GARDENING. 



Jan 



winter bloomer; we lift the plants from 

 the borders in the fall and pot them, 

 t^tevias whose panicles of white blossoms 

 are indispensable for cutting are at their 

 best, and we have a nice lot of snap- 

 dragons {Antirrhinum) in bloom. Chrys- 

 anthemum tricolor, sometimes called 

 "painted daisies," an annual species, is 

 very useful for cutting, the flowers last a 

 long time— we sow the seed in Augtist. 

 Lasiandra macrantba, a free flowering 

 plant with large violet purple flowers, is 

 beautiful just now, but its flowers being 

 ephemeral are of no use for cutting; it 

 does best in the cool greenhouse. 

 Euphorbia splendens is in bloom in the 

 warm greenhouse, it has long fleshy vine- 

 like exceedingly thorny stems and num- 

 erous small rose colored pretty flowers. 

 Of recent years, for commercial purposes 

 only, it has been called the "crown of 

 thorns" plant, a name it has no right to 

 whatever. Libonia fforibunda is coming 

 into bloom. It is very useful as a pot 

 plant for winter decoration, but as its 

 flowers wilt so soon after being cut they 

 are of no use for this purpose. We raise 

 a fresh lot ot plants every year from cut- 

 tings rooted in March. 



We buy a lot of plants of Azalea mollis 

 everv year for forcing. When received in 

 November they are potted and placed in 

 a cold frame, and we take them into the 

 greenhouses as required, allowing six or 

 seven weeks between when we bring them 

 indoors and their time of flowering. We 

 never force them the second season, but 

 plant them outside in beds, where they 

 thrive and make pleasing objects in early 

 summer. Plants of the dwarf Otaheite 

 orange in 6-inch pots, with from eight to 

 ten small fruits, make nice plants for 

 table decoration. Wm. Fitzwili.um. 



Orange, N.J. 



CflRNftTlONS. 



Happening to be at Flatbush, L. I., the 

 other day we called on a few of the flo- 

 rists there. Flatbush is one of the out- 

 lying towns recently annexed to Brook- 

 Ivn, and there are villages of greenhouses 

 on its outskirts. Carnations seem to be 

 their principal crop, and as a rule they 

 were superb in bloom and growth. They 

 are grown in both span-roofed and hip- 

 roof (■■'i span) greenhouses, always on 

 r..ised benches and well up to the light; 

 and they are always planted out on the 

 benches^ The finest house we saw was at 

 Dailledouze Brothers' place. It was a 

 new iron frame building of the most im- 

 proved modern pattern, ^j. span, 200 feet 

 long, with large panesof glass, we 1 raised 

 up benches made of lV4-inch cypress 

 plank, and heated by hot water in 2-inch 

 pipes. It was built by Lord & Bumham. 

 It was filled with one unbroken mass of 

 carnations from end to end, superb in 

 growth and bloom and as even as the 

 finest grain field. The leading varieties 

 grown were Scott (William Scott. But 

 no matter what the full nameof a variety 

 may be the florists abbreviate it, if there 

 is any shortening to it), pink, Lizzie Mc- 

 Gowan, white, and Helen Keller, varie- 

 gated. We noticed a lack of scarlet flow- 

 ers, but some still held on to Portia. 

 Tidal Wave, a dark pink variety of 

 dwarfish habit, was largely grown. Yel- 

 lows of any sort were few. Crimsons 

 were fewer still, at the same time some of 

 the most successful growers spoke very 

 highlv of Meteor. Dailledouze Brothers 

 had a large house filled with Bay Kidge, 

 a pale salmon pink sort, and thought 

 well of it. Many other kinds were to be 

 seen in quite limited numbers, but there 

 was some fault to find with most of them. 



Even the lovely, full and fragrant pink 

 colored Madame Diaz Albertini is rejected 

 absolutely, and Daybreak, a pale salmon 

 pink, which was a Sew ycirs ago a reien- 

 ing favorite, has lost its popularity with 

 them. Instead of using bent wire netting 

 between the ro Afs of plants to support 

 them and allow of free ventilation be- 

 tween them as they used to the florists 

 generally have adopted a support made 

 of galvanized wire, consisting of a circular 

 loap about 5 inches or G inches in diam- 

 eter, then both ends, about 12 incheslong 

 bent back to insert in the ground like 

 stakes. The flower stems rise up through 

 the loop and are neatly and efiectively 

 supported, and the flowers may be gath- 

 ered without in the least disturbing the 

 balance of the plant. All carnations are 

 cut with long leafy stems and onh' one 

 bloom to the stem. It is now with car- 

 nations as it is with roses or chrysanthe- 

 mums, the flower stems are disbudded to 

 one flower — the terminal one — whatever 

 other flower buds appear on the stem are 

 nipped oft' as soon as they are observed. 

 But the more flower stems a plant bears 

 the better the florist likes it. 



The Carn.\tion Rust.— A little of it 

 was to be seen at most every place we 

 visited, but none of the florists seemed 

 to bother about it; they kept the worst 

 of the leaves picked off pretty clean. 

 After the darkest days of the winter are 

 over they insist that the rust lessens in 

 virulence and they get good flowers even 

 from infested plants. But some varieties, 

 as Daybreak, are more prone to it than 

 are others, and they recommend that 

 preference be given to kinds like Scott, 

 that are less subject to rust. Speaking 

 of rust, the Dailledouze Brothers told us 

 that they have tried lots and lots of the 

 recommended solutions and other anti- 

 dotes but without an_v apparent benefit. 



fl SMALL GREENHOUSE. 



E. P. A. asks "for plans and probable 

 cost of material for a small conservatory, 

 say 8x10 feet, with both ends glazed, and 

 brick foundation; also best means of heat- 

 ing where there is no furnace in the house 

 and the location of the conservatory is 

 such as to rendercommunication with the 

 chimney of the house impracticable." 



Such a conservatory may be a span- 

 roofed structure with a 3 foot wide bench 

 on each side and a 2 foot wide pathway 

 in the middle; or if built against a wall it 

 maybe a lean-to, with same arrangement 

 inside as described tor the span house. 

 Ventilation at the top and on one side 

 only will be enough. Place the door 

 where most convenient. If the founda- 

 tions and sides are of brick the brick wall 

 all around should be about 2 feet high, 

 then 2 feet to 3 feet of glass above tha*, 

 enough to give you plenty headroom in- 

 side, and the pitch of the roof about Tto 

 or 9 inches to the foot. The cheapest 

 way to build such a house is to make a 

 rough drawing ol it on paper, giving the 

 size in detail, then send to some one of the 

 firms advertising greenhouse building 

 materials in Garde.ni.ng. They can fur- 

 nish the sash bars, mountings, plates and 

 all other wooden parts, grooved, cut to 

 fit and all prepared to put together. Get 

 a mason in your neighborhood to look at 

 the job, he can give you an estimate on 

 his part of the work" in five minutes; and 

 a neighbor carpenter can set up the 

 wooden frame and put in the glass in a 

 short time. For heating use one of the 

 little boilers advertised in Gardening, or 

 write to Hitchings & Co. for their Do- 

 mestic boiler. Kerosene stoves, coal 

 stoves and the like may do well enough 

 but they are dangerous; the boiler isn't. 



MY WINDOW PLANTS. 



Plants that bloom well with me in 

 winter in the windows are cyclamen, 

 geraniums, single petunias, abutilons, 

 lantanas, yellow linum, oxalis, Zanzibar 

 balsam, bulbs and roses. 



The tea ro.ses were propagated fro n 

 cuttings in August. I give them a bath 

 overhead every fine morning. In an east 

 facing bay window of the dining room 

 we have callas, geraniums, and several 

 varieties of begonias in bloom. The 

 vines of a thrifty plant of Bignonia cap- 

 reolata are trained as an arch over a 

 window; it always blooms in February 

 with me. 



I grow many gloxinias in spring and 

 summer. The tubers are now at rest in 

 a warm cellar; I sprinkle the soil in the 

 pots about once a week, as I find they 

 keep much better if kept a little moist 

 than if dust dry-. Tuberous begonia 

 tubers, however, may be kept drier with- 

 out injury. J. I>. 



.\lexander. 111. 



CLIMBERS FOR fl PflLM HOUSE. 



Half a dozen creepers adapted for a 

 rather shady conservatory to grow well, 

 look well and bloom well is a rather diffi- 

 cult problem to solve. However, the fol- 

 lowing three plants where they can get 

 the most light, viz., Bipionia venusta, 

 Habrothamnus Newellii and Bougain- 

 villea spectabilis are free blooming and in 

 flower from December till March and 

 .April. Of course their wood must be well 

 ripened, and this may be accomplished 

 by judiciously withholding water when 

 growth is matured. 



Now for three in the most shady loca- 

 tion choose Lapageria rosea. Plumbago 

 capensis alba and Clematis indivisa 

 lobata. F. L. Harris. 



Welleslev, Mass. 



VINES FOR fl PALM MOUSE. 



I would recommend the following list 

 of climbers as being suitable for the palm 

 house to which you referred, page 102: 



Clerodendron Thomsons, Allamanda 

 Heniersonii, Passiflora princeps, Thun- 

 bergia Harn'sii, Tacsonia Van Volxemi, 

 Dipladenia bybrida, Aristolochia orni- 

 thocephala; and Trachelospermum(Rhyn- 

 chospermum ) jasminoides. If these plants 

 get sufficient air and light to enable them 

 to ripen their wood, accompanied by a 

 judicious use of the knife, syringe and 

 wateringpot, I have no doubt but they 

 will give general satisfaction. 



Thos. Mingev. 



I-'airmount Park, Philadelphia. 



THRIFS. 



C. H , Koxbury, Mass., writes: "Please 

 tell me what insect works in this way on 

 plants, and what is the best remedy. 

 Enclosed please find some of the leaves." 



The mischief is done by the common 

 greenhouse thrips. an insect that preys 

 heavily on many plants, notab y azaleas 

 and pelliea ferns. Tobacco in any form, as 

 fumigation, vapor or dust is a cure for it 

 just as it is for aphides, onl^- thrips arc 

 more difficult to destroy. Free hosing 

 will dislodge them and keep them in 

 check. .\ dry atmosphere encourages 

 them. 



Freesias.— E. P. A., Indiana, asks: 

 "How old must freesia bulbs be before 

 blooming? Those of last year did not 

 bloom though they were guaranteed 

 flowering bulbs, and those of this year 

 give promise of no better results." .4ns. 

 We presume you refer to bought bulbs. 



