i8g6. 



GARDENING. 



'47 



THE MARGUERITE CENTAUREA. 



this account ma_v not be so good a street 

 tree. But it grows remarkably well here, 

 forming middle sized trees and blooming 

 abundantly. 



2. "Do THE DOUBLE-FLOWERED HORSE 



CHESTNUTS do as well as the single ones 

 in the vicinity of New York?" 



.4ns. Yes, every bit. Whether or no 

 they may grow to become as large trees 

 as the common horse chestnuts we have 

 not had an opportunity of proving, but 

 judging from their behavior at Dosoris 

 there is nothing miffy or stunted about 

 them, and they blossom freely, lasting 

 longtr in bloom than the single white, 

 and with them we are spared the litter 

 of fallen husks and nuts in fall that is so 

 characteristic of single ones. 



3. "Is Paul's double sc.\rletklo\v- 

 ERED Hawthor.n a suitable tree for a 

 small lawn in this vicinity, and can it be 

 trimmed to make a shapely tree?" 



Ans. It is one of our choicest May- 

 blooming trees and thrives very well 

 about New York, especially if in land that 

 isn't verj' dry or sandy. But this and all 

 the European hawthorns are subject to 

 red spider and mildew on their leaves in 

 summer, and rust on their shoots. This 

 has brought them into bad rtputc. Their 

 good points, however, are so pronounced 

 that we considerthem indispensable, thec- 

 al ways blossom well, and when young 

 too. But the flowers of the double ones 

 are not fragrant like those of the single 

 ones. 



4-. "Mv plants of Kerkl\ Japonica 

 are now all single flowered, will they 

 become double? This is the first vea'r 



after purchase and the plants are about 

 two feet high." 



.4ns. No. If t ey are single flowe ed 

 now they are of the single flowered kind 

 and will continue to be single flowered. 



The Flower Garden, 



CENTflUREfl MflRGUERITB, 



This is one of the seed novelties this 

 year, and comes to us highly recom- 

 mended. We read that it is "a new vari- 

 ety worthy of extensive cultivation, 

 superseding all the old varieties of cen- 

 taurea, and bearing flowers in great pro- 

 fusion; these are pure white, beautifully 

 scented and in form resemble thecommon 

 yillow sultan; they are simply invaluable 

 for cutting purposes. It is a hard_v 

 annual, and for a succession of bloom till 

 frost sow at different times from the end 

 of March to July. Height 2 feet." The 

 above is a very good description indeed. 

 Our illustration is engraved from a pho- 

 tograph of some flowers grown by Mr. 

 Swenson of Elmhurst. 111., last summer, 

 who raised it from seed in the greenhouse 

 in March, and later planted it out and 

 treated it as an outdoor annu 1, and he 

 was very much pleased with it. It is a 

 form of the well known yellow swiet sul- 

 tan (Centaurea suaveolcns) , and as 

 its descriptive name might indicate, it 

 was raised in Italy. 



SttflVINOS IN IVlflNURE. 



A livery stable man has always 

 hauled to my place, during the winter 

 months, whatever manure he accumu- 

 lated, hauling whenever he wanted to, at 

 +0 cents a two-horse load. He has here- 

 tofore used "slough grass" fo. bedding 

 and which rots readih' and has no weeds. 

 This year owing to extreme drouth this 

 class of bedding is scarce and he is using 

 pine shavings. We generally put the 

 early winter and fall's hauling directly 

 upon the lawn, did not this year on ac- 

 count of the shavings. Now I don't know 

 whether to let him continue hauling or 

 not. I've never had any experience with 

 manure of this character. Would you 

 continue getting it? Do you consider it 

 as good as the other. Will it not take 

 too long a time to rot? C. E. 



Shavings are slow to rot, but like saw- 

 dust they are good absorbents. They 

 won't hurt the lawns, however, especially 

 if you rake the mulching off roiighlj' in 

 early spring with close toothed wooden 

 rakes, that will spread it evenly, leaving 

 the fine manure onl3' on the ground. The 

 manurial element in the shavings them- 

 selves is very little, and they are looked 

 upon with suspicion as fungus producers, 

 but we have used them in manure for 

 ordinary vegetable and farm crops and 

 hive never known any harm from them. 

 At 4-0 cents a load, (if the manbringsyou 

 fair loads) we would consider that extra 

 cheap manure, and be very glad to ac- 

 cumulate a big heap of it. 



CLEMATIS DISEASE. 



I have been very unsuccessful with my 

 large flowered clematis as /acAmann; and 

 Henryi. Some plants bought last spring 

 were planted out and they started to 

 grow all right, reaching seven feet high by 

 midsummer, and some of them blossomed . 

 But all at once the stems and foliage 

 blackened and withered up as if they 

 were burned. It was the same in my 

 neighbors' gardens. [It is the common 

 clematis disease. Nothing that we have 

 tried has been quite effectual in either 

 preventing or curing it. The fleecy white 

 kinds like Flammula and paniculata are 

 not subject to this evil.— Ed.] J. O. B. 



Massachusetts. 



3ALICIFOLIUS.— H. J. F , 



Pittsburg, Pa., writes: "Can you tell me 

 something about the utility of salicifolius 

 as an ornamental foliage plant? Accord- 

 ing to the description of a seedsman's 

 catalogue it ought to be a desirable plant, 

 but the nurserymen seem to ignore it. Is 

 there anything difficult or unsatisfactory 

 in its growth? I shall be glad to see 

 something about it in Gardening." 

 "Salicifolius" means willow-leaved and is 

 a simple adjective descriptive of some 

 plant of whose identity the only clue you 

 give us is "an ornamental foliage plant." 

 This leads us to believe that you refer to 

 the willow-leaved or fountain like .4mar- 

 antus salicifolius. a brilliant and splendid 

 annual from the Philippines. Well we re- 

 member the furor it caused some 25 \ ears 

 ago when it was a novelty in our gar- 

 dens, where its luxuriant growth, pyra- 

 midal fountain form and wealth of bril- 

 liantly colored, long, drooping, narrow 

 foliage set us raving over its elegance. 

 And for ten 3'ears after it held sway 

 among novelties. But, although, it is as 

 good to day as ever it was, our seedsmen 

 generally relegate it to their general list 

 of ehe.-ip seeds. Florists seldom raise 

 plants of it for sale, nurserymen never 



