1893. 



GARDENING. 



329 



golds, dwarf sunflowers, morning glories, 



mitrii'iiKtti- -^wret filyssiim, Dnimmond's 

 ii.n-i I ml , I lilt, China asters (they 

 i-.iii 1m iiii.<l .iih! poUtd it' too late for 

 iiiii-nh I |"!iiiiKis, |i rtiilacca, and csch- 

 sihi.lii.i .111.1 \u..tiuna nffinis. The last 



two liki 1111- itte, sweet alyssum, and 



])i)t ni.iM-i.lcU .in- seldom not injured l)v 

 fiost lull. re .\.)vcinl)er. 



Fkoi'a(;ati.ng I'krknniai.s by Division. 

 — This is no doubt the better way when 

 it conus to spreadinj; plants siich'as heli- 



ai.tlu.saiiil iiiim.inla, iiml easily divided 

 ficiw 11^ .1^ hiiiKia ainl |ililii\ , Imu wlierever 

 tll<- ^|H,u- 01 van. M 1- raMl\ laiscd true 

 to kiiiii li cm s<iil. hoiii sie(i i> f^ciierally 

 till- licsl way to do it. A correspondent 

 asks us about propagating foxgloves by 

 <livisioii. Of course it ean be done.butit's 

 a v» TV Ioul; road to i;et i|uick home. No, 

 no, .ais,. iluni Iroui sta-,1, .an. 1 ..ai>c afresh 

 baUli r\,a\ \.ai. Anil llic s.iiric with. 

 di-lpliniMuiis, Ih.lMiorks, tui.ei.uis bego^^ 



ihI I 



Savk somk SKEt) — Before your peren- 

 nial larkspurs (delphiniums), hollyhocks, 

 |)oppies, snapdragons, sweet williams, 

 etc. are out of bloom mark some of the 

 finest of them and save them for seed. 

 They all come fairly true from seed. Of 

 course, we all know that we get the best 

 germination, when we let the seed dro]) 

 from the plant on to the ground about it, 

 l)ut it isn't alwaysconvenieut forus todo 

 this, hence we find it well to pick the seed 

 .-ind sow it elsewhere. 



Macnolia grandiflora on Lonc, 

 Island —Every summer, several years 

 ago, the late Mr. S L. M. Barlow used to 

 bring us some of these magnolia blossoms 

 cut from a tree on his beautiful place. 

 Elsinorc, a few miles from here. He had 

 an old plant— 30 years old, he thought— 

 in a tub in his conservatory; then he 

 planted it out of doors in a sheltered 

 place, and it lived over winter nicely and 

 lilossomed every summer ' In severe 

 winters, however, it was as completely 

 defoliated as a deciduous tree. But now 

 we have them blooming nicely at Dosoris. 

 We used to tie them up and set barrels— 

 bottomless ones and one above the other 

 — over them in winter. Last winter, 

 however, we left one plant absolutely 

 unprotected except that it was in a well 

 sheltered warm spot of the grounds; its 

 leaves got browned, most of them fell otl", 

 and it looked rather seedy in the spring. 

 But now it has completely recovered, 

 taken on new leaves, and every tip or 

 lateral of a branch has a blossom or bud. 

 and the flowers whentlatopen are twelve 

 and thirteen inch 



Flowers we are now cutting (July 

 1 ).— Sweet peas, mignonette, Drummond 

 jihlox, annual coreopsis— t/ncior/a, coro- 

 iiata and Drummondii, perennial gail- 

 lardias, perennial and annual larkspur, 

 Kct-mpfer's irises, snapdragon, holly- 

 hocks, early planted gladioli, double 

 white feverfew, salpiglossis, large and 

 frilled petunias, China pinks, early prop- 

 agated Portia carnations, ten-week 

 stocks, annual poppies, spring sown corn- 

 flower, spring sown pansies, plat\'Codon, 

 achillea Pearl, double scarlet Lychnis 

 Chakedonica, annual candytuft, ver- 

 benas, some varieties of clematis, Lobb's 

 and annual nasturtiums, panicled gypso- 

 phila, creeping milkweek [Euphorbia 

 curollata), orange butterfly weed (Ascle- 

 pias tuberosa), rose colored yarrow, 

 cucumber-leaved dwarf sunflower, Sut- 

 ton's nemesia, Torrey'spentstemon,some 

 ixfrennial phloxes and heliotrope, Mada- 

 gascar vinca. Cape plumbago, scarlet 



ends. Besides these the yuccas are in 

 their heydav, but many people don't like 

 the smell of them. Japan, discolor and 

 Lindley's spir.-eas if stripped of their large 

 leaves are fine for cut flowers. And in 

 the same way we may use the trumpet 

 creeper. But it is a fact that generally 

 the blossoms of trees and shrubs cut with 

 long hard wooded stems wilt ((uickly. 

 From the greenhouse comegloxinias,alla- 

 manda, anthuriums, and the like. 



The Greenhouse. 



OUR GREENflOUSE. 



We have threegreenhouses,onc devoted 

 to grape vines, one to r ses and the third 

 to miscellaneous greenhouse plants. It 

 is with this last named structure — that 

 devoted to winter blooming and fine 

 leaved plants— that we will now deal. 



It is 65 feet long, 18 feet wide, span- 

 roofed and glazed with double thick glass 

 in 10x14 inch lights. The glass is bedded 

 in putty but painted on the upper edge. 

 It is heated by three runs of 4 inch hot 

 water pipes running around inside of it. 

 On eaen side there is a plant bench 3'/2 

 feet wide, then a 3 foot wide pathway, 

 and a 5 foot wide bench in the middle. 



One of the side benches we fill with car- 

 nations, planting them out on it in a bed 

 of soil four inches deep. The plants are 

 in rows 9 inches apart each way. 



On the other side bench we grow an 

 assortment of flowering plants as bou- 

 vardias, etc., keeping them in pots. We 

 plant out our bouvardias in the garden 

 over summer and lift and pot them about 

 the middle of September. Heliotrope we 

 plant out on the bench, as we get twice as 

 many flowers from it when treated in 

 this way as when grown in pots. And 

 because we can get far more growth on 

 our rose geraniums when they are planted 

 on the benches than when in pots we 

 plant them out also. 



We grow poinsettias in pots all the 

 time, keeping them below the benches and 

 dry after they have done blooming till 

 May, when we shake th m out of their 

 old soil and repot them and then plunge 

 them out of doors in summer. We turn 

 the pots around every week or two in 

 summer to break any roots that may 

 emerge from the bottom of the pots. 

 Take them indoors early in the fall, and 

 when they begin to show signs of flower 

 feed them with cow manure liquid to ena- 

 ble them to make larger flower heads. 

 We also grow a good many begonias for 

 cut flowers, especially II. insignis. And 

 we find room for a bed of srailax. 



On the center bench we find room for 

 the larger plants as Begonia rubra, 

 palms, screw pines, hibiscus, etc. In the 

 summer time these plants, being nicespec- 

 imens, are set in and around the dwelling 

 house for ornamental eftect. 



Early in the fall we take cuttings of our 



Geraniums, putting them into flats 

 filled firmly with sharp sand and let them 

 stay there till they are well rooted, then 

 we pot them singly into 2Va-inch pots, 

 and set them close together on the bench. 

 When they begin to get crowded we pinch 

 back any that are getting too tall. Keep 

 them down if possible. In early spring 

 repot them into SVi-inch pots and set 

 them farther apart either in the green- 

 house or a warm frame, and you can have 

 nice stocky plants for planting out in 

 spring. 



Chrysanthemums —We are growing a 



by having them under complete control 

 can feed and hose them as we please, and 

 in this way have them hearty and clean, 

 sure forerunners of fine blossoms. We 

 also have lotsot chrysanthemums planted 

 out of doors in summer for lifting and 

 ])Otting or transplanting later on. 



BuLiis I'oR Winter. — In fall we get 

 about six hundred bulbs of hyacinths, 

 two hundred of tulips and four hundred 

 of narcissi. These maybe planted in pots 

 or flats. I then dig a trench for them 

 out of doors, about a foot deep, and store 

 the pots and boxes in it close together, 

 cover them all over with about three 

 inches deep of sand, then with a ridge of 

 forest tree leaves. This allows me to get 

 at them easily in winter any time I want 

 to, to bring in a few at a time for a suc- 

 cession. George Donald. 



Fairfield, Conn.. June 21, ''.1.5. 



NITRATE OF SODfl FOR FflLMS. 



H. C. G,, Dayton, 0., writes: "I am 

 informed that nitrate of soda in a weak 

 solution is a good fertilizer for palms, is 

 this so?" 



Yes, it is excellent, but the solution 

 must be weak. When used broadcast on 

 land a hundred pounds at a time to the 

 acre is a fair dressing; better still if we 

 repeat this dressing twice or three times 

 a season with intervals of a few weeks 

 between them. At this rate a pinch- 

 about as much as an old Scotchman 

 would takeof snufTat a time toa2-gallon 

 can of water will be enough. And only 

 when the plants are starting to grow or 

 in active growth would we care to use it, 

 then, however, you can repeat it every 

 eight or ten days. 



Cyanopiivllum magnieicum.— T. G.B , 

 Kidgewood, N. J., writes: "I have three 

 of these, but as the leaves dr^op very 

 much at times I don't think I give them 

 proper treatment. Please tell me about 

 them." 



It is a magnificent large-leaved tropical 

 plant of easy cultivation under proper 

 conditions. One to two year old plants 

 are handsomer than older ones, and they 

 should be confined to a single stem. This 

 plant likes heat, shade and moisture. Use 

 a free, fibrous soil with some leaf mould 

 and finely broken charcoal mixed with it 

 and clean well drained pots. Syringe the 

 plants daily overhead, don't let them get 

 dry at the root, and keep them away 

 from draughts. 



The Fruit Garden. 



THE FRUIT GflRDBN. 



Strawberries are past, but currants, 

 ela^agnus, raspberries and black caps are in 

 season; early apples and pears are ripen- 

 ing, and the fruit garden is now a very 

 interesting part of the home grounds. 



Pears.— Never before have we known 

 pear tree fire-blight to be as bad as it is 

 this year. Mr. Fowler at Port Jervis 

 writes us that it is the same in his neigh- 

 borhood. Prof. Meehan of Philadelphia 

 says it was worse there last year. We cut 

 out all the diseased limbs or branchlets 

 below where they show the disease, and 

 bui-n them. Pears with us will not be a 

 heavy crop. Doyenne d'Ete will soon be 

 ripe, then will follow Osband's Summer, 

 Giffard and others. If we want fine pears, 

 we should be very particular to thin the 

 frnit, removing all deformed and wormv 

 ones, and the poorest among the rest. 

 While standard trees are all right, a little 



