200 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[July, 



ment. Crocus, Hyacinths and Tulips don't 

 flower all at once, and with even every kind 

 are early and late varieties. Those bulbs, when 

 jilanted in a mass together, will flower succes- j 

 sively, and such a bed is the gem of your lawn I 

 in early spring. I 



The finest designs can be executed with bulbs 

 and when a flower shows such a brilliancy, and 

 fills the air with such a delicious fragrance 

 we cannot help admiring it, and never tire of 

 seeing it amidst the young green colors of na- 

 ture's children. 



A FEW DESIRABLE SHRUBS. 



BY MRS. M. D. WKLLCOME, YARMOUTH, MAINE. 



Here in Maine, where our winters begin in 

 autumn and project far into spring, — even into 

 May this ye:ir, judgif^g from the snow which is 

 falling as I write, — it is desirable to have plants 

 and shrubs that will endure their severity. Never 

 were my Perennials so highly prized as in this 

 very cold and unusually backward spring. The 

 Pansies and Daisies are in bloom ; the Tulips are 

 budded ; the perennial Phloxes set out last year 

 are springing up with large clumps which have 

 been growing a score of years in my garden. 

 Sweet rockets, purple, and white, are sure to 



live and are among the early spring bloomers; 

 self-sown, they spring up profusely. The Hy- 

 drangea paniculata grandiflora for five years 

 has endured the frosts, and yields profusely its 

 immense trusses of bloom for two months. It is 

 a shrub that ought to be in every garden. But 

 it was of two new shrubs that I took my pen to 

 write, and I am sure that as they have come 

 safely through the long and very severe winter 

 following their removal from Washington, they 

 will endure any amount of freezing. 



Dimorphanthus Mandchuriesis is grown for 

 (he grandeur of its foliage. Its multifid leaves 

 are about a yard in length, and nearly as broad. 

 Its native home is Mandchuria. 



Hypericum patulum. As this shrub has not 

 bloomed, being bedded out late in June, I will 

 quote from Saul's catalogue : '' This magnificent 

 hardy evergreen flowering shrub is a grand 

 acquisition to our scanty list of hardy flowering 

 species. Its individual flowers, which are pro- 

 duced in bunches, are pale yellow and of great 

 substance, resembling much in appearance the 

 beautiful Gardenia Javanica. It continues long 

 in perfection, commencing to flower in June, 

 and has been in perfection till the first week in 

 November." 



Greenhouse and House Gardening, 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



HEATING BY STEAM. 



BY J. B. DAVIS, ANN ARBOR, MICH. 



To "William H. B.,'' of Independence, Kan- 

 sas, it may be said as follows : Any sj'stem of 

 warm air-heating operates on such a delicately- 

 balanced principle that the out-of-door winds 

 easily, and usually, upset and frustrate it. The 

 system by flues and hot water pipes in a green- 

 house, as ordinarily seen, resembles the hot-air 

 apparatus too nearly. Heating by steam is the 

 best known system where distribution of heat 

 is an important item. It may not be cheap, but 

 it will be manageable. Heat can be carried 

 through a small opening, about every form of 

 object, to every place, and no fear of its non- 



I arrival in a well made apparatus. No fear of 

 I outside gales blowing it all away from one side 

 of the building. The only effect of any extra 

 demand at any point being to cause more steam 

 to be used there and a greater demand to be 

 made on the boiler by those pipes. If I were 

 consulted as to what system of heating to use in 

 a greenhouse, the point being to secure that best 

 adapted to that purpose, I should at once say, 

 "Steam, of course." So perfectly does it seem 

 to me to be adapted to the requirements of the 

 case, as I understand them. The matter of 

 distribution is so far under control that I have 

 no doubt any small locality, as a particular bed 

 or section, can be given a special uniform tem- 

 perature of its own. 



As direct answers to the questions submitted 

 one can say if wood is used to make steam, it 



