296 



GARDENING. 



June 15, 



of this species are also used to graft 

 other varieties on because it is not dis- 

 posed to sucker like the vulgaris type.— 

 Ed.] W. C. Egan. 



Transplanting Lilacs in Summer.— C. 

 H. B., Seattle, Wash., asks: "Can I at 

 this season of the year safely transplant 

 a collection of lilac trees about four feet 

 tall? I expect to move my residence and 

 wish to take the trees with me but am 

 dubious about undertaking it while they 

 are growing." Ans. Yes. Have the 

 holes all dug and ready to receive the 

 plants. Then cut back the lilacs a good 

 deal, especially the leafy shoots, and thin 

 out the old wood; now dig up the plants, 

 being very careful not to expose the roots 

 a mmute more than you can help lest the 

 rootlets may get dry and perish, and 

 sprinkle them over with water, then 

 cover them with straw or sheeting to 

 keep sunshine and wind away. Plant at 

 once, cover up, tamp the ground firmly, 

 and give a good watering. Twice a day 

 for a week or so sprinkle the plants over- 

 head from a watering-pot rose— say in the 

 middle of the forenoon and middle of the 

 afternoon, the coolness and dew at night 

 will be sufficient then. In regrading a 

 part of the grounds here in Schenley Park 

 occupied as a nursery for young trees we 

 have to lift and transplant some thou- 

 sands of young trees, and we are doing 

 this right along now (May 28); we cut 

 off the young leafy wood, lift carefully, 

 dip the roots at once in a clay puddle, 

 then heel the plants in for some days till 

 the ground is regraded, when we plant 

 them again, but before planting we pud- 

 dle tlie roots again, our object being to 

 save the roots, and so far every plant 

 looks well. 



Variegated Sycamore Maple.— C.B , 

 New York, writes: There is a tree in As- 

 toria, L. I., with variegated foliage, of 

 which I enclose a sample. As I have 

 never seen a maple of this variety, with 

 variegated foliage, I thought possible 

 that it might be a new variety. Can you 

 inform me if this is so? Ans. It is neither 

 new nor rare. It is one of the variegated- 

 leaved forms of the svcamore maple 

 (Acer Pseudo-platanus). There are two 

 common forms, one with white varie- 

 gated leaves and the other with yellow 

 marked foliage and both attractive. 

 {Suhrosa. We were going to say pretty, 

 but dare not because modern landscape 

 art is "death" against variegated-leaved 

 trees and shrubs of all sorts. ) Go out to 

 Parsons' nurseries at Kissena, they are 

 close by Astoria, and ask our good friend 

 Mr. Trumpy to show you these varie- 

 gated sycamore maples in their various 

 forms. 



ViTis CoiGNETiae.- J. A. G., Akron, Ohio, 

 asks— Where can I get this vine, men- 

 tioned on pages 245 and 258? Ans. See 

 advertisement in Gardening, page 252. 



Roses. 



CARING rOR ROSES IN SUMMER. 



I have a bed of ore hundred or more 

 roses which have just done blooming. 

 What shall I do with them to make them 

 bloom in the late summer and fall? As I 

 don't know anything about pruning 

 them myself, will \ ou please help me out? 



Akron, Ohio. J. A. L. 



Much depends on what sort of roses 

 you have. If they are the white Mme. 

 Plantier or moss or prairie roses or Per- 



sian jellow roses they won't bloom again 

 in fall no matter what you do to them. 

 If they are the hardy rotes like General 

 Jacqueminot and Mrs. John Laing they 

 are apt to bear a few roses throughout 

 the late summer and fall months even if 

 you do not do anything to them; but to 

 encourage this second crop— it is only 

 straggling at best — wlien our roses are 

 in bloom in May and June we cut the 

 flower stems well back when we cut the 

 roses; this encourages a fresh young 

 growth that is more floriferous than the 

 hard and well ripened canes of spring 

 growth. The Bourbon roses like Her- 

 raosa and Mrs. Degraw bloom all sum- 

 mer long, no matter whether you prune 

 them or not, and more fully in August, 

 September and October than now, for the 

 cooler nights have a tendency towards 

 encouraging bigger and better roses. We 

 always plant out a lot of tea roses in 

 April or May, and they give us flowers all 

 summer and up till the chrysanthemum 

 season is upon us. If these are only 

 young rooted plants and set out now 

 they will bloom prettily in late summer; 

 of course if they are early "struck" ones 

 they will flower proportionately early. 

 Indeed we had several hundred tea rose 

 plants that we forced in pots last winter, 

 and we planted them out in beds in the 

 open garden a month ago; from them we 

 expect to get lots of roses after midsum- 

 mer. These tea roses are not hardy, but 

 we raise a fresh lot from cuttings every 

 year as we do geraniums, hence have no 

 interest in saving o>er the old plants. 

 Some of the polyantha roses, Clothilde 

 Soupert for instance, are perpetual bloom- 

 ers, and all should grow some of them. 



As you don't say what kinds of roses 

 3'ou have we can advise you only in a 

 general way. Cut off all the old flower 

 heads pretty well back, thin out the old 

 gnarly wood, and let ev. ry ej'e and twig 

 have full light. When dry give the 

 ground a thorough soaking of water. 



Crimson Rambler is a gem of a rose 

 and has come to stay; it seems to root 

 well and grow sturdily, and its little red 

 blossoms have a vivid and striking effect. 

 Apparently it is quite hardy, and, so far 

 this spring, it has shown no signs of 

 mildew here. 



The Greenhouse. 



flYDRflNGEflS FOR FORCfl DECORATION. 



F. P. L., Pittsburg, writes: "I have a 

 number of large hydrangeas (the tender 

 ones as hortcnsis and its forms Otaksa, 

 Thomas Hogg, stellata, etc.) for porch 

 decoration, but am uncertain about the 

 following questions: 



1. "At what time should they be 

 pruned?" 



Ans. When they have done blooming 

 cut oft the old flowers but don't cut back 

 the shoots at that time lest it be so early 

 in fall that the plump buds be induced to 

 start into growth again or burst; rather 

 wait till the end of October, when there 

 is no fear of fresh growth starting, then 

 cut back the shoots a little for two rea- 

 sons, namely to better plump up the 

 lower buds (those you want for next 

 summer's flovi-ering wood), and to so 

 lessen the bulk of the plants that they can 

 be handled easier in winter. 



2. "How oftenshouldtheybepruned?" 

 Ans. Partly in fall as stated above, 



and again in early spring before you start 

 them into growth. When vou bring the 



plants out of the cellar, cut back the 

 shoots to sound plump buds. While the 

 biggest buds may be near the ends of 

 the branches it is better to cut back be- 

 yond these in order to preserve a strong, 

 stocky habit in the plants; encouraging 

 the buds near the ends of the branches 

 givts a long naked-hearted plant that in 

 a few years will look leggy. 



3. "How far back should a branch be 

 cut?" 



Ans. Your own eye and discretion 

 must govern this point; observe answer 

 to last question. Bear in mind that all 

 plump buds on the old or previous year's 

 wood should bear flowering shoots; by 

 reason of overcrowding and other ener- 

 vating influences, however, the lower 

 buds may be so weak as to produce 

 "blind" or flowerless wood rather than 

 blossoming shoots. This is governed by 

 cultural attention. At the root of the 

 plants, especially of those having meagre 

 or injured tops a lotof plumpsproutbuds 

 are sure to show themselves, and they 

 may suggest to you that by cutting back 

 the whole plant to the ground these buds 

 would soon shoot up and give you a fine, 

 full, vigorous specimen, and so they 

 would, but they would give you very few 

 flower heads, may be none at all the first 

 year. 



-t-. "If flower buds set on say half of 

 the shoots, woild it be best to cut all 

 others ofl? These shorter shoots if left 

 on improve the looks of a plant by ex- 

 tending the foliage down to the p t." 



Ans. In the case of a properly grown 

 plant the flowerless shoots should be re- 

 moved because they would crowd the 

 others and darken the inside of the speci- 

 mens so much as to render the eyes weak, 

 hence aid in making the interior naked; if 

 the plant is sparsely branched and the 

 "blind" shoots are necessary to give it a 

 furnished and good looking appearance, 

 by all means retain them or at least 

 enough of them to effect your object. 



5. "How is it possible to judge the 

 number of shoots to leave to produce the 

 finest blooms?" 



Ans. You must use your own judg- 

 ment. You want to have shoots enough 

 to fill up the whole mass easily, avoiding 

 overcrowding. Two opposite eyes gen- 

 erally come from each joint, and to retain 

 all of these opposite eyes, and from all of 

 the joints would be indiscreet; rub off the 

 weakest and the supernumerary ones, 

 and as a rule save only one at each joint. 



6. "What time is best to repot?" 

 Ans. In the matter of big plants we 



would repot them when we take them up 

 from the cellar in early spring. And in 

 fact we have found about the end of Sep- 

 tember, after the old flowers had been 

 cut and cleaned away an excellent time 

 for this work, — the plants made new roots 

 and took good fresh hold before winter 

 set in, and showed no signs of starting 

 again the same season into renewed 

 growth. 



7. "Would a light cellar whose tem- 

 perature runs from 34° to 40° beaproper 

 place to winter them in?" 



Ans. Excellent. While a little frost 

 may not hurt ripe wood, it does not do 

 the plants any good. 



8. "Should they receive any prepara- 

 tion, such as withholding water, etc., be- 

 fore storing in cellar, and should they be 

 kept pretty dry in cellar?" 



.4ns. No. It is well to keep them up 

 out of the cellar so long as we can save 

 them from a sharp frost, or, in fact, any 

 frost; but the moment the weather de- 

 mands their retirement, transfer them to 

 their winter (piarters. At that time we 

 gather our plants together, cut back the 



