i8g4. 



GARDENING. 



105 



NBPHROLEPIS EXALTATA. 



iimh, lauristinus, Cassia Tora, cannas, 

 especially Koenigen Charlotte, which 

 proves itself (with me) to be a very con- 

 stant bloomer, also Chas. Henderson; 

 Lopezia miniata, Euphorbia (Poinsettia) 

 pulcberrima, anthuriums, allamandas, 

 Clerodendron lialfouriarwm. 



I do not care to have my bulbs verj- 

 early, as there are so nianj- things which 

 enables one to get along without them. 



J. GURNEV. 



Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis. 



the outside with a good bank of litter 

 and cover the sashes with mats and shut- 

 ters to keep out the frost. But let in the 

 daylight and sunshine if j'ou want lots 

 of nice violets, and ventilate in fine 

 weather. All the other plants will stand 

 a good deal of frost. If we are only 

 keeping them over for spring blooming 

 we needn't exclude frost from th(m alto- 

 gether; on the other hand, if we want to 

 pick pansies, anemones, narcissi and 

 forget-me-nots in winter we should wrap 

 them up as tenderly as we do our violets. 



Heati.ng a small gkeenhouse.— An 

 Ohio subscriber has a greenhouse 20x10 

 feet and asks about a base burner boiler 

 for heating it. We have had one of 

 Hitchings & Go's. (233 Mercer street 

 Xew York) in use for a good many years 

 and it works admirably. Most makers 

 of greenhouse boilers have similar con- 

 trivances for heating small glass houses. 



A Book adoit Palms. — S. L. wants to 

 know the name of a good book about 

 l)alms. Les Palmiers, etc., by Comte 

 Oswald de Kerchove de Deuterghem, 

 large Svo., 228 wood cuts, and -lO chrom- 

 oliths. Paris, J. Rothschild. It is an ex- 

 pensive work. M. 



THE COLD FRAMES. 



In the frames are violets, pansies, anem- 

 ones, polyanthuses, lorget-me-nots, 

 daisies, Canterburj- bells, and a host of 

 other plants, young and old, for protec- 

 tion over winter. .\s we want violets all 

 winter we wrap the frames around on 



The Fruit Garden. 



ftflRDY GRAPES FOR BEGINNERS. 



"Greenhorn," Pittsburg, Pa., writes: 

 "Two years ago I asked a nurseryman to 

 send m'c twelve best grapes for outdoor 

 culture in this vicinity. He sent me three 

 Black Hamburgh, three Niagara, three 

 Vergennes and three Hartford. Shall 1 

 dig thellamburghs out and plant others, 

 and how about the Vergennes? What 

 sort is the best early black for ordinary 

 culture?" 



Varieties of grapes that are "best" in 

 one place may be poor enough in others 

 and rice versa. As an outdoor grape 

 Black Hamburgh is no use with you; 

 Hartford Prolific is a good early grape, 

 but with us Moore's Early and Worden 

 are better; Vergennes is a comparatively 

 new grape of good quality and promise 



and on account of its thick skin a fine 

 late keeper. As general purpose easy to 

 grow hardy gi^pes. however, we would 

 recommend Green Mountain, greenish 

 white, very early; Worden, black, moder- 

 ately early; Concord, black, mid-season 

 to jate, everybody's never-fail grape; 

 Niagara, greenish yellow, large, a good 

 companion to and same season as Con- 

 cord; Brighton, reddish purple, mid-sea- 

 son, and of excellent quality, but some- 

 times a little fickle in behavior; and Dela- 

 ware, dark red, with small berries in 

 close clusters. Delaware and Brighton 

 may need a little extra care, but the 

 others should prove hardy, healthy, vig- 

 orous and productive most anywhere. 

 Rogers' hybrids, Salem for instance, are 

 splendid grapes so far as quality is con- 

 cerned, but we find them so subject to 

 mildew diseases that we hesitate to rec- 

 ommend them to beginners. 



T«E KEIFFER PEAR ON LONG ISLAND. 



.\l)out the middle of November Mr. 

 Silas L. Albertson sent us a boxof Keiffcr 

 pears wii h this note: "1 send to you this 

 day a box of Keiffer pears, express pre- 

 paid, hoping you will find them accepta- 

 ble. Some specimens this year have been 

 of good quality and others not, but 1 

 think this is partly on account of man- 

 agement in picking and storing. The 

 Keiffer is the pear for bushels and dollars. 

 1 have 600 trees of this variety bearing 

 and will add in the spring Clapp's 

 Favorite, and Garber, and Hardy. In 

 regard to cultivation I have no special 

 method. The orchard is tilled with other 

 crops, and the ground itself is naturally 

 very good, situated in a hollow. The 

 Keiffer seems to notice any peculiar con- 

 ditions of soil more than any other pear 

 I am acquainted with. On poor dry soil 

 or in grass I have seen the fruit no larger 

 than black walnuts, and yet the same 

 tree I'eraoved to heavy moist soil will 

 produce fine specimens. Where the soil is 

 sandv it would be a good plan to keep 

 the gVound well mulched about the trees 



We got the pears, a bushel of them, and 

 they were the finest sampl? of KeifiFers we 

 ever saw. They weighed about 11 

 ounces each, and measured lOVi inches 

 around the middle, and lOVi to 11 in:he3 

 around lengthwise. As dessert pears 

 they were handsome and iuicy, but with 

 the'sand pear flavor that is not liked as a 

 raw fruit. Baked, they were delicious, so 

 meatj', so juicy, and so good. Stewed 

 they were excellent, tender, jui y, and of 

 exceedingly pleasant flavor. The rich 

 whitish amber color of the flesh is very 

 enticing. Anjou (Beurre d' Anjou) is the 

 best large dessert pear we are eating now, 

 it too, makes the best cooking pear, ex- 

 cept that it is too good for cooking, and 

 next to it for baking or stewing comes 

 this Keiffer. 



Baked pears are not a common dish, 

 but vou ought to try them. Cook them 

 a full hour in a .slow oven till they are 

 done soft to the core. The skin should 

 not break. The pear may have a dark 

 leathery skin after being bakei, but that 

 is no criterion of the clear juicy meat 

 within. The skins of pears part from the 

 fruit with much greater case than do the 

 skins from apples. 



I AM a SUBSCRinER to (tARDENING and 



find it is the best and most helpful paper 

 I take. I take two others besides it. 

 I find more help in Garde.ning than in 

 any other paper I have ever taken, and 

 would not be without it. T. D. 



Peace Dale, R. I. 



