i8g6. 



GARDENING. 



311 



age alone, and in their wealth of large 

 artistic flowers. The rugosas proper bear 

 siiifjlc hlossoms with centers of thickly 

 triiwilcd golden yellow stamens, and 

 Mine. Hrnant is white, senii-doublc and 

 with lovely buds that are ideal in shape, 

 although this year for the first time I 

 notice many that are imperfect. The 

 gardeners think this the result of insect 

 enemies, but I am not certain that this is 

 not due to cold weather coming just as 

 the buds reached the critical stage. 



Ckkki'i.nc. Roses.— This class is ably 

 represented by A'osa Wicburaiiiiia. it 

 makes a flat matted border around one 

 of the beds, the small shining leaves 

 massed so closely as to hide the ground, 

 and buds are now showing plentifully on 

 the numerous twigs. It is allowed to 

 roam and root at will over the bed, as the 

 stock produced in this way is to furnish 

 plants re<|uired in other parts of the 

 Island, where it is already seen as isolated 

 spots of dark green on the lawns near the 

 lagoons. And this reminds me that this 

 liretty Japanese creeper carpeted with 

 nice effect, a bank ot the water-garden at 

 Tower Grove Park, St. Louis, last sum- 



WINTKK PROTECTION OF THE ROSES. 



The hardiness of the roses was given a 

 severe test the past winter, since none 

 were pinned to the ground except tea and 

 hybrid tea roses, and what is here spoken 

 of as the Rothschild class, viz.. Baroness 

 Rothschild, Mabel Morrison, Merveillede 

 Lyon, Margaret Dickson and Her Maj- 

 esty. But hereafter Mrs. John Laing, 

 Jeannie Dickson, Perle des Blanches, and 

 Magna Chirta are to betreated likewise. 

 Even with this thorough protection 

 Margaret Dickson and Her Majesty froze 

 back badly. AH the remaining hybrid 

 perpetuals here named were given no 

 protection beyond banking dry leaves 

 around them, well worked in among the 

 stems, to the height of about twelve 

 inches, and all did well except the few al- 

 ready mentioned as being now classed 

 with the more tender Rothschild group. 



Moss roses, rugosa and Mmc. Plantier 

 were given a root mulch five inches deep 

 (if dry leaves, and this has not been re- 

 moved but remains as a summer mulch. 

 The hedge of Pride of Washington was 

 banked up with leaves. When the dry 

 leaves were removed in April from around 

 the hedge plants and those of the hybrid 

 perpetuals named and the more tender 

 ones uncovered and lifted they all were 

 given a few inches top dressing of two 

 vear old stock yard manure, and this re- 

 mains as a summer mulch. 



As a whole the garden looks better this 

 year than ever before, proving that cool- 

 ness and moisture are conducive to good 

 results, and leading to the conclusion that 

 rose growing is not beyond the ambition 

 of any painstaking lover of flowers. 

 Certainly a group of Marshall P. Wilder, 

 .\nne de Diesbach or Merveille de Lyon in 

 fnll flower is generous payment for the 

 small expenditure of money and intelli- 

 gent care thev require. F. C. Seavev. 



Chicago, Hi. 



flow 1 TREAT MY ROSES. 



Roses did not do well here last winter, 

 1 think the covering may have been too 

 thick, as the winter was mild. Jacque- 

 minot, Mme. Wood, Dinsmore, (ien. Wash- 

 ington, Mrs. John Laing, etc., were badly 

 injured, whilst La France all three, Clo- 

 thilde Soupert and such are dead. Her- 

 mosa and Mrs. Degraw are all right 



As I am quite a local celebrity on the 

 rose in this part, 1 will detail how I 

 inf\tiage my hvbrid perptuals; I throw 



off the heavy covering first fine days of 

 spdng, then when spring seems certain, I 

 raise the bushes to frame or stake them, 

 growing not more than 4- or ,'j canes to a 

 bush, cutting out during the fall all old 

 wood. Finding the breeding place of 

 many insects is on the surface soil, near 

 the roots I remove the old and replace 

 with new soil well mixed with wood 

 ashes. On the spring growth I watch 

 very closely for that accursed little worm 

 that destroys the surface of the leaf, and 

 if I find him kill him, if not I take my 

 garden syringe and go over the bushes 

 carefully with a wash of about a table- 

 spoonful of salt to a gallon of water, and 

 this if not totally successful, I follow with 

 hellebore, half an ounce to each gallon of 

 water, letting it stand a day after mixing 

 before using now, and use about every five 

 days, I have a prettj' clean bush. Then 

 when the roses are gathered, I keep a 

 barrel of new manure in my stable and of 

 this I throw a quart or so in my two- 

 gallon watering pot, and if the day is 

 warm it will assert its presence by even- 

 ing, when I thoroughly drench the roots 

 of one or more bushes, which usually 

 brings me a scant supply of roses during 

 summer and fall, alter the first crop is 

 gathered. But our climate is so severe 

 that even Madame Plantier needs cover- 

 ing in the winter, and yet I have had 

 over five hundred blooms from one cut- 

 ting of that variety. But what if it does 

 need eternal vigilance to grow roses, does 

 it not pay? E. Caktwricht, M. D. 



Decorah, Iowa. 



ROSE BUOS-DON'T EflT POPPIES. 



Will you be kind enough to give us an 

 article on poppies, how and when to sow 

 the difl'erent kinds so as to have plenty of 

 blooms when the rose bugs are here? 

 Poppies are the onlv flower the rose bugs 

 will not eat, and I would like to have 

 something to defy them with. 



The first day the bugs hatch they come 

 down two spring branches that waste in 

 our meadow in columns like swarms ol 

 bees, do not seem able to fly high or far 

 from the water the first day, but after 

 that they take in the whole country. 

 If I owned the hatching grounds I would 

 salt them well and put an end to this 

 plague. This has been done and destroyed 

 them. Why will not people believe this 

 and follow them up to their hatching 

 grounds? A few sacks of salt applied 

 there would free the neighborhood of this 

 fearful pest. L. G. Chrisman. 



Rockingham Co., Va. 



Apropos of the above, Dr. J. A. Lintner, 

 the eminent New York State Entomolo- 

 gist, writes xis: 



"I think that your correspondent has 

 traced the bugs to their breeding grounds, 

 and when this can be done the most 

 effectual work against them is to be done 

 there. How this is to be done is the 

 question I would suggest draining the 

 swampy ground in which I understand 

 the breeding grounds are. Salt in large 

 quantity may possibly prove effectual. 

 I would be gladtohav.- it tried, for it has 

 not, so far as I know, been experimented 

 with." 



OUR ROSES. 



They are past their best. A large bed 

 that was planted this spring is giving us 

 a lot of nice flowers. Mrs. John Laing 

 and Captain Christy are especially good. 

 But the most conspicuous rose in the gar- 

 den is Crimson Rambler; we have anarch 

 covered with it, and what a lovely flower 

 it is! LfSst vear it was much infested 



with mildew, but this year, so far, there 

 isn't a trace of the fungus to be found 

 about it. It is the cleanest rose in the 

 garden and a very free grower. 



D. Fraskh. 

 Mahwah, N. J.. June 22, '9G. 



Wintering Roses.— J. C. li., Wales, 

 Mass., writes: "Last fall I had fine H. 

 P. young roses and covered them with 

 earth, then with leaves and coarse ma- 

 nure, letting it all stay there till the mid- 

 dle of April— as it was so cold. When the 

 covering was rem .ved some of the bushes 

 were green, but the shoots have since 

 turned black. What was the cause? 

 Thisclimateis atleastascold as Boston." 

 Ans. We believe you covered them to 

 death. Had you bent them down close 

 to the ground in November, and then 

 a'lout theendof that month laid inverted 

 sod on top of the canes or covered them 

 over with earth as you would raspberry 

 or grape vine canes, you would have done 

 all that was necessary and your roses 

 would have survived. Don't cover up 

 very soon in fall, and be sure to begin to 

 remove a little of the covering long before 

 the middle of April, but not all of it till 

 sharp frost or piercing winds are past. 



Tobacco ste.m mulch i-ok roses. — 

 While everybody else's bushes have been 

 more or less riddled by slugs, etc., I have 

 been able to cut my roses with long stems 

 of loveh' foliage, absolutely without 

 blemish. I owe this happy circumstance 

 to a thick mulch of tobacco stems, as not 

 a drop or grain of insecticide has been 

 applied to the bushes. It is the first time 

 I have tried the stems, and I am well sat- 

 i jfied with the result. L C. L. Jordau. 



Roses.— Crimson Rambler, 12 feet high, 

 will be open in a few days; it has 5.3 

 clusters on it. I am getting to like Em- 

 press of China. When the plant is strong 

 enough to retain half a dozen strong 

 shoots, it will make a good show. The 

 rugosa hybrid Agnes Emily Carman is 

 fin- in color and a good companion to 

 the rugosa tea Madame Georges Bruant. 



Chicago. C. W. 



The Greenhouse. 



flCfllMENES. 



These are beautiiul summer-blooming 

 pot plants, having flowers something 

 like g'oxinias. 1 have been told that 

 mine are unsurpassed both as to size of 

 flowers and beauty of foliage, and yet the 

 treatment I always give them is simple 

 in the extreme. I plant them quite thick 

 in G or 8 inch pots, the soil being nothing 

 more than rotted sod. They never get 

 more than an hour of the very early sun. 

 In hot weather they need abundance of 

 water, as theleast dryness will cause both 

 flowers and foliage to wilt badly. A lit- 

 tle liquid manure once or twice a week is 

 good. They can be grown either tied to 

 a stake, or else on a bracket hanging over 

 the sides of the pot. In the latter case 

 the red of the under side of the leaf shows 

 .ind looks very handsome. They have no 

 insect enemies except red spider, and that 

 will not bother them if showered over- 

 head every day. After they begin to die 

 down in the fall, gradually withhold 

 water. I keep them in the same pots all 

 winter, and let them get absolutely dry. 

 They must not freeze. Repot in February 

 or March. They increase so rapidiv that 

 a few corms will in the course of a few 

 years fill many pots, They come in van- 



