586 



HORTICULTURE 



May 4, 190T 



our most esteemed annuals I will leave you to extend the 

 list to any length you please, according to the purposes 

 YOU wish the flowers for and your garden space allows. 



How seldom do we stop to think what a wonderful 

 variety of annual flowers there are that never find a 

 place in our gardens. The list is a very long one. A close 

 perusal of some of our seedmen's catalogues, who give 

 .special attention to flower seeds, will assist materially in 

 making selections. How often it happens after we have 

 decided to make a display of annuals at some horti- 

 cultural exhibition that we are obliged to do con- 

 siderable hunting around our gardens to .make up a 

 passable show, and even then are quite often forced to 

 put in some pansies or other subject that will cause the 

 committee on prizes to debar our exhibit from compe- 

 tition on the ground that the flowers are not all annuals. 

 The best displays of annual flowers I have ever seen have 

 been at the exhibitions of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society at Boston, and in the prize schedule of 

 this society for the coming season I notice that the date 

 set for such displays is August 3d, and that three prizes 

 are offered. The wording of the schedule is as follows: 

 "Annual— General display, named, not less than twenty- 

 five varieties, filling not less than one hundred bottles." 

 Now in order 'to properly compete for such a prize it_is 

 self-evident that preparations must be made at planting 

 lime, otherwise with most of us our best display made 

 up fromi what we would naturally have would fall far 

 short of making even a creditable appearance in such a 

 competition. 



I have referred at length to this matter of exhibiting 

 annuals, as I earnestly feel that it has never been given 

 the attention it deserves. There is no extra expense at- 

 tached to growing a fine collection of annuals for ex- 

 liibition, as, apart from this purpose the flowers are 

 needed at this season, especially for the luncheon and 

 dinner table. It is almost impossible to have too many 



of them. 



A 



1n(il^4b/snf 



The Outlook for Small Fruits 



At present, in sjiite of the cold winter and late spring, 

 the outlook for the small fruit crop is most promising. 

 This is chiefly due to the deep snow of the past winter, 

 which covei-od the ground .=o cft'ectually during the 

 .severest weather, that in many places hardlv two inches 

 of frost ■ could he found. In many instances where 

 raspberry and l)lackhprry canes were not laid down, 

 they were entirely covered by snow which driftiid over 

 tliiin. and now :i|ip('ai green and healthy; in<leed in 



better condition than those laid down. If we could be 

 sure of such a wintcir each year there would be no need 

 to take tlie troul)le necessary to perform the operation 

 of laying the canes down. Currants and gooseberries 

 were also snowed under and appear in the best con- 

 dition, but these fruits are seldom hurt by severe weather 

 e\en if left unprotected ; however the blanket of snow 

 is appreciated by even these hardy bushes. 



No fruit is more influenced by the weather than the 

 strawberry for, while it always has to be protected with 

 straw or litter of some sort, the difference between a 

 snow and snow less winter is very apparent. This sea- 

 :5on the strawberry leaves under the mulch are as green 

 and fresh as they ^\ere when covered :n the fall, while 

 the roots are in the very best condition. During an 

 open winter even with the best of cover, strawberries 

 will lose most of their foliage and appear brown and 

 dead in the spring, M-hile the roots, which have been 

 trying to maintain themselves in ground that is con- 

 stantly freezing and thawing are more or less laid bare 

 and their vitality lessened. Another great advantage of 

 a late spring for the strawberry crop is that it retards 

 the blooming season at least one week and many of the 

 early varieties are thus saved from a frost. Marshall 

 is a variety which is most certain to start when the 

 weather is warm in April and of course the biossoni>- 

 are frozen. This climate is not adapted to successfully 

 growing the extra early varieties. If things come on 

 normally now tlie crop of strawberries ought to be 

 large and of good quality, altliough a frost during the 

 blooming season may upset all our l:iest plans. Straw- 

 berry beds uncovered about the 'IhVn of April should 

 liave a good dressing of wood ashes and bone meal to 

 get a strong growth of foliage and stem. It is also an 

 excellent plan to mulch currant and gooseberry bushes 

 at this time with manure (well rotted) covering the 

 manure with soil to keep it from drying up. 



While plums can hardly be classed among small 

 fruits, yet a word about them in passing will perhapj 

 hot be amiss. The promise for this crop is very fine. 

 but here again a frost about May 1.5-18 would ruin our 

 hoi>es. The fruit grower is ever menaced Ijy change 

 ot climate, but one success very often pays for two 

 failures. Plum trees should lie well eultivaLod for 

 about a month and then mulched with some litter or 

 straw. Don't forget to spray the trees well, and for 

 this use a weak solution of Roj-deaux mixture not more 

 than 2 1-3 lbs. of copper sulphate to 50 gallons of water 

 and four lbs. of lime; in fact sprav all your fruit, straw- 

 berries included. Put in some arsenate of lead for the 

 currants and gooseberries and you will only h-:ive toi 



^pl•ay once. 



Wilfrid Whkklek. 



Horticulture's trump cards: Origin- 

 ality, forcefulness, superior reading 

 matter, no muzzle, friends everywhere. 



