364 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[December, 



•will offer quite a new feature in the use of this very 

 popular flower, as it can be used in all designs and 

 •decorations where the purple violet is objectiona- 

 ble, especially for use in wedding bouquets, for 

 the hand, corsage or personal decoration. This 

 must not be confounded with any white violet pre- 

 viously offered, as it is truly perpetual, whereas 

 other kinds flower for a period of a few weeks 

 only. 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Yellow Winter Carnation. — "H. S." says: 

 " I have sent to florists who ofter yellow carna- 

 nations several times, but get only dirty creamy 

 colors. What is a good yellow ? 



[Of what is properly yellow, we know of none. 

 Brimstone has scarcely been reached, much less 

 pure yellow. — Ed. G. M.] 



ZoNALE Geranium — Little Gem. — This is a 

 seedling of Mr. W. A. Bock, and proves to be a 

 remarkably free-blooming variety when in the 

 open ground during summer time. 



A Destructive Grub. — E. Walker, New Al- 

 bany, Ind., contributes the following interesting 

 note : " The past season I have noticed thrifty 

 plants among our stock geraniums and verbenas 

 in the open ground suddenly appear to become 

 diseased, and quite a number wither and die with- 

 out any visible cause. But this fall, on digging 

 up some of the geraniums I found a white grub at 

 the root of every sickly plant, and the stem of 

 some almost, and of others completely cut in two 

 about an inch and a half below the surface of the 

 soil. I have since been informed by a former 

 head-gardener of Floral Park, of Louisville, that 

 geraniums never did well on those grounds, on 

 account of this grub." 



Fruit and Vegetable Gareenit 





SEASONABLE HINTS. 



For those who have time to do it, nothing pays 

 better than an annual washing of the stems of fruit 

 trees. It helps to keep the tree clear of dead 

 bark, and that is an advantage in itself, and then 

 it keeps away the shelter for insect eggs, and the 

 spores of injurious funguses. The old-fashioned 

 lime-wash with sulphur, and some soot or clay to 

 keep down the glare of the lime, is very good, but 

 if even this covering be objected to, there is soft 

 soap, potash, or any of the numerous articles 

 which have been found to be not injurious to the 

 tree itself. The mere wash is a benefit. Surface 

 manuring is also a benefit, and even here the ex- 

 act material is not such a very momentous ques- 

 tion. The leafy vegetable matter, with the sand of 

 roadside clearings, has been found to be very ben- 

 eficial. We have rarely seen a tree suffer from 

 too rich feeding when that food was applied to the 

 surface. 



The pruning of fruit trees should have prompt 

 attention. Apple or pear seldom need more than 

 a thinning out of the weaker branches, except 

 when the growth is weak from insect attacks, 



over-bearing, or poverty, or bad management- 

 Shortening in, so as to get a new, vigorous growth, 

 will then be a benefit. Just how much pruning 

 should be done, cannot be told outside of the or- 

 chard to be pruned. In the old times, we had 

 pictures and written sketches of just how to prune 

 a tree, which no one could follow, because no two 

 orchards will bear just the same treatment. The 

 grape can be brought nearer a general rule — but, 

 even here, little more can be said than that we do 

 not want to retain weak shoots, and we do want 

 the strong ones — we do not want the whole length 

 of the cane which we preserve, but we shorten in 

 proportion to its strength; we want always to keep 

 our annual shoot as near the ground, or as near 

 the main stem, as possible, and, therefore, in prun- 

 ing, we study to so cut as to give the lowest ones 

 all the encouragement we consistently can, keeping 

 in view our desire to get a full crop of fruit the 

 coming season. 



Very little can be done now in the vegetable depart- 

 ment, except by way of preparation for another year. 



Manure can be placed on the ground whenever 

 required, and asparagus beds, if not already done, 

 should have a slight covering of it. Bean poles, 



