i8g4. 



GARDENING. 



103 



Metrosideros speciosa (Bottle Brush) is 

 a very attractive shrub; bearing its scar- 

 let blossoms in crowded spikes. In blos- 

 soming time it is a mass of flowers, call- 

 ing forth praise from all who sec it. It 

 bears seeds, which germinate readily. 



Florida. li- 



SOME VERY HARDY TREES. 



An .\siatic poplar, P. Certensis, will 

 grow ten feet high in three years from 

 cuttings; and a curious thing is that at 

 that age one grown from a cutting can 

 not be distinguished, as to its roots, from 

 a seedling. It is as upright as a soldier, 

 and means business. It is said to be a 

 valuable timber tree, and is quite at home 

 in northern Vermont. I believe that it is 

 worthy of extensive planting. 



I see it stated that the red willows of 

 Eastern Europe, the bark of which is 

 nsed^for tanning the peculiar "Russia 

 leather," is also used by the Russians as 

 a timber tree. Loudon endorses its use- 

 fulness for finishing lumber, floors and 

 boat building. It would seem that this 

 ought to be a valuable tree for northern 

 New England and Canada. We must 

 have rapidly growing trees of this class 

 soon or go to building with brick and 

 stone. 



Elxagiws angustifolius proves perfectly 

 hardy and a rapid grower in northeast- 

 ern Vermont. It is a very striking tree; 

 every one wants to know what it is, but 

 does not want to handle it much, after 

 one trial. Its thorns are sharp as needles, 

 and its small, thick, olive-green foliage 

 hides them from notice. Mine has not 

 fniited, though about eight feet high. It 

 holds its withered foliage against the 

 hardest winds nearly all winter. • 



Shepherdia argentea I have had in fruit 

 for a number of 3-ears. It is a tall, thin- 

 branched shrub, or small tree; no wise 

 attractive except for its oddity. I do not 

 find the fruit good, or show}-. We much 

 prefer the barberri s growing near. The 

 male and female flowers are on separate 

 plants. T. H. Hoskins. 



Vermont. 



quite hardy at Niagara-on-the-lake, Lin- 

 coln County, Ontario. None of the young 

 wood has been killed back during the past 

 three winters. The growth is healthy, 

 and tlie wood ripens well. Protect the 

 roots in winter with a mulch of leaves 

 and earth. Our soil is a rather heavy 

 clay which has been well drained and 

 trenched. Five degrees below zero is our 

 extreme cold weather there. C. H. 



fl TRELLIS FOR AN flKEBIfl. 



E. W. C, Oxford, N. Y., writes: "I wish 

 to train a dozen Akehia quinata on a 

 stone building. What sort of support 

 should they have? How wide should it 

 be, if the plants are set far apart? How 

 close should they be set, to make a cover 

 for the wall? I have some plants grow- 

 ing for a year on a single wire twisted to 

 a 3inch spiral, but doulrtif thatisgood." 



fl CflLlFORNIfl PRIVET flEDOE. 



.\ subscriber, Oscawana,N.Y , "planted 

 a hedge of this last year and it grew well 

 this season; and I planted one this fall 

 that I would like to keep low, say two 

 feet. Please let me know when to prune 

 them." 



The year-old one may be pruned now or 

 you may wait till early spring and then 

 prune it pretty hard and prune it again 

 in June. The "newly set out one should be 

 p uned at once. Cut the plants down to 

 within four or six inches of the ground 

 and with a hoe or spade draw a little 

 earth up to or over them to protect them 

 in winter, and a few branches or some 

 litter laid over them along therowforthe 

 same purpose will also be good. Remove 

 the mulching and covering in early spring 

 and cultivate the ground and keep it 

 clean. We don't like the idea of a two 

 feet California privet hedge, you should 

 use a dwarfer plant as box, euonymus, or 

 Thunberg's barberry; the privet wants to 

 grow tall, say five feet or more. To keep 

 it dwarf requires pruning it in summer 

 two or three times; winter pruning pro- 

 motes vigorous growth, summer pruning 

 tends to dwarfhess, stockiness, or fruit- 

 fulness. 



quantity in the woods in the Niagara 

 Palls Park, and is one of the prettiest and 

 sweetest little shrubs we have in earliest 



Orchids. 



ORCflID QUESTIONS. 



A. S., Placentia, Cal., asks: Should 

 cyrtopodiums and bletias be dried off 

 altogether in winter? Is the bloom of 

 Cvrtopodium pvnctatum produced in 

 winter or summer? Should Chysis brae- 

 tescens be dried off in winter? 



Cyrtopodium and bletias should rest 

 through the winter months in a temper- 

 ature of 50° to 55". Cyrtopodium flow- 

 ers come with the new growth in spring. 

 The plants enjoy watering with weak 

 liquid manure when their growth and 

 flowers are well out. They should be 

 well ripened in strong light before rest- 

 ing. Chvsis bractescens should now be 

 ripe enough to put into a cool house for 

 the winter. After a few weeks rest it 

 may be brought into flower at any time 

 bv putting it into strong beat. 



Wm. Mathews. 



The akebia is a long, slender, twining, 

 woody vine and must have supports to 

 keep it up, and these should be of iron. If, 

 simply, single taut wires, they should not 

 be far apart, say 10 to 12 inches, for the 

 vine does not make much Body, but a 

 wire or light iron trellis may be better. 

 The old vines twine around their support 

 so tightly as to destroy a wooden trellis. 

 Quite a suggestive trellis was illustrated 

 in Gardening two years ago, and is here 

 reproduced. 



This, "the trellis for the akebia consists 

 of two side iron rods 'i-ineh thick, placed 

 six inches apart, with coarse wires cross- 

 ing obliquely from side to side forming 

 large meshes." A 3-inch screw eye is too 

 short, the vines should be six inches away 

 from the wall; an iron rod should be run 

 lengthwise of the building, at top and 

 bottom of the wall, and about six inches 

 out from it, and to these the trellises 

 should be supported at top and bottom. 

 Plant 12 to 18 inches apart. Whenclosely 

 planted the vines soon run up and cover 

 the trellis; when further apart, head back 

 the vines a foot from the ground and get 

 them to throw out two, three or more 

 shoots instead of one. 



FflULOWNIfl flflRDY IN ONTARIO. 



I note Mr. McMillan's letterinG.\RDE.N- 

 ING, November 1, page 51, in relation to 

 Paulownia imperialis not being hardy at 

 Bufiialo. I may say I have found it to be 



Daphne Mezereum (Common Mez- 

 ereon).— B. B., Buda, Florida, has been 

 trying hard for years to raise a plant of 

 this shrub from "seeds sent to him from 

 Europe and hasn't yet succeeded in get- 

 ting a plant. He also "fails to see it 

 named in any of the catalogues of the 

 principal firms." 



Don't look in a seed or florists' cata- 

 logue for such things; send for the cata- 

 logues of the nurservmen and hardy 

 plant men who advertise in Gardening, 

 and you will find what you want. Biit 

 you needn't both-r about it in Florida, it 

 isn't very well suited for that part of the 

 country. It is naturalized in gieat 



Cypripedium insigne is the orchid of 

 December just as much as the chrysanthe- 

 mum is the queen of November. It is one 

 of the easiest to grow and surest to blos- 

 som and the flowers last in good condi- 

 tion on the plant in a cool greenhouse for 

 three to four weeks, and at least two 

 weeks when cut. If there is one orchid 

 more thin another an amateur cangrow, 

 even without a greenhouse, this is the 

 one, and it is one of the least expensive. 

 Commercial florists are growing it in 

 large quantitv for cut flowers. And the 

 beautv of it is that it lasts forever, the 

 plants getting bigger and bearing more 

 flowers every year. 



The Greenhouse. 



THE OREENHOUSB. 



Chrysanthemums are on the wane. 

 They "used to be November flowers, but 

 novv they cover the months of October 

 and November and step into December. 

 We wish we could extend their season to 

 Christmas but on the threshold of Decem- 

 ber they are met by leaf spot and mildew 

 to such an extent as practically to render 

 them unreliable as a crop. But we hope 

 florists will soon get a set ot varieties 

 that will continue in good health till the 

 holidays. 



Cut "down and remove all chrysanthe- 

 mums as soon as they begin to fade, and 

 let their place be filled with stevias.callas, 

 marguerites and other seasonable flowers. 

 But be careful not to smother up small 

 plants Hke primulas or cyclamen among 

 large ones as eupatoriums or streptoso- 

 lens. While we cannot spare much room 

 for anything we should be sure to give 

 everv plant room enough for the health 

 of its leaves as well as for its flowers. 

 .\rrange the lesser growing plants as 

 Chinese and obconica primroses, cycla- 

 men, calceolarias, and cinerarias, on 

 benches or shelves near the glass, but not 

 one of these needs bright sunshine, in fact 

 they are better with a thin shading 

 from it. 



At this time of the year damp is often 

 bad in greenhouses, spoilingthe blossoms 

 and quickly spotting the leaves where 



