I04 



GARDENING. 



Dec. 15^ 



petals fall on to them. To avoid this 

 water the plants in the forenoon giving 

 abundance to moisten the roots, but 

 don't spill any on the benches or floors if 

 practicable. A night temperature of 

 about 50° with an advance of 10° or 15° 

 in the day is good, and to maintain it so 

 little artificial heat is needed that there 

 is very littie fear of a parching air. 



Ventilate a little every fine day, open- 

 ing early in the forenoon and shutting up 

 ear."y in the afternoon, this saves consid- 

 erable sun heat, is better for the plants, 

 and economises fire heat. 



In firing, don't wait till the tempera- 

 ture falls to 55° or 50°before startingthe 

 fire, it is much better to start the fire 

 early and keep the heat up while it is up 

 than let it down too low and then fire up 

 hard to drive the heat up. 



In a warm greenhouse, say where a 

 night temperature of 60° or 65° is kept 

 up, and in which palms, screw pines, cro- 

 tons, aralias, ixoras, allamandas, anthu- 

 riums, and marantas aregrown, wemust 

 spill a good deal of water about the 

 benches and floors as well as give it to 

 the plants; in fact we should syringe the 

 plants overhead and in among them 

 everj- forenoon, and in finesunny weather 

 early in the afternoon too. 



Keep the tubers of the tuberous bego- 

 nias dry and in a cool place, the "roots" 

 of achinienes, gloxinias, gesneras and 

 cala(^iums that are also dry and stored 

 by should be kept rather warmer, say in 

 a temperature of 55° to 60°. As leaves 

 of the amaryllises and crinums that were 

 piled on their sides out of sight under the 

 back benches where they could be kept 

 dry are drying off, pick them oft' iortidy- 

 ness sake. It is quite right that they 

 should all die away. 



Roman hyacinths and paper white nar- 

 cissus may be had in bloom everv day 

 from now" till April if we have plants 

 enough to keep up a succession. Bring 

 some of each into a warm place every 

 week. A few each of Harrisii and longi- 

 florum lilies may now be allowed to come 

 along slowly by having them in a cool 

 greenhouse, and bring in a few at a time 

 into warmer quarters to hasten their 

 blooming. The earliest freesias should be 

 in bloom by Christmas. Stick four or five 

 neat slender stakes into each pot near the 

 outside and run a piece of matting around 

 them to fence in and support the freesias. 

 Bring some pots of it from a frame or 

 cool greenhouse into a warm one every 

 ten or fourteen days to keep up a succes- 

 sion of flowers. 



A good many begonias are now in 

 bloom. While they like a little warmth, 

 good light but not bright sunshine, and 

 a fair amount of water at the root they 

 dislike watering overhead at this time of 

 year. 



Libonias and sericographis are very ac- 

 commodating plants and seem to be per- 

 fectly at home in pots along the path- 

 ways and on shelves by the edges of the 

 paths but under the main benches. 



Summer propagated scarlet geraniums 

 grown on in pots are m good blossom, 

 but those lifted and potted in September 

 haven't recovered enough yet to bloom. 



They will begin to show cheerfulness in 

 January. Show pelargoniums or "Lady 

 Washington geraniums" asthcv arc often 

 called should be kept cocil, ouIn nmiUr- 

 ately moist at the root, an. I |n lirilK div 

 over head. They ai'c 11. .t r(.,|iiiic,l j',, 

 bloom before next May, so wliaL 't. Uic use 

 of hurrying them up now and using up 

 room other plants require. 



Nasturtiums of the Lobbianum section 

 if grown in pots or boxes and run up on 

 strings along the rafters, vielc] many 



1 all winter. Give them lots of 

 water, but not much soil, over feeding 

 means in their case over luxuriance of 

 foliage rather than superabundance of 

 flowers. They will bloom all winter. 

 Poinsettias will soon be at their gaj'cst. 

 Look out for mealy bugs, if these pests 

 infest the heads of bracts they spoil the 

 flowers, and it is hard to dislodge them 

 Allamandas if in warm moist genial 

 quarters bloom all the year round, but 

 we cut them in now to keep them from 

 shading the other plants, and keep them 

 pretty dry to check their growth. In 

 spring the earth their roots are in will be 

 soaked with water and the allamanda 

 allowed to run and bloom at will. Much 

 the same with the runningclerodendrons. 



FAVORITE PLANTS FOR CWRISTMAS. 



Not a bit of it, it isn't a question of 

 roses and carnations only with the peo- 

 ple at Christmas, potted plants are in un- 

 usual demand, and a greater variety of 

 kinds is being asked for every year. In 

 fact most any plant that is pretty, clean, 

 well-grown and furnished, and looks 

 hardy enough to stand well in the dry air 

 and heat of our d J^ elling houses finds 

 favor with the people. 



In the matter of Christmas presents 

 folks sometimes rack their brains for what 

 to get that will be beautiful, useful, ap- 

 propriate and esteemed by the recipient 

 and find what they are looking for in 

 potted plants. A handsome cyclamen or 

 Chinese primrose in bloom, an ardisia 

 loaded with scarlet berries, a rubber 

 plant with big leathery foliage to the 

 ground, or a fresh and graceful palm is 

 something every one would admire and 

 appreciate. 



Perhaps palms take the lead. The ones 

 most asked for are Areca lutescens, A. 

 Baueri, Cocos Wecldeliana, Kentia Bel- 

 moreana, and K. Forsteriana, they are 

 elegant feather palms and fine for liouse 

 decoration; and are being called for in 

 preference to the fan palm Lataiiia Bor- 

 honica. The little compact fan palm 

 Livistona rotundifolia is selling well. 

 Early in the fall we had a large green- 

 house nearly full of it, and now there 

 isn't a plant of it big enough for use left 

 on the place. Although it is compara- 

 tively new in the trade the people have 

 taken to it kindly. As yet it is scarce. 

 Phoenix rupicola, an elegant arching 

 feather palm is also a favorite. Phosnix 

 rupicola being one of the lightest and 

 airiest of palms, is always sought for. 

 Pinanga Kublii when well grown also 

 pleases the people. Ceonowa gracilis is a 

 beautiful little feather palm somewhat in 

 the style of Cocos Weddeliana but a little 

 heavier, and is esteemed for table decora- 

 tion. Being somewhat expensive is the 

 onlj' thing that stands between Rhapis 

 bumilis and its general adoption by the 

 people, for it is a pretty plant, and will 

 thrive in dark rooms better than most 

 palms. 



Ferns. — We have nothing richer or 

 more elegant and beautiful than Adian- 

 tum Farleyense, and although its propa- 

 gation is being pushed with energy and 

 large quantities are raised the siqi'ply is 

 not enough. Nicely grown Inmcli jilants 

 of nephrolepsis, or as it is i;enerally called 

 sword fern, particularly of A', exaltata, 

 and its variety phimosa are much 

 esteemed for side tables, brackets, or for 

 sunless windows. 



Aralia fdicifolia is a dainty little Poly- 

 nesian shrub with deeply pinnatifid leaves, 

 purple and green; and Panax Victoria' an 

 allied little shrubby plant with elegantly 

 divided and fringed foliage, variegated 



green and white, both make lovelv table 

 or side board plants, but thev should be 

 be kept out of the draught. 



Young plants of the Norfolk Island pine 

 {Araucaria excelsa), one and one-half to 

 four feet high perfect in form and sym- 

 metry are sold in great quantity. There 

 are several distinct varieties of it, the 

 bluish one called ^fauca ha vingthe prefer- 

 ence. The larger ones will be used greatly 

 as living Christmas trees, but after the 

 holidays are over thev will be retained for 

 house decoration, fortheyare too beauti- 

 ful and precious to treat' with the disre- 

 spect we handle a spruce or silver fir. See- 

 ing these perfect little specimens in the 

 florists' stores one would scarcely cridit 

 it that when they attain their full devel- 

 opment in their nativecountry they make 

 trees 150 feet high with timber trunks 20 

 feet around. 



Well colored plants of Aspidistra larida 

 yariegata always sell well in winter. It 

 is one of the most accommodating of 

 plants, and seems to grow well in heat or 

 cold, sunshine or shade; in fact it and 

 Rhapis ffabelliformis are supposed to live 

 in good health for a longertime in a dark 

 shady room than most any other plants 

 we have in common cultivation. It will 

 stand 10° or 15° of frost with apparent 

 unconcern. 



Ardesia cremilata, a little evergreen 

 shrub pot plant, loaded with scarlet ber- 

 ries is cheerful, appropriate, and timely, 

 and the "Jerusalem cherry" (Solanu'm 

 capsicastrum) audits dwarf(nanumcom- 

 pactiim) variety, full of big bright orange 

 scarlet berries are general favorites as 

 house plants. 



Small plants of Cycas revoluta with 

 good heads of leaves, are bought by 



There seems to have arisen a popular 

 wave in favor of dracaenas. 



The rubber plant {Ficus elastica) is still 

 a favorite house plan^. There is a varie- 

 gated leaved form of it, but it is not meet- 

 ing with much favor. 



Although erotons are very richly colored 

 and desirable for decorations they are not 

 apt to last in good condition as house 

 plants for a long time as do rubber plants 

 or palms, but they can be used very 

 beautifully in table, mantel, and other 

 decorations of that kind. The leaves, also 

 cut leaf\- branches can be used to fine ad- 

 vantage arranged with fern fronds and 

 cut flowers. 



The cyclamen is a gem among house 

 plants, the varietj' giganteum being the 

 one mostly grown. It will be largely 

 bought up this winter for Christmas 

 presents, so will Chinese primroses. 



We look upon azaleas more as Easter 

 than Christmas plants, but this season 

 several florists have made an extra efiort 

 to get a lot of azaleas into bloom for the 

 holidays. F. L. Atkins. 



Newjersey. 



FLOWERS AT GflRISTMAS. 



Our collection of plants is so large, com- 

 pared with our house room, that we have 

 very little opportunity to grow many 

 blooming plants, still we do have a few 

 to cheer up the dull monotonj' of win- 

 ter. The following will be in their glor3' 

 at Christmas time: Adhatoda Cydonx- 

 folia, scarlet salvia, dwarf; Crassula tri- 

 dentata,Riviaa humilis, red berries; Eche- 

 veria metallica, B. Brasiliensis, red ber- 

 ries; begonias, several species; B. aaran- 

 tiaca, yellow; oxalis in variet3', Solanuw 

 capsicastrum, cyclamens, Acbania Mal- 

 raviscus, stevias, Olea fragrans, bouvar- 

 dias in variety, Inga pulcherrima, Rein- 

 wardtia (Linum) trigyna,jasminumo0ic- 



