J8g4- 



GARDENING. 



BROCKWORTH PARK PEAFS 



condition to brave the winter. All re- 

 pairs and alterations should be made be- 

 fore the plants indoors are rearranged 

 and those that were summering outside 

 are brought in. It is much easier to do 

 this now than later on when the houses 

 are more crowded with plants. 



The plants, too, should be clean, and in 

 good condition as regards their roots in 

 the i)ots. there should be no worms in the 

 earth and the pots should be well drained. 



Rearrange the greenhouses. In the 

 summer time the most tropical plants 

 were at home in any of the greenhouses, 

 but now they must be returned to their 

 warmer quarters, the home of crotons, 

 marantas, ixora, and the like. In tem- 

 perate quarters, that is in the com])art- 

 ments having a minimum winter temper- 

 ature oi about 50° most anything will 

 grow. Plants kept for fine foliage only 

 as draca^nas, crotons, palms, and ferns, 

 do not need sunshine in winter, the sun- 

 niest places should b • reserved for plants 

 that bear showy blossoms. 



Get the poinsettias indoors at once, 

 cold nights and heavy rains will yellow 

 their leaves and rot their roots. 



All begonias such as rubra, manicata, 

 insig-nis, fuchsioides, and other perma- 

 nent evergreen sorts should also be 

 brought indoors, but annual sorts like 

 Vernon, and deciduous kinds like the 

 tuberous-rooted begonias and Evansiana 

 may be left out till irost kills their tops. 

 Some of the stockiest tuberous begonias 

 if lifted and potted and brought into the 

 house or greenhouse will make handsome 

 blooming plants till Nov. mber, and if 

 you w ant any seed from them the best 

 way to get it is from plants lifted and 

 potted in this way, for they don't ripen 

 many seeds out of doors. Vernon, on the 

 other hand matures an abundance of 

 seed, planted out. 



Cacti if left out longer are apt to rust, 

 and it is incurable. Keep them drv over- 

 head. ■ • 



Most of the commercial florists have 

 their carnations all housed, they plant 

 them out on benches. We grow six hun- 

 dred plants in pots, they arc now up and 

 potted, and plunged to "half their depth 

 in beds in the frame ground, where they 



root nicely. It doesn't do to plunge 

 potted plants to their brim outside now, 

 for any flooding from rain is sure to rot 

 the roots. 



Paris daisies, berried solanums, stevia, 

 eupatorium, genista, callas, freesias, 

 chrysanthemums, and the like that are 

 growing in pots, in beds in the frame 

 ground are all washed and ready at a 

 moment's notice, in the event of the ap- 

 pearance of frost, to take indoors. Here 

 we seldom get frost before October. 

 While a slight frost does not apparently 

 hurt azaleas, freesias, carnations, obcon- 

 ica primroses, and some others, it doesn't 

 do them any good, and it is far better to 

 be on the safe side and protect our plants. 

 In order to retard the blooming of 

 azaleas, genistas, and stevias as much as 

 possible we store a lot of them in cold 

 pits, the azaleas keep well there all 

 winter, but we have got to watch the 

 others very closely and pile lots of cover- 

 ing over them in winter to keep out frost, 

 for it will destroy them. 



Put in a lot of cuttings, if you haven't 

 done so before now, of "Lady Washing- 

 ton," or show pelargoniums. As soon as 

 they are rooted and potted off you can 

 afford to throw away the old roots and 

 thus economize room. 



Pot or box up a succession of hyacinths, 

 tulips, narcissus, freesias, ixias, and the 

 like. 



Encourage your cyclamen to grow, 

 also Chinese primroses, cinerarias and 

 calceolarias. They like a cool house, a 

 plac • near the glass, and a faint shading. 



Wl.NTERIXG ChRVSANTHEMIMS — M. E. 



M.,Malone,N. Y., asks: Afterchrysanthe- 

 mums are done blooming in the house 

 what sort of care do they need to preserve 

 them through the winter? Should they 

 be w^atered? 



Cut them down close to the pot. Place 

 them where they can be kept quite cool 

 through the winter, say in a cellar, pit or 

 frame. The earth must be kept somewhat 

 moist at all times, but this is an easy mat- 

 ter when the plants are cool and at rest. 

 Or vou ma V tin-n the plants out of the i)ots 



and pack them tightly together, heads up 

 in a box, as an old soap box, when they 

 will be easier to keep moist in winter, 

 still keeping them in the ce lar or pit. If 

 the frost is likel.v to get at them cover 

 them with some old matting, carpet, hay 

 or leaves. A little irost will do the roots 

 no harm, but if they are inpotsfrostmay 

 burst the pots. They will winter very 

 well in a dull sunless window of a cool 

 room, if you don't need the place for any- 

 thing else. At Dosoris we grow a lot of 

 chrysanthemums in 5 and 6inch pots, 

 also planted out here and there, and when 

 they are done blooming we cut them 

 down, tying the names to the stumps, 

 then turn those in pots out of their pots, 

 and plant all close together in a cold 

 frame there to remain till spring. The 

 frame is well banked around with earth, 

 and sashes put on and some sedgt over 

 tlie glass to help keep hard frost out. We 

 ventilate only a little in fine weather, till 

 towards spring, when we do away with 

 the covering, except the sashes, alto- 

 gether. In early spring we get fine fat 

 cuttings from this frame, or we can lift, 

 divide, and replant the old plants, and in 

 this way get a fine stock of plants for the 

 next season. 



The Fruit Garden. 



PEAR BROCKWORTH PARK. 



.Although this is an uncommon pear in 

 American gardens, it is one we might 

 plant more of with profit. It grows and 

 fruits very well at Dosoris, in fact it 

 never misses a crop with us. The fruit is 

 large, oblong, obtuse pyriform; the skin 

 is pale yellow with greenish or russety 

 specks on it, and occasionally a faintl_v 

 blush cheek. The flesh is white, melting, 

 buttery, and juicy, at the same time 

 hardly of superior quality. The trees are 

 very prolific, and the pears of uniformly 

 good size, and if we thin them early, they 

 become quite large. They ripen about 

 the end of August and first oi September, 

 immediately after the Bartletts, and at 

 the same time as Boussock and Seckel. 

 It thriveswell as a dwarf tree. Our illus- 

 tration is engraved from a photograph 

 of some of these pears grown at Dosoris. 



RASPBERRY, BLACKBERRY, AND CURRANT 

 BUSflES. 



Nevi- plants of the black raspberry are 

 started this month by covering the tips 

 with moist soil, two or three inches deep 

 and allowing them to remain until spring. 



Plants from the currant and gooseberry 

 may now be made by selecting strong, 

 new growth, cutting in pieces six or eight 

 inches long, and setting at once in moist, 

 rich soil, leaving one or two buds above 

 the ground. Cuttings may also be buried 

 in sand, away from irost, and set inearlj^ 

 spring. 



For the northwest, the true Ancient 

 Briton black berry stands without a rival. 

 In black caps the Ohio, Palmer. Progress 

 and Older for early, and Nemeha and 

 Gregg for late. Shaffer's Colossal (pur- 

 ple) for quality and productiveness is un- 

 excelled, for family use. Marlboro and 

 Cuthbert i'or reds arc the best well tested 

 varieties. The "London," a grand bern.-, 

 promises to supersede all others. 



The value of a berry often depends on 

 location and cultivation. As poor berries 

 improve with high culture, so good 

 deteriorate with neglect. The best berries 

 are produced onlv bv the best culture. 



Sparta, Wis. " ' M. A. Th.wer. 



