i895. 



GARDENING. 



Moserianum, Prunus pendula, Stuartia 

 pentagyna, Corylopsis pauciflora, Dier- 

 villa sessilit'olia, VitexAgmts-castiis, blue; 

 Berberis Thunhergii anti Cistus laurifo- 

 lius. Although some of these are quite 

 old in cullivation they are almost un- 

 known lien- ris useful shru'is. The vibur- 

 num is a v.niety of the Japanese snow- 

 ball, with larger 'balls," and it blooms a 

 week or more in advance of the other. 

 Its foliage also changes from green to a 

 reddish brown late in the fall. Although 

 the andromeda is a common wild shrub 

 in some localities, it is not cultivated as 

 much as it ought to be, for its pretty 

 white flowers in spring, and also because 

 in the fall it displays its embryo raceme 

 for the next year, and which is ot a pretty 

 reddish tint, just as is that of the Japan- 

 ese one (A.Japonica). The carj-opterisis 

 new. It has stood a winter with us very 

 well, but it has not been tested much yet. 

 It bears an abundance of blue flowers late 

 in autumn. It appears to be of a half 

 shrubby nature; when rubbed the leaves 

 emit an odor not unlike turpentine. This 

 lu'pericum bears very large yellow flow- 

 ers, blooming freely from mid-summer till 

 fall. It needs further testing in regard to 

 its general hardiness. When the prunus 

 named is grafted at six feet high and its 

 branches droop almost to the ground it 

 presents a lovely sight when bearing its 

 bright pink flowers in spring. Before 

 now the stuartia has been so hard to get 

 that it is very little known in gardens, 

 but this need not be the case nowadays. 

 It has beautiful white flowers. Much the 

 same is true of the diervilla mentioned. 

 It bears yellow flowers in midsummer 

 and later. 



The lilac colored Vitex Agnus-fastushas 

 been lone in cultivation, and is esteemed 

 for blooming late in the fall. There is 

 now a blue and a white one, two desira- 

 ble acquisitions. The Cistus laurifolius 

 has large white blossoms in June; it is an 

 evergreen shrub and has proved entirely 

 hardy here grown without protection 

 for several years past. Jos. Meeh.\n. 



Philadelphia. 



Shrubs i.n Florida. In ansv^er to H. A. 

 B., St. Louis: We have sentyour inquiry 

 to our Florida correspondent. 



The Fruit Garden. 



T«E FRUIT GARDEN. 



Strawberry beds are mulched. Rasp- 

 berry and blackberry canes should be 

 buried, if it is necessary to protect them. 

 The planting of trees and bushes should 

 be finished by this time till next spring. 



Pruning cannot be finished in a day or 

 a week, or on a place like this in a month 

 but we keep at it till it is finished, grape 

 vines first, truit trees last. See what w^as 

 written about grape vines, berry bushes 

 and strawberry plants last issue (page 

 91). If you wish to increase your stock 

 of g^ape vines layer some of the canes by 

 elbowing them a few inches deep into the 

 ground,leavingpartof the cane— one, two 

 or more eyes — sticking out of the ground. 

 In a year they will make fine plants. 



CuTTi.NGS.— If you want to raise grape 

 vines from cuttings cut these into lengths 

 of two to three joints, tic them into little 

 bundles, and bury them in ordinarily 

 moist earth, sand or sawdust out of 

 doors in a dry place and mulched from 

 frost, or in a deep box in a shed or cold 

 cellar, to remain till earlv spring, when 

 they may be taken out and planted in 



close rows in the garden. In burying the 

 bundles of cuttings, however, he very 

 careful to have the bottom ends of the 

 cuttings up, and the tip or growing ends 

 turned down, leaving them in this way 

 till spring. In planting them out in the 

 open ground change them to tip end up 

 and base end down We treat most all 

 hard wood deciduous cuttings in this 

 way, not only of grape vines, sand pears, 

 and berry bushes, but also of ornamental 

 shrubbery. 



Look over the fruit in the storeroom 

 or cellar and whether in barrels, boxes, or 

 bins, or in drawers or on shelves. Pick 

 out every decaying fruit. If you find an 

 apple or pear that is decaying and the 

 rotted part has burst, wetting other 

 fruits that have touched it, take outthese 

 sound ones, and wipe them clean and dry. 

 On account of the premature ripening of 

 much fruit caused by the unusually dry 

 summer, apples in particular are not 

 keeping very well, so need extra atten- 

 tion. If you have some very fine apples 

 or pears that you wish to preserve for 

 dessert or baking wrap them up sepa- 

 rately in soft dry paper and keep them in 

 drawers or boxes in a cool but frost 

 proofroom or dry cellar. If you have any 

 hothouse grapes cut with a piece of the 

 cane attached to each bunch and whose 

 base ends are stuck into bottles of water, 

 cut a thin slice off" the end of each bit of 

 cane once a week replacing it in the water 

 again; this will keep the berries plumper 

 and better tasted than were the canes left 

 untouched after being first inserted in the 

 water. 



Miscellaneous. 



COMMON NAMES OF PLANTS. 



Edgemoor's request (page 58) for. the 

 more frequent use of common English 

 names iu articles referring to them, is in 

 keeping with my ideas, but unless the 

 botanical identity accompanies them 

 much confusion would arise. Many com- 

 mon names have but a limited habitat. 

 In some places iu Arkansas Forsythia 

 viridissiwa, a shrub growing six or more 

 feet high, blooming in early spring and 

 known in the east under the common 

 name of "golden bell," is called a "golden 

 rod." Edgemoor has this herbaceous 

 perennial growing wild on his place and 

 blooming in the fall and an article from 

 Arkansas on their golden rod with only 

 the common local name given would puz- 

 zle him. An esteemed neighbor of Edge- 

 moors, a number of years ago saw in an 

 eastern garden some tine plants in bloom 

 of the Funkia suhcordata sometimes 

 known as the plantain lily, but the name 

 as given him was simply the "day lily." 

 Next spring he ordered quite a number 

 from a nursery using only the term "day 

 lily" and when his plantscame intobloom 

 he' found he had the ordinary Hemcrocal- 

 lis tulva commonly known as the tawny 

 day lily. He wanted a sweet scented 

 wliite flower and obtained a tawny yel- 

 low scentless bloom. The common name 

 sycamore is given to different trees in dif- 

 ferent countries. All on account of a cer- 

 tain resemblance of the leaves. The com- 

 mon snowberrv of the east is known as 

 wolf berrv in the far west. [The snow- 

 berry of eastern gardens is Symplioricar- 

 pus racemosus, the wolf-berry of the west 

 is S. occidentalis. Although they .are 

 distinct species, both have white berries. 

 — Kd.] What we know in Illinois as 

 "Hercules' club" (Aralia spinosa] is 



known elsewhere as devil's walking stick, 

 and in Mississippi as "T'ar tree" because 

 the negroes say thatits spines "t'arstheir 

 clothes." I believe in the use of common 

 names when confusion would not follow, 

 but what are wc to do with the many 

 fine things Japan and other countries 

 are sending to us — all comparatively 

 new? Who is authorized to give them a 

 common name? [The common people, 

 that is you and the like of you who love 

 flowers and plants and grow them be- 

 cause you love them. For mercy's sake 

 let us keep that job out of the hands of 

 scientists.— Ed.] If my friend Edgemoor 

 finds that some plant of recent in- 

 troduction thrives in his section, and 

 is worthy of culture if he will describe 

 it and bring it to my notice under its 

 recognized botanical name, then I or any 

 of your readers would know just whatto 

 ask for if v<e desired to try it. W. C. E. 



[Your friend used the name "day lily" 

 generically as one would say rose bush or 

 apple tree, probably not thinking that 

 there were many kinds of day lilies as 

 there are many kinds of roses or apple 

 trees; had he asked for white day lily he 

 very likely would have got what he 

 wanted. We should be specificin thecase 

 of common names as well as in the case of 

 botanical ones. Take sycamore trees for 

 instance. By saying American sycamore, 

 Oriental sycamore, or sycarnore maple 

 we know what tree is meant just as well 

 as if the botanical name were used, at the 

 same time the botanical name used 

 parenthetically is a perfect safeguard 

 against mistake. — Ei>.] 



TAE CELLAR. 



There are many plants we can stow 

 away in a cool dry cellar over winter. 

 Oleanders, myrtles, sweet bay trees, 

 orange and lemon trees, pomegranates, 

 iragrant olive, pampas grass in tubs, 

 Daphne odora after it has bloomed, crape 

 myrtles, and others all established in tubs 

 or pots may be stood close together, but 

 so as not to smother one another, and so 

 that we may see and get at them easily 

 to water them if we want to. A little 

 frost won't hurt any of them unless it be 

 the orange and lemon, but it won't do 

 any of them any good. Much heat, as 

 caused by a furnace, will hurt any of 

 them. All evergreen plants except cacti 

 and some other succulents need water 

 when they are at rest, but in limited 

 supply. 



Many plants that we lift from the flower 

 garden in fall and plant out in spring as 

 daturas, fuchsias, hydrangeas, lemon 

 verbena, erythrina, and the like may also 

 be wintered in the cellar. Cut their tops 

 in considerably, then store them close 

 together, packing their roots in moist 

 earth either on the floor or in a box. 

 They don't need any water, simply 

 have the soil they are packed in a little 

 moist. 



Other occupants of the cellar may be 

 amaryllis bulbs, caladiums, gloxinias, 

 achinienes, tuberoses, and the like on a 

 shelf where the air is warm and dry; also 

 dahlias, cannas and gladioli where they 

 can be kept dry and frost can not reach 

 them. 



Don't let any of the plants get over 

 wet, nor the evergreen ones dust dry; 

 don't wateranvthing overhead. Pick off 

 mouldy and decaying leaves. Ventilate 

 freely in mild weather, but don't admit 

 frost or snow or rain. It isn't necessary 

 to ventilate it every day, treat it just as 

 you would were there nopl.ants there and 

 vou wished to keep it sweet and clean. 



