5-1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



135 



September come, so that April rooted plants do as 

 well as those rooted in the earlier months, and I 

 think are better winter bloomers. I am raising for 

 my own use 10,000 plants this season. 



A WARNING TO FLORISTS. 



BY W. T. BELL, FRANKLIN, PA. 



About the 20th of January last, during a period 

 of the coldest weather we ever fired through, the 

 gas pipes on our street were broken, and as the 

 ground was frozen hard at the time, so that the gas 

 could not escape through it to the surface, it found 

 its way into the brick street sewer. 



A six-inch vitrified sewer pipe runs under one of 

 my houses and connects my coal cellar with the 

 sewer in the street; and as the pipe was laid sim- 

 ply to carry off the drainage from my greenhouses, 

 the joints were not cemented ; but the pipe was 

 trapped at the inner end. The illuminating gas 

 found its way into this pipe, and escaping between 

 the joints, rose through five feet of soil, and very 

 seriously damaged the plants in five of my houses. 

 Two large beds of roses in full bloom were en- 

 tirely stripped of foliage, and all carnation flowers 

 or buds beginning to open, were spoiled ; looking, 

 after a day or two, as if they had been dipped in 

 boiling water. 



Geraniums, callas, begonias, violets, fuchsias, 

 coleus, stocks, euphorbias, roses in pots, hyacinths, 

 heliotropes, oranges and many other things suffered 

 severely, many losing all their leaves. Phyllan- 

 thus and cactus were the first to show injury; one 

 of the latter, having a stem as thick as my arm, 

 being completely dismembered. A fine lot of al- 

 ternanthera were almost totally destroyed, and all 

 lily of the valley, either in bloom or in bud, were 

 spoiled. About two thousand cuttings in one 

 bench, mostly roses and geraniums, were ruined, 

 and some of my most valuable orchids lost all 

 their leaves. Oleanders, lilium candidum, and some 

 other plants seem to be gas proof, and our verbe- 

 nas, smila.x and Chinese primrose show no injury 

 from it. Our standard roses were cut back, and 

 have broken into bud nicely, and apparently will 

 soon be all right again. I discovered what was 

 doing the damage late at night, and dug down to 

 our sewer outside of the house, and at two o'clock 

 in the morning broke out a joint of the pipe, and 

 stopped the gas from coming in. The loss to me 

 was a serious one, and as many other florists may 

 be liable to injury from the same cause, without 

 suspecting it, I thought it best to warn them of 

 their danger. I would advise that whenever it 



can be avoided, there should be no connection 

 made between the dwelling or greenhouse and a 

 common sewer; and to anticipate the suggestion 

 that a trap at the street would have kept the gas 

 out, I will state that my neighbor across the street 

 has four traps on his branch sewer, two outside 

 and two inside, and it passed all of them, and 

 nearlv drove his familv out of the house. 



DEUTZIA GRACILIS FOR POT CULTURE. 



BY CHARLES E. PARNELL, QL'EENS, L. I., N. Y. 



The graceful Deutzia gracilis, one of our most 

 beautiful hardy deciduous shrubs, is a native of 

 Japan, from whence it was introduced by Dr. Von 

 Siebold. It belongs to the natural order Sax- 

 fragea^, and is a dwarf-growing shrub, attain- 

 ing a height of from three to four feet, with long, 

 flexible drooping branches, and small wedge- 

 shaped, lanceolate or ovate lanceolate leaves, ta- 

 pering to a point, and having on both sides a coat- 

 ing of fine starry hairs. The main branches are 

 covered with lateral branchlets, each bearing at 

 their point graceful racemes from five to six inches 

 in length of pure white flowers, and which are pro- 

 duced in the greatest profusion during the month 

 of June. Dr. Siebold describes it as inhabiting 

 the damp valleys and lofty mountains of Japan, 

 where its fine foliage and attractive flowers form a 

 remarkably attractive feature of the mountain 

 scenery. The graceful Deutzia, when well grown, 

 is one of the most attractive and ornamental of 

 lawn shrubs, and nothing can well exceed the 

 grace and beauty of a well-grown specimen. 

 In order to effect this desired object, it should be 

 planted in a rich, deep soil, and given a good dress- 

 ing of well-rotted manure every season ; keep all 

 grass, weeds, etc., one or two feet away from the 

 center of the plant. All that it requires besides 

 this,is to have all weak and superfluous wood re- 

 moved as soon as the plant ceases flowering. 



As a pot plant, for the decoration of the window 

 garden or greenhouse during the winter season, 

 this Deutzia is of special value, while for cut flow- 

 ers during that period it is almost indispensable. It 

 is especially valuable on account of its producing 

 its flowers in perfection when grown in a low tem- 

 perature, say 40° to 45°. In order to obtain the 

 most satisfactory results with this Deutzia, when 

 grown as a pot plant, it should be taken up and 

 and potted in suitable sized pots early in October ; 

 press the soil down firmly around the roots, and 

 water freely. Place in a sheltered situation, yet 

 one that is fully exposed to the sun. Keep well 



