24 



• GARDENING. 



Oct. I, 



plant was a picture, while last year 

 plants bloomed considerably. There are 

 now some symptoms of mildew, but not 

 enough to speak of. One thing seems 

 certain, and that is that where climatic 

 conditions are conducive to mildew this 

 rose must ha>e an open situation. My 

 plants were laid down in the winter and 

 covered with earth. Those at Lincoln 

 Park were planted on the western slope 

 of a bank, unprotected, and they win- 

 tered well, but it must be remembered 

 that the temperature of last winter was 

 quite even and the snows remained until 

 ciuite late. W. C. Er..\.\. 



tips this summer. It had no protection 

 whatever over winter. W. C. E. 



Northern Illinois. 



Aquatics. 



KOSES, WI.NTKK MULCHl.NG FOR. — C. H., 



Roxbury, Mass., a«ks: "Would leaves 

 that have been piled up for a year and are 

 partially decayed make a good winter 

 covering for arose bed? How thick in 

 that case should the layer be made? 

 Would a layer of manure on top of this be 

 an improvement, the whole to be dug 

 into the ground next spring?" That 

 depends upon circumstances. Rotted 

 leaves or leaf mould is capital for open- 

 ing stiff soils, but there is very little ma- 

 iiurial strength in it. In light land we 

 wouldn't care about them. Roses want 

 strong manure, and no matter how good 

 the manure may be we put on them in fall 

 for mulching, by spring time the sub- 

 stance is pretty well leached out of it; we 

 would rather remove all the rougher part 

 of that manure, and if need be apply finely 

 rotted fresh manure to dig into the 

 ground. Now there are two ways of 

 protecting roses in winter, namely, by let- 

 ting the plants retain their ordinary up- 

 right majmer of growth, and mulch the 

 ground over their roots as you suggest; 

 the other way is to bend down the bushes 

 Hat on to the ground, keeping them all one 

 way in the rows, and holding them in 

 place by pegs, wire loops or the mulch. 

 In either case four to six inches deep of the 

 leaves and the same of rank strawy man- 

 ure over it should answer very well. But 

 if you have Bourbon, tea or other rather 

 tender roses to cover lay them flat on the 

 ground, then cover them with sods or 

 loam, and over that a mulching of leaves 

 or rank litter. Earth makes the safest 

 mulch. 



1IU-; KOSK SLUG, HELLEBORE POWDER 



loR.— C. H.. Roxbury, Mass., asks: "Is 

 hellebore powder dissolved at the rate of 

 a tablespoonful to a gallon of v/ater and 

 a])plied with a force pump to the under 

 side of leaves as eft'e>tive against the rose 

 slug as if used dry with a powder bel- 

 lovv's?', No, because in applying it you 

 lose so much of it. First moisten your 

 rose plants all over, then take your pow- 

 der bellows ani blow the powder on to 

 the foliage. It will stick to the leaves 

 vvhea they are wet. We apply it early in 

 the morning when the leaves are wet with 



Ckimso.n Kamuler Rose.— B.S. P. asks: 

 "Will it prove valuable as porch rose in 

 \'irginia?" We cannot tell. In some 

 places it has behaved nobly, in others 

 jjoorly. But as it is so cheap and plenti- 

 ful we all should give it a trial. If you 

 have not got it try the old fashioned Gloire 

 (le Dijon rose; giveit asouth or southeast 

 asy)ect, and if it proves hardy with you it 

 will please you. Or, if you prefer a red, 

 try Keine Marie Henriette, and get the 

 Crimson Rambler too. 



Rose Prairie Queen.— A specimen of 

 this rose bush, 15 feet high, trained on a 

 trellis, on south exposure, bloomed to the 



fiQUflTlGS. 



We have an artificial circular pond 13 

 feet in diameter here for the culture of 

 aquatics. It is three deep with one foot 

 of rich compost in the bottom. It was 

 the intention to plant the nymphjeas out 

 in the pond, but experience has taught us 

 that in a small space like this it was not 

 the best plan. We now plant the nym- 

 phaeas and nelumbiums in tubs nearly 

 filled with rich compost, and place these 

 in the pond. Another lesson we learned 

 was that two feet of water was too deep, 

 when we could protect it in winter. Of 

 course in natural ponds which it would 

 be impracticable to protect in winter, the 

 rhizomes of nelumbiums and hardy nym- 

 phfeas must be planted deep enough to 

 keep them from freezing, but where they 

 can be kept from frost in winter by cover- 

 ing the pond or tank with boards and 

 salt hay; nine inches of water above 

 the crown of the plant are enough. Nym- 

 phasas and nelumbiums bloom earlier, 

 more profusely, and longer in shallow 

 than in deep water. Shallow water is 

 warmer than deep water, and the water 

 at top is warmer than that at the bot- 

 tom. For this reason we place our tubs 

 of water lilies on brick piers so as to give 

 them only a shallow covering of water. 



We would have filled in the pond to the 

 required depth with mud but for the fact 

 that we have a large number of gold- 

 fishes in it, and the shallow water would 

 get too much heated up by the sun lor 

 their health; so we have to compromise 

 matters. 



Whatever depth the pond may be. the 

 foundation of the wall must be out of 

 reach of frost. Ours is an eight-inch 

 brick wall lined with cement. 



The sorts of lilies grown are Nympbsa 

 odorata and its variety rosea, N. Zanzi- 

 barensis azurea, and rosea, N. scutifolia, 

 N. Marliacea cbromatella, and the night- 

 bloomers N. Devoniensis and A', dentata; 

 Nelumhium speciosum, and its variety 

 album; the water-hyacinth {Eichhornia 

 crassipes major), the "water-snowfiake" 

 ( Liwnantbeinum Indicum). In the center, 

 with its roots half submerged, we have 

 the Egyptian paper reed, which relieves 

 the flatness of the water-lilies by its bold 

 column-like stems crowned with tasseled 

 capitals. This plant only likes to have 

 its 'feet" wet. The tub it is planted in 

 is draped with "parrot's feather" or 

 water-milfoil (Myriophyllum). 



We have also, outside the pond, tubs of 

 the water poppy (Limoocharis Hiim- 

 boldtii) and floating heart (Lininanthe- 

 mum nymphxoides.) Around the pond 

 is a little border in which are planted 

 Japanese irises, and that beautiful, grace- 

 ful grass. Eulalia gracillima univittata. 



Of all the water lilies, those that give 

 us most satisfaction are Nymph.ca 

 odorata and its variety rosea. They 

 commence to bloom about the middle of 

 May and continue to flower till the ap- 

 proach of cool weather. Zanzibarensis 

 and its varieties are best raised from seed 

 every year. Sow the seeds in January or 

 February and pot as required, plunging 

 the pots in pails of water. Put them in 

 the pond, in their blooming tubs, about 

 the fir.st of June. All the nympha;as and 

 nelumbiumg delight in rich soil. On the 

 approach of cool weather we take into 

 our greenhouses our tubs of night-bloom- 



ing nympha;a. When the fohage dies 

 down we search around the base of the 

 old plant for young "bulbs," as the old 

 one is generally useless after the first year. 

 You will usually find six or eight. Pot 

 these and grow them on tor next year. 

 The more liberally you treat them the 

 better will be the return. 



The only insect pest that bothers us is 

 black aphis; on account of the fishes we 

 cannot use insecticif^es, but we keep these 

 off by Syringing forcibly with the hose. 

 We cover over the pond in December with 

 boards and salt hay, leaving a space for 

 a 2-foot square saslito admit light to the 

 fishes. Where fishes are kept do not use 

 manure for covering, as the leachings of 

 it will pollute the water. Constantly 

 running streams and fountains are not 

 good for water lilies, as they make the 

 water too cool, though the fishes delight 

 in it. Wm. Fitzwilliam. 



Baronald, Orange, N.J. 



The Fruit Garden. 



SOME OF THE JflFflN PLUMS. 



Ogou, Abundance, Burbank and Sat- 

 suma fruited here this last summer, the 

 first two in quantities sufficient to test 

 their market value, and the last two in 

 less quantities. Ogon is considerably 

 earlier than either of the others, and for 

 that reason and the fact that it seems 

 more likely to produce crops every year 

 makes it valuable for market. It has a 

 peculiar flavor which is rcHshed by some 

 and not by others, but its rich yellow 

 color makes it sell, and it is a perfect free- 

 stone, while all the others cling more or 

 less. It is sweet (except the skin) when 

 eaten in its fresh state, but when cooked 

 requires a very large quantity of sugar. 

 Abundance, when in a vigorous condi- 

 tion and not allowed to overbear, is a 

 very good eating plum in its fresh state 

 and fairly good for cooking. Both sold 

 in ten-pound grape baskets lor 30 to 50 

 cents per basket. Burbank is somewhat 

 later and larger, and Satsuma still later 

 and larger, and both white and fine look- 

 ing, are rather too firm fleshed to pass 

 for best to eat in their fresh state, but 

 Burbank is very good for canning and 

 Satsuma still better, and we value both 

 highly for this purpose. All four of them 

 have proved practically curculio proof, 

 because they bear enough in spite of it, 

 and they have all borne lull crops with- 

 out other varieties to fertilize them. 



Hammonton, N.J. Wm. F. Bassett. 



TflE FRUIT OftRDEN. 



Gathering the apples and pe irs is what 

 concerns us just now. Seckel pears are 

 in perfection. If you cannot eat them 

 fast enough can them, they are delicious 

 when properly "put up." Hardy is fine, 

 Sheldons coming in and Bosc to succeed 

 them. All are among the finest pears 

 grown, healthy and free cropping. Better 

 get these sorts all gathered and stored in 

 a cool dark room. They are finer in 

 quality when allowed to ripen in the 

 house and slowly. Sheldon is what we 

 are using for baking, and the windfalls 

 of it tor stewing. On account of the pro- 

 longed drouth all the pears, even the win- 

 ter varieties as Anjou, Angouleme, Easter 

 Beurre and the like are dropping so fast 

 that we are beginning to wonder if any 

 will stick on till the middle of the month, 

 our usual gathering time; and rather 

 than lose all we are lifting and gathering 

 whatever part easily from the tree, but 

 leave all that have any firmness to them, 



