Category: Horticulture

There are two principal classes of pears the European and the Chinese. All of our finely flavored varieties belong to the former class. The Chinese group contains such undesirable though extensively grown varieties as Kieffer, Le Conte, and Garber. No self-respecting person would have any one of these varieties in his home orchard, and no […]

The question- frequently arises, when to ,prune. Among the earlier horticulturists this question was often answered as follows : Prune when your knife is sharp. This is a comparatively safe method to follow with most plants, but where the problem involves the management of extensive commercial plantations it is not so easy to prune in […]

No fruit will replace the plum. It makes the choicest of preserves, and many of the varieties are unsurpassed as dessert fruits. Every farm should have at least a dozen trees of various varieties to extend the season, as Professor Ballou outlines below: The plum does best in rather strong, rich clayey loam, but even […]

In grafting the simplest method is the cleft. This method is most commonly employed in large trees. The stock or main limb is sawed off at right angles to the direction of its growth. A cleft is made in the end and a scion whittled in narrow wedge shape is thrust into this cleft, which […]

As an adjunct to many farm homes, a small conservatory or greenhouse will add greatly to the wife’s and daughter’s enjoyment of flowers during the winter. Such structures need not be costly nor large. An area 10 by 15 feet will supply all the needs of the household, both for flowers and for such small […]

“The great mistake in growing hardy perennials,” writes the late C. L. Allen of Long Island, New York, ” is the almost general opinion that when once planted they can forever remain in the same place without further care or attention. This is a fatal error from the fact of its being in direct opposition […]

” Two of the most important classes of flowers,” writes Laura Jones of Kentucky, ” are pot shrubs and hanging basket plants, because they are useful, decorative, and are all-the-year-round plants. With proper care they are always permanent with us. Some of the pot shrubs can be kept from six to eight years, if properly […]

Let me tell you,” says C. L. Meller of Wisconsin, “how I have obtained rather inexpensive, though very pretty floral decorations from the pansy, and that without going to a florist. You can have pansies any winter month in bloom if you will follow directions, and if you have a pansy bed, or can get […]

” Flowers may be secured from strawberries in a somewhat similar manner. They should not be dug up, however, until after the ground has been frozen for at least two weeks. There is not as much need with them to thaw out the ground gradually, and they may be placed directly in the sunlight. The […]

” Generally a few thrifty geranium slips have been started early in the fall to produce flowers during the winter,” writes Cora B. Williams, “so there remains the work of preserving the old plants which have spent their vitality in almost perpetual bloom throughout the summer. Repotted for the sitting-room windows these old plants are […]