356 



GARDENING. 



^S, 



mentioned above, and sow out of doors 

 after the middle of May, about the same 

 time as 3-ou would Lima beans If sown 

 too early thesceds rot in theground. True, 

 you could keep slips overwinter in the 

 Kreenhouse or warm window verj' well, 

 but there is no need of it. seeds germinate 

 so easily and first j-ear seedlings fjrow so 

 rankiy and bloom so profusely that keep- 

 ing slips over winter is throwing time 

 iind energy away, Commercial florists, 

 however, in order to meet their early 

 spring sales, propagate the moonflovver 

 Irom cuttings, keeping s vera! plants over 

 w inter for this purpose. 



QUESTIONS ABOUT BULBS. 



i!v c. m. c, w.xshington, d. c. 



1. "Beds of mixed scilla and snow- 

 drop three years old. What should be 

 done with them in the way of lifting and 

 replanting, or should they be left alone, 

 one only being in a fairly floriferous con- 

 dition last spring?" 



.4ns. Lift them now and replant them 

 this fall as soon as convenient. But be- 

 fore planting dig the ground quite deep, 

 and 0(.en or enrich it with leaf soil, de- 

 cayed swamp muck or very much rotted 

 manure, don't let the manure be around 

 the bulbs though. Scillas of the Si7>/r/ca 

 section generally do well for years with- 

 out being transplanted, and so do snow- 

 drops on rich cuhivatcd ground. When 

 they begin to fail, however, it is time to 

 lift and replant them. 



2. Kaiser Kroon Tilips.— ".\fine bed 

 of these that attracted general attention 

 the first year did not do so well the sec- 

 ond, abont one-half of them reverting to 

 the original state of a plain yellow or 

 plain crimson They have never been 

 lifted, but will manured. What should 

 be done with them?' 



Ans. Lift them at once and keep them 

 out of the ground, cool and drv till Octo- 

 ber, then replant them into' well dug 

 ground in a sheltered place. We find that 

 :dl varieties of tulips do better if lilted 

 every summer; and it isn't wise to delay 

 lifting till all of the leaves haverotted off, 

 lilt when the leaves turn yellowish and 

 while they yet have a fair hold to the 

 bulb. Also, il you let them bearseed when 

 thev have done blooming the bulbs will 

 be hurt. 



3. Of Narcissus poeticus.— "A fine 

 bed planted in a specially rich soil the 

 first year did splendidly, but the second 

 had the foliage multiplied by about four 

 and the blossoms decreased to a verv 

 meagre show. The luxuriousness of the 

 foliage was very striking. What was the 

 matter and what should be done?" 



Ans. Lift the bulbs at once and keep 

 them out of the ground, cool and drv tid 

 October, then plant them, keeping all the 

 big bulus by themselves, for every one of 

 them should bloom, and those of lesser 

 i-he by themselves. Poeticus increases 

 considerably and, either in rows or 

 bunches, is apt to get too thick if left un- 

 disturbed, hence we advise lifting and re- 

 l)lanting them say every third year. 

 Inder ordinary circumstances, whenthev 

 are left undisturbed they are better the 

 second year than they were the first, and 

 frec|ucntly better the third than the sec- 

 ond. But the moment they show fault 

 up with them. 



4. Iris Kcempferi.— "I have a large 

 bed of this that has been very satisfac- 

 tory. Each 'bulb' this year developed a 

 circle of ten or twelve stocks. Should 

 they be taken up and divided? If so, 

 when?'' 



.Ins. If your ground is good and the 



at the crown, try to regulate your plan- 

 tation that yoii can lift, divide and re- 

 plant one-half of it every year, leaving 

 the other half untouched for fine flowers. 

 In common soil the plants may stay till 

 the third year before being divided. Do 

 it in early spring. 



5. Narcissus— VoN Sion.— "I planted 

 about 400 narcissus, the major part being 

 Von Sion. The first year they did well, 

 but the next being undisturbed were 

 nearly all top and very little bloom. 

 What was the probable cause?" 



.4ns. We can only repeat that when- 

 ever narcissus or other hardy spring- 

 blooming bulbs begin to fail in blooming 

 lift them as soon as they are ripe and 

 keep them cool, dark and drv over sum- 

 iner, then plant them out again in fall. 

 Von Sion is very beautiful the first spring 

 after being planted here if Holland bulbs 

 are used, but the year following the same 

 bulbs are apt to have greenish j'cllow 

 flowers of no value. 



THE FLOWER OflRDEN. 



Keep everything neat and clean. Cut 

 down spent columbines, delphiniums, and 

 other herbaceous plants that have 

 stopped blooming and gone to seed. 

 Clear awav withered leaves, pull out 

 weeds, hoe the ground and rake it tidy. 

 Heliopsis and spider wort often become 

 pestiferous weeds self sowing themselves 

 everywhere; root them out and spare 

 them not. Fill up every empty bit of 

 ground in the borders with plants from 

 the reserve garden. We keep'a numberof 

 annuals for this purpose, such as Lorenz's 

 gaillardia, cosmos, nasturtiums, chrysan- 

 themums, china asters, alyssum, tobacco, 

 marigolds, petunias, single dahlias, etc. 

 If you have not kept over a reserve stock 

 of such plants, sow a little mignonette 

 and sweet alyssum in such spots or lift 

 part of the over-thick plants in the bor- 

 ders and plant them in the empty places. 

 Tie up any plants that require it before 

 they fall or break down. Pyretbnim 

 uliginosum, Maximilian's and other tall 

 sunflowers, may need it, but instead of 

 bunching all to one stake, use two or 

 three stakes to each clump, tying neatly 

 and firmly, though loos ly. One stake is 

 enough for each dahlia plant. 



Seeds.— Save some of your best delphin- 

 iums, foxgloves, gaillardias, columbines 

 and some other perennials and sow them 

 out of doors in a prepared bed or border 

 shading them as you would a celery seed 

 bed. Lots of these seeds will drop onto 

 the ground where the old plants seeded, 

 and the seedlings now come up. Save 

 some of them, and alittlelatertransplant 

 them elsewhere. 



Pansies are now coming up everv where 

 where old plants bloomed last spring. 

 Save a lot of these seedlings for blooming 

 next winter and spring. .'Mso sow seeds 

 of choice varieties. 



Give them water.— Perennial phloxes, 

 mountain fleece, perennial sunflowers, 

 salvias, cannas, and other vigorous 

 plants, should get thorough soakings of 

 water now and again To starve them 

 now is to impair their beauty and useful- 

 ness. 



Bedding PLA.NTS.-Clean off the withered 

 flowers from cannas, and cut ofi'the seed- 

 ing spikes. Pinch in coleus before it gets 

 too thick, else it will scald and drop its 

 under leaves. The same with iresine. 

 Don't let anything such as verbenas, nas- 

 turtiums, petunias, and the like grow out 

 over the grass edging and inj ire it, rather 

 cut back the encroaching parts. If you 

 have pattern or carpet beds, never let the 



flowers of heliotrope, geraniums, etc. 

 Geranium cuttings may now be put in. 

 Put them in m sandy or common soil in 

 a box in a slightly shaded place or in a 

 cold frame. 



SflLVIflS-ZlNNIflS-CftlNfl ASTERS. 



I have a large garden of about an acre. 

 Some of the most satisfactory flowers I 

 have this year is a brilliant bed, 85 by 4 

 feet, of salvia Clara Bedman. It has 

 attracted much attention and improves 

 in (juality as the summer wanes. An- 

 other faithful flower, light varieties of 

 which seed I imported from Germany, is 

 the zinnia. I also planted the crimson 

 sort known as Gen. Jacqueminot, obtain- 

 able in this country and secured some speci- 

 mens that are very fine— as rich a crimson 

 as the rose of that name. I have also a 

 large disp'ay of fine asters which I hurried 

 and got into bloom (and through i loom- 

 ing last 3'ear) before the beetle arrived, a 

 simple device that may not occurto some 

 people. This year they are coming into 

 bloom August 1. .\nother delight this sea- 

 son was a fine display of Canterbury bells 

 and Delphinium formosum. [We began 

 cutting China asters about the middle of 

 of July, the seed was sown early in March 

 in the greenhouse. But we also have 

 later plantings— the last sown the middle 

 of June— to give us flowers till October we 

 hope. We treat the blister beetles the 

 same as we do rose bugs, take a wide- 

 mouthed tin as a wash-hand basin, lard 

 pail, or old frying pan, put an inch deep 

 of water into it and as much of kerosene, 

 then go over the asters and shake the 

 beetles into the tin. The kerosene kills 

 them.— Ed.] C. .VI. C. 



Washington, D. C. 



yUCCA FILAMENTOSA. 



J. E. H., Two Rivers. Wis., writes. "I 

 have a bed of forty yuccas that were 

 planted last May, and twelve of them 

 have blossomed this summer. In the bed 

 with them I planted dwarf nasturtiums 

 which have grown rankiy, shading the 

 yuccas a good -deal. Will they hurt the 

 yuccas? Are yuccas evergreen? As our 

 winters are very long and cold how should 

 I care for the yuccas in winter?" 



Yes, the nasturtiums growing over the 

 yuccas will hurt them; if you had sown 

 portulacca there it wouldn't injure them. 

 Yuccas are evergreen On the approach 

 of cold weather mulch theground about 

 the yuccas afootdeep with dry oak leaves, 

 then set an inverted box or old buttcrtul) 

 or empty nail keg over each plant, or as 

 many plants as it will cover, then add 

 more leaves and some spruce or other 

 branches over all to keep the eaves in 

 place and hold the snow. But, unless 

 you are sure yuccas will survive the win- 

 ter in your neighborhood better lift half 

 of your plants and keep them over winter 

 in a cool cellar or pit, planting them out 

 in spring. 



DOUBLE-FLOWERED SWEET PEAS. 



of remarks on page ;i4(! re- 

 garding double sweet peas. The seed 

 planted in my garden this year was not 

 sold as double-flowered. But numbers of 

 blossoms among Emily Henderson and 

 Blushing Beauty produced double hoods 

 These doubles did not pod. Soil, "nade 

 land"; eight in lies black slough bottom 

 on sandy ridge. Cultivated two years in 

 celery and truck. Fertilized heavily with 

 horse manure, cow dung and bone" meal. 

 Watered copiously. Planted early in 

 March; severe frosts Mnv 20 and later 

 fir,>t llowers. on K.nily Henderson, June; 



