CHICAGO, JULY 15, 1895. 



BED OF CROTONS AT GIRARD COLLEGE. PHILADELPHIA 



The Flower Garden. 



fl GROTON FLOWER BED AT OIRflRD COL- 

 LEGE, PtIlLflDELFHIfl. 



(liii illustration shows a bed ol'ciotoiis 

 at (".irard College, and has been engraved 

 from a photograph taken there last sum- 

 mer. The narrow leaved croton border- 

 ing the bed is aureum pictum, the others 

 are mixed sorts, arranged aecording to 

 their size. The outside plants were si.\ 

 to eight inches in height, and the center 

 one grading to six feet. Crotons are 

 splendid plants for bedding out in this 

 country, luxuriating in full sunshine as 

 well as partial shade. 



In winter Mr. Huster, the gardener, 

 grows the crotons in a greenhouse in a 

 strong heat (70°) and good soil, keeping 

 them growing all the time, and their 

 variously colored foiiaL;c rtuiUrs I hem 



very useful as ornamental plants in the 

 conservatory in that season. 



The ivy covered wall shown in the 

 picture is the boundary of the college 

 grounds on the Girard avenue front. 

 Both the English ivy and the Japanese 

 ivy (Ampelopsis Veiichii) are grown to- 

 gether. Mr. Huster says he likes the 

 appearance of the Japanese one best, but 

 as it is deciduous he has the English one 

 growing with it to have green foliage on 

 the wail in winter. The large tree imme- 

 diately back of the bed is a tulip tree, 

 which is abundant hereabouts in a wild 

 state. Close beside it are ailantus and 

 white ash trees. The trees on the outside 

 of the wall are the much planted and 

 much abused Carolina poplar {Popiihis 

 monilifera). As usually seen about Phil- 

 adelphia it is a disgrace, but Mr. Huster 

 by a little annual pruning has made them 

 model trees, and the best of their kind 

 about this citv. Jos. Mehiian. 



Philadelphia. 



CHRySflNTflBMUIH BLACK flPfllS. 



W. I!. C. Central Falls, R. I.., writes: 

 "My chrysanthemums are covered with 

 small black lice. Whale oil soap and insect 

 powder don't touch them. What will?" 



We use tobacco tea and tobacco pow- 

 der. The tea we get by steeping tobacco 

 stems overnight in a pail or tub of water. 

 Next day we take this liquor in a pail to 

 the chrysanthemum patch and with a 

 sponge swab the ends of every affected 

 shoot, and in an hour or more swab or 

 syringe them with clean water. If the 

 tea is too weak it is little better than 

 clean water; if too strong, it will injure 

 the shoots. When the plants are wet 

 with dew get some very dry fresh tobacco 

 powder or snuff, put it into a powder 

 bellows and puff it on to the affected 

 plants. In the greenhouse by repeated 

 fumigation with tobacco weeankill these 

 insects, but outside fumigation is imprac- 

 ticable; indeed it is a troublesome pest to 

 get rid of and requires repeated efforts to 



