a 
tree, shrub or vine would look its best and make the 
grounds most attractive. On the lower margin of your 
paper write a list of those plants which you think youcan 
furnish toward carrying out this plan. Your teacher 
might then examine all the plans and have several of the 
best put upon the blackboard for general discussion. 
The plan fully decided upon will probably not be the 
work of any one pupil, but will be made up of the good 
features of several plans. Then the list of plants needed 
should be carefully gone over and assigned to different 
pupils to bring in. This assignment of course should be 


=e 


me 


a a | 
made from the list which the pupils have offered and in 
this way the material can be secured with almost no ex- 
pense to any one. 


WHERE TO PLANT. 

After the plan of the school yard has been drawn 
upon the blackboard—the next step is to decide just how 
far the plans already made on paper can be carried out in 
order that all the best views both in the yard and at a 
distance may be kept in sight and all the ugly things 
hidden by a mass of foliage. 

Your school house’ itself is or should be the best 
feature in the yard, so do not plant anything directly in 
front of it or scattered about the lawn, for in the school 
yard of all places, one law of landscape gardening should 
be kept. This is the law: Keep the center of the lawn 
free from planting, even of flowers, and place trees and 
shrubs along the border of the grounds. You must re- 
member that just as a room would look cluttered if too 
much filled with furniture, so a lawn will be made untidy 
or spotty looking if too much lawn furniture such as 
bushes and trees are used. 

In a school yard there is still another reason for not 
doing too much planting of a scattered sort and it is a 
reason I am sure you will appreciate. Who likes to play 
ball or blind-man’s buff among a network of tree trunks? 

Place some smaller shrubs along the foundation of 
the school house, if the soil is of a fair quality, and the 
water from the eaves will not drown out the plants, 

At the rear of the school house and at that side from 
which the severest winds come, place along the fence the 
largest growing trees—elms, maples, etc. Remember 
not to crowd. Thirty-five feet apart is none too much 
for elms when mature and you hope that the ones you 


ie ee 
plant will live to grow up, so give them plenty of room. 
In a small school yard, you will not find it possible to 
group the trees; better plant them in a row along the 
rear and side fence and along the street at the front. 
The beautiful effect obtained by irregular grouping, you 
must make with the larger shrubs, and not too many of 
them for you will constantly bear in mind that the play- 
ground is none too large at best. The lilacs, sumachs, 
snowballs, syringas, etc., may be planted about five feet 
apart in the group, putting the higher growing ones such 
as the lilacs and sumachs at the rear and lower ones in 
front. 

WHAT WILL YOU PLANT? 

First of all, do not ask the nurseryman for anything 
this year. See what you can do with familiar material at 
hand and later on when your success is apparent send for 
a few choice trees or shrubs. | 

I do not know in what section of the state yourschool 
house may stand, and so I cannot tell you to take this or 
that particular tree, shrub or vine, but I can say this: 
On your father’s farm or in the woodlands you may per- 
haps find as much material and fully as beautiful as that 
often secured from the nursery. Perhaps you haven't 
had your eyes opened to the beauty of the simple things 
about you. If so begin at once to hunt forthem. There 
are wild vines whose flowers would be counted beautiful 
if they grew in your mother’s garden, and not in your 
father’s corn field. The wild morning glory is a good 
example of this. There are trees and shrubs in the wood- 
lot and along the creek that would grace the most beau- 
tiful lawn if rightly placed. This then is the idea, touse 
what lies next your hand, and by skillful arrangement 
bring out its particularly beautiful features. You may 


PR 


= ; 

not succeed at this with the first trial. Few do, but you 
will be growing familiar with the plants in your neigh- 
borhood, learning their best points and how to make the 
most of them. There is another thing in favor of using 
your native plants and that is that they are accustomed 
to your locality and will usually do better than strangers 
brought in from other and different soils and climate. 
But it must be remembered that there is often one serious 
obstacle to the use of native grown trees and shrubs. 
They usually grow in the forest or thicket and conse- 
quently are long and spindling, unused to sun and wind 
and difficult to transplant since they have few fibrous 
roots. Nursery grown trees usually have an abundance 
of fibrous roots, have stems used to sun and exposure and 
have clean straight bodies and so are more likely to give 
satisfaction. | | 


Perhaps the first thing you should decide upon when 
making up your list of things to plant is this—Are you 
planting for your own pleasure only, or as well for that 
of the classes who will come after you? If you are 
planting for the present only, you would better confine 
all your work to the school garden, or at the most, put in 
a border of annuals or some quick-growing shrubs here 
and there. However, if you wish the school grounds to 
be pleasing year after year you will do best to plant no 
annuals except in the garden proper, and elsewhere put — 
trees and shrubs that will be a delight as long as they 
continue in their places (provided they are well treated 
and remain in a healthy condition). At this point it is 
well to remember that only the sturdiest and best formed 
trees and shrubs should be selected for transplanting into 
your school yard. A weakly, bent young tree will never 
make a desirable, mature specimen. It is well, too, to 


ai 
select young trees as large as you have means to move, 
for these seem to suffer less from the change and will re- 
ward you sooner for your labor. One tree from ten to 
fifteen feet high with good root system, will be more 
satisfactory than two or three not more than five or six 
feet high. As to the varieties of trees you should plant, 
you must be governed, as was noted before, by what 
available material the neighboring fields or home nursery 
affords. It is safe to assume that you can find some 
splendid young plants that will make most desirable 
members of your tree groups. There are many varieties 
to select from, but you will be governed by what appears 
sturdiest in your locality. 

Your neighboring woods will probably offer walnut, 
hickory, elm, oaks. maples and locust—any or all of which 
are worthy of a place on the school grounds, if there is 
room for so many large growing varieties. 

Next for us to consider after the trees, are the shrubs, 
without which our lawns would seem very barren. They 
fill up empty places along the foundation wall, the fence 
and before unsightly outbuildings. It may at first 
thought occur to you that they are too small for a school 
yard, and this may be true of some of the smaller grow- 
ing or dwarf shrubs, but there are many which will prove 
most useful and beautiful additions to your list of plant 
friends. 

I feel sure that you will be surprised when I tell you 
that the elderberry bushes, as many people call them, 
really the American elder, will be among the finest of 
shrubs for your school yard, while purple and white 
lilacs, sumachs, snowballs, black currants, and even the 
smaller growing currant bushes are not to be scorned. 
You will see that I have not mentioned one unfamiliar 


) oo 3 
name in the little company of shrubs, and yet I doubt 
whether some of them would have been remembered by 
you as desirable for the school yard lawn. 

If you really wish something a little less familiar— 
although old friends are the best—then get that one of 
the spireas known as Bridal Wreath. It is able to endure 
the cold, it will cover itself with bloom and be always 
graceful and beautiful whether in flower or leaf only. 
The Japan Quince is another pleasant acquaintance to 
make, whose branches in early spring are brilliant with 
scarlet flowers. Along the fence what could be more 
beautiful than several wild rose bushes? There are some 
hardy roses, such as the old-fashioned yellow rose and the 
June roses of our grandmothers’ days, all of which would 
make the border planting a delight to the eye in early 
springtime. 

If there is a dead tree on the school premises—don’t 
grumble at it or have it taken away before Arbor Day 
unless it is far enough gone to decay to be in danger of 
falling. If sound enough to stand high winds, plant at 
its base a wild honeysuckle, bittersweet or trumpet-creeper 
or even the five-leaved ivy, if the others are not to be 
secured in time for this year’s planting. These vines are 
all hardy and once planted will soon cover the old trunk 
with a foliage more beautiful than its own was. 


HOW TO PLANT. 

In transplanting a tree or shrub as much of the root 
system as possible should be left with the plant. It is 
just as important to spare the fibrous roots as the larger 
ones. ‘T’hese gather plant food for the tree while the 
chief purpose of the other roots is to hold the plant firmly 
in place. It has been proven by examination of many 
_ young trees that there is a sort of balance between root 


= 

and branch growth; that is that the size of the root sys- 
tem is about equal to that of the tree top. Now it would 
be impossible in most cases to take up as large a growth 
of roots as the top, so the right thing to do is to prune 
the young tree carefully until it is of a size easily 
manageable and then dig far enough away from the base 
of the trunk to insure saving an equal amount of root 
growth. In this way the roots will not be overworked in 
an attempt to nourish too large an upper growth. The 
same is true of shrubs and vines. Be careful while tak- 
ing up the plants that the roots are not allowed to dry 
out or be much exposed to sun and wind. 


Dig a hole deep enough to allow the plant to stand 
as deep as it formerly grew and broad enough so that the 
roots may be spread out naturally just as they were when 
taken up. If any roots have been badly broken during 
the process of digging they should be cut back to a smooth 
surface with a sharp knife. Once in its place, each root 
should be carefully surrounded by earth so that no hol- 
low spaces are left. Scatter the fine soil over the roots 
and press it down little by little until you are perfectly 
sure that every root has its own covering of earth and is 
firmly in place. After the roots are covered, tramp the 
soil down firmly with the feet and continue this until the 
hole is filled up. In nature you will notice that even 
very young trees are held with such firmness by the soil 
that it is almost impossible to pull them up. Do not al- 
low weeds to spring up about the newly set trees. These 
trees should have no rivals to deprive them of any por- 
tion of their food and water supply. It is well, too, to 
rake the soil frequently in order to keep in the moisture 
with a dust mulch. This principle was explained in an 
early lesson. 


THE STUDY OF HORTICULTURE. 


BY J. C. BLAIR, 
Professor of Pomology and Chief in Horticulture, University of Illinois. 


ISSUED MONTHLY. 25 CENTS A YEAR. 
One cent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 


Bran or : C. M. PARKER, Taylorville, I11. 


= “THIRD Seriss, No. 8. WHOLE No. 32. 
aes Receive TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS, APRIL, 1903. 


ym. - THE SCHOOL GARDEN. 

XXe, at (Continuation of Lesson 6.) 

OPy aM |After the seeds have been planted and school gar- 
deners are waiting for the young plants to push their way 
up to the light, teacher and pupils will still find much to 
interest them in the soil. The suggestions given in the 
November lesson were only to point out the paths which 
might be followed if you cared to find out some of the 
secrets of the soil. Once started soil experiments and 
investigations prove so fascinating that you will be con- 
stantly on the alert for something to add to your note- 
book story of the soil. Take soil in hand instead of a 
text-book and discuss its uses, texture, treatment; get at 
the meaning of such terms as soil atmosphere, soil mois- 
ture, etc. Study one by one Bailey’s reasons for tillage 
as quoted in the December lesson. Ask yourselves how 
tillage can increase the ability of the soil to retain mois- 
ture, how it can check evaporation. Read carefully Pro- 
fessor KH. G. Howe’s article in the May ScHoout NEws en- » 
titled ‘Watering the Garden With a Rake”. This sur- 
face working of the soil for the purpose of keeping the 
moisture from escaping is one of the most important les- 
sons to be learned in connection with our garden. How- 
ever do not take any writer’s say so but try for yourself 
and see how your plants will behave if the ground is left 
hard and. unworked, as compared with others growing in 
well worked soil. 


a 

Since Professor Howe’s article on cultivating the 
garden is to be found elsewhere in this issue of THE 
ScHooL News, you will refer to that when in doubt as to 
the treatment your school garden soil requires. Remem- 
ber that the great part of plant substance is water which 
carries all other plant food in solution up through the 
plant system. Think how helpless the plants would be 
in obtaining food if the soil should be thoroughly dried 
out. In order to avoid this drying out do not use a water- 
ing can but take a rake and follow the new plan for 
watering gardens. 


If you wish to test the value of sunlight to your gar- 
den, take a cigar box and cover a small portion of your 
lettuce row after the seeds have germinated. Hxamine 
the young plants underneath from day to day and com- 
pare them with the ones having the benefit of the sun- 
shine. 

LIFE STRUGGLE OF PLANTS. 


If you have sown your lettuce seed very close you 
will have a crowded colony of lettuce plants each one 
struggling for its share of sunlight, food, moisture and 
room. Look elsewhere than in your garden rows for evi- 
dences of this same struggle for a chance to live. Hxam- 
ine a spruce or pine tree and find out what happens to the 
small inner branches. When walking through dense 
woods stop for a littie while and examine some of the 
seedlings which are crowded very close together. Notice 
their shape. Are the branches widespreading? Explain 
their direction of growth and notice where their leaves 
are borne. Do not cease to think about this life struggle 
which plants carry on until you have found for yourselves 
illustrations of this and have recorded them in your note 
book, nor until you have come to realize that this strug- 


es 
gle for a chance to live among the things of nature is only 
a type of the same struggle which goes on among animal 
life and mankind as well. Professor Bailey says of this 
condition of life that ‘‘Those variations or kinds live which 
are best fitted to live under the particular conditions”. 
Herbert Spencer, the great scientist called this struggle 
for existence ‘“‘survival of the fittest’. You will hear this 
phrase quoted very often and if it has heretofore not 
meant much to you, it will be very clear after you have 
watched your little garden plants in their efforts to get 
room enough and sufficient food, or after you have seen 
how the branches and even the leaves of the same tree 
have the same hard fight for a good foothold and plenty 
of breathing space. The strong will survive and the weak 
will be pushed aside and will finally give up thestruggle. 


RECORDING CHANGES. 


When the young plants send up their first leaves, 
make a drawing in your garden note book of one plant of 
each variety. Record the number of seed leaves. You 
will have a drawing as a record of the leaf form of these 
first leaves and later on when other leaves develop make 
a second drawing and compare the shape of these later 
leaves with the first ones that appeared. Also compare 
frequently the first or seed leaves of the various varieties _ 
you have planted so that you can recognize at first glance 
a lettuce, radish, or other tiny plant. | 

It will be interesting to keep a record of various 
changes which your growing plants make, as for example, 
_ the increase in foliage, height of the plant taken at weekly 
intervals; texture of leaves as compared with the first 
leaves. Keep a careful watch for any insects that seem 
to be taking too much interest in your garden. The 
plants selected for this year’s work, with the exception of 


i 

the potato, are not particularly troubled _by insects. With 
the gay little stripes of the potato bug you are probably 
already familiar and since you have so few plants for the 
bug to attack, it will be the simplest way out of the bat- 
tle with them if you catch and kill them as fast as they 
appear. Were you gardening ona larger scale, the quick- 
est cure for potato bugs is to apply Paris green solution 
about one-half pound to 50 gallons of water. 


SWEET PEAS. 


When your high sweet peas stretch up six inches 
more it will be time to put in fine, but strong, brush be- 
hind each row so that the vines may have some support as 
they lengthen. The best way is to plant in a double row, 
say eight or ten inches apart, and put the brush between. 
If you prefer, drive in a five-foot stake at each end of the 
row and another in the middle, as the row is rather long. 
Nail a slat on the upper end of these stakes and another 
down near the surface of the ground. Then put shingle 
nails in each slat and weave strong twine up and down for 
the vines to cling to. The bush peas will need no sup- 
port. Be sure to keep all flowers picked before they be- 
gin to ripen seed, for, as was told you in the first garden 
lesson, when a plant begins to mature seed it soon ceases 
to bloom. I wonder if you care to know in what country 
the sweet pea was first found? Italy is its own native 
country, but some seeds were brought to England about 
two hundred years ago, and ever since that time it has 
been a favorite in the home flower garden. 


THE STUDY OF CLIMBERS. 


A most interesting series of observations are sug- 
gested by that row of climbing sweet peas. Suppose 
we watch these vines as they mount higher and higher 


— 
and see how they do it. Compare their way of getting 
where they want to go with that of climbing nastur- 
tiums, the moon vines, morning glories and balloon 
vines, or whatever vines you can find in your neighbor- 
hood. Do you suppose they all have the same way 
of climbing? There are, as you know, several ways 
by which plants climb. Some vines throw out roots 
which hold on firmly to walls or the bark of trees. 
Poison ivy, English ivy and the trumpet creeper send 
out such clinging roots. Others, as the grape vine, 
are held up to their support by tendrils. What other 
vines have tendrils? Are the tendrils of different vines 
alike in the manner of growth? Does the tendril coil in 
one way through its whole length? Do leaflets ever serve 
as tendrils? Examine some of your vines and see. One 
or two of your vines will wind round and round whatever 
they climb upon. Such vines are known as twiners. A 
plant or vine which simply spreads upon another plant 
without having any means of clinging fast is known com- 
monly asascrambler. You will probably not have any 
such vines near your school house unless you chance to 
have a bittersweet in the wood near by. A few blackber- 
ries climb in this way. 
BLOSSOM AND SEED. 


As your plants bloom study the shape and parts of 
the flower and make drawings of them. Try to find other 
flowers of the same or similar shape. When your China 
asters bloom compare the flowers with dandelion blos- 
soms. See if there is any similarity. Examine what is 
commonly called a dandelion flower and see if it is really 
a single flower or a bunch of them. 

In the fall when you allow some of the flowers to 
ripen seed, in order that you may collect them for the - 


Be nas 
winter study of seeds, the different forms of seed recep- 
tacles will be an interesting study. Perhaps the one that 
will seem the most curious to you is the balsam or “touch- 
me-not.’’ When the balsam seed pods ripen, gather some 
and see if you can find out why they have been given the 
name ‘“touch-me-not.”” The action of the balsam seed 
pods may start many a talk on the manner in which dif- 
ferent seeds are expelled from their covering. The seeds 
of some kinds of plants are thrown two or three feet from 
the plant. The word dehiscence is used to describe the 
opening of the pod for the escape of the seed. Examine 
the fully ripened pods of many different plants to see the 
manner in which their seed is freed from its receptacle. 


Some plants are said to sleep. Have you ever seen 
one asleep? Does it mean what it does when we say an 
animal sleeps? Ask your teacher to accompany the pu- 
pils to the school garden some night. You will then see 
that some of your flowers doze at night, while others take 
that time to open. California poppies always doze at 
night, while moon flowers never open until the sunshine 
has gone. What do you know about the plant which is 
called the four o’olock? Just what it is that causes this 
strange action of some of the plants has never been set- 
tled by botanists. 


While making records of the leaf shapes, textures, 
etc., do not fail to handle the leaves of the different plants 
in your garden. Some will be velvety smooth, others 
rough and disagreeable. One of the old-fashioned flower- 
ing plants in your garden has clammy, sticky-feeling 
leaves. Which is it? You will probably have to keep 
this question in mind until later in the season. But do 
not forget to find out which plant it is. 

The peculiar shape of the calyx of the nasturtium will 


ENS 
See 


we Aes 
lead you to examine other flowers to see if there is great 
variation in calyx forms. 


OTHER STUDIES. 


What can you find out about the evolution of the to- 
mato? In our grandmothers’ days they were grown as 
garden curiosities and commonly considered poisonous. 
Bailey’s ‘‘Lessons With Plants’’ will give you an account 
of the changes cultivation has made in tomatoes. 


As onions, potatoes, and radishes develop why not 
think of them in some other connection than as merely 
furnishing food material forus? Take up a study of the 
character of their growth first. Would potatoes, radishes 
and onions all be called tubers? If an onion isn’t a tuber, 
what is it? Radishes are called crown tubers, as are all 
tubers which produce leaves and stems at the upper end 
and roots below. What crown tubers can you find in the 
home garden or in the market? Is there any difference 
in the tubers of Irish and sweet potatoes? , 


After you are familiar with the different kinds of 
thickened stems and roots, ask yourselves if they serve 
the plant in any way. An old potato left in the cellar 
will sprout and the potato itself wither away. What did 
the sprout feed upon to give it such a start? What do 
tiny bean and other plants feed upon before they get 
firmly fixed in the soil? May not tubers, bulbs, seeds, 
etc., be storehouses for plant food? Talk this over. Also 
their use in propagating new plants of the same kind. 
How many things that garden has given us to see and 
think about, and yet the work suggested is only a begin- 
ning of it all. One pair of eager eyes will see more 
things to wonder about than many a busy brain could © 
answer. (to out in the garden and learn to see, learn to 


APK 24 1903 


7 er 
question nature about what you have seen, and try to 
solve some of the problems she sets you. 


QUESTIONS 

1. What is meant by the expression “struggle for 
existence’? 

2. Write a two hundred word story of some such 
struggle which you have seen. 

3. Who was Herbert Spencer? Study something of 
his life and writings and of Charles Darwin. 

4. Select some plant and mark it by placing a small 
stick or toothpick near it. Make a drawing of this plant, 
beginning with the first leaves of the plant. Make a 
drawing of the same plant once each week until mature. 
Let each pupil select the plant whose picture history he 
wishes to keep. 

5. Write a brief description of the way in which a 
morning glory climbs. Describe the manner in which a 
grape vine climbs. ~ | 

6. How many kinds of tendrils have you seen? 


AGRICULTURE IN SUPPLEMENTARY READING. 


Prof. Frank H. Hall, one of the most prominent educators and text-book 
writers of Illinois, in an address before the State Farmers’ Institute at 
Bloomington, I1l.,, Feb. 25, 1903, made the following statement: 

‘The teachers and pupils of the public schools should be provided at 
public expense with ‘supplementary reading’ and library volumes that 
have a distinctively agricultural bearing. 

‘For supplementary reading of this kind I most heartily commend the 
little leaflets published by C. M. Parker, of Taylorville. These are— 

The Study of Farm Crops, by Prof. Shamel. 
The Study of Farm Animals, by Dean Davenport. 
The Study of Horticulture, by Prof. Blair. 

“There are thirty-six of these leafiets and they are sold at one cent a 
copy in quantities of ten or more. They were prepared especially for 
school use by the very men upon whom you are calling for work in your 
institutes until they are taxed to the full limit of their strength. 

‘There can be no mistake in putting these leaflets into the hands of 
your children.”’ 


“Ey 


THE STUDY OF/HORTICULTURE. 


BY J. C, BLAIR, 
Professor of oS and Chief in ee University of Illinois. 


ISSUED MONTHLY. | ~ 25 CENTS AYEAR. 


rpparyor “f° cent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 
NGRESS, C. M. PARKER, Taylorville, I11. 

opies Reenter b SERIES, No. 9. WHOLE No. 33. 
| 22 1903 | 

ight Eauy TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS, May, 1903. 

es <p ' PLANT ENEMIES. 


ARG It not infrequently happens that with the best possi- 
ble care and attention children get mumps, whooping 
cough and other contagious diseases which are waiting 
around to catch little folks. So with plants which the 
fruit grower thinks he has given the best of care. Rust 
comes along and covers his blackberries and strawberries; 
bitter rot or scab ruins his apple crop; blight destroys 
his pear trees, and bugs of all sorts attack every plant he 
possesses. 

In the first of this lesson we will talk about a few 
plant diseases, how to know them by the injury done, 
when we see a plant affected in a certain manner. In the 
second part we will become acquainted with a few of the 
insects which attack certain portions of the plant, and in 
the next lesson we take up plant medicines with manner 
and time of giving the doses. 

SOME PLANT DISEASES. 

Have you ever read anything about the diseases of 
fruit trees and other plants? If not, [ am sure you would 
be surprised could you see a book large enough to hold a 
description of them all. When one reads about the many 
things which may happen to prevent the fruit grower 
from having a crop of fruit it almost seems strange that 
he ever has any. Nearly every variety of vine, bush and | 
tree has its diseases and insect enemies and it takes a 


Sy ee 
careful gardener to keep his fruit plantation free from them. 
With suitable location, good soil and the right food, 
plants are much better able to withstand disease than 
those which are starved and poorly placed. But when 
there comes an attack of some fungous disease even the 
best of trees are likely to suffer somewhat. I wonder if 
you are sure of the meaning of the term “fungus”. A 
fungus is a plant having neither leaves nor flowers 
and feeding upon some other organic substance either 
living or dead. Many people a great deal older and wiser 
than you in horticultural affairs know very little about 
the various fungi attacking their plants. You will notice 
that in speaking of more than one such plant we say 
‘fungi’. I wish you would find out for yourselves the 
difference in these three words: fungus, fungous and 
fungi. A fungus is made up of a mass of little cells and 
thread-like tissues. These threads as they develop and 
reach out to absorb nourishment from the substance upon 
which they feed, are called mycelia. A mycelium does 
the same kind of work as the root of a flowering plant. 
These thread-like tissues drink up the sap and in time if 
sufficiently numerous will kill the plant upon which they 
live. 


Let us suppose that in the fruit garden are strawberry 
plants, currant, raspberry and gooseberry bushes, grape 
vines, cherry, plum, apple, peach and pear trees. Yousee 
we are confining this part of the lesson to some of the dis- 
eases of fruit plants only. It would be impossible to de- 
scribe in so short a lesson all of the diseases and insect 
pests of even one of the plants mentioned; but this may 
help you to recognize some of their more common enemies. 

You would think the specialists in plant diseases had 
selected some very unpronounceable names should we use 


Sa 


—3__ 
the terms by which they describe the various plant dis- 
eases. For the greater number there is a common name 
which will answer our purpose just as well. There are 
~ two or three different names for almost every one of the 
different plant diseases. For instance, leaf blight, rust 
or sunburn are names for a strawberry complaint that is 
very common. Small red or purple spots appear here and 
there on the leaves and soon grow larger and browner 
until the whole leaf may be discolored. This disease is 
worse after the fruit has been picked, and you may wonder 
what harm it can do at sucha time. Just as every sick- 
ness makes a person weaker, so every time a plant is affect- 
ed it becomes less able to produce good fruit the next year. 


Sometimes the fruit and leaves of the strawberry plant 
are covered with a whitish cobwebby mildew which curls 
up the leaves as though they had wilted. This affection 
is known as mildew. These two diseases are the ones 
which usually do serious injury to the strawberry planta- 
tion, and you will have little trouble in recognizing either 
one. Right here let me urge you to examine all the or- 
chards and small fruit plantations within reach to see if 
you can find any of the diseases or insects which are de- 
scribed in this lesson. If you happen on anything which 
you are not able to name, either ask the fruit grower or 
send a little piece of the sick plant to the Botanist or 
Horticulturist of the Illinois Experiment Station, Urbana. 


Currant and raspberry bushes and grape vines are at- 
tacked by diseases very different in character and appear- 
ance, but frequently spoken of by the one term—anthrac- 
nose. ‘The anthracnose of currants shows itself in small 
blackish brown spots between the tissues on the upper 
sides of the leaves, which turn yellow and drop in mid- 
summer. On raspberries, blackberries and dewberries — 


———— 

anthracnose first attacks the canes just above the ground, 
the affected parts becoming sunken, with the center gray 
and the rims purple. The disease creeps up rapidly and 
the fruit on diseased canes dries up before ripening. 
The anthracnose or scab of grape vines causes brown spots 
on the leaves and scabby spots on the new growth and the 
fruit. This word—anthracnose—is made up of two Greek 
words meaning “‘coal” and ‘“‘disease,” the dark color of the 
diseased spot suggesting the name. 


Plum and cherry trees seem to have their share of ene- 
mies among fungous diseases and the insect world. Prob- 
ably the most common diseases are black knot and leaf 
blight, or shot hole fungus, so called because the diseased 
spots on the leaves fall out after a time and leave small 
round holes. The black knot of plums and cherries is a 
strange looking disease. arly in the spring a yellowish 
swelling appears here and there along the branches and 
trunk of the tree. This lump continues to darken through- 
out the season until it becomes jet black. It often extends 
four or five inches along the stem the first year and each 
year increases in extent until the branch dies. This dis- 
ease makes the tree very disgusting in appearance and is 
perhaps the most easily recognized of any of the plant 
diseases. 


A most serious fungous disease which attacks cherries, 
plums and peaches is known as brown rot. The fruit and 
very young twigs are attacked by this fungus, and if you 
have never seen a peach so diseased, I am sure you will 
remember haying seen the disease on cherries. Just when 
the fruit is ripening it turns brown and looks as though 
rotted; the next stage is a whitish gray coating of spores. 
A spore, you will remember, answers the same purpose as 
does the seed of a flowering plant, that is, it reproduces 


=a eo 
its kind. Consequently, a cherry, peach or plum covered 
with thousands of these little brown rot spores is able to 
spread this disease broadcast among the fruit. Peach 
trees have a disease known as leaf curl and its name de- 
scribes it so well that little more need be said except that 
the leaves turn yellow and fall so early in the season that 
a new set appears. 

The most serious disease of pear trees, and one which 
also attacks quinces, and some varieties of apples, is known 
as pear blight. ‘This is a bacterial disease entering the 
tree through the blossoms and growing tips and causing 
the leaves to turn brown. They do not, however, fall from 
the tree. 


An entire lesson might well be spent in studying apple 
diseases and insect enemies, but if we are to take time to 
learn anything of the appearance of some of the insect 
pests of the other fruits, we can only describe briefly two 
of the most prevalent diseases of the apple. The most 
destructive disease of this fruit is the apple scab, attack- 
ing both leaves and fruit, and causing dark gray or 
blackish scab-like spots, distorting the leaves and cracking 
the young fruit. Usually both leaves and fruit drop off 
early. It appears when the trees are in bloom and unless 
checked will continue its destructive work throughout the 
early part of the summer. 


Bitter rot is a disease which is most common in the - 
southern states, although it does terrible damage in southern 
Illinois during some seasons. It confines itself to the 
fruit and branches of the tree and does not appear on the 
leaves. It may not be noticed on the fruit until just be- 
fore harvest time, and then the entire crop may be lost in 
a dayortwo. The disease causes light brown patches on 
the surface of the fruit, the center of which is specked 


ae ae 
with black dots in ring-like patches. In Illinois it usually 
makes its appearance about the first of July, but sometimes 
not until late in August. | 

INSECTS, 

There are two or three kinds of insects usually spoken 
of as leaf rollers which prey upon the leaves of strawberry 
plants and cause them to roll up. They are very destruct- 
ive some seasons, especially in the commercial strawberry 
fields of our state. Thestrawberry crown borer and white 
grub, the latter being the larva of the May beetle, are also 
quite destructive in strawberry fields which have been 
planted more than a year or two. The crown borer works 
its way into the crown of the plant in midsummer and the 
white grub eats the roots. The wilting and dying of the 
plant is an evidence of the work of these insects, and they 
may be found by digging up the plant. 

While your currant and gooseberry bushes are in 
flower you may be surprised some day to see that scarcely 
a leaf is left on the bushes. Go out and examine them. 
You will probably find hundreds of small green worms. 
These are the larve of the currant saw fly, a fly not very 
unlike a common housefly, but rather more yellow. The 
fly usually appears when the first leaves open and their 


tiny white eggs are laid on the under side of the leaves. 
In about ten days they hatch and the worms, at first a 
whitish color, change to green and later are ornamented 
with black spots. Many people allow these worms to eat 
up their currant foliage year after year, until the bushes 
are too much weakened to produce fruit in any quantity. 
Among raspberry insects the cane borer probably causes 
the most mischief. It is a small black beetle, very slim, 
and about one half inch long. It makes two girdles 
around the tip of the cane in June and lays an egg be- 
tween the two, just above the lower girdle. The larva, 
when fully developed, is about an inch long, bores down 


= 2 ee 
through the cane. The insect attacks blackberry canes as 
well. The presence of this insect may readily be guessed 
at if the tip of the cane wilts. 

Probably none of our plants are freer from insect en- 
emies than is the grape. The mostcommononeis doubtless 
the grape slug, or saw fly, as it is sometimes called. This 
is a small, shining black fly, which lays her eggs upon 
the under side of the grape leaves early in the spring. 
These eggs soon hatch and the worms, when fully grown, 
are about 2 of an inch long, and of a pale yellow color, 
with greenish backs and many spots all over the body. 
They feed in company and are so regular in their move- 
ments as they devour a leaf that they look very much like 
soldiers moving together across a field. 

The worst insect enemy of plum and cherry growers 
is the curculio or “little Turk’, as it is occasionally called. 
It is a grayish brown beetle about one fourth inch long 
having a snout curved under the body, by means of which 
a hole is bored in the fruit. In this hole the egg is laid 
and then a crescent-shaped incision is made in the skin 
about it. In afew days the egg hatches and the worm 

begins at once to eat its way into the fruit. 
| The plum curculio is also very often destructive in 
peach orchards, stinging the fruit and causing it to be 
wormy and perhaps to drop prematurely. Borers too of 
various kinds may destroy peach trees by boring into and 
girdling them. The yellowing of the foliage may suggest 
the possibility of these little fellows being present. 


The commonest of all fruit insects is the ‘‘apple 
worm” or codlin moth as it is properly called. Every 
boy or girl has experienced keen disappointment some- 
time during their life by being obliged to throw away a 
big rosy apple after biting into it and finding it to con- 
tain a pinkish worm three fourths of an inch long. The 
adult insect which lays the egg from which this worm 
hatches is a very innocent looking moth of a grayish 
brown color and about half an inch long. This moth, 
which passes the long winter months in a cocoon, makes 
its first appearance in the spring just about the time the 


ee 

apple blossoms are falling from the trees. The eggs are 
laid on the young apple usually at the blossom end. 
These hatch in a very short time and the young worm at 
once begins to eat its way into the fruit. As the apple 
grows the worm develops and seems thoroughly to enjoy 
its home. The presence of the worm in the fruit is easily 
determined by the casting from the burrows and by the 
early ripening of the fruit. This premature ripening 
may cause the fruit to drop before it fully develops. In 
any case the apples which are so affected may safely be 
considered worthless. It would be an interesting little 
lesson in nature study if you should pick some young 
apples so infested and study the character and mark- 
ings of the insect and the nature of its work. Tie a 
muslin bag over an infested apple hanging on a limb 
and watch for the appearance of the moth which will 
soon develop from the worm in the apple. As you exam- 
ine the pretty wings of this gay little creature try to 
estimate the amount of damage which an old mother 
moth can do by laying her eggs upon the young apples 
and thus giving life to many destructive worms. Our 
next lesson will tell you of a very effective way of protect- 
ing the fruit from this pest. 

One of the most destructive of leaf-eating insects is 
the canker worm, which is very common in neglected 
apple orchards at this season of the year. It is a dark 
brown measuring worm and when mature is about an inch 
long. Jar the limbs of an apple tree and you will soon 
discover several worms for study. Whenever they are 
disturbed they lower themselves from the limb by a silken 
thread and dangle at some distance from it until they 
consider the danger past. 


I hope that the acquaintances you form in the insect 
world this summer may arouse your interest sufficiently 
to insure your starting a school collection of insects 
injurious to fruits. Your teacher will gladly help you 
with this collection and if you are at a loss for the name 
of some of your friends send them to the State Entomolo- 
gist, Urbana, for identification. 


1 
i | 
) THE STUDY OF HORTICULTURE. 


BY J.C. BLAIR, 
Professor of Pomology and Chief in Horticulture, University of Illinois. 


ISSUED MONTHLY. 25 CENTS A YEAR. 
j One cent a copy in quantities of ten or more. Send all orders to 
YY of CONGRESS C.:M. PARKER, Taylorville, I11. 


veples Reve) SERIES, No. 10. WHOLE No. 34. 
86 1904 __ TAYLORVILLE, ILLINOIS, JUNE, 1903. 


a7 Tto> PLANT MEDICINES. 
Ey. , / [fa farmer’s cow or his horse becomes ill, someone 
| wild has made a study of the diseases of animals and the | 
cures for the same is called in to prescribe or the farmer 
himself gives to it some tried mixture of drugs which he 
knows from experience will fit the case. Now if farmers 
and fruit growers would be as careful to study the dis- 
eases of their horticultural plants, there would be fewer 
complaints of “bad luck and no crop” when fruit gather- 
ing time comes. T'o many people, who think it perfectly 
natural to doctor diseased animals, the idea of buying © 
medicine for sick plants never seems to occur. Yet just 
as certain medicines have been discovered which cure or 
render less severe our own diseases and those of domestic 
animals, so earnest horticultural investigators have found 
combinations of chemicals which applied to plants rid 
them of both disease and insects. Unfortunately there 
are too many skeptical people, who cannot be made to 
believe that it is worth while to do more than feel dis- 
couraged and blame providence for a lost fruit harvest. 
It is more often to the lack of a spray pump and plant 
medicines than to the unkindness of providence that such 
failures must be laid. It is true that with the increase in 
the number of cultivated plants there has seemed also to 
be a like increase in the number of bugs and diseases to 
attack them, so that horticulturists of to-day really have 
a harder fight with these pests than did their ancestors. 


=== 3 
However, so much has been learned by careful experi- 
menting, about the cure and prevention of these ills that 
almost anyone may make a success of his garden or fruit 
plantation if he will give the matter of plant medicines 
or spraying a little attention and trial. 


THE FIRST STEP. 

In attempting to prescribe a remedy for a sick plant, 
it is necessary to follow the method of any physician and 
first be sure just what the disease or insect is that has 
made its appearance or which it is expected will come 
along to feed upon its fruit or leaves. Now the descrip- 
tions in Lesson 9 of a few plant ailments were not intend- 
ed to be complete but were probably clear enough to 
enable you to recognize a large number of them if you 
were to make the attempt. Jam sure that you will find 
a study of plant diseases and remedies very interesting if 
you go out into the orchard and garden and try to make 
friends with the plants there. J hope it may be possible 
for you to add to your library Mr. E. G. Lodeman’s 
book, “The Spraying of Plants’. This book should be 
in the home of every grower of horticultural plants if he 
wishes to successfully rout the enemies which will surely — 
attack them some season or other. 


SELECTING THE REMEDY. 

After carefully examining his patient, the physician 
goes over mentally those drugs which his medical train- 
ing leads him to select as best suited to check the prog- 
ress of the disease or make its effect less severe. The 
fruit grower needs to follow this same plan, but he will 
find few difficulties in the path if he keeps in touch with 
the work of the various experiment stations which are 
constantly testing materials to determine the most eifect- 
ive check upon certain diseases. Again, experience 


“rm 


aa 
teaches us that the wise horticulturist should apply vari- 
ous solutions to his plants at definite times each year. 


This is because the development of insects and fungi is 


governed as is also plant life by climatic conditions and 
other circumstances of a definite or a periodical nature. 
After a few years of careful observation it is an easy 
matter to make the applications at just the right time. 

A list of the spray solutions which have been tried 
by different experimenters would not prove very interest- 
ing or even instructive material for this lesson even if the 
mere list could be crowded into this little leaflet, but 
fortunately long experience has proven that for the 


_ troubles which beset our western plants, there are a few 


tried and trusty remedies and these alone can be consid- 
ered at this time. However, if you secure the book above 
referred to, I hope you will not fail to read the chapter 
on the “Early History of Liquid Applications’. You 
will find it very interesting to trace the work of those ~ 
people who spent many years in testing the value of 
different chemicals for spraying. If each fruit grower 
had to be his own experimenter, it would not seem 
strange to see neglected fruit plantations eaten up by 
disease and bugs, but the business of experimenting has 
become the work of the experiment stations of our states 
and every year many pages are printed giving accurate 
suggestions for the treatment of plants affected with 
different diseases. These bulletins or circulars are not 
sent out haphazard but go to each person who is suffi- 
ciently interested in them to see that his name is put on 
the mailing list of his own state experiment station. 


CHECKING SOME PLANT DISEASES. 


Suppose we go out now into the garden and see if 


we can find a bush or vine affected with that disease of — 


ee es 

which we learned in the last lesson, called anthracnose 
because of its black color. Copper sulphate, one pound, 
dissolved in fifteen gallons of water and sprayed on 
the canes before the leaves come out would probably be 
effective, but even this will not always check the disease, 


~and then the only thing left to be done is to root up the 


bushes and plant varieties not so easily affected by this 
disease on some other part of the fruit plantation. For 
the anthracnose of grape vines a sulphate of iron solution 
is used. It can be put on with a white-wash or other 
brush. 

For the black knot of plums, there is no satisfactory 
remedy. The best way is to cut out and burn the dis- 
eased branches. In late winter or early spring heavy 
applications of bluestone (copper sulphate) solution may 
be used, followed later in the season by Bordeaux mix- 
ture. For the leaf blight apply Bordeaux mixture just 
after the blossoms fall and once again in about two weeks. 


Brown rot of plums and cherries is a difficult thing 
to fight as there is little use to spray after the disease has — 


made its appearance. When the disease is known to 
exist, the trees should be sprayed with the copper sul- 
phate solution before the buds open. After the blossoms 
fall the Bordeaux mixture should be applied every two 
weeks until the fruit is nearly mature. 


For the pear blight, which may also attack apples 
and quinces, there is no remedy but to cut out and burn 
the diseased limbs. This may do something to check the 
disease. Some people also recommend spraying with 
Bordeaux mixture. 7 


ae 


For apple scab fungus, make three applications of 


Bordeaux mixture at intervals of a week or ten days, the 


first application to be made just before the blossoms open. 


: = 

For bitter rot of apples make three applications of 

Bordeaux mixture at intervals of six or seven days, com- 
mencing about the middle of June. 


DESTROYING SOME INSECTS. 


You will remember that in an earlier lesson we talked 
about “‘the survival of the fittest’. In dealing with the 
insect world this struggle is repeated, for when it becomes 
a question as to whether insects or fruit grower shall 
profit by the fruit harvest, the fittest always wins. Ifthe 
fruit grower is an energetic worker, he attacks the ene- 
mies of his orchards so thoroughly that the crop is his, 
but if on the other hand he would rather lose the battle 
than fight, then the insects show their enterprise and 
carry off the fruit. Don’t you think that under the 
circumstances they have a right to it? If the fruit grower 
finds that his strawberry plants are attacked by the leaf- 
roller insect, he cuts off and burns the foliage as soon as 
the fruit is picked. The worms, as soon as through feed- 
ing, pupate in a rolled up leaf and if these are cut and de- 
stroyed there will be but few insects left over. If undis- 
turbed, another generation of worms will appear later in 
the season, probably during August, in which case the 
second brood may be destroyed by using paris green. 


If another insect, the crown borer, appears, burning 
off the patch may do good. The most satisfactory way 
to deal with this insect, and also the white grub or May. 
beetle, is to plow up and destroy the patch, starting a new 
plantation in land which has not been in sod for some 
time. 

The larvae of the saw-fly attacking currant, goose- 
berry, blackberry and grape vines is a very easy enemy 
to conquer. As soon as it appears, a spray of Paris green 


ay as 
solution routs the entire tribe and leaves the vines free 
from this pest. 

The little beetle which stings the fruit of the plum, 
peach, cherry and apple, and which is known by the name 
curculio, is destroyed in Jarge numbers by spraying the 
plants and their fruit with paris green solution; but the 
most satisfactory way of getting rid of them on small 
trees, such as plums, is to jar the tree in the early morn- 
ing. The beetles evidently regard this shaking up as 
very unpleasant for they at once curl up and fall off the 
tree. A sheet spread under the tree catches them and 
they may then be put to death speedily. 

For the codling moth of apples, an application of 
Paris green just after the blossoms fall and again in a 
week or ten days may be made. A second brood may 
appear in July. and if so another dose of Paris green 
should be given them. You will notice that in the case 
of the apple scab fungus referred to earlier in the lesson, 
applications of Bordeaux mixture were advised for 
the same time as this Paris green solution for codling 
moth; and experience has proven that in this case we may 
kill two birds with one stone, and to do twuis the paris 
green is mixed with the Bordeaux, thus saving the time 
and expense of making all of the applications. 

Canker worms are casily gotten rid of by spraying 
the plants on which they feed with Paris green as soon as 
the insects arrive. 

MAKING THE SOLUTION. 

The chemicals and solutions to which we have so 
often referred in this lesson are not difficult_to put 
together, although this is the excuse often made for neg- 
lect which looks considerably like laziness. 

The Paris green powder, if pure, will not dissolve in 


4 
b 


—J— 

water. The water simply holds the tiny particles sus- 
pended and carries these to the tree, where they are left 
by the evaporation of the water. It is very necessary 
therefore that every bit of the dry powder comes in con- 
tact with the water and does not float in lumps on its sur- 
face. This may be done most easily by putting the dry 
powder in a bottle or jug and partly filling it with 
water, then corking and shaking the vessel vigorously for 
afew minutes. This solution may then be mixed with a 
larger quantity of water with no difficulty. The princi- 
ple is the same as that which your mother follows when 
she mixes the flour for gravies with a very little water or 
milk before putting it in the pan. One pound of Paris 
green and two hundred gallons cf water is the usual 
strength for the insects mentioned in this lesson. 

Hellebore and London Purple are two other insecti- 
cides which may be mixed with water and used in place 
of paris green, but they are usually not so effective. 

When copper sulphate is to be applied to plants, one 
pound of the crystals is dissolved in fifteen gallons of 
water. This solution can only be used on plants before 
the leaves come in the eariy spring because it would burn 
the foliage. 


The Bordeaux mixture is simply the copper sulphate 
solution mixed with a lime solution, and this is neither a 
complicated nor difficult mixture to prepare. Four 
pounds copper sulphate are dissolved in a small quantity 
of water and when this is done add enough water to make 
a total of twenty-five gallons. Do the same with the 
lime. Of course the lime solution is not satisfactory 
unless the rock lime is properly slaked. This means that 


-asmall quantity of water must be used until the slaking 


is completed and then the balance of the twenty-five 


reB, ¢ 1904 
Seite ; 
gallons of water added. By ‘‘slaking of lime” is meant 
the changing of the rock lime to a lime and water solu- 
tion. As soon as a little water is added to the lime, it 
commences to heat: and break up. Add just enough 
water to keep the mixture boiling; enough so that the lime 
will not burn. It is an easy thing to add too little water 
but it is just as important to avoid adding too much, until 
after the whole mass has become thoroughly heated and 
dissolved. The two mixtures of lime and copper sul- 


phate, twenty-five gallons each, are now ready to be put 
together. This should be done gradually if possible by 
allowing the two to flow in a slow stream into a third re- 
ceptacle, where it can be well shaken, giving a bluish 
solution called the ‘Bordeaux Mixture”. 


APPLYING THE SOLUTIONS. 
Proper chemicals and solutions are of little account 


unless they are properly applied to the plant. A good 
hand pump mounted on a barrel usually answers the pur- 
pose, but the commercial orchardist usually likes to have 
a more powerful machine, and for this reason several 
power spraying outfits have been devised. All of the 
working parts of the pump as well as all the parts which 
come in contact with the liquid should be of. brass, since 
most spray solutions will in a short time destroy iho or 
other metals of that kind. The barrel or other receptacle 
to which the pump is attached may be carried in an ordi- 
nary farm wagon. For spraying apple trees and other 
orchard fruits the pump should be provided with two 
leads of one-half inch hose, each twenty-five feet long, and 
to the end of which is attached a bamboo extension rod. 
The end of. this rod should be provided with a double 
Vermorel nozzle from which is discharged a fine misty 
spray if the required pressure is given by the operator 
of the pump. Allow the fine spray to fall on the leaves 
and fruit in the form of a mist or dew. Heavy spraying 
would cause the solution to1 run off, carrying with it the 
chemicals, 


159606 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 


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