I02 



• • GARDENING. 



Dec. 13, 



pollen from other plants all the flowers. 

 None of the seeds seem very plump. I ex- 

 pect to sow the seeds in a hotbed next 

 spring. Does Gardening know of a bet- 

 ter wav to grow these seedings than sow- 

 ing in' a common hotbed? Would 1 be 

 surer of plants if sown in a hothouse or 

 had 1 best divid- the seed and try both? 

 Watertown, N Y. D. S. M. 



Attempts at doubling are not infrequent 



tings be in shape for bedding out? (4) 



And for fumigation will it answer if I lay 



tobacco stems under the carnations? The 



odor then would not be so likely to enter 



the dwelling. 



I wish to heat by steam as the dwelling 



among" seedlings. The"single gladiolus is will be heated that way, and locate the 



. beautiful flower; pleasedon't spoil it by boiler in one end of the lean-to parted ott. 



the cuttings for next season's bloom out- tween the carnation plants lest they 



side Will not the temperature required might stop a free circulation of air from 



for the azaleas give me iir success with passing through there, also generate 



the carnations and (3) as the weather damp; but spread them underthe benches^ 

 grows warmer in spring won't the cut- 



or on the benches under the azaleas, or 

 lay some bunches of them here and there 

 on the steam pipes, these should be 

 wetted in the morning, or anytime when 

 the steam heat is on, to render the exhala- 

 tions from them more pungent and 

 effective. 



doubling it. No, don't sow the seeds i 

 hotbed. Sow them in a cold frame in 

 April shading the ground with excelsior 

 or lath shadings, and cover with a sash 

 to shed heavy rains. The greenhouse has 

 no advantage over the cold frame. 



DAHLIAS. 



It was a great comfort lo learn from a 

 recent number of Garuening that dahlias 

 were so poor evervwhere this year. For 

 my beautiful single ones that had been a 

 joy the past two years ^1^ noLhing m ^nl^^'^^^^ Threerfi veor%ix feet deep in the 



Then a steam pump can be used. 



In spring when the hybrid tea roses 

 start naturally into growth having been 

 kept dormant in pots through the winter 

 they ought to give a fair amount of 

 bloom before bedding out. Kaisenn 

 Augusta Victoria and La France are very 

 satisfactorv in that way and a big bed of 

 Kaiserins would be a feast until frost. 



Bath, Maine. F. C. C. 



1. Azaleas will winter and bloom quite 

 wellin a sunk or pit greenhouse, that 



te of careful daily watering. 1 got 

 some new dwarf and cactus varieties too 

 in the spring, but though they had the 

 best place in the garden they were even 

 poorer;the blossoms fell before they opened 

 almost. One of the dwarfs never blos- 

 somed at all. Was the hot summer 

 responsible for all this? ^■ 



South Jersey. 



No doubt the hot and unusually dry 

 late summer and fall were very much 

 against the proper development of dah- 

 lias, at the same time the moderately 

 cool nights we had, and the liberal water- 

 ings should have overcome that draw- 

 back. We are rather inclined to think 



ground, or up to the eaves, but of 

 course a greenhouse altogether, or at 

 least more above ground is better for 

 them, and this is especially marked when 

 the plants are in bloom and begin to grow 

 in early spring. A deeply sunk house is 

 mostly always damp, when you go into 

 it in tiie morning in dull winter weather 

 the leaves of the plants are wet all over 

 as if a dew had fallen on them. To avoid 

 this keep the house cool, don't spill a drop 

 of water unnecessarily about the benches 

 or floor, and ventilate in tavorable 

 weather. Your arrangement cuts up your 

 house too much, giving you 7 leet of 

 table room, and 5 feet of walk space, un- 



less it is quite necessary to have the walk 



that your dahlias, neighbor like, were alongside the wall of the dwelling house 



VINES FDR a palm house. 



Will you kindly advise me as to the best 

 vines for a palm house. The house is 60 

 feet long, faces the east and is build 

 against a high brick wall on the west side 

 and south end. It is protected with 

 double glass up to a height of 7 feet, and 

 has a curvilinear root. Temperature 

 from 60° to 70°. On the south wall there 

 is no direct sunlight. On the west wall 

 there is direct sunlight during most of the 

 forenoon. About 20 vines (for the front) 

 should grow about 25 feet high, and 10 

 for the walls about 12 feet high. The 

 qu.nlities which I desire most are rapidity 

 of growth, cleanliness, hardiness, and 

 continuance of bloom if comparihle with 

 the other (pialities. The nasturtium Fire- 

 ball seems to possess many of the accom- 

 plishments. R. M. W. 

 Ontario, December 4, 1895. 



We assume that the vi 

 planted out right 



infested with dahlia mite. This _ 

 ceedingly minute insect, barely visible to 

 the unaided eye, and infesting the plants 

 in countless numbers, they suck the juices 

 and render the forming flower buds worth- 

 less. The plants grow rank enough but 

 thev cannot bloom, the buds won't open, 

 but if any do thev are usually meagre 

 and imperfect. We have seen an acre field 

 of dahlias in September from which a 

 bushel of good flowers could not be 

 picked. This disease is on the increase. A 

 preventive or cure we do not know. But 

 vigorous and frequent hosing with clean 

 water does good, and no doubt spraying 

 with insecticides would be better. Lots 

 of room, good ground, copious moisture 



we should omit it, and have a 6V2 feet 

 wide table at back for azaleas, then a 21/2 

 feet walk, and a 3 feet wide bench in front 

 for carnations. But this is a matter you 

 on the ground alone can decide. 



2. Carnations should do well on the 

 front bench if you can keep the damp from 

 settling on them. The same temperature 

 that will do for the azaleas will suit them, 

 that is anything between 35° and 55°, ot 

 course the cooler the house is in winter 

 the slower they will be in blooming. Let 

 us advise you to have enough carnation 

 plants in summer so that you can have 

 one lot for blooming out of doors, and 

 another lot getting ready for flowering in 



nes are to be 

 the ground, 

 and level, and not in boxes or pots 

 set up on stages. A vine that will 

 grow 12 or 25 feet high if given full 

 freedom, spread out to cover 12 or 

 25 feet of side room, thus it will be 

 seen that vines must be restricted 

 in growth and confined to certain limits. 

 And the more a vine is restricted in side 

 room the more it runs to length and the 

 barer the stem is apt to be. To rectily 

 this needs care and attention. The double 

 glazing of the sides of the house would be 

 detrimental to such plants as Fireball 

 nasturtiums. We should advise you to 

 try harder-wooded sorts, plants of more 

 permanent duration. As regards cleanli- 

 ness, all vines, once they get infested with 

 scales or mealy bugs, are very dirty 



plants, and some, as passion 



flowers and 



grouna, copious iuuislu, t, greenhouse in winter. Thev both may %, „^„„,„ „(,„ 



slight shade an ^o^^ ^ winds t ^ . from<^ringsat the same time ^^^^ 



are the general conditions unde 

 we have seen the finest dahlias lately, 

 indeed such conditions as one may find in 

 most any cottage garden. 



Greenhouse and Window. 



OREENHOUSE-AZAIEAS-CARNATIONS-ROSES. 



I was much interested in thelittlegreen- 

 house lean-to in Gardening of November 

 15 (1). I wish to build one about 30 

 feet long and 12 feet wide principally for 

 azaleas, of which we have between thirty 

 and forty. If built without excavating 

 the roof covers the windows in the dwell- 

 ing but is it considered desirable to exca- 

 vate? I had planned to have a walk next 

 to the dwelling; then a bench or shelf 

 about five feet wide upon which to stand 

 the azaleas; then a walk, and on front 

 side (2) a bench in which to plant the 

 carnations which have bloomed through 

 the summer out of doors and grow along 



in winter or early spring, and planted 

 out of doors in spring, the ones for sum- 

 mer and autumn blooming should be 

 encouraged to grow and bloom unchecked 

 but those for winter work should be kept 

 pinclied in till as late as midsummer, then 

 in August lifted and planted out on the 

 greenhouse bench so that the plants may 

 get thoroughly rooted and into good 

 growth and blooming form before cold 

 weather sets in. 



3. Carnation cuttings.— At one end of 

 the bench have a bed of sand in which you 

 may strike carnations or other cuttings 

 at will. Thev do not require a high 

 atmospheric temperature, at the same 

 time they enjoy a gentle bottom heat. 



stephanotis, particularly so. And for this 

 matter of dirtiness alone, in several large 

 conservatories we know the vines have 

 been rooted out altogether. But where 

 you have city or hydrant water and a 

 good pressure, with a well directed hose 

 in drive the mealy bugs, 

 d red spider from most 

 anythi 



The vines we world suggest are alla- 

 manda, aristolochia, asparagus, big- 

 nonia, bougainvillea, cereus, cleroden- 

 dron, ipomoea, nepenthes, passiflora, 

 quisqualis, stigmaphyllon and thun- 

 bergia. Of these the allamanda, bignonia, 

 clerodendron, passion flower, quisqualis 

 and thunbergia will easily make 25 feet 

 vines, but of course they will need time 

 and there is danger of them getting bare- 

 stemmed. 



Allamanda grandiSora, nobilis, and 

 Scboitii are three fine species with large, 

 yellow flowers, any one is good. The 

 newer A. Williamsii, which makes a fine 

 bush plant might be trained as a vine for 



and to give them this the steam pipes the low or wall side. 



passing under that part of the bench may 

 be boxed up like a cupboard, that will 

 keep the bottom of the bed warmer than 

 the top of it. This is not imperative 

 though. 



4. Tomacco Stems.— No, don't jiut the 

 tobacco stems on the bench under or bc- 



Aristolochia elegam is one of the most 

 floriferous and beautiful, butif something 

 odd is wanted try the recently much- 

 talked of Sturtevantii. 



Asparagus pluwosus makes an elegant 

 pillar vine for foliage only, its flowers are 

 insignificant. So would A. tenuissiwus, 



