GARDENING. 



Oct. /. 



ing basket, and set it down on the lawn 

 near a bed. I had seen that basket so 

 often filled to the brim with plants and 

 flowers that they seemed intimately asso- 

 ciated; it seemed natural to have flowers 

 in that position, then why not grow them 

 there? That incident evolved the basket 

 here illustrated. To set it out in the mid- 

 dle of the lawn would be fatal. It would 

 not only interfere with the "unbroken 

 sweep" of the lawn so essential, but would 

 lose the sentimental connection betwee i 

 it and the flower bed. Sentiment and 

 imagination are powerful factors in our 

 I njoyment of flowers and their associa- 

 tion's, and he who possesses these requis- 

 ites in a marked degree and combines 

 them with common sense is the one gen- 

 erally successful in floriculture. The bas- 

 ket should be placed near a bed of flowers, 

 and then one can imagine that the gar- 

 dener had set it down there, had heard 

 his dinner bell (you all know how prompt 

 he is, in that respect anyway), and while 

 he was wrestling with gastronomic prob- 

 lems you are enjoying the flowers. Orig- 

 inally I made the basket in situ by insert- 

 ing in the ground willow twigs and weav- 

 ing between them, but being too busy in 

 the spring I had one made of rattan. It is 

 bottomless and placed directly on the sod, 

 fresh sod replacing the injured spot when 

 taken up in the fall. The basket some- 

 what approaches the form of a figure 8, 

 being contracted at the center. The ends 

 are higher than the sides are at the middle, 

 and longer at the top thanatthe bottom. 

 The top measurement is as follows: Four 

 feet four inches long, two feet six inches 

 at the widest part near the ends, and two 

 feet at fbe middle. A strip of wood con- 

 nects the sides at the bottom to retain the 

 shape. The handle is two feet high. This 

 abnormal height is necessary in order to 

 carry it above the plants when at their 

 maturity. It is composed of three pieces 

 of rattan two inches apart, with split 

 bamboos running zigzag across, forming 

 a flat handle six inches wide. It is lined 

 inside with coarse bagging to prevent the 

 3ut, and a good cc 

 : meal beingfreely us 

 The soil" must be rich, as you want a lux- 

 uriant growth indicative of profusion, 

 and at the same time be careful not to use 

 plants so rampant in growth as to over- 

 run everything and in time obliterate the 

 form of the basket, and thus produce a 

 meaningless mass towards the end of the 

 season. The neatest plant I have found 

 to climb up the handles is Manettia hi- 

 color, one plant at the base of each han- 

 dle. One plant near each end of Solanum 

 jasminoides produces good "end effect." 

 In the center of one end is used the yellow 

 marguerite, which is inclined to be a little 

 rampant, and retjuires pinching back if 

 growing too strong. Some geraniums 

 and lantanas in the center at the other 

 side and at the edges are Lophospermuni 

 (Maurandya) scandens, climbing nastur- 

 tium. King William double nasturtium, 

 lobelia, sweet alyssum and dwarf phlox 

 The vines are trained along the edges, and 

 occasionally allowed to droop down. 

 Early in the season dwarf phlox, pansies 

 or any low growing plant are used be- 

 tween the others to cover the ground, 

 and in time be overgrown. If the sym- 

 metry requires it I sometimes put in a 

 canna about July 1 . W. C. Ecan. 



soil from washing out, and a good 

 post is put in, bone meal beingfreely used. 



No, they are regulation size, mature 

 bulbs. These irises are strictly bulbous; 

 they don't make a tuft like a Siberian, or 

 Koempfer's iris, or spread on top of 

 ground by a thick rhizome as the German 

 iris does, and while they are exceedingly 

 beautiful when in bloom the life of their 

 stems and leaves is of short duration, not 

 lasting through the summer. This being 

 so it is better to grow them in groups in 

 your borders or mixed beds where their 

 beauty when in bloom will be appreci- 

 ated, and where their disappearance soon 

 after blooming will not make a discem- 

 able gap. Let the bulbs be 2 to 3 inches 

 apart in groups of 6 or 10, and these 

 groups as numerous as you care to have 

 them. We grow them for cut flowers as 

 well as for garden decoration, and in this 

 case in rows, the bulbs being 3 inches 

 apart and two rows in each drill. Have 

 the drills 15or 18 inches apart, andwhen 

 the irises are cut plant a line of second- 

 crop China asters in the middle between 

 the irises. They are also good to plant 

 among roses. Indeed a summer bed filled 

 with these irises and tea roses fills up 

 nicely, the irises come into bloom and are 

 past before the roses grow so much as 

 lo need all the room; and when the irises 

 are past they can be cut down without 

 being missed, for the roses will have 

 spread enough to fill up the empty space. 

 But remember these irises are not cast 

 iron as regards hardiness; mulch j'our 

 beds heavily and spread tar paper oroilcd 

 paper over them to exclude as much wet 

 in winter as possible. 



ENOLISfl AND SFflNISfl IRISES. 



C. W., writes: "I want to plant some 

 English and Spanish irises, but don't 

 know how far apart to put the bulbs. I 

 see the florists quote them at a low rate; 

 surely their bulbs must be small?" 



QUESTIONS ABOUT TflE FLOWER GARDEN. 



F. N. B., Crown Point, Indiana, asks: 



1. LiLir.M .MR.ixrM.— "An auratuni 

 'with thirty-five well developed open flow- 

 ers, with more to come!" Who ever heard 

 of such a thing?" 



The grower of that lily has sent us a 

 photograph of it, wait for a few 

 weeks and we will have it engraved for 

 you, and tell you how he grows such 

 lilies. 



2. Gladiolis Saindersii.— "Will it do 

 better if left in the ground over winter 

 than if lifted or stored? Woolson says it 

 is hardy. When lifted the bulbs seem to 

 grow weaker each year." 



Ans. Lots of plants are hardy in X. J. 

 that are not so near Lake Michigan. If 

 it proves hardy in your garden, under a 

 mulch in winter, by all means treat it in 

 that way. But experiment with a few 

 only to begin with. In saving the bulbs 

 overwinter don't let frost reacd them nor 

 wet, and be very particular not to keep 

 them too warm. Where potatoes keep 

 well is a good place for gladioli. 



3. Keewno ituLBS in summer.— "When 

 you say keep bulbs in summer in a cool, 

 dark and dry place, do you mean on a 

 table in the cellar or in the carriage 

 house?" 



Ans. In a cupboard in the cellar pro- 

 viding it isn't stuffy and mouldy is agood 

 place. Anywhere where j'ou can keep 

 jam or other preserves in summer is a 

 capital place for bulbs. A ventilated cup- 

 board in the carriage house would be a 

 good place, or any such place in a cool 

 bam. But look out for rats as they eat 

 tulip, crocus and someother bulbs. Don't 

 put the bulbs in the attic in summer, as 

 it would be far too hot for them. 



Blister beetles ate the clematis.— 

 "Our clematis this year, and for the first 

 time, have been literally devoured by 

 blister beetles. The Jacknian type suffers 

 only slightly, but the small flowered 

 kinds have been injured severely, the 

 Flanimiita esjiccially; and the application 



of Paris green used destroyed the foliage 

 as well as the beetles. Is there no appli- 

 cation that can be used to kill the beetles 

 that will not also denude the vines and 

 discolor paint on buildings?" 



Take an old frying pan, wash-hand zinc 

 basin, tin milk pan, or other wide- 

 mouthed shallow dish easily held in the 

 hand, and put a little water into it, then 

 about as much more of kerosene, the 

 water is simply to give bulk of liquid, the 

 kerosene floats on the surface and does 

 the killing. Let one f eson hold the dish 

 under the vine while another shakes the 

 branches so that the beetles drop into the 

 kerosene. Nothing can be easier to do, 

 cleaner in handling or more effectual in 

 destroying the pest. There is no use in 

 mincing matters, this voracious insect 

 cannot be gotten rid of without consider- 

 able trouble, and there is no spraying 

 equal in efficiency to the keiosene bath, or 

 so cleanly in its use. 



KOEMPFER'S IRISES. 



A western subscriber asks: "Can you 

 find out for me the width of the strip of 

 iron placed around the iris bed, see page 

 371, September 1. I have ordered the 

 plants for such a bed, but had not 

 thought of enclosing it. The information 

 would help me greatly." 



1 used for my Koempfer's irises strips of 

 galvanized iron about ten inches wide. 

 Set on edge and sunk in the ground half 

 wa}-. it will have plenty of height for 

 quite a little pond. I flooded the irises 

 sometimes morning and evening, as the 

 water seemed to sink into the ground 

 very rapidly. The plants grew very taU 

 indeed for irises, and never in the history 

 of Bergen Point (my countrj' home) had 

 such wonderful size and markings been 

 seen in these flowers. The pure white 

 ones are the grandest, however, occa- 

 sional feeding with weak liquid manure 

 did not seem to go amiss, and may ac- 

 count for some of the success. The ground 

 will have to be quite soft when the strip 

 ol metal is pressed into it, otherwise it 

 bends by pressure, and there should be 

 lett a large lap where the two ends meet, 

 or the ends should be fastened together 

 in some way to keep the water from 

 leaking through. This is the third year 

 they have been in the same place, and I 

 intend to leave them where they are for 

 another year at least. L. C.L.J. 



New York, September 19, 1895. 



SWEET TEAS. 



E. C. M., Falmouth, Mass., writes: 

 "Give us some advice about sweet peas, 

 telling us how to prepare the soil, how 

 deep to plant the seed, etc. Especially 

 can j'ou tell us why at midsummer, after 

 fine blooming, constant cutting and fre- 

 quent watering, the blossoms suddenlv 

 begin to fail? Mine seem to blight at 

 this time, many of them looking as if 

 they had been nipped, their heads drooj) 

 ing. The vines also are thin and poor 

 towards the roots," 



Grow them in good land, somewhat 

 level and moist if practicable. When the 

 ground is cleared ot crops this fall, say in 

 Xovcmber, give it a heavy dressing of 

 rotted farm manure, and fork the ground 

 two spits deep. Early next spring, just 

 as soon as the ground can be worked, 

 level it, line it off, unfasten the ground 

 deeply along the row with a fork, then 

 draw out the row four inches deep, and 

 sow the seed. Don't cover the seed more 

 than an inch deep, the working about the 

 rows later on will gradually fill them in. 

 Be sure that sweet peas are never grown 



