'50 



GARDENING. 



Feb. I. 



We are now busy jiotting up our ferns 

 of all kinds, deciduous and evergreen, 

 mature and young, those in full leaf and 

 others that had been cut over and at rest. 

 Repotting them now does not mean that 

 we are going to force them into renewed 

 active growth at once, on the contrary, 

 by keeping them moderately cool and 

 inactive we hope to secure a good show- 

 ing of young roots in the new soil before 

 the young fronds begin to expand. Many 

 growers insist that the proper time to 

 repot ferns is just as they are about start- 

 ing into spring growth, but we cannot 

 wait for then, we must do now every- 

 thing we possibly can to lighten our 

 labor when the rush comes a month or 

 two hence. Besides repotting ferns now 

 is perfectly proper. 



SoiL.-Forour general stock of ferns such 

 as adiantum, pteris, nephrodium, aspi 

 dium, and vigorous growing kinds gener- 

 ally, we use the same compost that we do 

 for roses or carnations, that is the best 

 rotted sod loam and cow manure that 

 had been mi.xed and stacked for a year 

 and add a fourth of its bulk of fine leaf 

 mould. In the case of young plants we 

 may add a little sha-p sand, sometimes 

 some sifted coal ashes. Golden ferns like 

 less manure and more loam. For several 

 kinds of surface rooting or creeping ferns 

 we use fern root, swamp moss or the 

 rough fibrous soddy stuff saved from the 

 loam when sifting it. 



Pots.— Be sure the pots into which the 

 ferns are to be repotted are perfectly clean 

 inside and dry. When plants are potted 

 into dirty pots the roots when they grow 

 out art sure to stick to the insides of the 

 pots and when the plant is turned out 

 the roots tear, but when the pots used 

 are clean and dry, no matter how much 

 root bound the plants may be we can turn 

 them out of the pots without a torn or 

 broken root, just as clean as jelly out of 

 a mould. 



Drain.\ge.— In repotting plants of all 

 kinds good drainage is necessary. In the 

 case of fast growing young stock like 

 geraniums, coleus, and the like, for pots 

 under 5-inch size we regard the hole in the 

 bottom as drainage enough, and in fact 

 we do the same with such vigorous ferns 

 as Pteris tremula and Nephrodium molle, 

 but delicate plants of all kinds especially 

 finely rooted plants should have the 

 equivalent of a rubble drain in the bottom 

 of their pots, this consists of a layer of 

 broken potsherds, broken brick, broken 

 charcoal or cinders sifted from the ashes, 

 placed over the hole, and a thin layer of 

 chopped moss, half rotted leaves, the 

 fibre silted from the loam or somethingof 

 that sort spread over the rubble to keep 

 the soil in the pot from working down 

 among the rubble and clogging it and 

 stopping the drainage. It is a safe practice 

 however to use this rubble drainage in 

 the bottom of all pots for ferns, because 

 most ferns are water-loving plants, and 

 should get lots of water, and ample pro- 

 vision should be made for its ready drain- 

 age so as to keep the soil good and sweet. 

 This is a vital point. 



Repottinc. — Never repot a dust dry 

 plant nor a soaking wet one, the best 

 condition of the ball of roots and soil is 

 slightly moist. When you turn the plants 

 out of their pots even the drainage in the 

 bottom is likely to be enclosed in a tight 

 mass of roots, and it probably will be 

 neccs^arj', in order to get the plant deep 

 enough in the new pot to break away the 

 roots about the old drainage, removing 

 the latter too. Keep the plants well down 

 in the pots, to give plenty of room for 



water, and in potting pack the soil firmly 

 with a smooth, blunt piece of wood, not 

 too thick to work easily bet .veen the old 

 ball of roots and the side of the pot. 

 Don't over-pot the plants. From a 4-inch 

 pot into a 6-inch one, from a 5 into a 7, 

 from a 6 into an 8, and so on is about 

 right for vigorous sorts, but small or 

 slender or poorly rooted ones had better 

 go from a 4 into a 5, from a 5 into a 6 

 and so on. Don't bury the crowns of the 

 ferns. In potting ferns having above 

 ground running rbizomes such as many 

 davallias and polypodiums, be sure to 

 have them on top of the soil, even if you 

 have to use a wire, cane, or wooden peg 

 to keep them there till they firm them- 

 selves with fre-h roots. 



Increasing the stock by means of 

 division is all right in the case of adian- 

 tums like piihescens and formosum, and 

 from runners as with Nephrolepis daral- 

 lioides furcans, but in the case of ferns 

 easily raised from seed as common maid- 

 enhair, crested pteris and Aspidium fal- 

 catum, we get far betterplants fromseed, 

 or spores rather, than in any other way. 

 Of course Adiantum Farleyense must nec- 

 essarily be propagated by division, as it 

 never bears seed. 



Young ferns —Pick up and pot singly 

 all the little ferns say of pteris or adian- 

 tum you mayfindgrowingspontaneously 

 in other pots, on the benches or on the 

 floors. A mixture of finely chopped moss, 

 leaf soil and sharp sand is a good com- 

 post for the first potting of these Utile 

 plants. 



Watering ferns.— Never let a fern get 

 quite dry, nor a growing or evergreen 

 fern so dry as to wilt. Give them plenty 

 water at the root and have the atmos- 

 phere moist where they are grown. While 

 we may syringe or hose over the j'oung 

 ferns every fine day with more good than 

 harm, wetting the foliage of specimen 

 maidenhair or powdery ferns does them 

 no good. 



Shade — Pelteas and some others may 

 bear the sunshine with fairly good grace, 

 but open sunshine doesn't do any of our 

 indoor ferns any good; on the other hand 

 it yellows and disfigures them, therefore 

 they should be kept moderately well 

 shaded, adiantu ns especially so. 



Hot Bed Pit, Brick or Plank, which 

 is best, without regard to cost? asks J A). 

 B. He writes: "1 have no gieenhouse, 

 but raise a good many flowers in hotbeds, 

 having to buy the manure. Tell me how 

 to build it? ' .4ns. Brick by all means. 

 Arrange to have the bed in the frame a 

 little above the ground level, never under 

 it. Two feet deep of manure make a good 

 hotbed, indeed IS inches is more com- 

 monly used; then say 2 feet deep of man- 

 ure, 4 to 6 inches of loam, and 'J inches 

 between bed of loam at front and the 

 glass; this will require a front depth of 

 good 3 feet Four to six inches higher at 

 back than in front is the rule as regards 

 plank frames, but with so permanent a 

 structure as one of brick we should use 

 say 9 or 12 inches higher at back than in 

 front. This gives you better sunlight. 

 Let the front wall rise about 15 inches, 

 including plate, above ground in front 

 and 2 feet or thereabout at back. If the 

 brick wall isn't proof against admitting 

 frost when the frame is in use, bank 

 around it wit T earth, manure or leaves. 

 If you u.se this pit as a cold frame in 

 which to grow pot plants in spring and 

 fall the walls being 2 or3 inches higher all 

 around may give you better service. 



Seeds from New South Walks. — C. 

 W. P., Shickley, Nebraska, and others. 



No, thevarenot hardy. They may beslow 

 to germinate too. Sow them in pots or 

 boxes in the window or greenhouse, or 

 delay till early in May, and then sow 

 them out of doors, shading them till the 

 seedlings appear. 



Orchids. 



NOTES ON ORCfllDS. 



The various articles on orch'ds, espe- 

 cially cypripediums, in Gardening arenot 

 (•nly very interesting to the amateur, but 

 also instructive, and are therefore read 

 by me very promptly. Having a little 

 collection of cypripediums of my own 

 [Mr. Uihlein has, we believe, the largest 

 and most valuable collection ot these 

 beautiful orchids in the west. — Ed ] I take 

 liberty to say a few words of my own 

 experience December and January are 

 probably the two best months for this 

 class of terrestrial orchids, as not less 

 than some seventy different kinds are in 

 bloom in my greenhouses just now. We 

 have firstly all the different types of the 

 C. insigne, such as Robinsonianum, mon- 

 tanum, maculatum, Maulei, maximum, 

 alho marginatum. MandeviUianum, 

 Mooreanum. Shylletense, and dozens of 

 others, too many to enumerate. Then 

 there are the robust growing C. Cham- 

 herlainianum, Dauthieri superhum. cal- 

 urum, cardinale, pavonium, nitens, Har- 

 risianum, Schlimii superhum and albi- 

 Eoruw and venustum pardinum Then I 

 must not forget to mention the splendid 

 Spicerianum offsprings, such as Latham- 

 ianum (Spicerianum X vilJosum), Leea- 

 num {insigne X Spicerianum). and Uih- 

 leinianum {Spicerianum X Curtisii). The 

 latter is an introduction of 1894 by F. 

 Sander & Co., London, and it is very fine. 

 It is in bloom here since December 1 and 

 may last two or three weeks more. The 

 following will be in bloom within a few 

 days: Vernixium, chlorops, Sedenigrand- 

 iHorum and superhum. Calypso, the ex- 

 cellent Oakwood var., Weidlichianum, 

 Haynaldianum,\MelanophthaImum, Box- 

 allii, barhatum biflorum, Harrisianum 

 nigrum, and many more. 



Some kinds were recommended to be 

 grown in baskets, but I find best results 

 invariably in pots Use charcoal ve y 

 liberally, small cut peat mixed with some 

 yellow loam same as we use for potting 

 palms, keep the pots and temperature 

 well moist, but avoid watering from 

 overhead. My plants are sound in foliage 

 and some of the 6 inch pots show as 

 many as eight fine blossoms each. I must 

 confess there is a great deal of satisfac- 

 tion for an amateur to grow cypripe- 

 diums, as they are very easily managed, 

 bloom regularly and remain in blossom 

 for a long, long time. As to temperature 

 I will say 60° to 65° suits most of them 

 all the year around. The venustums. 

 concolors and insignes do well out of 

 doors from June until the middle of Sep- 

 tember in a shady place. 



Of other orchids the Cattleya Trianw 

 and C. Percivalliana; Lxlia anceps, al- 

 hida, autumnalis and Eyermaniana have 

 passed their prime, whilst Arpopbyllum 

 giganteum, Zygopetalum crinitum, Sacco- 

 lobium guttatum and S. giganteum, On- 

 cidium Jonesianum and O. undulatum; 

 Sophronitis grandi flora, Epidendrum 

 cochleatum and E. ciliolare are in full 

 bloom. 



Within a week or so there will be in 

 blossom Vanda Amesiana, Saccolabiuni 

 ilhistrc and S. ampullaceum, Hartwegia 

 species, Catasetum species, Calantbe 



