lOO 



GARDENING. 



Dec. is. 



with them is becoming. Gladioli, and 

 summer hyacinth are quite cheap now, 

 and should be used plentifully both' in 

 groups by themselves and here and there 

 among the other plants where gaps 

 occur. In fact one of the chief points to 

 be observed should be in keeping the gaps 

 filled up as they occur with gladiolus 

 bulbs, seeds as of mignonette and trans- 

 planted seedlings of annuals. 



THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



Let us take a walk around and look at 

 the things. It is December S, tempera- 

 ture 4-2°, fair, with indications of rain; 

 since a week the weather has been lovely, 

 dry, clear, bracing, and a few degrees of 

 frost at night. 



The perennial borders are bare and 

 black, that is, all the deciduous plants 

 have been cut down to the ground and 

 the tops and loose dirt cleared away; the 

 ground was levelled roughly, but neither 

 dug nor forked, and a good top dressing 

 of well rotted manure spread broadcast 

 over it covering plants and ground. Hoi 

 lyhocks. Oriental mulleins, acanthus and 

 some others that we don't regard as 

 being very hardy we heaped a good 

 mule ling around the plants and shook 

 some litterv stuff over them. All recently 

 planted flowers of any kind and little 

 seedlings too have been mulched over- 

 head in this way, or a few evergreen 

 branches are laid over them to protect 

 them from frequent freezing and thawing 

 and warm blinks of sunshine in winter. 



All the Dutch bulbs, as liyacinths, tulips 

 and narcissi saved over from last spring, 

 likewise a good many that were bought 

 this fall have been planted where they 

 will look best, be most at home or most 

 useful. But if you can get any of these 

 bulbs vet, and the ground is open, plant 

 them. ' We prefer to plant an inch deeper 

 than common and not mulch the beds, 

 than plant shallow and then cover with 

 a mulching, because there is danger in 

 leaving the mulching on so long in spring 

 that the voung plants begin to grow up 

 through 'it and 'get bleached, then sun 

 scalded. But in the ease of montbretias, 

 summer hyacinths {candicuns), first year 

 seedUng gladioli or Japanese or California 

 lilies we believe a heavy mulching of light 

 material — enough to keep out hard frost- 

 is beneficial. 



Gaura Lindbeimeri on light land is 

 hardy with us, and both the old plant 

 and numberless seedlings live overwinter, 

 but it is well to protect it with a mulch- 

 ing. Plumbago Larpenta:, also a hardy 

 plant, needs a mulch for safety's sake, so 

 does the ageratum-like mist flower, the 

 double flowered sunflower and Maximil- 

 ian's sunflower. 



Arundo Donax has been cut over and 

 its tall leafy stalks used for protecting 

 trees; and the ground the roots are in 

 has been mulched nearly a foot deep. We 

 gathered the leaves of the pampas grass 

 into a sheaf, then banked the plants 

 around heavily with leaves and litter. 

 Eulalia grasses are better if not cut down 

 till spring, and mulched in the meantime, 

 but for tidiness we cut them down, mulch 

 about them heavily, and lay some coarse 

 stuff" over their crowns. A piece of old 

 tar paper laid over the crowns to shed 

 water is a great help. 



Nothing could be better done than the 

 way the wind blew and settled a lot of 

 tree leaves about the yuccas, so we have 

 left them there, and scattered a little 

 coarse manure over the leaves to keep 

 them in place. In spring we will have to 

 clear both leaves and manure away. 



Although yuccas are hardy enough here, 

 protecting their crowns in this way is of 

 benefit to them. 



The bamboos, as Metake, aurea and 

 nigra, generally get along very well till 

 February or March, and then may come 

 a sudden cold spell of weather and kill 

 their tops; but the roots are safe enough. 

 We mulch the ground with tree leaves to 

 make sure of no injury to theunderground 

 stems, and pile a lot of pine tree branches 

 among the "grass" of the bamboos to 

 trv to save them. 



We have lifted a lot of each variety of 

 the tritomas and heeled them into a cold 

 frame, for safety over winter, but we also 

 have left a lot of them out of doors well 

 mulched with tree leaves. Although they 

 live over winter in the open ground when 

 protected in this way, we get better satis- 

 faction of those we Hft and store in the 

 frame. 



VflRIEOflTED EUFHORBlfl-YELLOW MORNING 

 GLORy. 



1. I see in G,\rdeni.\"G, November I, 

 reference made to a variegated Euphorbia 

 heteropbylla; I would like very much to 

 secure a plant of this for my private gar- 

 den, as I feel quite sure that it would 

 color brilliantly in CaUfomia. Can you 

 assist me in getting it? 



2. Several years ago when I visited 

 you at Dosoris I saw a yellow ipomcea 

 (morning glory). I have since tried to 

 get seed of the variety but have failed, 

 where can I get a few seeds of it? 



E. E. S. 

 Leland Stanford, Jr. Universitv, Palo 

 Alto. Cal. 



1. Write to Mr. A. W. Smith, Bank of 

 South Western Georgia, Augusta, Ga. 



2. We do not know who else has got 

 it. Remind us of it next August, maybe 

 we can helo you then. 



Seed of M.\mmoth Verbenas.— S. A. 

 L. Ventura, Cal., asks: "Where can I 

 procure a really fine strain of verbena 

 seed, of the Mammoth variety?" -Apply 

 to W. Atlee Burpee, or H. A. Dreer of 

 Philadelphia, or J C. Vaughan of Chicago, 

 they generally get hold of most every 

 superfine strain to be obtained. 



Chrysanthemums. 



being in perfect keeping with the autum- 

 nal season. Inside the hall was encircled 

 with cedar trees which made a pleasant 

 backgroijnd for the flowers, while over- 

 head hundreds of Japaneses lanterns, 

 parasols, banners, scrolls and bunting 

 were used in the decorations; through all 

 the electric light shown brilliantly and 

 from one of the balconies stole forth the 

 sweet strains of music. 



This society is distinctly one of amateurs 

 and had its beginning four years ago in a 

 small store room, now it equals and sur- 

 passes some ol the shows of the large 

 cities. Only three professional florists 

 made exhibits. 



In the amateur class a lumber dealer 

 carried ofi" first premium for display of 

 specimen plants, a photographer second 

 premium; and a tobacconist third. Some 

 of the varieties shown in this class were 

 as follows: Chas. Davis, Golden Gate, 

 Viviand-Morel, Niveus, Ivory, Minnie 

 Wanamaker, E. Asmus, Geo. W. Childs, 

 Pres. W. R. Smith. W. H. Lincoln, Kobt. 

 Mclnnes, Mrs Gov. Fifer, Dr. Callan- 

 dreau, Mrs. J. G. Whilldin, H. Cannell. 

 Jos. H. White", Eda Prass, andTheQueen. 



In the cut bloom class for amateurs, an 

 ex-postmaster received first premium; a 

 dry goods merchant second; a grocery 

 salesman third, and another drygoods 

 merchant fourth. In this class blooms of 

 the following varieties of no Die sizes were 

 seen: Mrs. Senator Hearst, Golden Wed- 

 ding, Jessica, Ivorv, Mrs. F. Thompson, 

 Emily Hitzeroth, the Queen, Ed w Hatch, 

 Hicks Arnold, E. Asmus, L'Enfant des 

 deux Mondes, Mrs. Bullock, Lillian Rus- 

 sel, Mrs. Gerard, Coronet, Rohallion, Dr. 

 Callandreau, Pres. W. R. Smith. Ada 

 Spaulding, Mrs. E. G. Hill ,G. F. Mose- 

 man and Geo. W. Childs. 



The show was a success in every way 

 and the amateurs of Frederick City chal- 

 lenge all others to make such a showing 

 as thej' do; they claim they are at thetop 

 notch in the culture of one of Flora's most 

 beautiful children. C. E. Kemp. 



AN fiMflTBURS' CflRYSflNTflEMUM SftOW. 



The fourth annual chrysanthemum 

 show of the Frederick Co.,Md.. Floricult- 

 ural Society was held at Frederick City 

 November 7, 8, and 9, and was a grand 

 success. The exhibit made by amateurs 

 was wonderful, nothing like it has been 

 seen at any other show in the country. 

 The specimen plants rivalled those of the 

 professional florists, whilst the cut blooms 

 were immense. A premium was given to 

 amateurs for the best display of cut 

 blooms grown in the open ground to 

 stimulate outdoor cultivation, and the 

 result was a fine exhibit of cut blooms of 

 splendid size— from 6 to 12 inches in 

 diameter. Just before the show the open 

 yards of the members were a glorious 

 sight, with their wealth of lovely 

 chrysanthemums, this season being one 

 of the best ever had here for outdoor 

 culture. 



The Armory in which the show was 

 held is one of the largest in the state, 

 about 60x4-00 feet, and it was crowded 

 with exhibits. The lobby was trans- 

 formed into a bower of autumn leaves, 



SINGLE-STEMMED PLANTS IN SIX-INC« POTS. 



These are unusualh' good with us this 

 year. Perhaps the way Mr. Farrell man- 

 aged them may interest your readers: 

 The cuttings were taken on the 15th of 

 June and put in the sand on the green- 

 house cutting bench to root. As soon as 

 rooted they were potted into small pots, 

 when these were filled with roots the 

 plants were shilted into 4-inch pots, and 

 lastly into 6-inch ones. The plants were 

 grown to a single stem and disbudded to 

 one bloom. They were grown indoors 

 from start to finish, in a bright, airy 

 greenhouse, no shading being used till the 

 flowers opened. 



The soil in which they were potted was 

 good fibrous loam and about one-fourth 

 of cow manure, into which there was 

 mixed about one-twentieth of St. Louis 

 soot. How we came to use the soot was 

 in this way: We were somewhat afraid 

 of club root on our roses, and were ad- 

 vised by Mr. John N May to use soot 

 freely in the soil for our roses. Thinking 

 if it were good for roses it could not be 

 injurious to chrysanthemums, the latter 

 were potted in part of the soil we used 

 for the roses. The flowers have a very 

 fine finish, and the folia{.e is large, glossy 

 and dark, and clothes the stem from the 

 surface of^the pot to the flower stalk. Do 

 you think the soot had a beneficial effect. 

 [No doubt of it.— Ed.] 



After the plants fil'ed their pots with 

 roots they received liberal applications of 

 liquid manure, into which we put about 

 one ounce of sulphate of ammonia to a 

 barrel of cow manure water. 



