GARDENING. 



Sept. 15, 



wet just as the weather might be. In 

 l>ottingthe bulbs are buried an inch or 

 two under the surface according to the 

 size of the bulb or the pot. A covering of 

 Ujani over them would be all right to be- 

 gin with, but the moment stem growth 

 would begin it should be removed lest it 

 would spindle and bleach the young 

 shoots. These bulhs don't give us any 

 blossoms before February, but they are 

 in fair trim for Easter. For early flowers 

 we buy a fresh lot of Bermuda bulbs every 

 summer, getting small to medium sized 

 roots. Pot them, one each into a 6-incli 

 pot. Of course for tall bold plants we 

 must get large bulbs. 



NARCISSUS. 



We cannot have too many of these. 

 They bloom with us from November till 

 May. What varieties to get depends on 

 our own fancy and convenience; usually, 

 however, the sorts are paper white, 

 Chinese sacred. Von Sion, single trumpet, 

 jonquils and early poeticus. 



Paper White. — Get the large flowering 

 form. Pot or box them now exactly as 

 you would Roman hyacinths and other- 

 wisetreat them the same; whenit isabout 

 time to expect a sharp frost get them into 

 the cellar or a cold frame and cover them 

 over with earth or ashes two or three 

 inches deep. Never let frost reach them, 

 for it will surely injure them. If you want 

 them in fl >wer early bring them into a 

 warm room or greenhouse proportion- 

 ately early, and a few each week so as to 



cissus belonging to the same set as the 

 paper white and maybe grown inexactly 

 the same"' way as the latter, but as its 

 flowers haven't much staying quality 

 when cut we prefer to grow this variety 

 in bowls as the Chinese do, and not cut 

 them. Take any bowl, basin or other 

 vessel that will hold water, and two- 

 thirds fill it with small pebbles from the 

 beach or river sideor gravel bank, it mat- 

 ters not, tlien set the bulbs— six or more 

 in each, according to siz of the dish— up- 

 right and two to three inches apart on 

 top between the pebbles, just so that the 

 stones will hold them standing up. Now 

 fill up with soft water enough to cover 

 the stones, but not enough to float the 

 bulbs. Then set the bowls aside any- 

 where in a cool somewhat dark place till 

 the bulbs begin to throw out roots 

 enough to steady them among the stones, 

 when they may be brought out to more 

 light, warmth and air. They are exceed- 

 ingly easy to grow and quick and if you 

 don't keep them too dark or too warm 

 they remain stocky enough to need no 

 staking whatever. When out of bloom 

 throw them away.forthey areof nogood 

 for after years. Most any other kind of 

 polyanthus narcissus can be grown in the 

 same way. 



Trumpet Narcissus or Dafkodils.— 

 Of all the narcissus these are the most 

 pleasing, and when we are done with 

 them in pots we can plant them out in 

 the garden and have them in bloom there 

 in after years, for they are hardv and 

 sure bloomers and with good cultivation 

 increase in strength and numbers. Get 

 the very best even if you get fewer of 

 them. They areArd-Righ, Emperor, Em- 

 press, Horstieldii, Golden Spur, Maximus 

 ;ind Obvallaris. Restricted to three we 

 would take Emperor, primrose perianth, 

 golden yellow trumpet; Empress, white 

 perianth, golden trumpet, and Maximus, 

 trumpet and perianth both deep golden 

 yellow. Pot and otherwise treat them as 

 you would tulips. 



Von Sion or OounLEDAFi'oDii.s.— If we 

 take the imported bulbs from Iloll.-ind 



such as we get at the seed stores and 

 grow them either as pot plants in winter 

 or planted out in the garden for spring 

 blossoms we get handsome yellow blos- 

 soms from them the first season; after 

 that, however, the flowers assume a 

 greenish tint and are practically worth- 

 less for cut flowers or garden decoration. 

 But they will grow like weeds. After 

 forcing them we throw them out. Treat 

 the same as tulips. 



Phcenix Narcissus or Incomparabilis 

 varieties commonly known, according to 

 variety, as Orange Phoenix, Silver 

 Phoenix or Sulphur Phoenix, are double 

 hardy, free growing, free blooming sorts 

 of much merit both for indoor and out- 

 door cultivation. The Sulphur Phoenix 

 is the largest and finest. Treat them like 

 trumpet narcissi, but as they are apt to 

 grow rank they don't make such nice pot 

 plants as do the trumpet sorts. 



Jonquils, including Campernelle nar- 

 cissus, are very desirable pot plants. 

 Treat as you would trumpet narcissus 

 and be careful not to hurry them into 

 bloom, else they may go abortive or 

 blind. If potted in September they should 

 come in handsomely from February on. 



Poet's Narcissus.— There are several 

 forms of this sweet and lovely flower, but 

 Ornatus is the only one we care to grow 

 in pots. It blooms two to three weeks 

 earlier than the type. Start it early but 

 don't hurry it. March is soon enough 

 lor it. 



Crocuses, SNOwnROPS, Siberian 

 PouiLLS, Chionodoxa and such small 

 bulbous plants are very nice to have in 

 winter. Grow them in pots for window 

 and greenhouse decoration rather than 

 for cutting. Get the large flowering cro- 

 cuses and the Ehvesii snowdrops, they 

 make a greater show than do the ordi- 

 nary forms. The secret of success is to 

 plant early and keep them cool in fall and 

 early winter, in fact plunge them out of 

 doors in a sunny spot with a surface 

 mulching of two or three inches of half 

 rotted leaves over them to keep them 

 Irom getting sunscalded. Of course this 

 would burst clay pots, and boxes are un- 

 seemly, so we use paper pots for this 

 work. 



Grape hyacinths {H. hotryoides) is 

 an exceedingly common little hardy plant 

 in gardens, running wild whenever an 

 opportunity presents itself, and there are 

 blue and white varieties of it. The white 

 is the best for winter forcing. Its spikes 

 of flowers remind one of lily of the valley. 

 Treat like c- ocuses. 



W. 



PLANTS FROM SEED. 



R., Whitehall, Michigan, asks 



"Is it practicable to raise the following 

 plants from seed, by an amateur— dra- 

 cjcna, f rns, iris, paeonias, palms and 

 araucaria? and how long before the iris 

 and pteonia should bloom? Will they 

 come single or double?" 



Yes, you can raise all of them from seed, 

 and it you are an enthusiast in gardening 

 you may get a good deal of interesting 

 enjoyment out of it. If you mean, how- 

 ever, to raise them from seed as the read- 

 iest and cheapest wa? of getting the 

 plants then prepare for bitter disappoint- 

 ment. 



Green leaved DRAC.^JNAS such as Cor- 

 (lyline indivisa are easil i raised from seed 

 sown in flats in a warm greenhouse in a 

 shady nook. But don't bother with the 

 colored leaved sorts such as D. terminalis, 

 as it is much easier to get them from cut- 

 tings and stem sprouts than from seeds. 



Ferns are generally increased from seeds 

 (spores). The seed is sown in pots or 

 flats, in a still, moist greenhouse When 



the seedlings appear thev look like a film 

 of green scum, but florists prick these off 

 in little picks into other prepared flats, 

 and when the seedlings begin to show 

 di,scernablc leaves and grow a little they 

 are separated and planted singly. You 

 will find lots of self sown seedling ferns 

 coming up about the other plants in "our 

 greenhouse. Seedlings always make 

 prettier plants than those rai-ed by 

 division. Of course there are exceptions 

 to this rule, for instance the furcans 

 nephrolepis and the Farleyense maiden- 

 hair ferns. 



Iris.— All manner of irises grow readily 

 from seed, but according to species some- 

 times germination is slow, taking one to 

 six months. If well grown a iiew may 

 bloom the second year, but most of them 

 not before the third season. As regards 

 the fine varieties of German or Koempfer 

 irises no one can foretell what the seed- 

 lings may turn out to be, good or bad, or 

 what color, or whether single or double 

 ( in Koempfer's iris only). Sow the seed 

 in boxes in a cold frame now, the plants 

 will likely make their appearance next 

 spring. 



P.EONIAS arc easily raised from seed 

 treated like those of iris, but the seed 

 generally takes six or more months to 

 germinate. And there is no telling be- 

 forehand what like the seedlings mav be; 

 in fact the first year'sblossoms, likethose 

 of first year seedling tulips, are seldom the 

 fixed flowers the plants are apt to bcarin 

 later years. They bloom the third or 

 fourth year from seed. 



Palms are easily raised from seed, but 

 they have an ugly way of standing still 

 for two or three years after they come up, 

 except under skillful treatment. In fact 

 while Dreer, Pierson, Vaughan, Siebrecht 

 & Wadley and other big florists grow 

 tens of thousands of palms from seed 

 every year they also buy and import a 

 vast number of young plants. If you 

 want a few palms for greenhouse or house 

 decoration don't bother raising them 

 from seed but buy them already raised. 

 But probably you won't appreciate this 

 advice till after you had three or four 

 years' experience coaxing the seed into 

 life and then trying to get them to grow 

 after thev have come up. 



Araucaria.— If this is a case of interest 

 in gardening all right; if simply to get up 

 a lot of plants cheaply then it'sall wrong. 

 Why, very few of our large florists even 

 raise all their own araucarias. they buy 

 them in the wholesale markets of Europe. 

 While the seeds may be treated much as 

 you would palm seed, and grow all right, 

 the seedlings are of very little worth as 

 decorative plants, lank and loose. The 

 pretty plants you see with the florists are 

 not seedlings but plants raised from cut- 

 tings, this is necessary in order to get the 

 Al quality short jointed stock you see in 

 our best greenhouse establishments. 



Cold Frames. 



THE COLD PRflMES. 



We will tell you what we ourselves are 

 doing in the matter of cold frames, and 

 that means that it is the proper thing to 

 do so far as we know. We have had our 

 fixed frames and hot bed pits repaired 

 and painted with brown metallic, and 

 now we are busy repairing the sashes. 

 The frames want to be tight all around, 

 the upper edges pe feet so that the sashes 

 may lie flat upon them, and the rafters 

 strong, sound at both ends and securely 

 fixed in place. In the case of pit frames, 

 sunk IS to 24 inches under ground for 



