376 



GARDENING. 



Sept /, 



BULBS FOR WINTER FLOWERS. 



It is time now to get our winter bulbs, 

 they do no good lying exposed and dry in 

 the seedsmen's stores. Let us have them 

 home, and get them potted up and stored 

 past so that th' y may get a fair chance 

 to make good roots before winter sets in, 

 for on their generous root action largely 

 depends their flowering capacity. And 

 remember first come are first served, very 

 few inferior bulbs ever find their way into 

 early orders. Now let us consider what 

 we ought to get. 



HYACINTHS. 



There are many kinds of hyacinths, for 

 instance Roman, Dutch, feather, plmne, 

 grape, musk, starch, et -..and all common 

 and useful garde n flowers. But for indoor 

 blooming in winter tbe Roman and 

 Dutch hyacinths are the ones most com- 

 monly grown. Both are graded into first 

 and second quality at least. While for 

 outdoor planting second quality a dcom- 

 nion mixed give good flowers, for house 

 culture we want the best. 



The Roman Hyacinth {H. Orientalis 

 albulus) is a very distinct form of the 

 ordinary Dutch hyacinth, indigenous in 

 the south of France, but improved by 

 cultivation. The bulbs are white, and a 

 good deal smaller than those of common 

 hyacinths, and they cost only about half 

 the price. There are no named varieties 

 of them. But in addition to the white 

 flowered we have blue, straw, and pale 

 rose forms, more or less in use, the blue 

 especially. The white Roman hyacinths 

 are grown in France and imported into 

 this country earlier in the season than ^ e 

 get bulbs from Holland, usually about 

 the end of July or first of August. While 

 their flowers are fragrant they have not 

 got the powerful odor peculiar to the 

 large hyacinths, hence are very dtsirable 

 as pot plants in dwellings, and their blos- 

 soms for cut flowers, and as they are so 

 easy to grow and sure to bloom there is 

 very little fear of them going blind. And 

 we can have a succession of them in bloom 

 from the first of November till April. Get 

 them at once (ours are already potted) 

 and pot them. Some now, some three 

 weeks hence, and a few more three weeks 

 later than the last; this is to give us a 

 succe sion at flowering time. In potting 

 those we want for pot plants put s-i.x 

 bulbs in a 6-inch pot, and deep enough 

 that only the face of them is seen above 

 the soil; those for cut flowers are planted 

 in small joxes, 3 inches deep by 6 or 8 

 inches square, otherwise plant and treat 

 them as in pots. These are now set out 

 of doors close together on a bed of coal 

 ashes, and three inches deep of common 

 loam heaped up over them to keep them 

 cool and moist and the bulbs from rising 

 up out of the soil when they begin to 

 root, which they are apt to do if not 

 we ghted down by earth or ashes Or 

 they may be stored on the floor of a cool 

 cellar and covered with earth as above. 



Dutch hyacinths (H. Orientalis) are 

 so called because they are grown in vast 

 (|uantities in Holland for market, that 

 country supplying the world. The num- 

 ber of varieties is legion, and most of 

 them are so good that any Hmited si lec- 

 tion means only a few of the best, there 

 arc lots more just as good. And the 

 hyacinth is a pronounced example of blue, 

 yellow, and red colored flowers being 

 furnished by one species of plant. Each 

 year we have given a selection of varieties 

 in Garduning. We will now do the same 

 again, giving you our own list; these are 

 excellent, inexpensive sorts and well tried 

 for we have grown them all repeatedly. 



SiNOi.ic white. — Alba maxima, jiure 

 white large bells, good spike; (iraiukur a 



Merveille, blush white, compact, large 

 spike; La Grandesse, pure white, large 

 bells and spike; Madame Van der Hoop, 

 waxy white, handsome, and Mont Blanc, 

 snow white, large bells, broad spike. 



Single red.— Fabiola, pale rose, pink 

 stripe, large; General PeUssieur, crimson, 

 large, compact spike; Macaulay, rose 

 with carmine stripe, large; Mrs. Beecher 

 Stowe, rosy pink; Solfaterre, orange r.d, 

 with light center and Von Schiller, sal- 

 mon-pink, striped crinisun. 



Single blue— Baron van Tuyll, dark 

 blue, large spike; Czar Peter, pale blue, 

 good spike; General Havelock, deep pur- 

 ple blue shaded with black; Grand Lilas, 

 porcelain-lilac, large; King of the Blues, 

 clear dark blue, long spike, and Mimosa, 

 dark purple-blue, large spike. 



Single yellow.— Among 3'ellows we 

 have not the numerous vari.'ty there is 

 among the other colors. The best wehave 

 seen are Anna Carolina and Bird of 

 Paradise, clear yellow; Ida, primrose; 

 King of the Yellows, and L' Or d' Austra- 

 lie, fine yellows; and Obelisk, clear yellow 

 and the" best of its color we have ever 

 grown. 



Double hyacinths are fewer and less 

 used than single ones, nevertheless they 

 grow and bloom well. La Tour d' 

 Auvergne, white, early; Lord Derby, 

 white; Lord Wellington, blush, with rose 

 stripe; Princess Louise, carmine; Blocks- 

 berg, porcelain blue; Garrick, Hlac-blue; 

 and Van Speyk, pale blue, are worthy 

 sorts. 



The soil we use is good fibrous loam 

 and well rotted manure in it with a dash 

 of sharp sand or coal ashes. We grow 

 them in pots because we want them for 

 house and greenhouse decoration; what 

 we want for cut flowers are grown in 

 small square boxes, say 3 inches deep by 

 8 to 12 inches square, wider boxes are 

 just as good only it takes more bulbs to 

 fill one of them. The pots are drained 

 well but aside from the apertures Jje- 

 tween the boards in the bottom of the 

 boxes we don't drain them. 



As SOON as potted they are set out of 

 doors on a hard bed with a la3'er of coal 

 ashes on it, the pots being close together 

 and well watered; when the wateringhas 

 dried on the surface we put three to four 

 inches deep of common soil over them to 

 keep all cool, and moist, and weight down 

 the bulbs should they attempt to heave 

 up when rooting If you care to 1 ave 

 them there in winter and bring a few in 

 as needed you may do so with safetv pro- 

 viding they are also deeply covered over 

 all with leaves, hay or otherlitter, enough 

 to exclude frost. Even if a slight frost 

 may not hurt the bulbs, it doesn't take 

 much frost to burst a flower pot. But it 

 is much handier and less troublesome to 

 take the pots into the cellar over winter, 

 covering them up there too to keep them 

 cool, and moist, and free from frost. 



Old Bi'LBS. — We keep our old bulbs. In 

 summer they are stored in flats, drv and 

 in a dark cool room. About this time we 

 examine them and pick out all the large 

 bulbs having solid hard crown tops to 

 them, and plant these in boxes as de- 

 scribed above and store them now out- 

 side with the others and in the cellar in 

 winter. We get our earliest flowers from 

 these old bulbs. They root quicker and 

 start into growth earlier than do the fresh 

 bought bulbs. True, the flowers are small 

 but coming in so early they are much ap- 

 preciated. Those that are not boxed oft' 

 are planted out of doors. A few hyacinths 

 planted in a cold frame with violets and 

 polyanthuses will comeinto bloom nearlv 

 .-I month .-I head of the regular open gar- 

 den bulbs. 



Hyacinths in glasses.— Choose the 

 single flowered varieties for growing in 

 glasses, as they are likely to produce finer 

 spikes than the double ones. The regular 

 hyacinth glasses are the neatest and pret- 

 tiest to use, but any glass bottle with a 

 mouth wide enough to easily support the 

 bulb but not big enough to let it drop 

 inside the bottle will answer all right, 

 old blacking bottles answer well but they 

 are very ugly. Fill the bottle with soft 

 water rill it almost but not altogether 

 touches the base of the bulb. Some put a 

 lump or two of charcoal into the bottle 

 to sweeten the water. Now put the 

 glasses into a cool, dark place, as on a 

 shelf in the cellar cupboard, for four or 

 five weeks, till the roots get almost to 

 the bottom of the glass, when the glasses 

 should be brought out to partial light, 

 as on a shelf in the open cellar, and in a 

 week or two to full light, as in a north 

 or east facing window. Never have the 

 bottles in a cold, draughty place, or 

 where frost can get at them. Keep them 

 filled with fresh water as full as they 

 were at first, but no fuller. If the water 

 gets cloudy or ill-smelling overflow the 

 bottles or pour off' the old and refill with 

 fresh water. To support the hyacinths 

 loop a piece of stiff but neat wire around 

 the neck of the bottles with one end stand- 

 ing up straight eight or ten inches to tie 

 the flower spiketo. Hyacinths in glasses 

 produce very handsome spikes. Use solid 

 bulbs with hard crowns, and plant early. 



Begonia disease —In answer to 0. A. 

 A., Blackinton, Mass., we would say, 

 we hope to have a technical reply to his 

 inquiry in next or a near issue. You are 

 not alone in your trouble with tuberous 

 begonias this year, for in many places 

 they have diseased badl3', especially out 

 of doors. 



Orchids. 



ORCHID NOTES. 



Most of the following species have com- 

 pleted their growth and will need a par- 

 tial rest, a cessation of activity as it were: 

 Cattleya labiata, C. Bowringiana, C. 

 Percivaliana, most of C. Trianie and the 

 cattleya-like L^eZ/'a Perr/"n//. Lc-elia anceps 

 is showing flower spikes. The pretty 

 little Pleione lagenaria has attained its 

 full growth and must be gradually ripened 

 off, the plant being deciduous and flower- 

 ing in the autumn after the leaves have 

 fallen; it is sometimes called the "Indian 

 crocus." When the cattleya sheaths begin 

 to swell, the sign of flowering, they will 

 need an increased supply of water to de- 

 velop the flowers 



Dendrobiiims of the deciduous section 

 like nobile, Wardianum, etc., need more 

 light. Rub the shading oft' of the glass in 

 the portion of the house in which they are. 

 I find that the evergreen sorts like D. 

 chrysotoxiim and tfirr.sy/?orumdonotlike 

 the full blaze of the sun. 



Cypripedium insigne, Coelogyne cris- 

 tata and Phaius grandifolius will need 

 more light and a little weak liquid man- 

 ure. 



Orchids which are growing, such as 

 Cattleya Mossia;, C. Mendelii, LielUt 

 purpura ta, Peristeria elata, etc., need a 

 good supply of water, be careful, how- 

 ever, not to let any water remain in the 

 heart of the young growths. 



Soft foliage orchids like Miltonia vcxil- 

 laria are subject to thrips; a gentle fumi- 

 gating, placing a handful of damp moss 



