/%. 



GARDENING. 



345 



Give plants abundance of water at the ! 

 root and a good syringing overhead | 

 every fine day, in the afternoon. Ven- ■ 

 tilate freely in fine weather, but there is 

 no more sense in exposing hothouse plants 

 to cold, raw weather than there is ani- 

 mals. The winter blooming plants now 

 growing outdoors io the garden will need 

 attention in the way of timely pinching 

 in, say of bouvardias; the removing ol 

 unseasonable flowers, as carnations; and 

 cutting away the runners, as of violets. 

 Potted plants plunged outside, say poin- 

 scttias, genistas, stevia, eupatorium, 

 should be kept well watered, allowing 

 them to get overdry hardens their wood 

 and impairs their blooming. Repot 

 chrysanthemums from small to larger 

 pots, feed the well rooted ones with a 

 little liquid manure now and again. It 

 you intend planting out any on your 

 greenhouse benches the sooner it is done 

 the better they are likely to be. 



Pot up a lot of tuberous begonias for 

 blooming between now and November. 

 Order your winter blooming bulbs, and 

 ])ot up a lot of Harrisii lilies now if you 

 can get them, but don't force them hard 

 to begin with. Paper white narcissus 

 and Roman hyacinths may also be potted 

 now for earlv flowers in winter. 



Early Daffodils in pots.— An Ontario 

 subscriber asks: ' ' What treatment would 

 you advise in order to have extra early 

 daffodils— say Horsfieldii — in pots?" If 

 you mean your own grown bulbs, get 

 them out of the ground— if they are still 

 in it — at once and let them stay dry for a 

 month in a cool shady shed or room. 

 Then pot them— 5 or 6— in a 6-inch pot, 

 stand them out of doors on a layer of 

 ashes and cover the pots over four or five 

 inches deep with loam or ashes, and if a 

 shutter is set over them, raised a little 

 above them, to ward off" rain, so much 

 the better. Let them stay there till sharp 

 frost comes, when, if you cover them 

 deeply with tree leaves, you may let them 

 stay there till needed for forcing; or bring 

 them into a cool cellar, treating them like 

 hyacinths and tulips in pots. The neces- 

 sary points are, good well-ripened bulbs, 

 pot early, and let them have a long, out- 

 door, cool, non-excitable period in which 

 to make roots, then after Christmas bring 

 them into warmer quarters as you want 

 them. Don't rush them. 



Dis.\ grandiflora: How to grow it. 

 — Apropos of our note about this plant in 

 Gardening, page 311, Mrs. E. T. Royle, 

 the eldest daughter of the late Mr. James 

 Taplin, writes: "I have just been reading 

 your note on Disa grandiOora, with its 

 reference to my father, for which I thank 

 you. With regard to the disa, I believe 

 the chief mistake made is the lack of suffi- 

 cient coolness at the root. You know its 

 home is on damp hillsides, near Cape 

 Town, South Africa, with, I believe, a 

 limestone substratum. My father's plan 

 was to pot it in a broad shallow pan, in 

 rough peat and sand, topdressed with 

 live sphagnum moss, lavishh- drained 

 with lumps of rough stone. This not 

 only provided drainage, but kept the 

 roots cool. The plants were kept in the 

 camellia house, as you doubtless remem- 

 ber. But for several years he had a lot 

 of disas plunged outside in a shady bog 

 garden, where they remained all summer, 

 and they bloomed magnificently. I have 

 never seen their equal since, and believe 

 this the best way of treating these 

 plants." 



(^.et vour Dutch Bulbs at Home.— 1 

 was glad to see your advice, oage 2(54, 

 to get bulbs of American dealers. 1 im- 

 ported a good many last year at very 



low first cost, but the many charges soon 

 raised an amateur's box above the price 

 of home dealers and I want no more of it 

 except as it can be done by mail. 

 Xew Jersey. E. R. 



The Fruit Garden. 



TflE FRUIT OflRDEN. 



Plums and peaches may taste better 

 when they are allowed to ripen perfectly 

 on the trees before being plucked, but 

 apples or pears don't: they should be 

 gathered before they are ripe and brought 

 indoors into a coal, dark room or cellar 

 and there allowed to mellow at leisure. 

 Among pears we now have Doyenne d' 

 Ete, Osband's Summer and Giffard, in 

 using condition, and some Margaret and 

 Clapp's Favorite plucked and in store. 

 When gathered eight to twelve days be- 

 fore they are ripe they don't assume that 

 dry, insipid condition that pears that 



ripen 



on the tree 



ipt to have, they 



are juicy, refreshing and well flavored, 

 and they keep longer. Early fruit when 

 stored in the house or cellar is apt to be 

 kept too warm and dry, avoid this as much 

 as practicable, heat hastens maturity and 

 decay, and dryness causes it to shrivel. 

 While we can stow winter apples in bins 

 or barrels with perfect safety, keeping 

 fruit in any such bulk at this time of 

 year is to invite decay. 



It is now time to set out strawberry 

 plants. The ground should be deep, rich, 

 and moist if possible. The best sorts to 

 plant are the ones that thrive best in your 

 localit3', for no strawberry is good in all 

 places. V\ e recommend for trial Sharp- 

 less, Bubach, Parker Earle. Marshall, 

 Timbrell and Brandywine. Some one of 

 these is almost certain to suit your 

 ground. What are called potted plants, 

 are runners that have been rooted into 

 little pots plunged under the brim in the 

 ground; when the pots are filled with 

 roots the runners are severed from the 

 parent plant, and are fit for planting out. 

 Before setting them shake the ball of earth 

 and roots a little to unravel the roots 

 somewhat, and plant firmly. Strawberry 

 plants set now or for six weeks to come 

 should yield a fine crop of big berries next 

 June. While as potted plants is an excel- 

 lent way to get young stock from the 

 nurseryman, it isn't at all necessary in 

 the case of saving runners from our own 

 beds, when they are well rooted lift them 

 with a trowel and plant them out at 

 once. Our rows are two feet apart, and 

 hills about 20 inches asunder in the row, 

 three plants in each hill. We also have a 

 good many rows where the plants are 

 set six to eight inches apart in the row 

 and not in hills at all. But this system is 

 only for the garden, in the field the rows 

 should be three feet apart. 



As soon as raspberry bushes have 

 finished bearing cut out the old canes and 

 the most slender and supen:umerarv of 

 the young ones, but don't shorten back 

 any of the young canes retained for next 

 year's crop, it would cause them to 

 sprout again, hence become more tender 

 than if left uncut, hence more apt to win- 

 ter kill. 



Thin out old, scraggy, and worthless 

 wood from the currant bushes to allow 

 of the 5-oung stems lemaining ripening up 

 their wood better. 



but the fruit then growing had become 

 deformed and could not recover; if we 

 had received plenty of rain there would 

 have been a partial crop. 



Those kinds that recovered and gave 

 liest returns were Lovett, S])lendid, En- 

 hance and Parker Earle, of the perfects, 

 and Haverland, Warfield, Crescent and 

 Bubach of the pistillates. This was in 

 field culture, matted rows, where we had 

 about 75 kinds, and in a little jilat of six 

 square rods where we had planned 30 

 kinds (within reach of our water pipes). 

 These were set in Mav, 1894, and had 

 been trained to the "5-plants in a hill 

 system," each plant being allowed to put 

 out four runners and then kept in hills. 

 With this treatment Sadie and Swindle 

 exceeded all others in quantity of fruit 

 matured, Warfield following close as 

 third. These are all pistillate sorts, and 

 the first two are not profitable in matted 

 rows. 



Beder Wood rusts, and probably it will 

 not remain long in the list. Robinson 

 was afailurethis year. Shuckless appears 

 like the old Mt. Vernon, and is no acquisi- 

 tion if one can form any opinion in two 

 j-ears of trial. Timbrellisnot satisfactory 

 with three years' trial, and Marshall is 

 an entire failure with two years' trial. 

 Cherokee is no good. Dew is worthless. 

 Greenville is not up to promise with three 

 years' trial. Muskingum did better than 

 last year. Gandy has never been profit- 

 able; it gives a few nice pickings about 

 mid-summer, but docs not hold as late as 

 Warfield, which is one of the earliest. 

 Michel is not worth planting. Rio and 

 Van Deman, both extra early, are often 

 caught by May frosts and ruined. The 

 following after two years' trial are 

 promising: Aroma, Bisel, Cyclone, 

 Leader, Ivanhoe and Tennessee Prolific. 

 Geo. J. Kellogg. 



aTRflVIBERRIES AT JflNESVILLE, WIS. 



Many of the old standard varieties lost 

 nearly all their foliage in the May freezes; 

 this was true of Wood, Warfield, Cres- 

 cent, Wilson and manv others. Most of 

 the kinds sent upncwfeaves verv quicklv, 



BERRy PLANTS. 



A berrj' plant in yielding its fruit, ma- 

 turing its seed and producing new growth, 

 is much exhausted. In fact, the life of 

 each bud, stem and cane, is given in this 

 effort. The maturity of fruit buds on 

 new canes comes after this exhausting 

 work, and unless good care is continued 

 to develop and perfect the same, the suc- 

 ceeding crop is greatly impaired. The 

 natural moisture, too, is much less at 

 this season, and must be retained in the 

 soil by frequent shallow cultivation. The 

 strong canes must be stimulated by re- 

 moval of the weak ones, and all surplus 

 growth cut away. Remember, the care 

 given fruit plants this season practically 

 determines the product next, both in 

 quality and quantity. Never allow your 

 interest in the frait garden to lessen be- 

 cause the fruit is gone. Never neglect 

 that spot from which you should receive 

 more tor the labor performed than any 

 other portion of the farm. A fruit plant 

 is as sensitive to good care as stock on 

 the farm or members of the household, 

 and should be treated as well. 



Strawberiy beds for the family should 

 be made as early as new plants from new 

 beds can be obtained. Prepare for them 

 now. Extra care is necessary for August 

 setting. The good nurseryman will take 

 extra care in digging and shipping plants, 

 packing so they will not heat or roots 

 become dry. When received dip the roots 

 in a thick compost of dirt and manure 

 water and plant them at once. Be par- 

 ticular to have moist earth firmly pressed 

 about the roots. Rake or hoe around 

 plants often. August setting is not 

 recommended for large acreage or care- 

 less growers. M. .\. Tiiavkk. 



Sfarta, Wis. 



