ii8 



GARDENING. 



and ol the richest fragrance. The Viennas 

 or Grenadins will be first to bloom, then 

 come the EngHsh border plants, and these 

 carrj- the bloom into July, when these 

 three kinds are most done for the year. If 

 we were to depend on plants from seed 

 alone there would now be a little gap be- 

 fore the Margaret carnations begin, for 

 notwithstanding what is said about their 

 blooming in f /ur months from sowing, I 

 do not think they will do it under ordi- 

 rary conditions, and August is as soon 

 as we look for their flowers, the seeds be- 

 ing sown in early spring. This gap is 

 filled by planting out about the first of 

 May some rooted cuttings of greenhouse 

 varieties, which may either have been 

 wintered in a cold frame, or got from any 

 florist in spring. These and the Mar- 

 garets maintain the bloom till the hard 

 freezing of November. The seedlings, 

 especially of the first three kinds are the 

 more profuse bloomers, some of the plants 

 looking as if they had hundreds, certainly 

 they had dozens'of stalks in bloom. 

 Plainfield, N.J. E. R. 



HOW TO OROW OLflDIOll. 



Knowing that the late Mr. George Such 

 used to be one of the largest growers of 

 gladioli in America, and what an honor- 

 able and conscientious gentleman he was, 

 and so good a friend of Garde.ning, a 

 few days before he sailed for Europe last 

 summer, we asked him to tell us how he 

 grew this favorite flower. He could not 

 then. But Mrs. Such has sent us the 

 following notes on the subject which were 

 contributed by her esteemed husband to 

 the London Garden a few years ago, and 

 which are as pertinent now as they were 

 then., 



"Over-rich soil and too much moisture 

 have much to do with the degeneration 

 of this fine flower. For fifteen years or 

 more I have been a wholesale grower of the 

 gladiolus, and at the present time— Sep- 

 tember 1880—1 have many hundreds of 

 thousands of these bulbs nearly ready to 

 be dug up, and for a certainty, hardly 

 one in a thousand will show the slightest 

 trace of disease. 



"My soil is extremely sandy, so much 

 so that it has the appearance of being 

 really nothing but sand. For the gladi- 

 olus I use no strong manure whatever, in 

 fact, if a pretty well manured crop of 

 corn, or some other rank grower has oc- 

 cupied the land during the previous sea- 

 son, I have the ground merely plowed up 

 in the spring and have the bulbs planted 

 without additional preparation. Plant- 

 ing begins about .\pril 1 and is usually 

 ended by May 1. From early in June till 

 the end of August we have a tropical heat, 

 the thermometer rangingfrom 70° to 85° 

 and 90°. This, however, does not disagree 

 with the gladiolus, unless the weather 

 happens to be very dry as well as hot, in 

 that case the plant suffers, especially if 

 the flower stalk is showing, at which 

 time a soaking rain is of great benefit. 

 Towards the end of September, or indeed 

 sooner with some varieties, the leaves be- 

 gin to change from a lively green color to 

 a yellowish brown, showing that the .sea- 

 son's growth is at an end. Then digging 

 up begins, each digger being followed by 

 a boy who cuts off the stalks as soon as 

 the plants are taken from the ground. 

 The bulbs are dried, not in thesun, buton 

 airy shelves, and the roots are cleaned off 

 during rainy days, or any time during 

 the winter, whenever that is convenient. 

 "I am by no means in favor of keeping 

 the stalks attached to the bulbs afterthey 

 have been dug up. 



"Gladiolus bulbs, to come out in good 

 order in the spring, should be kept cool 



and dry during winter. If the bulbs are 

 in a damp place, or heaped together before 

 they are fully dried, the roots will start in 

 a short time, and a top growth will be 

 likely to show itself as well. But no mat- 

 ter how cool and dry they may be kept, 

 some varieties are almost sure to throw 

 out a shoot in early spring, of which fact 

 I may mention that the kind named 

 Shakespeare is a notable example." 



FOTENTILLflS. 



E. C, Illinois, wants to know some- 

 thing about these, and asks: 



1. "What are potentillas?" 



Atis. A genus of hardy perennials be- 

 longing to the Rose family of plants; Eng- 

 lish name cinquefoil. 



2. ■ "Whatarehybrid potentillas— what 

 are they hybrids of?" 



Ans. Garden varieties, single, semi- 

 double and double, obtained by hybridiz- 

 ing some of the prettier exotic species as 

 P. insignis, yellow; P. atrosangtiinea, 

 velvety crimson, and P. colorata, pink, 

 and recrossing their progeny till the 

 specific identity is lost sight of 



3. "Are they long lived and hardy?" 

 .•Ids. Under certain favorable condi- 

 tions and in certain soils they may live 

 for several years without being disturbed, 

 but as a rule they need breaking up and 

 replanting after the second year. They 

 seem to be fairly hardy, but are markedly 

 better for a mulching of light loose mate- 

 rial or evergreen branches. When vvell 

 grown they are desirable and beautiful 

 plants, but there is no denying that they 

 need careful attention, in fact if they 

 didn't we would see more of them, for 

 they have long been in cultivation. 



4. "Are they easily raised from seed?" 

 .4ns. Yes. But the species only can be 



depended on to come true to kind; seed- 

 lings of varieties come mixed. The flow- 

 ers are generally single or semi-double, it 

 is seldom that we get a good double 

 flower from seed. 



5. "Will they blossom the first year 

 from seed?" 



Ans. The singles ought to, so should 

 the semi-doubles; the full double or named 

 varieties are generally propagated by 

 division as growth begins to start in 

 early spring, and should bloom the first 

 year, but of course more the next summer. 



(■). "Are they good for cutting, mass- 

 ing, or what?" 



.Ins. They would be ii we could get 

 them in quantity enough. But their best 

 place seems to be in the borders and wide 

 front of shrubbery beds and in rockeries, 

 where they are more at home for garden 

 than house decoration. 



CUPID SWEET PEfl. 



blossoms for cut flowers as we do those 

 of the other sweet peas, but for this end 

 ii is not as desirable as they are because 

 of the shortness of its stems. As a win- 

 dow or greenhouse pot plant what a 

 gem it will be. We can have it in bloom 

 all the spring as we can oxalis, musk, 

 primrose or other tufted subjects. It will 

 probably be the lion among seed nov- 

 elties in this winter and spring's cata- 

 logues. Now let us caution our readers 

 who buy the seeds against sowing them 

 deep. Sow the seeds in a pot or pan or 

 wooden flat box in light moist soil, cov- 

 ering them half an inch deep; or in a cold 

 frame one-half to three- fourths inch deep; 

 or in the open ground an inch deep. When 

 the plants are two inches high lift them 

 very carefully and transplant them singly 

 into pots if for pot culture, or in rows in 

 the garden, the plants being a foot asun- 

 der in the row. Don't despair if the 

 plants come up slim to begin with, thev 

 will probably branch out with sturdy 

 vigor when they get a little older. 



This is a pure white flowered sweet pea 

 of pigmy stature. It was a chance seed- 

 hng discovered at Santa Clara, California, 

 in 1893, by Mr. C. C. Morse, and sold 

 by him to Atlee Burpee & Co. of Phila- 

 delphia. It grows from four to six inches 

 high, is very stocky, and each plant 

 makes a leafy mat some twelveto twenty 

 inches across, consisting of several short- 

 jointed branches that haven't the least 

 inclination to trail or climb. The plant 

 is also exceedingly floriferous, bearing a 

 profusion of snow white, perfectly formed, 

 fragrant blossoms on little stalks three 

 to four inches long. This little beauty is 

 unique among sweet peas. Planted in 

 beds as we would verbenas it forms a 

 carpet of snow; or set out as an edging 

 to other flower beds it will make a beau- 

 tiful band of white. While its use out of 

 doors will be for garden decoration prin- 

 cipally, if we wish to we may use its 



GLOBE flRTlC«OKE. 



W., Chicago, wants to know something 

 about the globe artichoke as a decorative 

 plant, and asks: 



1. "Is it hardy?" 



No. But under a heavy mulching it 

 lives all right. It is a herbaceous peren- 

 nial, thistle-like plant of much luxuriance 

 of fohage. We cut it off close to the 

 ground in November, then place a shovel- 

 ful of earth or coal ashes on the top of the 

 crown tamping it firm; then wait till the 

 ground freezes and place a big armful of 

 leaves on top of each stool, and the old 

 leaves or some litter over the tree leaves 

 to keep them in place. 



2. "Will good plants come from seed, 

 or is it perpetuated from suckers?" 



Good plants can be obtained from seed. 

 If sown in a greenhouse in February or 

 March and planted out in spring many of 

 the seedlings will bloom the first year; if 

 not sown till later, they are not apt to 

 bloom till the following year. But they 

 will make fine big leafy clumps. By 

 division is the common method of increas- 

 ing them; simply dig up a clump and chop 

 it through into several pieces, replanting 

 these, or dig up some pieces from the sides 

 of the old clumps. In both cases they will 

 make large flowering clumps the first 

 year. 



CLEMATIS-RED SPIDER. 



The Japanesf. Clematis pa.niculata 

 has not been over praised, it is a very 

 satisfactory plant; always clean and 

 healthy looking, and a sheet of fragrant 

 blossoms in August and September. 



Red spider on sweet peas troubled me 

 this summer, tobacco dust on the wet 

 foliage had very little effect, then 1 used 

 the hose and the full force of hydrant 

 holding the nozzle under the foliage, two 

 or three doses were sufficient. [Tobacco 

 in any form is useless as an insecticide in 

 the case of red spider.— Ed.] Gardeni.ni;: 

 I desire to add my quota of appreciation 

 for it; it is filled with useful practical 

 information and I hope never to be with- 

 out it. Even the advertisements are clean 

 and reliable, no quack medicines or bogus 

 jewelry. I have the three Vols, bound 

 and they prove invaluable as reference 

 books. J- L. 



Waterloo, Ontario. 



Pi.NK Colored Perennial Poppies.— 

 One of our readers asks if there are any 

 of these. .Ins Of the clear pure pinks 

 such as we have in carnations, and Shirley 

 poppies we have not so far as we know, 



