iS^j. 



GARDENING. 



361 



1 he boughs; if we should shake off or pick 

 off half of them, taking the deformed, 

 small and gnarly ones, and leaving the 

 more peifect ones this apple would be 

 nearly twice its normal size. 



The Oldenburghs are a lot of striped 

 beauties, the Golden Porters have a 

 tempting memory, the Fall Pippin, un- 

 if|ualled lor baking, and the crisp and 

 aromatic Gravensteins are in store for us 

 a-plenty. Russets, Greenings, Baldwins, 

 Wealthy, Swaar, Nonsuch and others we 

 clierish for winter are hardly big or col- 

 ored enough yet to be very tempting ex- 

 cept in the knowledge of something good 

 to come. Our illustration is engraved 

 from a photograph of some Gravenstem 

 apples take 1 here and gives an excellent 

 likeness of this superb variety, giving 

 crown, base and side views of the fruit. 



GRAVBNSTBIN APPLES 



support of a few very slender but strong 

 sliiic t stakes and a bit of string. 



(li.iixiNiAS are also excellent plants for 

 the amateur, they rest easily all winter, 

 and in springmay be pottedup forblonm- 

 iiig in summer When they are done flo w- 

 crmg they may be gradually dried off and 

 set under a shelf foranother season's rest. 

 Tliey are easily raised from seed, and we 

 should so arrange matters to have suc- 

 cessions of old plants in bloom up till 

 midsummer; from that time on this year's 

 seedlings should give us the Ijlossoms. 

 We saw a splendid display of gloxinias at 

 Floral Park the other day. The plants 

 were young, from seed this j-ear, and they 

 had been planted six inches gpart in com- 

 mon flats, and these set close together on 

 the greenhouse benches. The plants looked 

 healthier than by pot culiure and they 

 were full of flowers. 



Stevi,\s in pots maybe left plunged in a 

 lied out of doors as long as there is no 

 danger of frost. As they root very freely 

 tlicy want lots of water, and a little 

 manure water twice a week will help 

 them greatly. If their pots are too small 

 for them to bloom in repot them, using 

 a soil of which one-third is well rotted 

 manure. 



EuPATORiuMS may be treated like 

 stevias. 



Nasturtiums.— Propagate some of the 

 best forms of Tropxolum Lobbianum 

 from cuttings for blooming in pots in the 

 window or greenhouse in winter. Cut- 

 tings from outdoor plants root freely. 



Rose a.nii oak leaved geramums are 

 very desirable for green leaves in winter. 

 Plant out some on a bench as you would 

 carnations or grow a few plants in pots 

 for this purpose. If you haven'c any 

 ready strike a lot of euttingsof them,and 

 grow these on; they will make nice little 

 plants before Thanksgiving. 



garden soil, well rotted manure, leaf 

 mold and sand, with a slight sprinkling 

 of wood ashes. The same treatment I 

 have used lor years and always with suc- 

 cess until now." 



.Ins. The treatment given seems to be 

 all right. Shake the bulbsout of thepots 

 at once, and keep them out of the ground 

 and dry and as cool as practicable for a 

 month. Separate the big from the little 

 as before, repotting the large ones, then 

 stand the pots out of doors on a layer of 

 coal ashes, against a north facing close 

 fence or elsewhere where they may get 

 shade from hot sunshine and be away 

 from the drip of trees, anddon'tgivetheni 

 any water except the rain they may get 

 till November. A few degrees of host 

 won't hurt them. 

 2. "Name of begonia sent?" 

 Ans. Begonia argyrostigma. 



The Fruit Garden. 



fREESIflS NOT BLOOMING. 



K C. B., Ky., writes; 1. "Can you 

 tell me the cause of mj-freesias not bloom- 

 ing for the past two years. I keep them 

 watt red and growing as long as there is 

 a green leaf, then dry them off, letting 

 tiem stay in the soil until the latter part 

 of .Vugust or September. When they are 

 shaken out and the larger bulbs sepa- 

 rated from the smaller ones 1 then repot 

 the larger ones i.i about equal parts of 



ABOUT flPFLES, 



We have a fine crop of apples this year, 

 and the fruit is clean and nice. Oh, how 

 big, and red, and beautiful the RedAstra- 

 chans have been, but they are about over 

 now. Aside from being a splendid eating 

 apple they are equalU' good for baking, 

 sauce or pies, and next to crabapples we 

 prefer Astrachan for jelly; indeed we make 

 a lot of it every year. For jelly it is bet- 

 ter to use the apples before they are dead 

 ripe. 



Yellow Transparent. Chenango Straw- 

 berry, Early Bough, Primate and Maid- 

 en's Blush are fine among the earliest, but 

 the recent rain anM wind storms have 

 dashed many of them to the ground. 

 These windfal's are raked up and carted 

 away to the pigs the next day, so that 

 any worms that may be in them may be 

 eaten up and destroyed rather than left 

 on the ground to perfect themselves and 

 increase the evil the following year. 

 Where the crop is so heavy as to weigh 

 down the limbs get props and prop up 

 the branches. Apples are now increasing 

 rapidly in size and weight, and their own 

 heaviness will often break the branches 

 even without the cruel aid of storms. So 

 pro]) up the trees before the storm comes. 



How thick the Famcuse api)les liangon 



THE BEST FLflVORBD STRfiWBERRy. 



A. K. C, N. J., writes: What do you 

 tiunk the best flavored strawberry for 

 family use where flavor is considered 

 more' than size? I have had the Black 

 Prince, but my plants having run out I 

 do not know where to get any more of 

 that variety. 



Flavor is really an undefinablc term, 

 because tastes differ Whatis called mild 

 flavor in a Iruit is one which possesses no 

 strong distinctive taste nor odor. Tne 

 sweetest and most highlv perfumed straw- 

 berry ever cultivated in this country was 

 known years ago as the Ladies' Pine, a 

 medium sized nearly globular berry of a 

 pale red color, but in the ru^h for large 

 fruit this variety has probably been lost, 

 and the same has been the fate of many 

 others once noted for their sweetness or 

 what was termed high flavor. Among 

 the more modern sorts I confess that I 

 fail to find much of the saccharine unless 

 it IS added on the table in the form of 

 sugar. Of the very large varieties the 

 Sharpless still holds its own for size and 

 m Id although not rich or high flavor. 

 The Black Prince is an English variety 

 introduced some forty years ago, and 

 while ot e.Kcellent flavor it was seldom 

 productive in oi;r hot dry climate. 



Andrew S Fuller. 



Ridgewood, N. I. 



Orchids. 



SOBRflllflS. 



We have several species of this easily 

 grown orchid coming into flower The 

 mdividual flowers resemble the larger 

 cattleyas and are borne at the tip of long 

 reed like stems, unfolding one at a time. 

 The plant continues to bloom for a long 

 time, though the individual flowers last 

 only about two or three days in perfec- 

 tion. The plants are handsome even 

 when not iu bloom. Sohralia wacrantha 

 has violet-purple flowers 6 inches across; 

 S. leucoxantha is a beautiful white flow- 

 ering species with a lemon yellow lip. 

 Pot them in rough peat and sphagnum 

 (not peat fibre) in large well drained 

 pots. Keep them moderately wet in 

 winter; but in summer give them abund- 

 ance of water. They like greenhouse tem- 

 perature and moderate shade. 



Wm. FlTZWlLLLVM. 



I have never yet had any horticultural 

 |)aj)er which I enjov nearly so much as 

 Gardening. ' ' T. C. W. 



Cambridge, X. V., June, IS'Jo, 



