1879.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



77 



Ltelia autumnalis, groAvn and flowered in an or- 

 dinary greenhouse, tlie niglit temperature of 

 which is often down to 40° F., some of them, (the 

 white one in particular), have been in flower 

 near seven weeks. These beautiful cool house : 

 orcliids will one day become the most popular of \ 

 iireenhouse plants.'' 



[With these delightfully sweet and lovely flow- 

 ers was also a bloom of an Oncidium. We go 

 further than Mr. Barker, and believe that orchids 

 will ere long become popular window plants. 

 Numbers can be kept in rooms all winter, and 

 be hung under trees in the open air and flower 

 freely in summer, as we saw with Cattleya Mos- 

 sae, and three kinds of Stanhopea last Summer. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Whale Oil Soap.— Mr. G. B., Yonkers, N. 

 Y., asks: " Would the editor of the Gardner's 

 Monthly please inform me in the next number 

 of the Monthly, the quantity of whale oil soap 

 to put to a gallon of water, to kill insects on 

 rose bushes in the garden, and when to begin to 

 apply it?" 



[A table spoonful should be sutticient in most I 

 cases, but the general practice is to watch the I 

 effect, beginning lightly, and increasing the dose 

 as it ma}' seem not injurious. — Ed. G. M.] j 



Greenhouse Plants. — -J. B. Cedar Falls, i 

 Iowa, writes : "I have two ivies standing among 

 my roses in greenhouse, and I have been in the 



habit of occasionally watering them with soap- 

 suds, as it is good for roses. But this Fall the 

 leaves on the ivies have tm-ned yellow. Is it the 

 suds or something else? Would suds Injure 

 camelias, azaleas or any other plants kept in an 

 ordinary greenhouse ? What peculiar treatment 

 does Fuchsia racemosa require? I cannot suc- 

 ceed with it. I have heard it pronounced a 

 humbug by some florists. If it is so, our East- 

 ern florists do wrong to send it out without 

 warning. If these questions are not troublesome 

 perhaps I may ask more at some future time. 

 Is there any way to propagate farfugium besides 

 dividing roots?" 



[The ivy may be suffering from the scale insect ,. 

 or from defective drainage, or it would not object 

 to anything a rose delights in. It is impossible 

 to tell how far soapsuds will injure camelias or 

 azaleas. No plant objects to a light dose of it, 

 but there may be too much of a good thing even 

 here. Fuchsia racemosa is inclined to be a 

 straggling grower, and would )je a capital subject 

 for horticultural skill in making it look nice and 

 bushy. Whether anything is a humbug or not, 

 very often depends on the treatment it receives. 

 Florists generally get all the Farfugium grande 

 they require, from root propagation, but if desir- 

 able to increase faster, no doubt the seeds would 

 grow. We are always glad to reply to questions 

 as far as we are able. — Ed. G. M.l . 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



When we read the many treatises on fruit tree 

 culture, we are apt to be beT.ildered by what 

 seems to be the contrariety of opinions ; but it 

 very often happens that these differences often 

 harmonize, if only people would look a little 

 deeper into reasons than they do. Now in regard 

 to pruning, whether of roots or branches, there is 

 generally an immediate advantage to l)e gained, 

 and it is therefore well to prune, but on the oth- 

 er hand it is equally true that in a greater or less 

 degree, pruning of I'oots or bx'anches is an injury 



more or less to the vital constitution of the tree- 

 So what we gain one way is at the expense of 

 another point. Sometimes the loss to vital pow- 

 er is so slight, that we gain the other advan- 

 tage cheaply ; but then again we often pay dear 

 for it. No books or lecturer can teach one just 

 what to do. The decision must be applied to 

 such a case. This is the true dominion of prac- 

 tical fruit culture. So in our treatment of fruit 

 trees, their vital powers are often weakened by 

 the necessities of our practical treatment; but 

 instead of looking to the real cause of our trouble 

 we wonder if the ''variety is hardy," whether 

 the "climate has changed," whether we have "ap- 



