iSgs- 



GARDENING. 



19 



BASKET FLOWER BED AT EGANDALB 



varieties of carnation pinks in the open 

 ground in my garden which have bloomed 

 nicely and are now quite well set with 

 l)uds. Can these be lift d and put in 

 boxes and set away for the winter and 

 be planted again in thespring. Will they 

 be worth the trouble?" They can be so 

 treated, but it is a question, will they be 

 worth the trouble. Enjoy them as they 

 are as long as you can, then cut down 

 the healthy small plants, that is cut all 

 flower shoots hard back to the crowns, 

 and crop in the rougher leaves, then lift 

 them carefully and transplant them into 

 a cold frame as you would pansies or 

 violets and close enough to barely touch 

 one another. Give them the same protec- 

 tion you do to your violets over winter, 

 and in early spring transfer them to the 

 open ground. If you mean to box them 

 and winter the boxes in the cellar, the 

 thing is apt to be more difficult and less 

 satisfactory. .\t any rate cut them down 

 well at lifting time, preserve their roots 

 as well as you can, don't overcrowd 

 them, and don't try to bloom them in 

 winter except in a light window orgreen- 

 house. 



Fancy-leaved CALAniuMS, citting 

 THEM DOWN.— F. M. K., Cape May City, 

 N. T-> writes: "I have a very fine collec- 

 tion of these Should the leaves and tops 

 be cut down now. or left 1 ncut till they 

 die down naturally?" The general prac- 

 tice is to let the plants get somewhat 

 drier, then dry altogether before cutting 

 oflf the leaves, indeed many excellent 

 growers lay the plants past on their 

 sides for the winter without ever remov- 

 ing .he old leaves till they die of?. But 

 no harm can comefrora cuttingthc leaves 

 back when they are fully matured and 

 turning yellow. We have very few plants 

 requiring as close attention to winter 

 them well as these fancy caladiums, and 

 we should humor them in everj- particu- 

 lar. It isn't enough to think that be- 

 cause we cutdownbigdahlias in the flush 

 of vigor without impairing their tubers; 

 or green-leaved caladiums. or tuberous 



begonias, even gloxinias, ipomtjuas, and 

 many others, with no apparent injury to 

 their tubers, that the fancy-leaved cala- 

 diums may be as submissive. But, really, 

 much depends upon the grower; a man 

 who understands the whole routine can 

 do many things with a plant with perfect 

 safety that might be unsafe in the hands 

 of a less experienced person. 



SuLPHURET OF PoTASH.— In your issue 

 of Sept. 15, under the head of chrysan- 

 themums, a correspondent names sulphate 

 of potash as a remedy for mildew. This 

 should read sulphtiret of potash; the sul- 

 phates are not fungoid destroyers; the 

 sulphurets are. One of the easiest ways 

 of preparing this is to boil some lye from 

 wood ashes with flowers of sulphur until 

 it assumes a red-brown color, or as sul 

 phuret of lime is preferable, sulphur and 

 quick lime, one pound each to water one 

 gallon, boil it out of doors until a red- 

 brown and keep in a well corked bottle. 

 A teacupful in three gallons of water goes 

 a long way as spray. 



E. Cartwright, M. D. 



The Flower Garden. 



TAB FLOWER BASKET AT EOflNDflLE. 



Flower stands on the lawn are of com- 

 mon occurrence, and if in keeping with 

 their surroundings and of suitable con- 

 struction, intelligenth- filled and main- 

 tained, they are allowable. Still that 

 method of growing flowers, suspending 

 them, as it were, between heaven and 

 earth, is unnatural; but, being the fash- 

 ion, we may follow it. Even then we 

 must be careful what we use and where 

 vve put it. In formal gardens, large rus- 

 tic stands, vases or even hanging baskets 

 may be used, but in departing from these 

 forms one must use judgment. We grow 

 flowers in the soil and admire them there. 

 Primitive man did that, but the modem 

 man goes further and places them in vases. 



This practice for centuries has so identi- 

 fied the flower with the vase that their 

 association has become fixed and pleas- 

 ing, and therefore allowable. 



An unseaworthy boat is sometimes 

 used on the lawn as a flower bed with 

 direful eflfect. I never saw one yet that 

 didn't have a dry-dock air about it. The 

 plants seemed struggling to get out 

 rather than up. There is no natural con- 

 nection between a boat and flowers; their 

 unison is forced, and therefore incongru- 

 ous. Iron pots, hanging over a supposed 

 fi'e, if situated on the wooded bank of a 

 lake or stream and accompanied with a 

 viae covered wigwam and other evidence 

 of "camping out," could be used artisti- 

 cally, but after all it would only show 

 what could be done, not what ought to 

 be done. Rustic stands and iron vases 

 are naturally formal in their appearance, 

 and belong to formal surroundings. 

 Formal gardens must always exist on 

 very small places, as the limited space, 

 bounded by rigid lines and sharp angles, 

 seldom permit of any other style. In 

 more extended areas, however, we are 

 slowly drifting away from the formal 

 and entering the realms of natural gar- 

 dening Geometrical beds, clipped trees 

 and sheared hedges are giving pla e to 

 the tasteful and natural commingling of 

 flowers and shrubs and the planting of 

 trees for their untrammelled beauty. In 

 my planting I have endeavored to follow 

 the teachings of Robinson of England and 

 Elliott of this country, and a formal vase 

 or flower stand on my grounds would be 

 as much out of place as a wash tub in a 

 parlor, even if the hoops were gilded and 

 the soap-suds made from Cologne water. 

 To introduce such a glaring example of a 

 set pie. e into my grounds would be as 

 painful as a sore thumb and as much in 

 the way. Still I wanted to be in fashion, 

 and grow some flowers "above ground." 

 What would be suitable? One day ray 

 gardener was transplanting some China 

 asters in bloom to fill up a gap in a 

 flower bed. He carried them in his weed- 



