i84 



GARDENING. 



Mar. 1, 



William Falconer, Editor. 



POBLISHED THE I 



AND 15TH OF EACH MONTH 



THE GARDENING COMPANY, 



Monon Building, CHICAGO. 



Subscription Price, I 



Tear— 24 Numbers. Adver- 

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 Bntered at Chicago postofflce as second-cIasB matter. 

 Copyright 18!»J, by The Gardening Co. 



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 Editor of Gardening, Glen Cove, N. Y. 



, Is got 

 t beho 



Interesting. If It does not exactly suit your case, 

 please write and tell us what you want. It Is our 

 desire to help you. 



ASK ANY QUESTIONS you please about plants, 

 flowers, fruits, vegetables or other practical gardening 

 matters. We will take pleasure tn answering them . 



Seni> us Notes of your experience In gardening In 

 any line; teU us of your successes that others may be 

 enlightened and encouraged, and of your failures, 

 perhaps we can help you. 



SEND US Photographs or Sketches of your 



graved for Gardening. 



CONTENTS. 

 the flower garden. 



My garden in Nova Scotia (illus.) 17/ 



Flower beds in summer 177 



Flower garden questions 17S 



Improvements in geraniums (2 illus.) .... Ii9 

 Tulips^Gladiolus 179 



TREES AND SHRDBS. 



Plants for covering an embankment .... 180 



Transplanting elms 1|0 



Select hardy shrubs ISO 



Transplanting evergreens 1|0 



Snow drop tree lot* 



Fertilizer for old shrubbery 1»1 



A double-flowered pink spirxa 181 



Are androraedas poisonous IS} 



Japan maples from seed 181 



THE GREENHOUSE. 



Greenhouse vines 181 



Fancy-leaved caladiums j»l 



Pitcher plants (illus ) 82 



Greenhouses in New Orleans lo'i 



Greenhouse door freezing light 182 



Snapdragons in winter 18,5 



orchids. 

 Orchid notes 182 



Roses in a conservatory 18-i 



THE FRUIT GARDEN. 



Winter apples for Wisconsin 185 



Berries J85 



Raspberries I'b 



THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 



Lima beans j86 



Delicata squash jBo 



Tomatoes ■ ■ ■ ■ lo2 



Sickness in greenhouse lettuce 18b 



Hotbeds now in order 18B 



Mushrooms 18l> 



Average yield 188 



Butted Glass, One of Its Evils.— Mr. 

 C. H. Allen, of Floral Park, L. I., one of 

 the best carnation growers near New 

 York, built a new greenhouse last year, 

 using the butted glass in glazing. He 

 likes the system very well, except in one 

 point, the winds drive the sand and dirt 

 in at the joints between the panes, and 

 they adhere to the moisture on the in- 

 side of the glass, looking and being both 

 niessv, and causing more shade than is 

 desirable; and this dirt cannot be hosed 

 off the glass till there conies a bright 

 morning, for any attempt to wash it ofl" 

 in dull or moist weather would wet the 

 plants underneath, causing body damp 

 and mouldy flowers. The glass in his 

 older greenhouses glazed with lapped 

 glass was cleaner than that where the 

 butted svstem w.-is in use. 



Novelties vs. Standard Varieties.— 

 No matter whether it be in the matter of 

 vegetables or fruits or ornamental plants 

 or flowers, place your dependence for 

 crops on standard varieties only, never 

 give them up to make room for some 

 lauded, untried novelty. But don't let 

 this disparage the novelties in the least in 

 your estimation, get and grow every 

 likely one you feel interested in, taking it 

 on probation rather than as a crop, and 

 after having obtained a satisfactory prac- 

 tical knowledge of it, grow or rejectit the 

 next year as its merits or demerits may 

 suggest. 



Tuberous Begonias in the Flower 

 Garden.— Mr. Robert Caie of Yarmouth, 

 Nova Scotia writes; "If you should 

 visit Yarmouth next summer we will 

 introduce you to as tine a bed of 

 begonias as you have seen on this side of 

 the Atlantic. We are indebted to Pit- 

 lochrie, Scotland, for the idea that they 

 would flourish in outdoor beds here. I 

 reasoned, if they grew there, why not 

 here? My gardener thought they would 

 not, but they have, and every American 

 visitor we have had here declareu that 

 they had never seen any begonias as 

 handsome." We are glad to know thev 

 do so well there. Sometimes, in the north- 

 ern and eastern states they behave very 

 encouragingly, at other times exasperat- 

 ingly. The cool mild summers of Nova 

 Scotia suit them admirably. 



Thompson's Gardener's Assistant is 

 we consider, the best all round book on 

 practical gardening in the English lan- 

 guage, from first to last it is the voice of 

 mature experience. It was one of the text 

 books of our apprentice days and it has 

 been an oft consulted stand-by ever since. 

 But that edition is getting old; varieties 

 of fruits, flowers and vegetables have 

 changed a good deal since it was written, 

 so too have mechanical appliances, con- 

 struction, etc. It will be good news to 

 many a one however, to know, that it is 

 now undergoing a complete revision by 

 Mr. A. F. Barron of Chiswick, the worthy 

 successor in knowledge and practical ex- 

 perience of the great Robert Thompson, 

 and we are satisfied that the new book 

 will resume its former position as the sun 

 in the firmament of horticultural litera- 

 ture. 



An uncallant editor is our brother 

 oi Gardening World. He tells us: "Mr. F. 

 Schuyler Mathews some months ago 

 declared that true blue was unknown 

 amongst flowers, as nature had not the 

 color on her palette. A horticulturist 

 seems to have found true blue judging 

 from the above name (Heavenly Blue 

 Morning Glory) he gives to a variety of 

 Ipowoi-a." The plant in question is not 

 a variety at all but Ipomoea ruhro-cacru- 

 lea, a true species, and the English name 

 "Heavenly Blue" was given to it by Mrs. 

 Theodosia B. Shepherd, of Ventura, 

 California, one of the most charming, 

 enlightened, enthusiastic, and successful 

 of America's lady florists. The name was 

 a happy one too, aptly expressing the 

 loveliness of these flowers as they appear 

 in summer mornings in our sunny South- 

 em and Pacific gardens. 



BuLU Beds. — Don't be in a hurry un- 

 covering them. But keep a sharp look- 

 out upon them and don't let the hya- 

 cinths, tulips, or narcissus grow up 

 through the mulching before removing it, 

 in part at least; shoots that grow up 

 through the mulching are bleached and 

 will neither stand warm sunshine nor 

 cold wind. The pcabrushor wire netting 



laid over the beds to keep the hens from 

 scratching them are as necessary yet as 

 before and should be left; it won't hurt 

 the growing bulbs. In thecase of crocus, 

 snowdrops, bulbocodium, Siberian squills 

 and other very early blooming bulbs all 

 rough mulching as leaves orstraw should 

 be removed, but any loose stuff, as fine 

 manure or old leaf soil, may remain and 

 the plants allow to grow up through it. 

 In warm sunny spots the earlier bulbs 

 will soon begin'to show themselves. 



Wanted a Garden Man.— During the 

 last four or five weeks we have had sev- 

 eral applications from our subscribers for 

 a man to take general charge of and do 

 the work about a small suburban or city 

 place, and because we did not know of 

 men enough for all we had to disappoint 

 several of the applicants The kind of 

 man asl-ed for is very well expressed in 

 the following letter: 



"Do you happen to know of a rehable 

 man, fully capable of taking care of 

 horses, cow, etc., also doing the general 

 trimming up around the place in the gar- 

 dening line, without being a professional 

 in this latter respect." 



If any lady or gentleman knowing such 

 a man who is disengaged and can confi- 

 dently recommend him, will send us his 

 name', they will confer a favor on some 

 other ladies and gentlemen desiring to en 

 gage such a workman. 



Pleasure and Recreation in a Green- 

 house.— Mr. E. 0. Nathurst of Tennessee, 

 an enthusiastic amateur gardener and 

 very busy business man, writes: "I have 

 my little greenhouse, 40x16 feet, in oper- 

 ation, and it is my sole recreation. My 

 Marcchal Neil rose, grafted on the Chero- 

 kee rose, has more buds than I care to 

 count; my calla lilies with many buds 

 will soon bloom; primroses and narcis- 

 sus have been in full flower tor some 

 time; palms and agaves are growing 

 nicely, and I have cauliflower, cabbage, 

 beets, lettuce and radishes in flats and on 

 benches. I feel that I rush into the sea- 

 son. [Makeup a hotbed to relieve you 

 of the lettuces and beets, and a cold 

 frame for the cauliflower and cabbage; 

 this will give you room to grow toma- 

 toes, egg plant, peppers and flower seeds 

 in flats or pots in the greenhouse, to be 

 transferred to frames later on.— Ed.] This 

 is my first winter with a greenhouse to 

 manage at spare times, and I enjoy it 

 very much." 



The Winter.— J)uring the present win- 

 ter we have had an unusual amount of 

 fine, clear, open weather, but it hasn't 

 been a mild winter by any means. We 

 have had a good deal of hard and con- 

 tinuous frost, but very littlesnow or rain, 

 in fact it has been a clean, dry winter. 

 What its effect has been on plants is un- 

 known yet; it is between now and April 

 that plants show the eflTects of winter. 

 By this time of year we often have Japan- 

 ese witch hazel and naked flowered jessa- 

 mine in bloom, but this season, so far, 

 not a flower is open yet. Bamboos, 

 — Metake, aurea, Fortune! and other 

 reputedly hardy sorts that usually stand 

 green till March have been killed to the 

 ground a month ago. Although the 

 stems are killed the roots are all right 

 and will again throw up vigorous shoots 

 next summer. And some of the more ten- 

 der conifers, notably the CaHfornian 

 forms of Abies concolor have had their 

 foliage considerably burned. 



Begonias.— E. G. Lodeman, instructor 

 in horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca. 

 \'. Y., has issued a list of over a hundred 

 kinds of begonias which he has got to- 



