i895- 



' ' • GARDENING. 



51 



MR. LIVINGSTON'S GARDEN. 



The Chinese Matrimony Vine (Lycium 

 Cbinense) also is grand. From the end of 

 September till hard frost sets in every 

 shoot and branchlet is bending under its 

 load of conspicuous oval orange-scarlet 

 berries. By tying up the main stems to a 

 tall pole and allowing the side branches 

 to hang down to the sides an uncommon 

 pvramid of green and scarlet may be ob- 

 tained. J. R. Trumpv. 



Kissena, Flushing, N. Y., Oct. 21, 1895. 



flPfllDES ON THE ROOTS OF YOUNG TREES. 



Last fall I procured some fryit trees 

 from a northwestern nursery, and during 

 this summer, although they had the best 

 of care (wrapping the trunks, proper 

 watering, etc.), and notwithstanding 

 when planted they had good roots, they 

 died. This fall the concern I purchased 

 from sent me new stock to take the place 

 of the dead trees. When planting them 

 we found the roots densely covered with 

 (white) aphides— millions of them— the 

 soil that clung to the roots being full of 

 the insect and every angle in the roots 

 being a nest for hundreds. Some of the 

 stock had been planted before the aphides 

 were seen at the root, but since then we 

 resurrected the others and found the 

 aphides on all. This is a caution to 

 buyers of nurserj- stock to carefullv ex- 

 amine the roots and if aphides are present 

 to be sure to exterminate every one, or 

 death to the plant will surely result. 

 When my trees died they went off as with 

 the '"fire blight" of the books, but I am 

 now convinced the aphides did the work. 

 Amatel'r. 



Chicago, October 14, 189.5. 



In mv shrubbery beds the soil is rich. I 

 planted my deutzias in the spring and 

 next winter thev were all killed back con- 

 siderably, while plants in a neighbor's 

 grounds remained all right. I saw that 

 there must be some reason for this. I ex- 

 amined mj' neighbor's plants carefully 

 aud found them in poor soil and in small 

 individual holes. The annual growth of 

 his plants was hardly one-fourth that of 



mine. My plants, being in a bed and well 

 cared for, made a stronger and later 

 growth, and did not thoroughly ripen it 

 by the time winter set in. Since then I 

 protect them and will until they some- 

 what exhaust the — to them— over-rich 

 soil. 



The same can be said of the althaea 

 {Hibiscus Syriaciis). In my neighbor's 

 grounds it makes an annual growth of 

 some eight inches and last winter it killed 

 back about five inches. He does not cut 

 them back in spring as is the rule. But 

 my plants make twenty or more inches of 

 growth and as this shrub blooms all 

 along the new growth I get three times 

 as many flowers as he does. This strong 

 growth, however, will not ripen, so I pro- 

 tected it, for I would rather do the cut- 

 ting back myself than have Jack Frost do 

 it for me, I am severe enough but he 

 might be worse. These two shrubs can 

 be grown here, and when established, 

 called hardv, but some winters will pinch 

 them. ■ W. C. Eg an. 



Xanthoceras Sorbifolia, how to 

 RAISE IT FROM SEED.— We have several in- 

 quiries about this. Take an ordinary seed 

 flat, that is a shallow box, and fill it to 

 within an inch of the top of light soil, 

 then sow the seed, pressing it into the 

 soil, now fill up with soil level to the sur- 

 face of the flat. Set the box in a cold 

 frame, north or east facing is best, and 

 spread a layer of swamp niossor an arm- 

 ful of leaves over it to lighten the frost 

 and prevent the freezing and thawing 

 throwing the seeds out of the ground. 

 Cover the frame with a sash over winter, 

 and a mat over it. Towards spring keep a 

 lookout for the sprouting seedlings, and 

 the moment they appear, give them a lit- 

 tle more light and treat them like other 

 germinating seedling shrubs. 



Di.'iEASED Maples.— E. E. T., Brighton, 

 Maryland. It is probably too late to do 

 anvthing to ihe trees this season, but if 

 you will kindly mail us a few good speci- 

 mens of the diseased leaves, in a stif) box 

 —say tin or light wooden— we shall try 

 to advise you about it. 



Transplanting the Weeping Purple 

 Beech.— H. E. B., Orange, N. J., apropos 



of our note page 23, October 1, tells us 

 that three years ago he imported some 

 plants of it from Europe, and that they 

 now are "six feet high with full bushy 

 pendent heads, and beautiful beyond all 

 upright trees." 



The Missouri Silver Thorn— What is 

 it? asks a reader. It is Eleeagnus hor- 



The Flower Garden. 



FLOWER GARDEN NOTES. 



Hibiscus "Sunset." (Catalogued last 

 spring as a desirable novelty). Seeds 

 sown in the greenhouse in the early part 

 of March made stocky little plants to set 

 out in May. Four were planted in what 

 I consider poor dry soil, but freely 

 watered, and where they got the full rays 

 of the sun from morning until evening; 

 one in heavy and three in sandy soil, get- 

 ting about three or four hours sunlight 

 a day. Those planted in full sunlight have 

 grown about 7 feet high, with heavy 

 thick stalks, while the others are only 

 about 5 feet high and have smallerstalks. 

 The catalogues say that the plants will 

 bloom when quite small, but the first 

 flowers on mine did not open until Sep- 

 tember 17, and were on the plants grown 

 in full sunlight. The others have not 

 flowered yet. The color is described as 

 cream, but I should call it a clear, light 

 canary, with a deep maroon center. The 

 first flowers were 7 inches across when 

 fully expanded, and attracted considera- 

 ble attention on account of their beautiful 

 colors, and as a curiosity, but as they 

 have short stems (which a're pricklv),and 

 last only from morning until late' after- 

 noon, they seem rather worthless for cut 

 flowers. The plant branches freely, 

 all the branches growing upwards, and 

 the leaves are very large and deeplv cleft, 

 but rough and coarse. The buds come all 

 along the end of the main stalk and 

 branches, and from the axils of the leaves, 

 and each plant will probablv have pro- 

 duced 60 or 70 flowers, unless cut down 

 before that time by frost. The chief defect 



