278 



• GARDENING, 



June /, 



In warm, mild weather ventilate freely. 

 In cool houses devoted to pelargoniums, 

 fuchsias, amaryllises, and other season- 

 able flowers, full ventilation may be given 

 in the day and a little left on all night. 

 In the greenhouses devoted to more trop- 

 ical plants the ventilation should be con- 

 siderable in mild warm weather with a 

 little left on at night, but in cool weather 

 the ventilators should be shut early in 

 the afternoon so as to keep in the sun 

 heat; in the case of cool, raw or wet 

 weather, however, a little fire heat at 

 night sweetens the atmosphere, and the 

 plants like it; indeed a little fire heat at 

 night with a little ventilation at the same 

 time is a healthful condition for the 

 plants. 



Look after the plants for next winter's 

 bloom'ing. Some of these, as stevia, 

 eupatoriura, marguerite, azalea, poin- 

 settia and streptosolen are kept in pots 

 over summer, and these arranged in a 

 bed outside. Either plunge the pots in 

 coal ashes or set them on ashes and fill 

 up around them with sedge, tree leaves, 

 ashes or earth to save them from drying 

 out too fast. Pinch in stevias, genistas 

 and others to make them stocky. Put in 

 some cuttings of scarlet geraniums for 

 flowers next winter. If carnations are 

 throwing up flower stems pinch these 

 back. Bouvardias also should be headed 

 down. Encourage libonias, solanums, 

 violets and other plants to make good 

 growth, by keeping the hoe freely at work 

 about them. 



Better sow some cineraria seeds for 

 early flowers, also some calceolarias; 

 they need cool treatment and careful at* 

 tention to save them from sunshine, 

 draughts and over drying. Primula ob- 

 conica ripens seed better now than during 

 its greenhouse conflnement, and to get seed 

 we set the plants into an uncovered cold 

 frame in a shady place; the young plants 

 raised from seed sown in spring are also 

 there, they like a cool somewhat shady 

 place. , 



The fancy leaved caladiums help to fill 

 up the greenhouses now and make a very 

 rich show, they want plenty room, a rich 

 porous soil, lots of water, free syringing, 

 warmth and shade to grow them well. 

 While the large and brilliantly variegated 

 leaved sorts make handsome plants per- 

 haps the most useful of all is the pretty 

 little green and white leaved arg^'rites 

 (shown in the illustration). It grows 

 from one to nearly two feet high, but is 

 prettiest in its small state, and is very 

 u.seful in summer for table, bracket, man- 

 tel, or other decorations in the house, as 

 well as being a pretty little greenhouse 

 plant. 



Gloxinias also form one of our main- 

 stays for flowers in summer, grown either 

 as pot plants in the greenhouse or planted 

 out in frames and shaded from sunshine 

 they seem to do well and bloom beauti- 

 fully. They dislike to have their foliage 

 wetted much. 



SUMMER CULTURE OF CflRYSflNTtlEMUMS. 



In May, as soon as danger of frost is 

 past, we place our chrysanthemums out- 

 side on beds of coal ashes, and put salt 

 hay between the pots to prevent too 

 rapid drying out. Standard and bush 

 jjlants get their last shift into 10-inch 

 I)()ts as soon after the first of June as we 

 can give it to them. There is a cry against 

 trained standards; we find them desirable 

 for certain decorations. When they get 

 their final potting they are plunged in the 

 ground three feet apart each way, with a 

 four foot walk after every tTwo rows, to 

 give us room for watering and tying the 



plants. A half shovelful of coal ashes is 

 put under each pot to keep worms out. 

 Wires fastened to stout stakes at each 

 end are run along the rows, to which the 

 stakes in the pots, are tied to keep them 

 from blowing about. To trained stand- 

 ards we give little or no pinching, as the 

 tying down causes them to break out 

 sufficiently; none are pinched after July 1. 

 The last potting is given very firm, 

 rammed down with a stick, to induce a 

 stocky, short-jointed growth, as this kind 

 of wood gives the best flowers. Mr. 

 Farrell's motto is, "ripe wood." They 

 are rarely watered more than once a day, 

 and syringed in the evening. When they 

 fill their pots with roots we give them 

 weak liquid manure, varied occasionally 

 by a dose of soot water. In August, 

 when the dewy nights come, they are 

 syringed with a solution of sulphate of 

 potassium (V2 ounce to 2 gallons of water) 

 as a preventive ol mildew. We take them 

 into the greenhouses as early in September 

 as we can, certainly before the equinoctial 

 storms. 



About the loth of June we root oureut- 

 tings for the 6 inch pot plants. As the 

 temperature of the air is so much higher 

 than that of the ground, benches, etc., we 

 put them in a little bottom heat and keep 

 the tops as cool as possible. These arc 

 grown to one shoot, and disbudded to 

 one bloom, and grown entirely indoors. 

 This is time enough to root them for 

 bench culture; and plant them in the 

 benches by August 1, one foot apart. We 

 ourselves don't plant any in benches, but 

 this is the method of our neighbors. We 

 plant 150 chrj'santhemums in a border 

 outside, 2 feet apart each way, and cover 

 them with a canvas house in the fall; 

 these we use for cutting for the table, 

 vases, etc., so as not to spoil our pot 

 plants. Wm. FiTzwiLLiAM. 



Baronald, Orange, N. J. 



CflCTl. 



The editor has asked me to tell you 

 what I find to be "a few of the best, 

 easiest to grow and most satisfactory of 

 cacti for amateurs to cultivate, and why 

 they are, with a few hints on how to 

 grow them." I will try to name a dozen 

 varieties under several different headings 

 [The lists reserved for a later issue.— Ed ] 

 perhaps not the best, but certainly good, 

 and not including many of the more rare 

 and costly varieties. 



The Echinocactus enjoy heat and 

 endure dry weather better than most 

 other cacti. They require verj' little soil 

 and not much moisture during summer, 

 and in winter entire rest during about 

 half the year; when the temperature 

 should be low and the plants kept dry at 

 at the root. I have wintered them in a 

 dr^- cellar, and about six feet away from 

 a coal heater— temperature 50° to 90°. 

 In the cooler one the plants were dust dry 

 at the root. In the warmer they were 

 only watered by showering them once a 

 month, mainly to keep the spines bright 

 and free from dust. But few varieties of 

 these make offsets, they are mostly raised 

 from seed. In time they grow to be huge 

 plants, some weighing half a ton. 



The Echinocereus are smaller and 

 fine for window plants. They are readily 

 propagated by small offsetsanda year or 

 two of growth will bring them to bloom- 

 ing size. They are very floriferous, some 

 no larger than a turkey's egg producing 

 from 4- to 6 blossomsthree ormore inches 

 across, lasting and sweet scented. They 

 require free drainage and protection from 

 too much moisture overhead, plenty ol 

 sun and a resting period same as all 

 cacti. 



The Epiphyllums are commonly 

 known as the "Christmas cactus" and 

 'crab's claw cactus." In its native home 

 it grows on branches of trees, showing 

 that it needs but little soil; it likes some 

 shade and frequent showerings when in 

 active growth. Cuttings of it root quickly 

 in sand. 



The Mammillarias are mostly quite 

 small, but present some beautiful exam- 

 ples of symmetry and delicacy of design. 

 They are ideal window cacti and do well 

 in anv sitting room with a temperature 

 40° to 70°; they should be be watered 

 oftener than the larger cacti. If grown 

 in small well drained pots they can be 

 treated to a shower and watering once a 

 week or two, according to the temperature 

 of the room. They have neat rosettes of 

 spines, small but handsome flowers, and 

 bright berry-like fruits. Offsets of them 

 are easily rooted in sand. M. pusilla 

 blooms when less than one inch high. 



The Cereus are quick growing and 

 though all varieties are not as free bloom- 

 ing (outside of a greenhouse) as they are 

 sometimes represented their rapid, sym- 

 metrical growth and handsome spines 

 well repay one for growing them. Ex- 

 cepting some of the heavy growing kinds 

 they can be easily propagated by cut- 

 tings rooted in dry sand. The tall are 

 useful for grafting the slender sorts on, 

 for instance as C. Sagellitormis, and other 

 genera as epiphylhim and mammillaria. I 

 have a plant of C. cohihrinus on which is 

 grafted epiphyllum. pbyl/ocactus, Echino- 

 cactus Simpsoni, Mammillaria Stella and 

 Cereus Hagelli/ormis. 



The Pilocerels or hairy cactus are 

 not ea.sily grown by amateurs, and ex- 

 cepting P. senilis (old man cactus) aretoo 

 high priced for most of us to experiment 

 with. 



The Phyllocactus are the easiest 

 managed and give the best returns in 

 flowers of all cacti; P. latifrons, the broad 

 leaved, stately plant often called "night- 

 blooming cereus" with creamy white 

 flowers 8 to 9 inches across, and P.Acker- 

 manni, called "King cactus," the day 

 bloomer with crimson flowers 6 inches 

 across, are themostcommoulygrowu. In 

 other varieties the colors range through 

 many shades. Their flowers are gor- 

 geous and can be had for several months 

 in the year. They seem to prefer a good 

 letting alone during the winter months. 

 Set in an out of the way corner, giving 

 them enough water to prevent shriveling 

 and don't allow them to be brushed or 

 washed in the least during their rest. 

 When new growth commences, or in 

 spring shower them thoroughly and give 

 them more light and heat, and buds may 

 be expected in due time. Thej' require 

 rich, well drained soil with an annual 

 mulch, and prefer a semi-shady position 

 in summer. Cuttings root quickly in 

 sand if rather dry, only syringing often. 

 Strange as it may seem the phyllocactus 

 roots nicely in clear water. 



The Opuntias, excepting a few varie- 

 ties, are most too coarse for house cult- 

 ure. O. microdasys has golden spines on 

 light green stems, O. leucotricha, white 

 spines and hairs, O. imbricata and O. 

 liigelovii are tiee shaped and make hand- 

 some plants, basilaris is almost purple, 

 minutely pubescent and with j-ellow 

 spines, and O. senilis has soft white hairs. 

 Joints of opuntias root quickly in any 

 soil or sand if kept dry, first allowing the 

 cut part to heal in the sun. Thej' are all 

 r,i])i<l growers, hence are very desirable 

 liir (iiitdoor planting. 



I'll; icsKiA is important mostly as a stock 

 for grafting other caction. A. aculeata, 

 the one mostly tised, resembles a young 



