214 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



occasion demands and opportunity offers. Thin the 

 fruit on trees that are carrying too large a crop, in 

 fact it is good practice on all trees where really fancy 

 fruit is wanted. Keep an eye open for the borers, and 

 cut them out at once. Peach trees affected with 

 yellows should be cut out, and burnt as soon as found, 

 since this is a disease that spreads rapidly. A mulch 

 should be applied to all small fruits as they are shallow 

 rooters, and soon show the eff'ects of drouth. Relieve 

 the annual Spring rush by cutting out the old woody 

 shoots of the .currants and gooseberries, immediatelv 

 picking the fruit. Grapes should be tied up, and if 

 troubled with insects, and you want high quality fruit 

 co\'er the bunches with bags. 



About the grounds the elms will need to be sprayed 

 with arsenate as early in the month as possible, as 

 it is of little use doing' it after the larvs begin to come 

 down. Large trees newly planted should not be 

 allowed to suff'er for want of water, and take time to 

 apply a good mulch after watering. The new shoots 

 on tile climbing roses should be tied up, and after the 

 flowering period is past remove one or two of the older 

 stems and tie the young ones in their place, in this 

 wav there will always Ije a supply of young wood for 

 flowering. Seed pods should be removed from ever- 

 green flowering plants, such as Rhododendrons, An- 

 dromedas. Kalmias, etc.. as they are an unnecessary 

 tax on the plants. 



Immediately they are through flowering is the time 

 to prune the early blooming shrubs. Don't make the 

 mistake so often seen of cutting the tops off" at any regu- 

 lation height, but get down into the plant and remove 

 some of the oldest wood, so that new wood will l.ie 

 l^roduced for flowering another year. 



In the greenhouses we are at a period of the year 

 when preparations are being made for next \\'inter's 

 supply of cut flowers. The old plants thrown out. soil 

 renewed, and a general clean-up given prior to a fresh 

 start. In proceeding with the general clean-up. it may 

 be well borne in mind, that such plants, as Aduiiiluin. 

 croi^'canmn. ciiiiratiini. i^racilliiiiimi. the ptcns. cvti<- 

 iiiiiiiii. [^Dlvjyidiiiiii. darallia. )ic[>hrolcl'sis. etc.. not 

 to mention cyclamen . prinnilas. and other floweiinu: 

 plants, will do as well or better in frames, than in the 

 greenhouses. They will not only thrive, but they are 

 out of the way, and will not have to be carried from 

 place to place during the cleaning operations, and 

 moreover less liable to get damaged. 



Where antirrhinums are to he grown for an earl\- 

 Winter crop, the seedlings should now be read\- to 

 prick off. so that they may make all the growtli jiossi- 

 ble before planting to the benches early in .Vugust. 

 While the tall varieties give the best spikes, yet where 

 a variety of flowers have to be grown in one house, as 

 is often the case where greenhouse space is limited, 

 the intermediate varieties can well be planted on the 

 side benches in the chrysanthemum house to which 

 thev make fine companion plants, as to temperature and 

 general growing conditions. Strong plants, free from 

 fungoid disease, will commence to 1)l<iom in ( )ctober. 

 and if given proper treatment will keep on flowering 

 until Spring. 



Among our warm house flowering idants the 

 Amazon lilies are not as much in evidence as their 

 beauty and flow-ering jiroperties merit. Their culture 

 is not" at all diflicult. and they may be grown either in 

 solid beds, benches or pots. For a compost they de- 

 mand a rather coarse fibrous loam, dried cow manure. 

 broken brick, charcoal and coarse sand. Ample drain- 

 age should be provided, as copious supplies of water 

 are needed (lnrin!j tlir L;ro\ving season. 



Shading from full sunshine is required during all 

 save the Winter months, and a temperature of 65-70 

 suits them best. Those wishing to cultivate a few of 

 these plants will find the present time a good one to 

 begin. Established plants started in Midwinter, and 

 now coming out of ;^ii.-inch pots are to be preferred. 

 Pot culture is best where only a few plants are wanted, 

 as they may be rested easily, and two crops of flowers 

 readily obtained if the plants are treated rationally. 

 By drying off' the plants for a few weeks a crop of 

 flowers may be had at almost any season, but they 

 should never be dried to such a degree that all the 

 foliage is lost or the bulbs will suffer. About the only 

 insects that trouble these lilies are mealy bug and 

 thrips. which may lie controlled Ijy timely use of the 

 hose. 



There is still time to put in another batch of 

 Chrysanthemum cuttings : they will be nice plants for 

 six-inch pots, and a very good quality of bloom may 

 be had by growing them to single stems. The early 

 started cuttings should be potted on as they require it, 

 for the sooner they are in their flowering pots now 

 the better. A good rich compost is essential, but don't 

 let anyone tell 3-ou that it isn't possible to over feed 

 these plants, for we have seen a whole house of them 

 ruined by too much fertilizer. Feed them as they need 

 it. but let little and often be the plan. 



Crotons plunged in the benches in the stove house 

 will now be growing rapidly. Some pinching will be 

 necessary to keep them in shape. Simjily pinch out 

 the growth it is desired to stop, lint don't do any cutting: 

 it is not necessary. 



THE DUTY OF AMERICANS 



'7)1 tlirsc days ii'hcn countless thousands, nnacqiiaintrd 

 iiv7/i our language, disrcgardful of our institutions, and 

 thoughtful ottly of our opportunities. Jiaz'c been permitted 

 to come to these shores, one lesson of the Pilgrim fathers 

 is Ti'orthy of being stamped upon the heart of ez'ery lib- 

 erty-hn'i>ig American, and of becoming a fital principle m 

 the life of each of us. 



"The Pilgrims came to Plymouth to worship God and to 

 make homes, determined never to return to Europe. They 

 -icerc li'illing to prosper if it were God's decree, but above 

 all they came, as Bradford put it. 'to live a distinct body bv 

 ihon.fch'es,' or as Robinson put it, 'to become a body politic' 



"In these troublous times, when freedom of speech is 

 being used for the purpose of forcibly undermining the 

 Government of the United States, it is well to remember 

 that the Government of the fathers is unfit to suri'ive if 

 it is pozcerless to j^rc'cent unlaz^'ful assaults upon its 

 authority. 



"Whatever you may think about it, I hold that the first 

 duty of an American is to worship God — not my concep- 

 tion of zi'hat God is. nor your conception — but God in the 

 large and generic sense of a great first cause, a tnighty 

 ruler of the uncharted uniz'crse. Beyond thai each of us 

 has the right to clothe diz'inity in such garments as suit our- 

 o~s.'n judgments and consciences 



"The second duly of an American is to make a home — and 

 that's an all important tiling. Dispense zfilh as many things 

 as you zvill in modern life, you have lost naught if you 

 have retained a spot thai you leave zAth regret at break of 

 day and tozcard lAiich the eyes of your heart turn at ez'cry 

 zi'aking and absent moment. 



"So those zvho come here not intending to make per- 

 manent homes^ but e.vpecting to return should not be re- 

 ceiz'cd. This land should be loved no longer for its op- 

 portunities alone: it should be loved for its in.'!-tilutions 

 as Zi'cll. Newcomers should he made to learn our language, 

 that they may understand our ijistitutions. If atheists, 

 homeless zi'anderers and fortune seekers had been kept 

 zAthout our doors one of the great lesso)is of the Puritans 

 zi'ould luiz'C been learned and American institutions v.'ould 

 nozv be backed up by citizenship more cohesive than ours." 

 —Thus. R, M.\rsh.\u., Vice-President of the United States. 



