i8o 



GARDENING. 



Mar. /, 



in the ground and covered them nearly 

 two feet with leaves and manure. This 

 spring two of them threw up beautiful 

 long spikes of bloom that staid in flower 

 longer than the house planted ones. If 

 they come up again this spring and bloom 

 I shall have solved the problem in bulb 

 Ijlanting, deep planting and deep covering 

 with leaves first and then manure. [A. 

 sheet o I tar paper spread over top of 



leaves and litter and held in place 



with 



some earth over it will keep the mulch dry 

 and help greatly in excluding frost.— Ep.] 

 Gladiolus.— bur prairie soil is grand for 

 gladiolus. When 1 give them new soil 

 they are immense. I take them up in the 

 fall", leave them with the tops on for a 

 short while, then take off all covering, 

 place the bulbs in baskets with news- 

 papers and put them in a dark closet that 

 doesn't freeze. I never lose any. Every- 

 one who can shou d try plants and bulbs 

 himself. Good planting and deep cover- 

 ing would insure the safety of a great 

 number that we now think tender. 



Mrs. M. G. Baker. 

 Eagle Grove, la. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



an embankment; and after it gets started 

 well so doesthe matrimony vine (Lj'cium) 

 in fact the last named is extra good be- 

 cause of its spreading and surface rooting 

 habit and tendency to gather and hold 

 surface humus The silvery eteagnus, sea 

 buckthorn, common barberry, and our 

 wild roses do well on embankments, and 

 the Japan trailing rose {Rosa Wicbura- 

 iana) it it gets good ground to start in is 

 excellent to spread over and hold its face 

 from erosion. The yellow locust is also 

 a capital tree for this end because of its 

 far-spreading surface roots, and "no mat- 

 ter how much we keep it headed down it 

 persists in living, rooting, and suckering. 

 The same with the trumpet vine 

 (Bignonia). 



To prevent embankments from wash- 

 ing we must stop the washes by damming 

 up the erosions with brush, rocks, earth, 

 ttc, and provide for leading off the water 

 from its former ruts. Now get a dense 

 mass of vegetation on to that embank- 

 ment as quick as possible; let the grass 

 and other low plants grow up among the 

 bushes and rot down to make a soft 

 spongy surface that will catch and hold 

 the water t'll it sinksintotheearth rather 

 than let it run off of its surface. Mix 

 up the bushes in planting, for some will 

 grow and others fail. 



PLANTS FOR COVERING AN EMBflNKHENT. 



I am anxious to secure some plant 

 which will retain embankments and keep 

 them from washing, I have been informed 

 that French engineers have been sowing 

 poppj' seed on the railroad embankments 

 with good results. I do not know of any 

 poppy that I th nk would be suitable for 

 that purpose, a French gardener here says 

 it is not a poppy but a Hypericum, he 

 does not know which one, however. 



St. Denis, Maryland. J. A. B. 



We wish you had been more explicit 

 about the embankments telling us their 

 nature, grade, exposure, etc., what is 

 growing on them now, and how you 

 would like to have them covered, with a 

 tree and shrub growth, or with dwarf 

 plants. Failing to know these points we 

 can answer you only in a general way. 

 Hypericum patulum is probably the 

 species referred to by the gardener; it is a 

 good deal used for carpeting banks and 

 shrubbery margins where the soil is 

 ordinarily good and moist, but of little 

 avail on dry exposed banks. H. calyci- 

 num, and a low shrubby species is also 

 used with it. But we believe the "poppy" 

 you rtfer to is our Californian eschscholt- 

 i-.ia which is widely naturalized on rail- 

 road embankments in temperate Europe. 

 Although in the north this plant acts as 

 an annual, it really is a deep rooting 

 perennial in California, and lives as such 

 in the south; we are not sure if it will do 

 so at Baltimore. If sown broadcast over 

 the em^^ankments now the plants will be- 

 gin blooming in Tune. All manner of 

 annual poppies may also be sown in the 

 same way for color effect, but they are of 

 little use in binding the bank. Hall's 

 Japan honej suckle is the best all round 

 vine or low growing plant we have tor 

 this purpose, periwinkle (IVnca minor) is 

 also good in slight shade, and money- 

 wort and vine-leaved European ivj^ in 

 denser shade. Of shrubs we have a good 

 many useful for this purpose. The Scotch 

 broom is largely used to clothe the em- 

 bankments on the Pennsylvania railroads, 

 and both il and the Euroi)can furze kept 

 headed well down should thrive finely on 

 sandy or gravelly banks in Mrnyland. 

 The barberry (Myrica ccrilhra) planted 

 thickly answers admirably for covering 



TRftNSFLflNTINO ELMS. 



S. A. H., Winnetka, 111., ask: "When 

 planting out elms two inches in diameter 

 in the fall is it necessary to cut back the 

 tops? If so, is it too late to do it now?" 



Arts. Yes, it would have been better 

 had the tops been cut in well at planting 

 time in the fall; if this had not been done 

 then by all means do it now. Newly 

 planted trees whose tops have not been 

 cut in niav start to grow all right, the 

 buds bursting and the leaves developing 

 beautifully, just as well as if the tops had 

 been headed in, but this is no sign ofp'os- 

 perity, by July their thrift may flag and 

 their foliage wilt and wither, and should 

 a hot drv spell set in enervation may lead 

 to death in some cases; the demand of the 

 tops for sustenance from the roots is 

 greater than the roots can supply. This 

 is not the case w ith trees whose tops had 

 been well cut back at planting time, their 

 demand for food is moderate and tlie 

 roots can supply it, and by the time their 

 demand increases the roots have mended 

 and are growing enough to be able to 

 furnish the supply, and the tops instead 

 ofdying at midsummer keep plump and 

 fresh and grow a little all summer long, 

 and go into winter condition full able for 

 a fairly good growth the following 

 season. 



SELECT tiftRDY SHRUBS. 



EuoNvius ALATus Or Japanese winged- 

 barked euonymus is a most desirable 

 large shrub of broad dense form, its wood 

 buds in spring are pink, its foliage, neat 

 and plentiful at all times, is exceedingly 

 beautiful in autumn when it assumes a 

 pink and dark red hue. Its whitish flo a - 

 ers are numerous and insignificant, but 

 its small scarlet fruits are ((uite showy in 

 fall. It is hardy, easy to grow, does not 

 get beyond bounds, and it is seldom 

 troubled with bark scale, a marked point 

 in its favor. 



ExociioRDA GRANDiFOKA also a Japan- 

 ese large shrub is one of the indispensable 

 plants of our gardens, blooming in Mn^y 

 in great beauty and profusion. It has 

 white showy flowers. Quite a common 

 shrub in nurseries and gardens, hardy 

 and easily grown, and one that should be 



FoRSVTHiAS are all yellow flowered and 

 natives of China and Japan, they bloom 

 in April and .May before the leaves appear. 

 Fortune; of upright form is perhaps the 

 best for general purposes; suspensa being 

 of trailing habit is excellent to use as an 

 ornamental vine, but it must be supported , 

 for itself it will neither cling nor twine. 



Alth.eas (Hibiscus Syriacus) bloom in 

 late summer and early fall, are showy, 

 and very useful in the garden. Among 

 the best are Compacta, finale-flowered, 

 white with chocolate center; TotusAlbus, 

 single, pure white, one of the best; Pur- 

 pureus semi-pleno, a fine and uncommon 

 tint of purple; and Leopoldii fl. pi , large 

 double, flesh color shaded with rose. 

 Prune them back considerably every year 

 in order to get fine fall flowers. 



Of Hydrangea paniculata we_ have 

 three distinct forms, the first has upright 

 panicles of "single" white flowers that 

 open in July, then comes the grandifJora 

 in August and September with immense 

 panicles of "double" white flowers chang- 

 ing with age to rose tinted. and afterthat 

 comes another "single" flowered form not 

 unlike the first, but distinct in its time of 

 blooming; its flowers fade to rose or car- 

 mine tinted. Strong young plants to be- 

 gin with, then good soil, moisture, and 

 hard pruning are what they need. This 

 hydrangea is hardy away in the north- 

 western states. The oak-leaved hydran- 

 gea (H. quercifolia) also does well here, 

 and blooms at midsummer. Although a 

 native o( our .\lleghany 'fountains it is 

 one of our best garden shrubs. 



TRANSPLANTING EVERGREENS. 



In Gardening, Feb. 1, you give instruc- 

 tions about digging and preparing holes 

 for planting trees, for which many thanks. 

 It was what I wanted to know, as 1 

 have quite a lot of fine evergreens I wish 

 to plant this spring. I bought two-year 

 old transplanted seedlings and have 

 grown them two years in my flower 

 garden Thev now have good leaders 

 and are accustomed to the sun. When 

 .shall 1 plant them? L. G. C. 



Chrisman, Va. 



,4;i,s If they are arbor vitajs, fir trees 

 or spruces, you may plant them about 

 the same time as you plant your early 

 potatoes, that is just as soon as the 

 ground is dry enough and mellow enough 

 to work; it is safer to delay planting i ine 

 tree.>, red cedar and other junipers some 

 days longer, or till you notice the wood 

 buds are about starting to swell. Be 

 very cartful not to expose the roots to 

 sunshine or wind between digging and 

 planting time. In planting spread the 

 roots well out, introduce fine dryish 

 earth between and among them, tread 

 the soil firmly, and it need be give agood 

 watering, then a mulching. If by any 

 chance the roots should get dry or ex- 

 posed, after planting for several days, 

 and twice a day except in moist weather, 

 sprinkle the evergreens overhead from a 

 fine watering pot rose till they recover 

 themselves enough to get along without it. 



SNOWDROP TREE. 



( Ilnlcsin letniptera.) 



Mr. Egan, page 1 14-, says this tree is 



hardy with him. It has failed with mein 



northern Indiana Will Mr. Egan kindly 



say how he treats it? N. B. 



No special treatment other than ac- 

 corded plants I have reason to think not 

 over hardy. I put such plants in sheltered 

 positions, "in well drained rather poor soil, 



