i894. 



GARDENING. 



51 



close cutting this year may not kill out 

 the wild carrots this winter, continuing 

 the close cutting for another year or so 

 will destroy them. It will be a harder 

 matter to get rid of the rib grass It, 

 dandelions and crab grass are among the 

 worst lawn weeds we have got. We 

 would rceonmiend that you rake the 

 lawn clean with long-toothed steel rakes, 

 removing sorrel, mouse ear chickweed, 

 creeping vervain or veronica, yarrow, or 

 any other weeds j'ou can, then roll the 

 lawn firmly with a twohorse roller. 

 Refuse tobacco stems from cigar factories 

 if bought by the ton are pretty cheap 

 Get two to three tons of them, o])cn the 

 bales and shake up the stems quite loose, 

 then load them up and cart them on to 

 your lawn, spreading them evenly. This 

 is to act as a mulching over winter. It 

 isn't meant as an insecticide at all nor to 

 kill noxious weeds; but as it has some 

 manurial value, and contains no seeds of 

 anj' kind, and won't blow away, it makes 

 a desirable mulch. 



As soon as the snow leaves the ground, 

 say early in March, on a very dry- day, 

 sow some more fine grass seed over the 

 barer parts of your lawn, and without 

 removing the stems, run a light brush 

 harrow over it to settle the seed on the 

 ground, then roll it. Leave the stcmson, 

 and if you are troubled with European 

 sparrows add another ton of fresh stems 

 to your mulching to repel the birds. When 

 the grass begins to grow a little the 

 tobacco stems now- pretty well rotted 

 should be raked oflfwith wooden-toothed 

 rakes. Never wait for warm weather to 

 sow grass seed, if you gdt a snow storm 

 after the seed is sown it w-on't hurt it. If 

 you like white clover in your lawn sow 

 it with the grass seed in spring. The 

 only way to reduce the weeds is' to en- 

 courage the growth of the short grasses, 

 and mow frequently to behead the weeds. 



Lilies to Bloom in August.— X. Y. Z., 

 W. Va., wishes "to exhibit a small collec- 

 tion of lilies at a fair next August and have 

 selected auratum, A. vittatum, speciosum 

 album, s. roseum, s. rubrum, s. Melpo- 

 mene, tigrinum, fl.pl., Leichtlinii and a few 

 others, including one of the new East 

 India yellow- lily. I have not yet planted 

 the bulbs and would appreciate some 

 hints of how to proceed so as to reach 

 best results." 



You may have difficulty in getting all 

 of these lilies to bloom at the same time 

 and as late as you desire. If you had a 

 good many to choose from, and planted 

 some in a cool, moist, fainth- shaded spot 

 your chances for late flowers would be 

 better. Bulbs that have been out of the 

 ground and had a long and decided rest 

 are not to be relied upon so much as ones 

 w-e have been growing and know all 

 about. They maj- be impetuous or ener- 

 vated. It is an easy matter to get all of 

 these lilies into bloom a month earlier 

 than is their usual custom, but to retard 

 them is far more difficult. And in the case 

 of auratums in particular, even under the 

 same cultural conditions they may not 

 all bloom at the same time, you may 

 notice this among those in your garden. 



Wintering tender bulbs and tubers. 

 — C. W. P., Nebraska asks: "How to 

 keep (1,1 gladiolus, (2) tuberoses, (3) 

 cannas, (•!•) dahlias, bulbs and tubers 

 through the winter without rotting or 

 growing? 



(6). Will old bulbs of tuberoses bloom 

 next summer. (G) When is the best time 

 to remove the young shoots. (7). How- 

 shall I treat them to make bloom them 

 successfiiUv? And remarks 



"Gardening I consider is the best 

 floral and gardening journal published." 



1. Lift them at once. Cut the stems 

 and leaves off two or three inches from 

 the bulbs, spread them out thin to dry, 

 then clean them, and store them aw-aj- in 

 bags, or shallow boxes in a cool shed, 

 cellar, or building, in a temperature of 

 about 45°. 



2. Crop them over; then lift them and 

 dry them and store them in shallow boxes 

 on a shelf in a warm place, saj- 60°. 



3. How to keepcannasoverwinterhas 

 been answered several times lately. 



4. Dahlias, the same as tuberoses, onlv 

 a little cooler. They keep fine in a cellar, 

 if kept dry. 



5. Y'es, if strong enough and in good 

 condition. 



6. When sorting the bulbs over in win- 

 ter. 



7. Plant early — but not before you 

 would sow Lima beans, in warm good 

 ground. They all don't flower. 



The Belladonna Amaryllis won't 

 BLOOM.— M. N., Wis., writes: "I have 

 treated it as a pot plant for two years. 

 Its leaves are now (October 5) a foot 

 high, and a number of offshoots have 

 made their appearance, but no flowers. 

 It is said to be perfectly hardy. Will it 

 do to plant it out in the open ground 

 with so much new growth?" It is a 

 native of the Cape of Good Hope, and in 

 warm sheltered positions it lives nicely 

 out of doors at Boston, but we do not 

 think it is hardy in Wisconsin. We have 

 not known it to multiply very fast. Under 

 ordinary conditions its leaves grow in 

 spring, and die down in summer; and 

 after a rest in dormant state in late sum- 

 mer the bulbs throw up vigorous scapes 

 terminated with several large, rose-col- 

 ored flowers. 



The "Mexican Primrose" won't 

 BLOOM —M. N., Wis., has been trying for 

 three j-ears to pet it to bloom; he has tried 

 it as a pot plant, and a basket plant, 

 planted it in the open ground in full sun- 

 shine and in partial shade, in rich soil 

 and in poor soil, and watered and fer- 

 tilized it, but all to no purpose, it hasn't 

 borne more than half a dozen flowers in 

 all that time. We presume the pretty 

 little rose-pink evening primrose (CEno- 

 thera) is the plant referred to. Keep it 

 cool (but not so low as to let it freeze! 

 and inactive all winter, and only slightly 

 moist, to rest it. In early spring when it 

 starts into fresh growth give it more 

 water and more sunshine. We have seen 

 it in the greatest profusion of bloom, and 

 then it is a lovely little flower. 



A New Canna in the way oi but "much 

 superior in coloring to Paul Marquant" 

 has been raised from seed by P. L. V., 

 Bayou Goula, La. "This seedling is now- 

 (October 10) only 18 inches high and this 

 is its first head of bloom." The flowers 

 being so good to begin with are apt to be 

 always good, but the dwarfness of the 

 plant when it bears its first flowers 

 doesn't always hold good that thevariety 

 will continue to be very dwarf We have 

 had scores of seedlings come into bloom 

 as small as that and grow to be several 

 feet high the next summer. 



Destroying Weeds.— The only practi- 

 cal way of getting rid of such persistent 

 weeds as milkweed, calystegia and horse- 

 nettle is to cut them down as fast as the}- 

 spring up. If this is persisted in for two 

 years there is no weed that can stand it. 



Hulton, Pa. W. W. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



LflROE-LEflUED MflONOLIfl AND FflULOWNIfl. 



A. L. W., Buffalo, N. Y., writes. "I am 

 anxious to plant a Afa^no//a niacrophylla 

 and Paulownia imperialis, and would 

 like to know if I can reasonably expect 

 them to thrive in our climate. It is very 

 seldom that our temperature reaches ten - 

 degrees below zero in winter, but our 

 winds are very strong." Instead of Mag- 

 nolia macrophylla we would suggest 

 that you try the Japanese large-l.aved 

 magnolia, namely, M. hypoleuca. 



Neither the large-leaved magnolia nor 

 the paulownia will thrive in the clay sub- 

 soil of Buffalo and vicinity. 1 believe 

 that in thin, loamy or gravelly soil young 

 plants would ripen the wood sufficiently 

 to escape being killed back, if the roots 

 are mulched as a protection from severe 

 frost until they get down deep enough. 

 Both species do well with proper atten- 

 tion for the first few years in the vicinitv 

 of New York. In fact the paulownia is a 

 common street tree in Brooklyn, and 

 trees of large size maj- be seen occasion- 

 alh'. The minimum winter temperature 

 here is not lower than in New York, but 

 the spring is nearly a month later, and 

 the paulownia would rarely bJoora, if 

 ever. All the plants, both of the above 

 magnolia and the paulownia, which I 

 hive set out out in the park here have 

 been killed back in winter, because the 

 growth was too rank and sappy. The 

 paulownia roots are often uninjured, and 

 each season they send up one or more 

 succulent shoots, with leaves three or 

 four times the normal size. The general 

 aspect of these annual sprouts is that of 

 an overgrown sunflower rather than of a 

 young tree. As year by year the roots 

 increase in vigor the annual saplings in- 

 ci-ease in size and softness, and then the 

 first sharp frost of the season suddenly 

 kills both stem and roots. I therefore 

 think that under ordinary conditions of 

 soil and exposure neither species will 

 thrive in Buffalo or its vicinity. 



Wm. McMillan. 



Sup't of Parks, Buffalo, N. Y., October 

 16, '94. 



SflflDB TREES FOR T«E SOUTH. 



U. B. H., Americus, Georgia, "wants to 

 get quite a lot of good sized shade trees 

 shipped out to me this winter." He vis- 

 ited thenorth last summer, and at Dosoris 

 (we regret hedid not make himself known 

 to us) he saw some copper beeches and 

 other trees that pleased him, and a friend 

 "recommended to me as most thrifty and 

 beautiful shade trees the Norwav and 

 sugar maples," and advised him "to get 

 them from a certain far-north nursery. 



There is a big difference between the 

 cHmatic conditions of New Y'ork and 

 southw-estem Georgia; Nevi- England 

 trees might disappoint you, better take 

 the advice of such eminent veterans in 

 tree planting as James Stewart of the 

 Elm wood Nurseries, Memphis (see what 

 he siys in Gardening, page 40, October 

 15, '93. As you are a«xecent subscriber 

 we mail you the issue containing the 

 article), and Prosper J. Berekmans, The 

 Fruitland Nurseries, Augusta, Georgia. 

 Mr Berekmans writes us: 



"Norway and sugar maples are the 

 least desirable of the class for the light 

 soils of southwest Georgia. TheNorway 

 maple succeeds well in our clay soils, but 

 much better higher up the state. The 

 best of all maples which I would reconi- 



