228 



GARDENING. 



April 15, 



cintlis in water bottles the whole of the 

 bulb is above water. It is much the same 

 with amaryllises, crinums, and some 

 others, in cultivating them in pots we 

 keep the bulbs one-half or one-third above 

 ground, but when planted in the outdoor 

 garden the bulbs are buried three or four 

 inches under ground. 



COSMOS— D««LlftS—GHRySflNTHEMUMS. 



X.,N J., a-ks: 1. "Cancosmoss felybe 

 clipped back as is done so successfiilly in 

 California, where they have hedges of it? 

 Will it not g'Ve stronger as well as much 

 less ungainly plants, and more blooms? 

 And if so, howlatecan it be done without 

 delaying the blossoming period? 



2. "Could single dahlias, which grow so 

 tall, be treated in the same way? And if 

 so, how late? 



3. "Where chrysanthemums arc raised 

 entirely out of doors, and early blooms 

 are thus specially desired, how late is it 

 safe in the spring orsummerto nip off the 

 branches for more bushy growth? Is it 

 safe to do it all with the Delaux sorts, or 

 even October flowering?" 



1. Yes, but begin early. Don't let the 

 plants get up tall before you cut them 

 i)ack. Give them plenty of room, and 

 when they are a foot high mp the points 

 out of them, and again and again as the 

 side branches shoot out, but don't pinch 

 them after the middle of August. It 

 makes stockier plarts. The quantity of 

 flowers borne depends upon the vigor and 

 number of young shoots on the plants. 



2. Don't pinch dahlias so often as you 

 do cosmos. How late? Till they begin 

 to bloom, say middle of Jul}'. Plants 

 raised from seed don't grow as tall or 

 lanky the first year as do those from 

 stored roots, and they begin to bloom 

 earlier. Besides the ordinary tall sorts 

 there are some quite dwarf strains, 

 notabl}' the Jules Chretien varieties. They 

 need no pinching. 



3. About the first of August. If by 

 "Delaux sorts" you mean what was sent 

 out as a new strain of early blooming 

 varieties a year or two ago, we may say 

 that we raised, grew and flowered many 

 of them, but they were such a disappoint- 

 ment that we threw every one of them 

 away. We now stick to such firmly 

 rooted friends as Red Dragon, Jessica, 

 Ivory and the like, and as they are stocky 

 plants and early blooming we seldom mp 

 them after the first of August. 



fl TREE MORNING GLORY, 



Ipomaea fistulosa (Syn. /. Goodellii). 



Indigenous in Mexico and other parts 

 of tropical America several species of 

 Jpomcea or morning glories grow in the 

 form of trees and shrubs, indeed, one at 

 least (/. arborescens) actually b. comes a 

 small timber tree 30 feet high. Two or 

 three years ago one of these shrubby 

 morning glories was introduced to culti- 

 vation here and disseminated as a seeds- 

 man's novelty by Mr. Goodell of D wight, 

 Mass., under the name of Ipomcea 

 Goodellii. 



In reply to an inquiry we addressed to 

 Mr. Goodell, he tells us: "It came to me 

 from one of my growers in Texas near 

 Mexican line, several j-ears ago, who 

 stated it was found by somebody in the 

 garden of an old Indian who lived in an 

 obscure or unexplored part of Mexico, I 

 sent specimens of it to the late Prof. 

 Sereno Watson, of the Harvard I'niver- 

 sity Herbarium, who wrote me that it 

 was <(uite distinct from any Ipoimva in 

 the Harvard Herbarium, and suggested 

 the name /. Goodellii for it. ** * 1 intro- 



duced it in 1S93." Under date of Januarv 

 16, 1895, Mr. J. N. Greenman, of the Har- 

 vard Herbarium writes us: "Upon look- 

 ing up the Ipomoea to which you refer, I 

 find that it was described about five years 

 ago by Prof. J. M. Coulter, Ipomoea 

 Texana, but it was soon reduced to a 

 well known species from South America, 

 namely Ipowvea Ustulosa, Mart. The 

 plant is a native of Brazil and is an escape 

 from gardens only in this country." 



This settles its identity. Now for the 

 plant as a garden flower: Mr. Goodell 

 sends us seeds of it, and writes that the 

 species is easily raised from seeds and if 

 sown early blooms the first summer both 

 in the open ground and in pots in the 

 greenhouse, he had it in fine bloom in 

 5-inch pots last summer, but it ripens 

 seeds sparingly. It is a shrub-like peren- 

 nial (in the tropics it becomes "a high 

 shrub," so say botanical authorities) 4to 

 7 feet high according to cultural condi- 

 tions, and terminating the shoots are 

 clusters or cymose panicles of 25 or more 

 pale rose colored flowers with a dark cen- 

 ter, and 3 to 4 inches across. In the 

 north the plants may be cut down in fall 

 and the roots brought indoors and win- 

 tered in boxes of earth as we do those of 

 /. paniculata. In the south it is hardy if 

 a good mulching of leaves or litter is 

 placed over the roots. 



Last fall Mr. W. N. Pike of Florida 

 wrote to us about some plants of it he 

 had in his garden there: "You ought to 

 see the plants of tree morning glory at 

 our place in Florida. In August they were 

 taller than ray head, several stems from 

 each root standing unaided, and every 

 morning fall, /u// of handsome, pleasantly 

 fragrant purple morning glory flowers. 

 The blossoms somewhat resemble those 

 of/, paniculata but are much lighter, the 

 throat is dark. Every bee, butterfly, and 

 bug of high and 'ow degree in the country 

 flock about the flowers, but hardly a seed 

 had set when I returned from there the 

 last of August." 



till it is so long thatit cannot be cut with 

 a mowing machine and a scythe must be 

 used. Let it get a good start, but mow 

 it before it gets too long, and don't cut 

 it very bare. 



SwEKT Peas.— In answer to Mrs. W., 

 E Oakland, Cal. For the varieties you 

 do not find in the catalogues you name 

 apply to Rev. W. T. Hutchins, Indian 

 Orchard, Mass. 



The Lawn. 



THE LflWN. 



By this time the lawns should be raked 

 off clean so as to clear them from sticks, 

 stones, pieces of wire, and any other 

 trash that would injure the mowing ma- 

 chine when cutting the grass. After a 

 rain run the roller over the lawn to firm 

 and smoothen its surface. If any bad 

 weeds, like bunches of wild onion, dande- 

 lions, docks, chicory, broad-leaved plan- 

 tain, show themselves pry them up with 

 a fork and pull them out and tamp down 

 the place firm with the foot. Rake off old 

 chickweed, crab grass, sorrel, or other 

 spreading weeds, scarify the ground with 

 iron-toothed rakes, sow some good grass 

 seed on it and roll it. Sodding should beat- 

 tended to. There are many place in which 

 sods should be used in repairs instead of 

 grass seed, for instance, on steep banks, 

 along the margins of flower beds, where 

 the grass had been killed out by over 

 growing plants, by paths and roadsides 

 where the sod had been killed out by 

 walking on or broken into by wagon 

 wheels, also about the house where dogs 

 make holes in and destroy the grass. 



It is wrong to delay cutting the grass 



Roses. 



ROSBS-VIOLETS. 



I. P. T., Randolph Co., W. Va. writes: 

 I have had some tea roses (The Bride, C. 

 Mermet, etc.) sent from the nurseryman's 

 considerably before I expected them. 

 They are only five to six inches high, and 

 had evidently been grown in heat, so 

 there was nothing for it but to plant 

 them in a box and keep them indoors, as 

 in these high mountains we are still liable 

 to snow and severe frost. About what 

 time will it be safe to move them out of 

 doors? How to prepare the bed and what 

 aspect is best? Must they have shelter 

 from the fierce summer sun? The soil here 

 is excellent loam, with clay subsoil, and 

 the general formation limestone. Ought 

 these roses to stand the winter out? This 

 year the thermometer has been repeatedly 

 "below zero, and thesnow almost continu- 

 ous for three months, but this has been 

 exceptionally bad. 



How can I best grow sweet violets, 

 Russians? I can't find them advertised 

 at all. Can they be grown from seed, and 

 where may it be obtained? 



Roses. — By keeping them indoors you 

 did right. Gradually inure them to out- 

 side temperature and atmosphere, and 

 plant them out early in May. Good loam 

 with clay subsoil is an excellent soil for 

 roses providing it is well drained, and 

 neither surface nor bottom water can 

 stagnate there. Any warm aspect, but 

 preferably a southeast one will do; but 

 for that class of roses, if not shaded over- 

 head, they will even do well facing north. 

 Have the bed deeply dug, making the soil 

 fine and mellow, but don't use much if 

 it. After planting the 



roses and they start into fresh growth 

 mulch the ground about them to keep it 

 cool and moist: this mulching may con- 

 sist of rank litter or manure, or grass 

 mowings. No, these roses are not hardy 

 with you. Well buried under a winter- 

 long snow, or covered with loam they 

 might survive now and again, but we 

 cannot trust them. 



Violets.— In a cold frame in winter. 

 The Czar, a large fine violet, and the 

 single blue and white forms of the Euro- 

 pean sweet violet are hardy and the latter 

 can be naturalized in our gardens or 

 lawns. Our seedsmen do not, so far as 

 we know, keep seeds of them on hand, 

 but they can get them for you from 

 Europe. Send to the florists for Czar 

 violet plants. 



BONEMEflL FOR ROSES. 



H. A. J., Springfield, Ohio, asks: What 

 quantity of bone meal should be used as 

 a fertilizer in a bed about four feet in 

 diameter for roses? Is there danger of 

 getting too much? 



About one pound well forked in and 

 distributed through the soil, so that the 

 roots of the plants can reach it when 

 growing; avoid bringingthe roots into im- 

 mediate contact with the bone. If care- 

 ful in this resiKVt and a pure article is 

 used there is not liimli danger A round 

 lied of this size will aceouimodate a larger 

 number of plants than a stiuare bed or 



