1895. 



GARDENING. 



363 



Newman's Coneflower (Rudbeckia 

 speciosa or as it is sometimes named 

 Newman!) is now in perfection, and the 

 best of all the low-jjrowing concflowei's. 

 It grows about 2 teet high, sometimes 

 more, and forms a bushy mass of nicely 

 built, orange-yellow, rather flat open 

 flowers with very dark maroon centers. 

 If you wish to have this showy jjerennial 

 in fine form give it rich moist land and an 

 open situation; in a dry border in sum- 

 mer it gets >)urned out. At Dosoris it 

 won't even hold its own in the same 

 border with de phin ums. phloxes, veroni- 

 cas, tall rudbeckias, and the average run 

 of perennials; it must have moisture or it 

 will die out. Hut we can not wonder at 

 this when we note that it is a surface- 

 rooting plant. It is quite hardy. In 

 spring it may be lifted and torn apart 

 into many pieces, and all of these if 

 planted will grow and make fine plants. 

 It is also easily increased from seed. 



Sweet Scabios— How beautiful it is 

 now, and useful for cutting. It is an 

 annual, a native of southwestern Europe, 

 and a highly esteemed garden plant. The 

 common type grows about 3 feet high, 

 the dwarf foim about half that size or a 

 little over. The flowers of both are 

 e(|ually varied in color, running from the 

 darkest to the palest ])urple, also white, 

 cherry, and even vellow. If sown early 

 in spring in a greenhouse, window or 

 frame and planted out in May it begins 

 to bloom in July, and continues in flower 

 more or less t'dl frost. Really, it is a 

 biennial, and in mild parts, say wherethe 

 winters are short and the frost is no more 

 than 15° in coldest weather it survives 

 the winter .-ind blooms early the next 

 vear; but it is not ne.nrly hardy at New 

 Vork. Save seed of the finest varieties 

 lor next year's crop. When the present 

 flush of flovicrs is about over and the 

 ])lants are setting seed freely cut over all 

 these old flowir heads to encourage a 

 fresh supply. 



Tritom.\s, or flame flower, or torch 

 lilv, or fierv poker by all of which nanles 

 they are known, and botanically by the 

 naiiie Kniphofin. are at their best from 

 the middle of July till the end of August, 

 with a good many straggling blossoms 

 later. '! hey are capital garden plants, 

 bold and showy, and their spikes fine for 

 cutting for hall and other large vases 

 We use Kocn:pfer's iris leaves with 

 as their own are not stiff enough. They 

 like good ground and plenty room. On 

 well drained ground under a heavy mulch 

 of dry oak leaves they winter very well 

 here; but as a precaution we also lift a 

 lot of clumpsinNovember,cuttheir leaves 

 ort', and put them in close together in a 

 deep cold frame over winter. A cool 

 cellar would do as well. In spring we 

 ilivide the clumps into four or more pieces 

 before planting them out. This is better 

 than planting the full clumps, even if We 

 have to throw away the increase. They 

 are also easily raised from seed, seedlings 

 b'ooming the second year, ard occasion- 

 .dly the first season. 



.\ Vu.oRois Tree Growth Nkxt Year. 

 —Because of the copious rains we have 

 h id for the last eight or n ne weeks trees 

 and shrubs have made a heavy growth, 

 .ind unusuaTy fine thick foliage; all this 

 ])ortends an extraordinary vigorous 

 growth next spring. Prepare for it now. 

 With a little regulating of the growth, 

 shortening in excessive shoots, cutting 

 out thin spindly ones that are being 

 choked by ntlior's, and giving the trees a 

 well l)alamed symmetrical form we lay 

 llic fnund.-itiou for an even growth and 

 handsome shape next year. The eft'ect of 



a wet summer on the next year's growth 

 was very markedly .shown at Dosoris in 

 the case of Piniis Lamhertiana, the 

 gigantic sugar pine of the Pacific Coast 

 ranges. Like most of the Pacific Slope 

 conifers it isn't happy in the East. The 

 Dosoris specimen then S or 'J feet high, 

 and maybe 15 years old, beyond refusing 

 to makeanygrowththatsignified, h oked 

 fairly well.' That wet summer came, but 

 the tree didn't grow much more than it 

 did the previous year; the following year, 

 however, itshotuptwofeetat one bound; 

 and the summers since the —except that 

 of last year — being fairly moist, it has 

 continued to make a fine annual growth. 

 This years growth, however, is quite 

 short, and because the summer of last 

 year was (juite drv. 



fl RflRE CLUB MOSS. 



We send you by mail a specimen of a 

 most peculiar form of the Lycopodiiiw 

 clavatuni, in which all the fertile portions 

 are prolonged into delicate, erect, sterile 

 branches, twelve to eighteen inches high 

 and waving gracefully in the wind. It is 

 exceedingly rare and difficult to secure, 

 having never been reported from any 

 other locality, and being found here only 

 in a single small patch a few feet across 

 on of the highest ridges of the Taconie 

 mountains. The locality is so distant and 

 obscure that we have ourselves seen it 

 but two or three times, but are confident 

 from the old stems observed that the' 

 plant has always been true to its pecu- 

 liarity. It grows on the north exposure 

 of a bare mountain top near the summit 

 among stunted and alpine forms with a 

 quantity of the normal L. claratuw, but' 

 no intermediate forms have ever been dis- 

 covered. It seems to have long been a 

 fixed variation, reproducing, of course by 

 division only. The locality was discov- 

 ered by us on Berry's mountain, between 

 four and five miles north of Lebanon 

 Springs at an elevation of over 2,000 feet 

 on August 18, 1893. At that time the 

 patch was not over a rod across and it 

 has since been very much reduced in size 

 by mountain fires, [a very distinct, strik- 

 ing and elegant form that we have never 

 seen before.— Ed.] 



Wm. H. Harrison & Sons. 



Lebanon Springs, N. Y. 



them. The Vegetable Garden. 



TWE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 



For two months past the rains have 

 been abundant and vegetables have made 

 a rank and quick growth, and unfortu- 

 nately weeds have kept pace with them. 



Globe artichokes are plentiful but 

 poorer in quality than they were a week 

 or two ago. Cut back to the ground the 

 old flower stems. 



Asparagus. Run the cultivator be- 

 tween the rows and hand-pull the big 

 weeds. Strip off the larva; of the beetle. 



LiMAS of all kinds, pole and dwarf, are 

 now in season. Keep them picked el an 

 if you want them to bear long. But if 

 you wish to save some for winter use or 

 for seed stop picking from a row or a few 

 poles and let them ripen; seeds secured 

 now are plumper, cleaner and better than 

 those gathered at the end of the se.tson. 



S.NA p Beans are in great plenty. Thiy are 

 a seven weeks' crop now. We will make 

 a sowing about th? 20lh inst., and an- 

 other a week or ten days later, in a warm 

 sheltered place, three rows two feet 

 apart together, so that shoidd frost be 

 likely to come before the beans are gath- 

 ered we can coverthcm easilv with move- 



able cold frames and sash, or canvas, and 

 save them. In this way we always have 

 snap beans into November. 



Beets for winter have been sown and 

 are up and fit for thinning. Upon good 

 and clean cultivation and early thinning 

 we depend for quick growth and tender 

 bulbs, and unless we attend to this mat- 

 ter many of our late sown beets won't 

 get big enough to use before the first of 

 November. 



Brissels Sprouts have made strong 

 leafy growth, but there is no fear of them 

 being too early and bursting; the flabby 

 or worthless sprouts may break early, 

 but as they are of no use except to feed to 

 the cows the sooner they show themselves 

 and get pulled out the better for their 

 neighbors This vegetable doesn't need 

 a loose, soft soil, on the contrary, if you 

 go along the rows and tread the soil firm 

 with the feet it will help the sprouts by 

 checking the leafy growth and starting 

 firm buds. 



Cauliflower is much the same, the 

 softer the ground the more hafy the 

 stocks, the firmer the harder the heads. 

 Cauliflower that we sowed a month ago 

 we are now transplanting into ground 

 emptied of early potatoes. What doesn't 

 heart of it before frost sets in we shall 

 lift, strip a little, and heel in close in a cold 

 frame, where it ought alf to heart before 

 Christmas. 



Cabbage.— All we can do with it now 

 is to keep it clean and will cultivated. 



Carrots — The sowings for winter use 

 made last month are up and thinned. 

 Keep them clean, well hoed and thin to 

 make them root quickly and be tender. 



Celery.— Is all planted out But if 

 planting isn't finished yet don't stop, for 

 we can safely transplant celery no matter 

 whether it is 3 inches or 18 inches high. 

 Keep it well worked and clean, and don't 

 spare the water. A fast and succulent 

 growth is what we want in celery. 



Corn. — The sowing is over for a season. 

 As soon as the ears have been picked from 

 a row out with it and plant Scotch kale, 

 endive or lettuces there, or sow spinach 

 or radish in part of the ground. 



Cucumbers.— Pick for pickling as fast 

 as they are large enough. About this 

 time the plants are apt to become much 

 infested with lice, so that by the first of 

 September their bearing is greatly in- 

 jured or destroyed. Get some fresh to- 

 bacco stems and spread a thin mulching 

 of them under the vines no », adding a 

 little more once a week, and the plants 

 will be kept nice and clean. 



Melons.— .\fier the end of this month 

 the vmes will begin to die off" and expose 

 the fruit to the sunshine, but so late as 

 this there is no preventive 



Egg plants are now in perfection, and 

 so are peppers. Keep the mature fruit 

 picked off that the younger ones may be 

 induced to swell up quick and tender.' 



Endive. — Transplant large patches of 

 it for fall and early winter use. It takes 

 a longer time to mature than do lettuces. 

 Tie up two-thirds grown plants. 



Kale. — We sowed a lot a month ago, 

 and are now planting it out wherever 

 there is a vacant likely spot; our larjjest 

 lot was planted in the drills from which 

 the early potatoes had been dug. 



Lettuces. — Sow some more of the 

 summer hearting varieti-S like Salaman- 

 der; they should all heart before the end 

 ol October. Transplant from previous 

 sowing now and again as a little bit of 

 ground becomes vac;int. 



Okra — Keep it picked clean to induce 

 it to continue to bloom and pod. 



Onions. — The recent wet weather has 

 kept the onions greener than usual, and 



