GARDENING. 



131 



seedlings came up we pricked them off 

 into anotherpan,usingfine,lightsoil, and 

 after they had a good start potted them 

 ofl singly into 2inch pots. They were 

 then put into a shaded cold frame out of 

 doors for the summer, and potted on as 

 their advanced growth suggested till they 

 were in 4-'/2or small 5-inch pots. They don't 

 like much pot room;overpotting is aptto 

 rot them off at the roots and neck. I have 

 found that they grow better in a south- 

 facing window of a dwelling house than 

 in the greenhouse, and now it is for win- 

 dow plants particularly that we grow 

 them. In a cool greenhouse though, such 

 as gardeners grow cinerarias, calceolarias 

 and the like in these primroses do splen- 

 didly. 



Primula fforibunda. Among the seed- 

 lings of P. Forhesi there came up a plant 

 of this j'cllow flowered little beauty. 

 Noticing that it was distinct from the 

 others we were very careful of it, and now 

 that it is in bloom we have identified it. 

 It is a charming little plant with small 

 yellow flowers in whorls on long slender 

 scapes, and a great profusion of them. It 

 is a native of the Western Himalayas. We 

 treated it exactly as we did P. Forbesi, 

 and so well has it behaved, that I intend 

 to have a good many more of it another 

 vear. David Fr.\ser. 



' Mahwah. N.J. 



The Garland Hkath {Erica perso- 

 luta).—S , Hamilton, N. Y., asks: "Will 

 you please tell me the name of this shrub 

 (sprig enclosed), where I can obtain it, 

 and how it is propagated and culti- 

 vated?" It is a little greenhouse heath, 

 with tiny bell-shaped flowers, and a good 

 deal grown nowadays by some florists 

 for marketing, when in bloom, at the city 

 florists' stores. Florists who deal in 

 geraniums, fuchsias, carnations, roses 

 and the like for sale as little plants sel- 

 dom handle these heaths, for they require 

 special care both in propagation and cul- 

 tivation; in fact the men who handle them 

 are generally specialists, and they grow 

 them well and get good prices for them. 

 .\pply to some one of the leading New 

 York cut flower stores; in fact, if you are 

 in the city about this time drop into one 

 of these stores and you will probably find 

 some of these heaths there. They are 

 propagated from cuttings taken off as 

 soon as the plants are out of bloom, and 

 put into pots or pans partly filled with 

 clean sand pressed very firm. Glass panes 

 or preferably bell glasses arc placed over 

 the pots till the cuttings begin to root; 

 they should be taken off and wiped dry 

 every day. Pot off the rooted cuttings 

 singlv into small pots and plunge these 

 evenly in a cold Irame, repotung as re- 

 quired. For soil use two parts sifted 

 peat of good quality, one part loam and 

 one part clean sharp sand; if you haven't 

 any peat in place of it use very finely 

 rotted leaf soil. Don't use manure of any 

 kind. All through their life keep the 

 plants as cool as practicable without 

 letting them freeze, and in an open airy 

 place, and while you must be exceedingly 

 careful about watering them never let 

 them get quite dry. Drain the pots thor- 

 oughly. 



Piping Frogs.— Mr. J. Jensen, Hum- 

 boldt Park, Chicago, writes: "In Gar- 

 dening, page 104 December 15 last, you 

 ask. why can't we have some of these pip- 

 ing Coqui in our big greenhouses too? 

 But how or where are we to get them?" 

 Ans. Can't some of the V. S consuls in 

 the West Indies help you? If not, try the 

 director or curator of some of the Botani 

 cal Gardens in the British islands there. 



say Jamaica or Trinidad. Or maybe Sie- 

 brecht & Wadley, florists, New Rochelle, 

 N. Y., who also have nurseries in Trini- 

 dad, might be able to get them for you. 

 These little frogs would be unique in your 

 greenhouses, exceedingly interesting to 

 visitors and beneficial to the plants, being 

 persistent insect consumers. We hope 

 you will try to get them and be success- 

 ful in introducing them. 



Agdesmia clematidea.— F.E. S.,Utica, 

 N. Y.. writes: "I have some tubers that 

 were sent me under above name. Is this 

 the same as Adeswia? Kindly give me a 

 few hints as regards its requirements." 

 Ans. We know of no such genus as 

 Agdesmia, and it is not given in Bentham 

 & Hooker's Genera Plantarum. Adesmia 

 is a genus of pea flowered shrubs or trail- 

 ing plants from South America, and not 

 likely to be "tuberous" rooted. Prof. 

 Theo. Holm of Washington, to whom we 

 referred your inquiry suggests that your 

 plant is possibly an "Agdestis, which be- 

 longs to the poke weed family. It is a 

 graceful vine with tuberous roots like 

 those of a beet. The flowers are showy 

 and the plant well worthy of cultivation. 

 It is a native of Mexico." 



Crinum bulh, how to treat it.— J. B. 

 G , Flushing, N. Y., asks: "Will you 

 kindly tell me how to treat a crinum 

 bulb? I have no facilities for growing 

 plants except a hotbed in the spring, and 

 later a garden." Ans. Pity you did not 

 say what species it is. Let it stay dry 

 all winter, either in or out of the pot, and 

 be sure you save it from frost. If it is in 

 a pot bring it up to the light in April, 

 and about the end of May set it out of 

 doors and give it lots of water. But if 

 the bulb is Ijing by dry now like a gladi- 

 olus or dahlia let it stay so till about the 

 middle of May, when you may plant it 

 right out in the garden. Don't put it in 

 your hotbed in spring. 



Heating a Greenhouse.— E. M., Beaver 

 Falls, Pa., has a lean-to greenhouse 48 

 feet long by 12 feet wide divided into two 

 compartments, one to be kept warmer 

 than the other, and he wishes to know 

 what quantity of 2 inch hot water pipes 

 would be required to heat it properly. 

 Ans. Ten lines of pipe in the cool end and 

 twelve lines in the warm end will easily 

 maintain a temperature of 50° to 55° in 

 the cool compartment and 55° to 60° in 

 the warm one in zero weather. Alto- 

 gether, with cross pieces, this will require 

 about 583 feet of pipes, besides the neces- 

 sary valves, fittings and expansion tank. 



White worms in carnation soil.— A 

 reader in Cleveland, Ohio, white: "I have 

 some small pure white worms in my soil 

 that kill my carnations, how can I destroy 

 thim?" Ans. \'ou should send us speci- 

 mens in a small tin or wooden — never 

 paper — box. Try clear, fresh lime water. 

 Carnations rather like than object to 

 lime, but be careful to begin with. The 

 lime water should be made from hot stone 

 lime and not from air slacked or old lime, 

 and the water should not be milky white, 

 it should settle till clear. Rather use it 

 under than over strong. 



Aquatics. 



flQUflTICS-CflRE OF IN WINTER. 



I have just sown the seeds of the Vic- 

 toria regia, this is a little earlier than I 

 used to, but as it is such a slow grower 

 in order to have good sized plants to 



plant out in the pond by the end of June 

 we must get the seeds started early in 

 the year. We sow them in a pan filled 

 with ordinary good potting soil and sub- 

 merge the pan from 3 to 4 inches in one 

 of our heated tanks in the greenhouse, 

 where the water is kept as near 80° as 

 possible; \f it falls to 70° occasionally it 

 won't hurt, but it should not fall below 

 this where the plants are young. After 

 they get older a fall to 60° for a short 

 time won't hurt them. It is better, how- 

 ever, to keep the water as warm as 80 \ 

 and from that to 90°. If one has not a 

 tank heated by the steam or hot water 

 pipes passing through it a very simple 

 and yet satisfactory way is to get a small 

 oil stove and a tank about 2 feet square 

 and from 9 to 12 inches deep, place the 

 oil stove underneath the tank and regu- 

 late the flame so that it will keep the 

 water at the desired temperature. One 

 should try the working of this plan sev- 

 eral days before placing seeds in it, as the 

 water might get too hot and kill the seed. 

 And also, the larger the tank is the less 

 attention it will require, as the greater 

 the body of water the less fluctuation 

 there will be in its temperature, and yet 

 one must not have a tank so large that 

 the stove cannot heat it without burning 

 a full flame. You can get an evener heat 

 by keeping your light low, and also less 

 oil fumes and smoke. After the seed ger- 

 minates it should have the full sun and 

 be raised so that it will be near the light; 

 but after the young plants have made a 

 few leaves they will do very well further 

 from the light. 



We have also quite a numberof fiurya/e 

 ferox growing beautifully. This plant 

 while usetul in a very large pond is not 

 worth the space it would occupy in a 

 small basin or pond. The flowers are 

 small, only about 2 inches in diameter, of 

 a deep violet color, and in no way pretty; 

 it is rather a disappointment to every 

 one seeing it for the first time, for when 

 you see the large leaf, 2 feet in diameter, 

 it is but natural to look for a large 

 flower. The seeds germinate very easily, 

 in fact it is hard to keep them from grow- 

 ing. I saw some a few davs ago that 

 had been placed in a glass of water in a 

 living room to be kept until time for sow- 

 ing, and a great number of them had 

 already germinated and the seedlings 

 were about II2 inches long. 



Besides these I have also started some 

 seed of Nymphwa Zanziharensis and its 

 varieties rosea and azurea. 1 start these 

 early so as to have a good number in 

 flower when I plant them out in the pond 

 in June. But seeds of these three can be 

 sown any time between now and March 

 for they are easy to grow and very satis- 

 factory bloomers. The seed is very small, 

 about the size of mustard seed. A good 

 way to start these seeds if vou have no 

 tank is to get your potter to make you 

 some 9, 10 or 12-inch fern pans, but have 

 him leave them without drainage holes 

 and glaze them for you. Such pans are 

 very handy to start water lilv seeds in, 

 and I often use them in preference to the 

 regular tank. Fill them half full of good 

 loam and well rotted cow manure that 

 has been put through a fine seive. (Half 

 loam and half cow manure are what I 

 use) then sow your seed and fill almost 

 full up with water; then stand the pan on 

 the bench of an ordinarv greenhouse 

 where a temperature of from 60° to 70° 

 is maintained. In about ten davs you 

 will see the seeds have germinated. At 

 first it is hard to detect them, they are 

 exactly like hair or grass. I believe in 

 leaving them in the seed pan until they 

 get quite strong, say having four tiny 



