88 



• • GARDENING, 



Dec. I 



hibitors. His method of growing his 

 show chrysanthemums is to give them 

 plenty of air d 33- and night during sum- 

 mer and until frost. The plants are syr- 

 ing twice every day until buds form, then 

 no more, after that water is given at the 

 root only. No liquid food is given until 

 the buds set, and then only once each 

 week until they show color. That is, his 

 plants receive stimulants only four or five 

 times. The show flowers were planted 

 in benches June 15, began to set buds the 

 first week in September, and showed color 

 from October 1 to 10, making only five 

 weeks for feeding. He has fed less this 

 year than ever before with the result of 

 getting a better average both in plants 

 and flowers, as well as stronger stems, 

 finer foliage, larger flowers and better 

 form. F. C. S. 



St. Louis. 



tiflRDY GHRYSflNTflEMUMS AT WflSfllNGTON. 



Little success has attended the eftbrts 

 in growing the newer, large flowered 

 chrysanthemums out of doors here. In 

 some seasons when the early frosts are 

 absent if disbudded they develop fairly 

 good flowers, but if left to themselves 

 they run back very quickly to medium 

 sized ones. And these high blooded kinds 

 are almost certain to suffer during winter 

 if not protected from severe frosts with 

 leaves, straw or other mulching. All out- 

 door plants should be lifted, divided and 

 replanted at least once every two years. 

 If this is not done the growths get 

 crowded and weak. Six or eight stems 

 to a plant are all that is necessary to 

 make a fine display. 



In this vicinity the small flowered vari- 

 eties are the most satisfactory ones for 

 outdoor work, and the following kinds 

 are verj' hardy and seldom fail to perfect 

 their flowers: La Neige, white; Golden 

 Circle, yellow; Bob, crimson; La France, 

 pure white and very double; White Tra- 

 venna, a good old kind; Little Beauty, 

 white and rose; and Ajax, red. Among 

 those bearing largerflowers the old white 

 Elaine is one of the best; Domination is 

 another good white, and both are early; 

 Gloriosum and (iorgeous are among the 

 best yellows; Cullingfordii is the most 

 reliable of the crimsons; and October 

 Beauty, pink, has always done well. All 

 of the above kinds are grown extensively 

 both in the public and private gardens 

 here, and are all well known and favorite 

 varieties. G. W. Oliver. 



Washington, D. C. 



Roses. 



FROPflOflTINO flflRDY ROSES. 



The simplest way for amateurs who 

 have no greenhouse to propagate roses is 

 to ])rune the motherplants hard in spring 

 and tlien layerthem as soon as thevoung 

 wood lias completed its growth, which 

 will he about the beginning of July. Let 

 tlusi- layers remain at the parent plant 

 till the fall of thefollowing vear, then take 

 them up and transplant them. They will 

 mriki- very strong plants. 



I'rom cuttings it is more difficult, but 

 it can be done. Have a small sash overa 

 frame, put a 3-inch deep layer of moss 

 into it, pressing it down solid, then put 

 2V2 inches deepof sand on top of thcmoss 

 and press it fiiTu too, and water it. 



Then after the middle of June take firm 

 current year's wood, not too strong, 

 three to four inches long, and shorten the 

 leaves, then pl;int them solidiv into the 



frame, and water them. Keep them gen- 

 erally moist but give air to dry ofi the 

 over moistness; also give a little shade. 

 In fall they can be potted, or, better still, 

 let them alone in the frame till spring, 

 covering it with some rank litter in win- 

 ter, and from time to time in fine weather 

 ventilate the frame a little. Pot ortrans- 

 plant them in spring. 



Budding roses is very easy. TheManetti 

 is still the best stock. Budding can be 

 done about the middle or end of June. 

 Insert the buds as low down on the stocks 

 as possible, even take the soil away from 

 about the neck of the plant to allow you 

 to get the bud in there. But after the 

 buds have taken replace the soil. In 

 spring eut the heads of the stocks back to 

 the inserted bud. After the bud begins to 

 grow suckers from the roots are apt to 

 show themselves, but remove thtm as 

 soon as you notice them. 



Kissena, L. I. J. R. Trimpy. 



ROSES IN MEMPHIS. 



I read with great pleasure the man3- 

 enquiries about roses and the answers by 

 you and your readers. I notice particu- 

 larly what H. G. P., of Fruitvale, Cal., 

 page 54, says in regard to the rose 

 Clothilde Soupert, and which shows 

 surely that roses have preferences. 



I have long held that for all outdoor 

 purposes, Estella Pradel leads them all, 

 but for the last two years Clothilde Sou- 

 pert seems to want to take the lead, as a 

 free grower it is only checked by its con- 

 stant and superabundant blooming, and 

 the buds have to be thinned constantly. 

 As a free bloomer out of doors it has few 

 equals, and as a perfect rose opening well 

 it has iDeen the attraction of all beholders 

 from early spring till to-day (November 

 6), yet it is of no value in the greenhouse 

 here. The list of roses recommended to J. 

 D. W. for Buffalo (page 55) is very good, 

 for northern New York let me advise you 

 to add the following varieties which are 

 all hardy and exceedingly free bloomers. 

 Most of them are very old and some prob- 

 ably cannot now be found m catalogues. 

 They are Marquis Boccella, Dr. Arnal, 

 Duchess of Sutherland, Giant of Battles, 

 Hermosa, Reine Marie Henriette, Sir 

 Joseph Paxton, Yolande d' Aragon and 

 Musk Cluster. All these bloom freely here 

 all summer, in fact many a time in hot 

 long dry spells thej' are the only ones I 

 have to fall back upon for cut flowers. 

 With the exception of R. M. Henriette I 

 have stuck to all these for 45 years. I 

 grow many others too but they would 

 not be hardy so far north as Buffalo. 



Memphis, Tenn. J.\mes Stewart. 



OLD FASHIONED ROSES. 



For some time I have been trying to 

 collect some of the fine old roses of 50 

 years ago from the most likely parties in 

 England and the continent of "Europe but 

 only occasionally get what I want. A 

 year or two ago in importing some plants 

 from a large nursery I ordered some old 

 roses — among others the genuine old 

 "cabbage rose and Harrisonii"—v.'ha.t 

 was sent me for the first proved to be a 

 genuine old Damask rose, pale blush in 

 color, flat, having no resemblance to the 

 cabbage rose, the variety sent for the 

 second I soon recognized as 



"Williams' double yellow Sweet- 

 brier," this I was pleased to get, as I had 

 not seen a plant of it for over fifty years. 

 It was raised by Mr. Wilhams of I'itmas- 

 ton (England) some sixty or seventy 

 vears ago, and it was much grown in 

 England before the a])ijcarance of TUirri- 

 sttiiii. Uic latter bavins the finest flower 



superseded it, the habit is better than 

 Harrisoaii, it is more bushy, dwarf and 

 thorny like a Scotch rose. 



Caroline Marniesse is an old styled 

 Noisette rose with large bunches of small 

 double white flowers or nearly white, it 

 blooms more or less all summer and is 

 hardy. [It is a climbing rose of moderate 

 growth and blooms in clusters. Trained 

 up against the southfacing wall of a 

 building at Dosoris it does w'ell, so too it 

 does on a north wall, and it is a great 

 favorite with the ladies.— Ed.] These 

 old roses have dropped entirely out of 

 cultivation in the nurseries of England 

 and the continent or nearh' so and can 

 only be found in the old gardens in those 

 countries and I suppose the demand there 

 is not sufficient to induce any person to 

 hunt them up. John Saul. 



Washington, D. C. 



THE DflMflSK ROSE. 



Have you this rose (Rosa Damascena), 

 the rose from which the attar of roses is 

 made? I hope not, for I want to send 

 j'ou one that you may gather the roses 

 for your wife to wear in her belt each 

 mornina:. My mother always wore one 

 that way. With all your beauties you 

 never had a sweeter rose than this one. 

 [This old-fashioned rose is a native of 

 S3'ria and has been in common cultiva- 

 tion in gardens for over three hundred 

 years. It is one of the sweetest of all 

 roses, and although, as a flower, it is not 

 up to the standard of perfection attained 

 by our artificial roses, of which it was 

 one of the foundations, we ought to grow 

 it for the sweetness of its blossoms just 

 as much as we grow sweetbrier for the 

 fragrance of its foliage. — Ed.] L. G. C. 



Virginia. 



Madame Testout rose although lovely 

 in color when fresh, is not full enough to 

 keep well, seeming to soon fall open rather 

 limplv, and then taking on a bluish tone 

 that is not pleasing. F. C. S. 



St. Louis. 



The Greenhouse. 



HOW I GROW BEGONIfl RUBRA. 



Young plants bought in the spring or 

 else propagated from cuttings will make 

 nice flowering plants (or the following 

 winter. This begonia likes a light rich 

 soil, and during the summer it should be 

 place! in a half shady place out of doors, 

 and never allowed to get dry. It throws 

 up new shoots from the root stock every 

 year and these bear the flowers the fol- 

 lowing winter and spring. These shoots 

 will increase in size in proportion to the 

 age of the plant so that four year old 

 plants will often throw out shoots six 

 and seven feet high and one inch and 

 more in diameter. There ought to be only 

 the growth of the last two years left on 

 the plants. Shoots that were thrown up 

 in previous years should be cut out close 

 to the base of the plants. The new shoots 

 have a tendency to keep on growing 

 like a bamboo without branching, but to 

 induce them to branch they should be cut 

 off" at a desired height, say about four feet 

 from the ground. The top eye of the 

 pruned shoot will at once start to grow 

 and send up a strong single branch which 

 is apparently determined to take the 

 place of the cut off top of its parent. In 

 examining now the base of this new 

 branch we discover right at its starting 

 point a lot of dormant eyes clustering 

 close together, if the new branch is cut off 



