GARDENING. 



37 



and low growing shrubs about which its 

 stems twin". 



Among shrubs, the groundsel shrub 

 (liaccharis halimi/blia) is displaying its 

 white pappus on the fertile plants, and is 

 as showy as a shrub in flo wer. Witch- 

 hazel (Hamamelis Virgiw'ca) is opening 

 its yellow flowers, and they keep up one 

 after another long after i'rosty nights 

 come. I. M'kkhan. 



Philadelphia. 



SPRING FLOWERING BULBS IN THE CfllCflOO 

 PARKS. 



Quite a feature is made of Dutch bulbs 

 at Lincoln Park, but the display is prac- 

 tically limited to tulips. A few hundred 

 bulbs of daffodils, narcissi, crocuses and 

 snowdrops are grown in clumps in the 



borders of hardy perennials, but of tulips 

 30,000 are planted every tall, part of 

 them being bulbs matured, selected and 

 retained from theprevious year's growth, 

 and a part of them is bought fresh every 

 jear. They are used in ribbons and in 

 beds on the lawns bordering a driveway 

 that skirts the flower gardens near the 

 conservatories. Only five varieties are 

 used, viz., Yellow Prince, La Reine Vic- 

 toria, white; Rembrandt, crimson-scarlet; 

 Coleur Ponceau, crimson and white, and 

 Cottage Maid, rose and white. These all 

 bear single flowers, bloom together and 

 grow about the same height— Yellow 

 Prince being slightly taller than the others. 



In arrangement the first consideration 

 is effectiveness from the driveway. To 

 this end the ribbon borders — consisting 

 of long sinuous lines of tulips outhned by 

 greensward — have a broad central band 

 of one variety edged by narrower bands 

 of another; as three or four rows of 

 Yellow Prince bordered on each side by 

 two rows of La Reine; or Rembrandt 

 edged with Coleur Ponceau; or Cottage 

 Maid and La Reine, etc., etc. In the beds 

 each design shows a distinct field of one 

 variety, while other varieties form a more 

 or less intricate pattern; the intention of 

 all the combinations being the production 

 of bold masses of color. The beds are 

 large, frequ.-ntly as much as 26 or 27 feet 

 in diameter, but similar designs can be 

 used on a smaller scale for small grounds. 



The accompanj'ing diagrams show 

 some of the simpler designs, and to give 

 an idea of the i olor seen in the park beds 

 take Fig. 1 and let No. 1 stand for Y'ellow 

 Prince; No. 2 for Rembrandt; No. 3 for 

 La Reine, and No. 4 for Coleur Ponceau. 

 This makes red and white (No. 4-) the 

 field color which is, of course, the most 

 prominent, so, for the next bed Mr. Strom- 

 back would be likely not only to select a 

 different shape, but also a combination 

 that would give prominen e to some 

 other color. Fig. 2 will serve as an ex- 

 ample with No. 1 for either Cottage Maid 



or Coleur Ponceau; No. 2, La Reine, and 

 No. 3, Rembrandt. Again, for variety in 

 both form and color, let Fig. 3 be made 

 up thus: No. 1 Y'ellow Prince, No. 2 

 Rembrandt, No. 3 La Reine, and No. ■!■ 

 Cottage Maid. Of course each design is 

 capable of several color combinations 

 even though the number of varieties to 

 choose from seems small. 



The trea* raent followed at the park is 

 to leave the bulbs as long as possible to 

 ripen in the ground (usually until June 3 

 or 4-); the seed pods are then cut off with 

 a sickle, and the bulbs, with the foliage 

 attached, are taken up and packed in 

 close rows in trenches in the greenhou.se 

 benches, and heeled in just as shrubs and 

 trees are temporarily preserved out of 

 doors. There they remain until thor- 

 oughly ripe, which condition is indicated 

 by the foliage turning yellow and detach- 

 ing readily from the bulb. In the latter 

 part of July they are ready to be taken 

 out of the trenches and are then treed 

 from foliage, old roots, bulblets and old 

 skins (the dry outer envelope). The 

 smooth, clean, fresh bulbs are then placed 

 in layers in trays or boxes only three or 

 four inches deep, and the boxes stored in 

 a cool, dry basement. The bulbs are 

 kept dry from the time they are taken 

 from the beds until they are returned to 

 them In removing the bulblets those 

 that are large enough, and firm enough 

 to promise a small flower the coming sea- 

 son are saved and planted in beds by 

 themselves, the rest are thrown away. 



The first week in November the tulips 

 are planted six inches deep, and six inches 

 apart both ways, in ground that hasbem 

 carefully prepared and enriched, if neces- 

 sary, with a little well rotted manure. 

 After the ground is frozeli to a depth of 

 from four to five inches (and not before), 

 the beds are covered with about five 

 inches of strawy manure or litter. During 

 and after deep snows and in mild weather 

 the beds are examined and if the ground 



method of treatment is a success is evi- 

 denced by a yearly tulip show that the 

 whole town goes out to see. 

 Chicago. F. C. Seavkv. 



Fig. 2 



begins to thaw the covering is drawn 

 aside, and put on again at the approach 

 of colder weather. But cold snaps are 

 carefully watched for while the covering 

 is off. Tht- theory and practice is to keep 

 the ground frozeii above the bulbs, and 

 to never allow it to freeze below them. 

 The covering is permanently removed the 

 latter part of March— a little cadier or 

 later according to the season. 



Mr. Stromback docs not advocate leav- 

 ing tulip bulbs in the ground through the 

 summer unless in ground that receives no 

 moisture ■ xcept that supplied by nature. 

 He finds that the bulbs do not ripen prop- 

 erlv in ground that is watered to keep up 

 the growth of summer plants, and when 

 the beds are cov. red with sod that must 

 be kept green by watering the results 

 prove just as unsatislactory. That his 



CROZr CflNNfl SEEDLINGS, 



In Gakde.ni.ng, of ,\ugust 15, page 388, 

 in "Cannas at the White House," the 

 writer speaks of seedlings about to be in- 

 troduced, and says they lack the golden 

 edging so much prized in the Madame 

 Crozy. This has suggested to me report- 

 ing to you something of my first experi- 

 ence in raising cannas from seed. Last 

 spring I succeeded in starting about two 

 dozen in a hotbed. After planting them 

 out, a long period of cold and wet de- 

 stroyed all but half a dozen. Two of 

 them have bloomed and one of them has 

 the same golden edgingthat the Madame 



Crozy has. It has a darker color than 

 Crozy, however, and to ray eye is very 

 fine, but whether or not the best judges 

 would pronounce it better in any respect 

 to that popular canna, I cannot tell. 



Niagara Falls. H. J. S. 



[Madame Crozy canna bears seed in 

 moderate plenty, and a considerable per- 

 centage of the seedlings closely resemble 

 the parent; some may differ in the scarlet 

 hue, others in the deepness of the yellow 

 marking, and so on, but altogether, from 

 among the thousands of children born to 

 herduring the last three years, we have 

 not seen anything more indispensable 

 than the grand old Madame herself But 

 some of her progeny are lovely. — Ed.] 



MY FLOWER GARDEN IN NEBRASKA. 



During the summer that is just past we 

 have had the most windy and dry, hot 

 weather we ever had during my residence 

 here of twenty-one years, and I have had 

 geraniums, dahlias, phlox, petunias, pan- 

 sies, zinnias, pinks, verbrnas and carna- 

 tions continuously in bloom, also gladi- 

 olus and lilies in their season, roses almost 

 every month, and now (Sept. 26) have 

 cannas, dahlias and tuberoses now in full 

 bloom, and cosmos budding. 



I prepared my beds by removing the 

 earth to the depth of two feet and then 

 filling in with thoroughly rotted garden 

 black soil, sand and well rotted stable 

 manure. 



In the lily bed I put at the bottom six 

 inches deep of broken brick, stone and 

 coal a«h-s, and on top of this six inches 

 of well rotted stable manure, and filled 

 up with good soil mixed with sand. As 

 soon as the dry spell set in I mulched 

 everything with fine fresh cut grass and 

 watered thoroughly every few days 



I shall plant out a good number of lilies 

 and other bulbs for next spring and sum- 

 mer flowering. C. W. P. 



Shicklcv. Neb. 



