l82 



GARDENING. 



Mar. A 



about 9 o'clock, or earlier, open the top 

 ventilator about an inch; and in an hour 

 or less if the heat still rises open it a little 

 more; maybe two, three or four inches at 

 a time, according to the weather; by noon 

 if the sun is strong the ventilators mav 

 be wide open. Don't open them full 

 jividth all at once, nor shut them up all at 

 once, nor run any fire heat in the dav time 

 if you have sun heat. Shut up the ven- 

 tilators, a little at a time, early in the 

 afternoon, beginning say at 2:30 and 

 have all closed by 4 or 4:30, or earlier, 

 just according to the weather. Be par- 

 ticular to shut up while there is still some 

 good sun heat, and the temperature is 

 say 75^ or 70°— quite high but on the 

 decline. This saves fire heat and the 

 plants prefer it. Now start your stove, 

 but do so gently, nothing more than pre- 

 vent the temperature from ialllng below 

 the night figure. Have the fire clean and 

 free from ashes and clinkers, then bank it 

 down a little and stop the draughts to 

 prevent it doing any more than keep up 

 the desired heat. , 



Water: Give the plants lots of water. 

 Fill the pots up to the brim but don't let 

 it slop over, and when that sinks in fill 

 up again if necessary; you want to give 

 water enough to permeate every bit of 

 soil in the pot. Don't bother about the 

 temperature of the water, anythingunder 

 lukewarm is all right, .\ndin the morn- 

 ing and early in the afternoon with a 

 water pot and rose sprinkle the benches, 

 walls, paths, and all about with water 

 to counteract the parching breath of the 

 stove in the night time, and the drying 

 influence of the sun in the day time; when 

 sprinkling in the afternoon "sprinkle the 

 plants'" too that are not in bloom, but 

 don't w-et any blossoms more than you 

 can help. But don't spare the water." 



Sh.\de: Plants in bloom as geraniums, 

 carnations, marguerites, nasturtiums, 

 heliotrope, eupatorium and sweet alys- 

 sum won't need any shading, but obcon- 

 ica primroses, Dutch bulbs, begonias and 

 any others you see wilting in the sun- 

 shine (even if they have been well watered) 

 should be set in a part of the house where 

 they can get a little shade. This shade 

 may consist of a little strained lime white- 

 wash, or better.still some white lead 

 thinned to the consistency of thin white- 

 wash with turpentine or naptha; don't 

 use oil in the lead or you can not wash it 

 off when you want "to. With a white- 

 wash brush paint the glass with it. .\ 

 sheet of calico fixed to a roller so that 

 you can let it down or roll it up at will is 

 excellent. In starting seeds you have got 

 to shade them till theygermi'nate; besides 

 the shading on the outside glass spread 

 some old newspapers over the pots or 

 boxes in the day time but not at night 

 tdl the seeds ap'pear, and vou have got 

 to do the same when striking cuttings. 



Insects: Use tobacco for the green 

 flies. Get some fresh tobacco stems, 

 moisten them just enough to keep them 

 from flaming up when burning but not 

 enough to prevent them smouldering. 

 Make three or four little heaps, say i/i 

 peck in each heap, on the earth floor "and 

 set fire to them, shutting up the house 

 tight. So long as they smoulder slowly 

 all is well, hut the moment any of them 

 flames up heliotrope, callas, nasturtiums 

 and some ether plants get hurt, so you'd 

 better experiment with one hcaj) to begin 

 w^ith. Do it late in the afternoon and on 

 a still, damp or dull day if possible. If 

 you don't like fumieating try dipping. 

 Fill a common pail full of stems and pour 

 hot water on them, letting it lie some 

 hours. Then empty the decoction into a 

 tub, pour some more water on llic stems 



and empty this also into the tub. Fill 

 the tub half full or more of warm water, 

 hang a thermometer into the water and 

 have a kettle of boiling water near you 

 to keep this water at a temperature of 

 120° to 125°. Now take yotir plants, one 

 at a time, hold them pots" up and heads 

 down, and wash their heads in the tub. 

 The warm waterof itself is a good insect- 

 icide and harmless to the plants; better 

 have the tobacco water a little weak 

 than strong till you have practiced two 

 or three times with it. 



REPOTTING flZflLEflS. 



H. L., Oak Park, has tried to grow 

 azaleas for the last twenty years, but 

 never found any soil that suited them. 

 They blossom beautifully the first year 

 after being imported, but in a few vears 

 dwindle and die. They do not make any 

 new roots. 



Mr. Dean, who answered the inquiry 

 page 151 is, we believe, the larges't 

 grower and importer of azaleas in the 

 country. He grows the plants to sell 

 when they are in bloom— thousands of 

 them; and has many specimen plants 

 that he has kept along for years, renting 

 them out when in bloom, year after year. 



This is what he says about them in a 

 paper he read a few years ago: "Do not 

 stand your azaleas'under the shade of 

 some convenient tree in summer and ex- 

 pect them to flower with you in winter. 

 Give them the open sunshine. Plunge or 

 plant them out in a frame where vouliave 

 grown your pansies. If the soil'is heavy 

 add sand and leaf mould, as the azalea 

 delights in a light, loose soil. Mulch, but 

 do not use manure as it would injure, if 

 not kill the plants. Water and syringe 

 to keep down red spider. Treated in this 

 way they will make a good growth and 

 mature their flower buds and give you a 

 good crop of flowers when wanted. Be 

 careful to house the azaleas before frost 

 as that would injure their flower buds." 



If you have a limestone soil vou cannot 

 grow azaleas in it, if not we think you 

 should succeed with them. After they 

 have done blooming and the danger of 

 frost is past turn them out of their pots, 

 shake any loose soil away from the roots, 

 and plant them out in a bed moderately 

 close together, and in which a good deal 

 of fine leaf soil and sand had been incor- 

 porated; mulch with half rotted leaves, 

 moss, hay, or excelsior, and hose the 

 plants early in the afternoon every fine 

 day. If the bed is in an exposed place set 

 up a lath shade six feet above it and so as 

 to protect the plants from 12 to 3 o'clock 

 more than any other time. About the end 

 of August lift and repot the plants, using 

 as small pots as practicable without 

 hurting the roots, and plunge them back 

 in the same bed till frost is expected. See 

 that this bed is above ground level and 

 where the drainage is perfect. 



THE GREENWOUSE. 



Keep the hyacinths, tulips, narcissi and 

 otaer bulbous plants that are in bloom in 

 a cool place and shaded from sunshine, 

 else they won't last long. .\s the aiparyl- 

 lises that have lain dormant all winter 

 start to grow, bring them up to the light 

 and give them a little water, but not 

 much for some time. Don't repot them 

 till after they have bloomed unless they 

 are in a poor state— the bulbs loose in the 

 earth, the drainage clogged, or there are 

 worms in the earth, then shake them out 

 and repot them. Crinums the same. Pot 

 up a few gloxinias, caladiums, and 

 achimenes for early summer use, to be 



followed a few weeks later with a succes- 

 sion lot. Gloxinias and tuberous bego- 

 nias sown now will give nice blooming 

 plants in late summer. Calceolarias, 

 cinerarias, pelargoniums, and obconica 

 primroses love a little shade, and plentv 

 water at the roots, but little or none 

 overhead. Give abundance of water to 

 fast growing plants, and hose or syringe 

 daily azaleas, oranges, oleanders, and 

 others of that type to keep them free from 

 insects; and the azaleas to promote a 

 good body new growth. Get in cuttings 

 of all flowering plants you need next 

 winter, say, carnations, bouvardias, 

 stevia, eupatorium, streptosolen, mar- 

 guerites, begonias, ruellia, justicea, and 

 so on. 



Roses. 



FORCING MRS. JOHN LflING ROSE. 



"Subscriber," .\shtabula, Ohio, asksfor 

 directions for forcing this splendid hardv 

 H. R. rose. Mr. John Burton, of Chest- 

 nut Hill, Philadelphia, and who is one of 

 the most successful cultivators of this 

 rose in the country, kindly replies as fol- 

 lows: 



You will find full and correct particulars- 

 about this in Mr. Hunt's book "How 

 to grow cut flowers." To force "Laing" 

 for Christmas it should be potted or 

 planted in the bed it is to grow in by 

 May 1. Encourage it to grow freely until 

 August 1, then gradually withhold water 

 getting the plants pretty dry by Septem- 

 ber 1, and and keep them as nearly stand- 

 ing still as possible until the latter part 

 of September, but do not at any time let 

 the wood shrivel during this drying pro- 

 cess. About October 1 cut the plants- 

 down to within S inches of the soil and 

 give the bed a good watering to start 

 them. Grow them on in a night tempera- 

 ture of 50° for one month, then raise this 

 slowly to 60° at which they can be kept 

 until they have flowered. When cut down 

 in October a top dressing of manure is 

 good. Don't keep the soil very wet until 

 the plants have quite a lot of leaves 

 developed. After flowering, by keeping 

 the bed dry for three weeks and then start- 

 ing it up again the plants will generally 

 flower a second time, about ten weeks 

 later. For later crops than Christmas 

 allow about ten weeks from time of cut- 

 ting down to flowering. 



Chrysanthemums. 



CHRYSflNTHEMUMS FOR flMflTEURS, 



C. H. P., Mass., asks for a list of 25 

 varieties of chrysanthemums for an ama- 

 teur, six to be yellow flowered, six white, 

 six pink, and seven of any other color; 

 also to name one early and' one late of the 

 yellow, white and pink varieties Mr. I. 

 L. Powell, one of our very best growers, 

 names the following: 



Six Yellow.— Gloriosum, early, and 

 the best early yellow we yet have for gen- 

 eral purposes; Eugene Dailledouze, late; 

 and Major Bonnaffon, Minerva, 'W. H. 

 Lincoln and Golden Wedding. 



Six W'HITE.— Kate Brown, early; Mrs. 

 J.Geo. lis. late; and Ivory, The Queen, 

 Alba Venus and Minnie Wanamaker. 



Six Pink.— Mrs. E.G. Hill, early; Harry 

 Balsley, late, and although a very tall 

 grower its color is good and it keeps well; 



