i8g6. 



GARDENING. 



233 



cuse whatever for country folks being 

 without a variety of the very best vege- 

 tables, but city people are not so well off. 

 NotwithsL-mcfin;,' the fact thai our city 

 markets in suniiucr teem with all manner 

 of vegetables ami berries, these are not to 

 be compared with the product of our 

 own gardens that are picked and con- 

 sumed the same day. Then look to your 

 garden. 



fl VISIT TO CflLIFORNIfl. 



I have just returned from a holidaytrip 

 of four weeks to the Pacific coast. I went 

 from here to Texas and then held on my 

 westward way till I reached Los Angeles 

 in Southern California. I found summer 

 weather there, except that the tempera- 

 ture at daylight was about 40°. Yet all 

 our standard bedding plants and green- 

 house flowers were in the parks and gar- 

 dens in full bloom. When I say that I saw 

 heliotrope and poinsettias in full bloom 

 and feather and bougainvillea up at 

 second story windows you can infer all 

 the rest. The finest park trees I saw were 

 40 feet high specimens of Araucaria 

 excelsa and Ficus elastics. Going north 

 t' t San Francisco I found it about equally 

 mild in Golden Gate Park. Horse lawn 

 mowers were cutting the grass, and a 

 hundred different kinds of plants were in 

 bloom, among others, Mediterranean 

 heath, Scotch broom and whins, and the 

 grass thickly sprinkled with daisies. 

 Forty kinds of eucalyptus and thirty 

 sorts of acacia give an Australian type of 

 foliage, many of the trees being in bloom, 

 Little deciduous stock is used, as there is 

 such a wealth of broad leaved evergreens, 

 while the Pacific coast conifers were also 

 very abundant. The Grevillea robusta is 

 a common street tree in Los Angeles, and 

 it is very fine. It is called "Australian 

 fern," which makes it a shining example 

 of the confusion caused by some of our 

 common names. But as a hint of the 

 climate I may instance a dell in Golden 

 Gate Park filled with ferns," many of 

 which are tree ferns from New Zealand. 

 Mr. John McLaren, the park superinten- 

 dent is a thorough all-round gardener, 

 very practical and sensible in his methods 

 and of first-class executive ability. As 

 more than half the p,ark area was 

 bare sand dunes from which a cloud 

 of sand filled the air whenever the 

 wind was strong, the first work was to 

 hold the sands. He planted thickly tufts 

 of European sand bent grass, watering it 

 freely until established. It now looks Hke 

 tufts of rushes or fine sedge, but it is 

 spreading freely and the sand is held fast. 

 Then he follows it up with young plants 

 of Monterey cypress and Monterey pine 

 planted very thickly, so that in a few 

 vears the sand is invisible except close to 

 the drives, where a carpet is formed with 

 several kinds of ice plant. This was 

 blooming freely when I was there and 

 was very pretty. The whole area of the 

 park is now planted, and every kinds of 

 ])lant seems to grow with the greatest 

 vigor. They have an unlimited supply of 

 water from wells sunk within the park, 

 their pumping engines are large and they 

 keep a reservoir with a head over of 200 

 feet always full. Soil and climates com- 

 bine to give Golden Gate Park an aspect 

 entirely unlike any of our eastern parks. 

 It is "sui generis." In certain sections 

 bedding plants are used extensively, and 

 there is a fine conservatory too, full of 

 tropical plants. Also a water lily pond. 

 \Vm McMillan. 

 Buffalo, March 6. Supt. Parks. 



CARPETING PLANTS. 



Beginner, Dayton, Ohio, writes: 1. "Is 

 there any plant suitable for carpeting the 



ground in a bed of hardy roses? Is it best 

 to leave the ground bare for cultivation?" 



Ans. We would rather have the rose 

 bushes pretty thick in the beds, and these 

 not very wide, and mulch the ground very 

 neatly in summer than carpet the beds 

 with plants; or leave the ground under 

 the roses bare and keep it well cultivated 

 with a prong hoe or rake. Around the 

 edge of the bed, however, a row of sweet 

 alyssuni, ageratura, white vinca, or the 

 like, may be grown. 



2. "Please give a short list of hardy 

 plants suitable for covering the ground 

 amongst shrubs and tall herbaceous 

 plants." 



Ans. It is an easy matter to carpet a 

 shrubbery be I, especially near the outer 

 edge, where the ground isn't very dry; 

 for this purpose we use periwinkle ( Vinca 

 minor) or "myrtle," as it is called, ever- 

 green ivy, Hypericum calycinum, lily of 

 the valley, or Hall's honeysuckle, but pre- 

 ferably the ivy or periwinkle. As regards 

 carpeting the ground between big her- 

 baceous plants as we suppose you mean, 

 larkspur, hollyhocks, sunflowers, trito- 

 mas, etc , it cannot very well be done, 

 because the leaves of the tall plants are 

 apt to spread over and kill out any car- 

 peting plant that may be used for such a 

 purpose. Along the front of the beds or 

 borders, however, creeping speedwell, 

 golden alyssum, white arabis, evergreen 

 candytuft, moss pink, and the like, may 

 be used. Have a few reserve annuals, as 

 asters ordwarfnasturtiums, tofill up any 

 spaces made vacant by the cutting over 

 of tall plants during summer. 



The Fruit Garden. 



flAMBURGH GRAPES AND GREENflOUSES IN 

 TflE SOUTH. 



In the issue of March 15 of Gardening 

 under head of "Greenhousesin the South," 

 in regard to raising Black Hamburgh and 

 Muscat of Alexandria grapes inthesouth, 

 I desire to add to my reply of January 15 

 as follows: 



As the heading of the article is supposed 

 to cover the whole south it may be well 

 to discriminate somewhat as to the pos- 

 sibility of growing these grapes in its 

 various sections. At Earleton, Alachua 

 county, Florida, on the shore of Lake 

 Santa Fe, my friend. Baron H. von Lut- 

 tiehau, has made a remarkable success in 

 growing Black Hamburgh Golden Chas- 

 selas and many other varieties of foreign 

 grapes. For a number of years past he 

 has shipped these in quantities to north- 

 em markets. The vines, are grown in 

 open ground without any protection 

 whatever. The influence of the large body 

 of water bordering the vinej'ard has no 

 doubt much to do v/ith his success. There 

 is therefore no reason why as good results 

 could not be expected from similarly situ- 

 ated localities in Florida. At our place 

 near Augusta we annually grow some ex- 

 ceedingly good bunches of Black Ham- 

 burgh in open vineyard by using the 

 proper precautions in spraying the vines 

 and fniit, and dusting the latter with 

 flowers of sulphur when half-grown, then 

 bag the bunches. We have had bunches 

 of the Black Zante to weigh upwards of 

 two pounds and every berry perfect when 

 bagged in time. There is one drawback 

 however, to the cultivation of Black Ham- 

 burgh in open ground; that is the vines are 

 short lived if allowed to overbear, and 

 therefore only a few bunches should be 

 left on each vine. As regards Golden 

 Chasselas I know instances of vines 



planted in 1868 by the late Governor 

 Hammond of South Carolina at his resi- 

 dence in Beach Island, near Augusta, 

 which, although being left unpruned and 

 uncultivated tor a number of years did, 

 after receiving a thorough working, yield 

 perfect fruit for several years afterward. 



So much for the possibility of growing 

 a few varieties of exotic grapes at the 

 south, but as a rule they can only be con- 

 sidered as varieties for amateur cultiva- 

 tion. Referring again to the same article 

 it is evident that the writer is not familiar 

 with the modern plan of constructing 

 greenhouses. Several of our houses were 

 built more than 15 years ago and after 

 having been kept regularly painted we do 

 not find these to be a "shakv wreck." 

 Far from that, they bid fair to last 15 

 years longer. It ail depends upon the 

 quality of the material used, the proper 

 method of construction and the care. We 

 are so well satisfied with fixed roof plant 

 houses that we have lately changed the 

 roofs of three large houses from portable 

 sash roofs to fixed roofs. The sash roof 

 proved to be expensive and needing fre- 

 cjuent repairs; whereas the fixed-roof 

 buildings with good cypress sash-bars are 

 less expensive to keep in repair and in 1 he 

 end much more satisfactory. 



As I review the progress made in the 

 United States in horticulture during the 

 past 40 years we must admit that much 

 of this is due to the excellent horticultural 

 publications which have been the means 

 of late years in disseminating information 

 upon every possible subject connected 

 with this pursuit. Had it not been for 

 the periodical welcome visits of these pub- 

 lications we would still hold to the opin- 

 ions which prevailed half a century ago. 

 Where would southern floriculture be 

 to-day had it not been for scientific dis- 

 coveries and their application in 

 methods of cultivation? Our southern 

 fruit growers would soon find their pur- 

 suit to end in failure were they still to 

 follow the old methods of cultivation as 

 well as preparing their crop for market 

 as prevailed formerly. 



Such things as spraying fruits and 

 plants, using refrigerating and ventilated 

 cars, and other methods which enable 

 the fruit grower of to-day to carry his 

 fruit perfect to distant markets, are "being 

 daily improved upon. It would be reason- 

 able to expect the fruit grower and the 

 floriculturist to stop at the present facili- 

 ties offered in his pursuit because he may 

 think that we have attained the greatest 

 possible i)erfection in these. A few years 

 hence our present methods will be con- 

 sidered as "back numbers," and every 

 progressive horticulturists will surely not 

 refuse to avail himself of the information 

 which is so freely and practically given 

 him through the horticultural press. 



P.J. Berckmans. 



PEARS FOR WINTER USE. 

 For the family orchard I know nothing 

 more desirable than the development of 

 varieties of pears that will extend the 

 season of their use when kept under the 

 ordinary conditions of winter storage 

 from January to May. I have tried a 

 number of the more promising late winter 

 varieties; the results ihusf.r are in the 

 maindisapp inting. Josephine de Malines 

 is always astringent. Easter Beurre 

 ripens unevenly; the sunny half will be 

 fully ripe while the other half is still hard; 

 Winter Nelis is difficult to keep beyond 

 early January, besides with me the fruit 

 is becoming almost as subject to the 

 attacks of fungi as the Flemish Beauty. 

 Spraying helps, but is not a complete 

 remedy. Barry is of fine quality and 



