372 



• GARDENING. 



Sept. /, 



east facing cold frame in fall and cover it 

 up with leaves or litter enough over win- 

 ter to exclude frost; remove the covering 

 in spring and replace with lath shading. 

 The seeds should germinate in spring. 

 While a few may bloom the second year 

 it will be the third year before many of 

 them come into flower, and the fourth 

 year before we can expect much from 

 them. Home-grown plants from seed, 

 however, take the disease as well as im- 

 ported bulbs. We have raised hundreds 

 upon hundreds from seed and when they 

 were between three and five years old lost 

 them from disease. At that rate are they 

 worth bothering with? Indeed they are. 



will act as a preventive; a good soaking 

 of tobacco water should destroy the 

 insects, but it should be repeated at inter- 

 vals of a couple of days for a week or so. 



JflCOBEflN LILY. 



{Sprekelia iormosissiwa). 

 S. N.W., Strasburg, Pa., writes: 1. "A 

 few years ago I obtained fifty selected 

 Inilbs of these, and planted the same early 

 in the spring in good garden soil, they 

 grew nicely but onlv three or four 

 bloomed. In the fall the bulbs were lifted, 

 dried off, placed in dry soil in a box, and 

 left in a house cellar free from frost, over 

 winter. In the following spring they were 

 planted, this time with the tops moreout 

 of the ground than before, but only a few 

 bloomed. What should I do with them 

 another year?" 



Ans. -\s soon as frost nips the leaves 

 lift the bulbs in the fall, take them inside 

 and let them dry. Keep them over winter 

 dr)' and in a paper or bag made of sack- 

 ing, and lay them aside where they won't 

 be kept too warm or there is no fear of 

 them musting and rotting— a shallow 

 box will also do very well for them— and 

 where frost cannot reach them. When the 

 ground is dry and mellow enough in 

 spring for gladioli to be planted, set out 

 your Jacobean lilies in an open, warm 

 situation. Don't plant them in shady or 

 moist ground; aim at getting a vigorous 

 growth early in the year and well ripened 

 bulbs in fall. In this way they seem to 

 flower very well. 



2. Erythrin.\ crista-galli doesn't 

 BLOOM.— "I obtained a large 3-year old 

 plant of this and set it out in the open 

 border. It grew nicely but did not bloom. 

 In the fall the plant was lifted, placed in 

 a box, kept in the cellar over winter, and 

 again last spring planted in the open 

 border, but as before it has shown no 

 signs ofblooming. Canlgetit tobloom?" 

 Ans. Keep them in good growth all 

 summer. Before frost comes lift them, 

 letting what earth that may stick to their 

 roots, cut back the shoots to near the 

 stout stock, then store them dry on a 

 moist cellar floor or in a box away from 

 frost and draughts, also hot furnace heat. 

 Keep them much as you would a dahlia, 

 but don't wound the stock or roots 

 attached to it, and don't dry them too 

 much. Wait till the ground is mellow and 

 warm in spring before planting them out. 

 They ought to bloom. Be sure to cut 

 them down when you lift them. 



INSECTS ON SWEET FEfl ROOTS. 



W. H. F., Cleveland, Ohio, writes: "My 

 sweet peas came up nicely this spring and 

 gave promise of many blossoms, but when 

 about a foot or eighteen inches high many 

 of them began to turn yellow and looked 

 as though hot water had been poured on 

 them. I find that each stalk so dried is 

 covered just below the ground with 

 numerous small red insects something the 

 shape of the green louse. What can I do 

 for this trouble?" 



If they belongto the green louse oraphis 

 family tobacco will destroy them. Apply 

 it early as a mulching to the peas and it 



PLflTYCODON ORflNDIFLORUM, fl FREAK OF. 



I have just read the remarks on page 

 343 relating to Platycodon grandifforum 

 and am prompted to note a freak in my 

 garden. Last year I received from a firm 

 in Pennsylvania two good dormant roots 

 of Platycodon grandiiiorum, one labeled 

 white, the other blue. They bloomed 

 freely that season, but neither was white, 

 both were blue. Though disappointed 

 because the two colors were not repre- 

 sented I was satisfied, for they did well, 

 bloomed profusely and were fine speci- 

 mens. This spring I transplanted them 

 to another location across the garden. 

 They are in bloom again. One is a deep 

 clear blue, all "self" flowers; but the 

 neighbor plant has blue flowers, pure 

 white flowers, flowers with some petals 

 blue and some white; others with petals 

 parti-colored blue and white, and again 

 other flowers clouded white on blue 

 ground. Still I have no white P/at_vcodo/j 

 granditlorum. A mulch of coarse stable 

 litter applied in November brought them 

 safely through last winter without the 

 protection of a cold frame. 



Hammond, Ind. Horace E. Jamks. 



THE PHLOXES' FflOEflNT. 



With midsummer and the statelier 

 flowers of .\ugust and September come 

 the tall growing perennial phloxes, among 

 the most brilliant of the multicolored 

 pageants of th^ floral year. Perhaps the 

 azalea, which like the phlox is indigenous 

 to North America, may supply some hues 

 as gorgeous and varied as the latter; but 

 apart from the azalea, which is very much 

 shorter in its blossoming period and not 

 nearly so hardy, the phlox is doubtless 

 the finest, showiest and most satisfactory 

 among summer flowers. The rose wi h 

 all its sweetness and all its insect enemies 

 passes like a tale that is told — the phlox 

 succeeds it, to rejoice in the estival sun 

 and prolong the blossoming season to a 

 gorgeous maturity. It is true it possesses 

 no orange, yellow and pure salmon tones; 

 but, on the other hand, it contributes 

 most exquisite mauve, lavender, purple 

 and variegated tints that both the rose 

 and the azalea lack; and this in endless 

 profusion and variety. Its odor is deli- 

 cate and delicious — a haunting nutty 

 aroma peculiar to it alone. Its easy cult- 

 ure and hardiness, moreover, combined 

 with its intrinsic beautj' and extended 

 period of bloom entitle it to a first rank 

 among the flowers of the summer season. 

 Such at any rate is the dictum of Mr. 

 George Ellwanger; and few will dispute 

 the veteran Rochester horticulturist, flor- 

 iculturist, I omologist and founder of 

 the celebrated Mount Hope Nurseries, 

 in whose company we recently sauntered 

 along the broad "Grass Walk," one of 

 the most attractive features of these 

 nurseries. There may exist as beautiful 

 tracts as the home grounds of this 

 college of horticulture, where fruits, flow- 

 ers, shrubs, specimen trees, wide reaches 

 of lawn and well kept driveways and 

 hedges form a feature of the scene, but 

 one must certainly travel far to find the 

 equal of this rus in urbe which might have 

 been conceived by a Mari'ell or an Evelyn 

 in which to luxuriatethroughout the sea- 

 sons, and drive away ennui. Here in 

 these "home grounds" countless varieties 

 of fruits, flowers, shrubs and trees are 

 cradled, tested, nurtured and experi- 

 mented with before being sent out. Here. 



too, are orchards of innumerable varieties 

 of fruits in bearing, and collections of 

 deciduous and coniferous specimen trees 

 and shrubs, with large plantations of 

 roses, bulbs and perennial plants. A 

 broad walk of smoothly shaven sward 

 gradually ascending a gentle slope forms 

 a main division of the grounds, on either 

 side of which perennial flowers are culti- 

 vated. 



Treading upon this green carpet, with 

 the first crickets already chanting their 

 autumnal chorus, we noticed in the dis- 

 tance a row of hollyhocks, like a file of 

 soldiery, still wearing their gaily colored 

 caps, though their uniforms had faded; 

 some large flower beds blue with later 

 flowering bee larkspurs, the great cream 

 colored panicles of the plume poppy and 

 beds of auratum, lancifolium and tiger 

 lilies. The double hemerocallis was in 

 flower, last of its species; tall growing 

 Heliantbex were just coming into golden 

 bloom; and among plants ot ornamental 

 foliage the native Erianthus Ravennas 

 and Eulalia Japonka and its varieties 

 were conspicuous. Here and there an 

 occasional rose lingered to tell of June and 

 whisper of the flight of time. 



But these and quantities of other flow- 

 ers that "had faded and gone," or that 

 were in blossom, or were yet to appear, 

 were all merely secondary to the flower 

 of the season." For no phalanx of holly- 

 hocks or host of pieonias, no ranks of 

 rhododendrons and azaleas, nor rose gar- 

 dens of Gulistan or iris fields of Japan 

 might contribute such a dazzHng blaze of 

 color or fan such varied hues into flame 

 as the splendor shed by the great trusses 

 of Phlox decussata that light this grassy 

 way. Here are white phloxes and red 

 phloxes, pink phloxes and rose phloxes, 

 purple phloxes and vermilion phloxes, 

 self colors and variegated colors, phloxes 

 with dark eyes and phloxes w th light 

 eyes, brunettes and blondes— a turmoil of 

 rnany hued petals that charge the air 

 with their odor and steep the landscajie 

 with their color. 



Of these an enormous bed of the variety 

 Lothair with a pure white and a delicate 

 rose variety flanking it as a foil was per- 

 haps the most conspicuous. Its cata- 

 logued description — "rich salmon color, 

 crimson eye, large flower and spreading 

 spike," gives but a poor idea of its beauty, 

 especially when grown en masse as the 

 phlox should be. Such varieties, how- 

 ever, as Flambeau, Wm. Robinson, Caran 

 d'Ache, Louis Chate, Oberon, Reve d'Or, 

 I'Avenir, and some others among the reds 

 and r ses, are perhaps equally effective, 

 though on account of the enormous mass 

 of the variety in question it seemed the 

 most gorgeous of all. Among the many 

 varieties in blossom the following were 

 especially wortlu' of note: 



Darwin —Large, perfect flowers; red- 

 dish violet. 



Francois Coppee.— Large, creamy 

 white flower, with a carmine rose center; 

 tall. 



Gambetta.— Rose; vivid red eye; tall. 



L'AvENiR.— Salmon red; tall. 



La Vague.— Silvery rose. 



Lothair.— Rich salmon color; crimson 

 eve; large flower and spreading spike. 

 "Madame Aidrv.— Crimson purple. 



Madame Lechurval.— Silvery rose, 

 crimson eye. 



Oberon. — Vivid coppery rose. 



Phoceon.— Lilac rose, with carmine 

 eye; large panicles and large flowers. 

 " Premier Ministkk —Rosy white, center 

 deep rose. 



Queen.— Pure white; medium height. 



Reve d'Ok— Brilliant cerise salmon; 

 cerise eye; tall. 



