194 



• GARDENING. 



Mar. /5, 



FLOWER GARDEN QUESTIONS. 



"Melrose," near Chicago, asUs the fol- 

 lowing: 



1. DoLiCHOS Japonicus— "Since Mr. 

 Egan wrote to me to say that this vine 

 would need constant fastening I repent 

 me of the purchase and hope it will die 

 this winter." 



Alls. Be patient with it; all the train- 

 ing it requires you can do in a few min- 

 utes a week. Simplv lead the wandering 

 shoot tips back to their own string or 

 wire and give them a twine around it. It 

 has a field of its own and in its line is a 

 great desideratum. It is a very coarse 

 appearing vine, though; but its rank 

 growth and shoots running 20 or 30 feet 

 a year are valuable points where quick 

 growth is needed. 



Clem.\tis Davidiana. — "Give us a 

 description of Clematis Davidiana and 

 directions for its management." 



Ans. It is a hardy herbaceous plant 

 from Northern China and does not climb. 

 It grows 2 to 3 f.et in height, forming 

 bushy clumps, which after midsummer 

 bear quite a profusion of small fragrant 

 blue flowers, m shape not unlike hyacinth 

 bells, thickly clustered around the joints 

 of the branches and terminating them. 

 We have found it to be perfectly hardy, 

 but as it dies down in fall like a pa;ony it 



may 



be mulched in winter with leaves or 



littery manure if there is any question of 

 its hardiness. It isn't a showy plant at 

 all nor is it a neat one, but if tied up in 

 time inside a hoop, as we often do pjeo- 

 nias or tomatoes, it is really worthy and 

 pretty. , ,.„ , 



JLarkspur Seeds— "I am still strug- 

 gling with these. Is the shelf ten inches 

 above the radiator too hot for them?" 



.4ns. A place ten inches above a radi- 

 ator would seem to beprettyhot anddry. 

 too, for seeds, but itcould be so arranged 

 that both of these would be tem- 

 pered enough to make it a good place 

 for seed. We start larkspur seed in flats 

 in a hothouse in spring with fairiy good 

 success; at the same time we don'tadvise 

 you to do it. If you should treat the 

 larkspur seed iust as you treat your cel- 

 erv seed, we think it would germinate all 

 right if it were good. Wait till April; 

 then sow it in a cold frame or bit of 

 moistish ground out of doors, protecting 

 it from drying wind and shading it from 

 all sunshine rill the seedlings appear. A 

 hotbed is a capital place for quickgrow- 

 ing seeds, but for hardy perennials in 

 general and slow-starting seeds of any 

 sort wc don't advise its use. 



the cracks are only of the depth of the 

 hole and the water is retained at the bot- 

 tom and soon soaks into the ball of 

 roots. [But don't let the ground crack 

 open near your plants, for incrackingnot 

 only does the earth break apart but the 

 rootlets pasfins through there are also 

 severed. Mulching and loose surface cul- 

 tivation are the antidotes for cracking. — 

 Ed.] In case of planting close to a cellar 

 wall it is different, as the wall extends 

 below the roots and moisture generally 

 escapes by a drain tile. When 1 plant 

 anything permaninlly close to a cellar 

 wall 1 excavate nearly three feet deep and 

 about as wide, taking out the soil clean 

 up to the wall. Then I construct a wall 

 of cement— say four to six inches thick— 

 against the brick wall and turn the ends 

 in on each side of the hole for about a 

 foot. Thus the side of the hole towards 

 the brick and part way on each side is 

 cemented. This cement is carried up to 

 the surface of the soil. I find it makes a 

 great difl'erence in the amount of water 

 re(|uired This clematis is a gem of the 

 first water and naturally requires a good 

 setting. Any plant that grows so lux- 

 uriantly must have ample room to fed 

 in. When we plant it we must remember 

 that we expect it to remain many years — 

 to increase in beauty and grandeur at 

 each successive season of bloom. We 

 expect and rec|uire this of the plant. 

 What does the plant require and expect 

 of us? The article in question tells 3'ou, 

 namely, a good rich soil and plenty of it, 

 a hole three feet square is none too large. 

 At the approach of the blooming sea?on 

 weekly doses of manure water materially 

 helps it. It will bloom in quite shady 

 positions, but later than in the full sun. 

 In the latter position against a hot wall, 

 an unusually hot day last summer that 

 wilted almost everything, also injured 

 the flowers of this clematis with me. You 

 omitted to mention the delicious perfume 

 emanating from its bloom, reminding oue 

 of hyacinths and orange blossoms. I 

 think that if Horace Greeley were alive 

 and saw your illustration he would say, 

 "Young man. get a Clematis panicula'ta 

 and then go west." W. C. Ei'.an. 



Highland Park, Illinois. 



ing earth and planted out in warm shel- 

 tered spots in the garden, .\fter one gets 

 a good stand of seedlings there is really 

 nothing difficuU about their cultivation, 

 and the vlants lift with fine balls. This 

 is how we grow thera at Dosoris, and wc 

 have them, oh, so beautiful! 



CLEMflTIS FflNlCUlflTfl. 



The illustration in Feb. 15 issue of Gar- 

 dening of this clematis is a charming one 

 and clearly portrays the beauty of the 

 plant, showing both the individuality of 

 the star-shaped flowers and their effect 

 in masses. Those of your readers whom 

 the illustration may induce to plant the 

 clematis will in time have good cause to 

 thank Gardening for so intelligently 

 bringing it to their attention. Your 

 admirable article on its cuUivation is in 

 keeping with all those you favor Garden- 

 ing with, and especially that portion cov- 

 ering the removal of the debris of the 

 adjoining building. 1 have had some 

 experience in planting moisture-loving 

 plants near cellar walls, and have found 

 that the water given the plant is apt to 

 run down between the soil and the wall 

 Many soils contract in drouth, especially 

 in holes dug in a heavy clay loam and a 

 crack of considerable width forms at the 

 side. Water poured in these cracks if 

 in sullicicntc|u;nilitics is all right, because 



ANEMONE CORONflRlfl, ST. BRIOID'S STRAIN. 



One of our readers writes: "I have ob- 

 tained seeds of St. Brigid's anemone from 

 Europe, please tell me how to treat it?" 



Ans. It is the loveliest strain of the 

 poppy anemone, big, fine flowers and 

 some of them of the most vivid crimson 

 and scarlet coloring. In European gar- 

 dens the seed is generally sown about 

 lune and the seedlings pricked ofl' into a 

 shaded cold frame and kept in continuous 

 growth till they come into bloom in win- 

 ter and spring. We can do the same here 

 except that as our summer climate is so 

 trying for raising plants from seed, we 

 prefer to sow in spring. We sow the seeds 

 in flats filled with light soil and kept in the 

 greenhouse, or if as late as .\pril, in flats 

 in a cold frame under sash and lath 

 shades. After the seedlings come up 

 prick them ofT into other flats, and 

 when they begin to meet each other 

 plant them out in good, moistish ground, 

 in a sheltered, faintly shaded spot, in 

 a cold frame against the north side of a 

 board fence or building and under lath 

 shades, letting them stay there all sum- 

 mer. Towards midsummer they may die 

 down, but thcv will rca])])c;ir in fall, when 

 they m.-iy be lifted and planted with pnn- 

 sies and imlyantluis in a soiilh facing 

 frame, and carlv in sprin;,', it ymi wish 

 to, lifted witli balls of roots and adlicr- 



Clematis Panicilata and Cow 

 Manure. — "Whitewater" asks: "Will 

 this clematis bear manuring with rotted 

 cow manure as a mulch or top dressing?" 

 Ans. Yes, most thankfully Last year 

 for some new sorts of sweet peas wc 

 manured a piece of pood ground with 

 four inchci deep of cow manure, and not 

 meding all of the ground for the pens at 

 the outer edge of it we .set out some little 

 plants of Clematis paniculata and some 

 other odds and ends we wanted to tre.-it 

 well. Oh, how these clematis grew and 

 bloomed! They made fine clumps But 

 we disadvifc the use ol co \ manure as a 

 mulching for clematis, roses, or other soft 

 or slender-rooted plants between Ajiril 

 andjuly. because of the great attraction 

 it affords as a breeding place for May 

 bugs. We have been caught in this tra]) 

 once or twice. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



TAE AMERICAN flOLLY. 



Apropos of the notes, page 14G, wouM 

 say: This holly is a dioecious tree and 

 we^aveiio means of knowing whether 

 we are getting a staminate (sterile) or 

 pistillate (berry bearing) plant until the.- 

 bloom, so that we may sometimes have 

 wait more thantwicetwentyyears before 

 we get the right one. Trees .'> or 6 feet 

 high often bear berries, but from obser- 

 vation among those growing wild I 

 should say that much less than one-half 

 of them ever bear berries at all. I have 

 never grafted any. To be sure of a berry 

 bearing plant find a small fruiting speci- 

 men growing wild and transplant it. In 

 the first place cut ofl" all the leaves with a 

 shears. This is practically a sine qua non 

 and the most important requisite to suc- 

 cess. Try and get a good ball of earth of 

 earth to the roots, and get all the roots 

 you can. It may be better to remove some 

 of the top of the tree too. Plant carefully 

 packing the earth well around the roots, 

 mulch heavily and then water abund- 

 antly if the weather gets dry during the 

 season, being careful not to wait till the 

 roots have been dried out and killed be- 

 fore applying the water. If possible 

 remove the trees in damp weather, and 

 avoid doing it during hot sunshine or 

 when there is a drying wind. We have 

 here plenty of hollies growing in nearly 

 pure sand but the foliage looks much 

 richer and darker when there is plenty of 

 moisture at the root and where it is pro- 

 tected from the full sunshine. 



Hammonton, N. J. W M. H Bassett. 



To be sure of small plant of the Ameri- 

 can holly {Ilex Opaca) that will bear ber- 

 ries, they must be raisefl from layers from 

 a berry bearing tree or by grafting, using 

 cions from a fruiting specimen. Some six 

 or eight years ago I grafted a lot of 

 young pi .nts taking the cions from a 

 berry bearing tree, and they fruited, some 

 the j-ear following and all the succeeding 

 season, and regularly everj- year since ex- 

 cept last vear, when the severe frost we 

 had on May 17 destroyed the flower buds. 

 About the same time we also raised 

 .several thousands from seed and four 

 vcars ago planted them out in nursery 



