GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



decorations, succeediny^ specially well in a large pot or 

 tub, and trained on a trellis. There is no better quick, 

 tender climbing perennial today than the purple and white 

 forms of Coboca scandens. when it is desired to cover a 

 fence, pillar, or trellis thickly and c|uickly. Speaking- 

 of fences and rough stone walls, the ornamental gourds 

 come in finely. They are c^uite numerous and their ripened 

 fruits are most attractive. At a vegetable collection, a 

 collection of them at once attracts attention; especially 

 good are the apple shaped, bottle shaped, orange, egg. 

 pear, Hercules Club, calabash, dish cloth, and IJishop's 

 mitre varieties. 



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There are about the usual number of vegetable novelties 

 and at least a portion of them should be tried out. The 

 yellow sweet corns are now rapidly pushing the white 

 varieties into second place. Golden Giant still seems to 

 be the best, but a whole lot of other good yellows are now 

 available. There is certainly a sweetness to the yellow 

 varieties we cannot get in Crosby, Stowell's Evergreen, 

 Potter's E.xcelsior, CountiT Gentleman, and other good 

 whites, although the larger varieties will remain jMpular 

 for canning jiurposes. Peas are the crop which demand 

 early jjlanting, and there is no better all round early sort 

 today than Sutton's Excelsior, while for those who can 

 give a tall, lusty grower the necessary supports, Alder- 

 man still stands without a peer as a main and late crop 

 variety. World's Record is very good as a second early 

 and Improved Gladstone is hard to beat as a late variety. 

 It is ]jleasing to note an increased interest in I'innocchio or 

 Florence Fennel excellent as a salad and very good 

 cooked or served naturally like celery. This vegetable, if 

 sown too eariy, will run to seed ; early July is a suitable 

 planting time. 



Why not ])lant a little patch of sweet and pot herbs this 

 year? Nothing can be more interesting, and many in 

 addition to their fragrance, have culinary, medicinal and 

 other uses. Out of the large number of varieties, lavender 

 and rosemary should be started in a frame or greenhouse. 

 Lavender with a little protection has for years withstood 

 temperat'.ires far below zero, but rosemary is more tender 

 and should be wintered indoors. It makes a nice ])ot 

 plant. Of the other perennial herbs, some of the more 

 useful and easily grown are : Mint, pennyroyal, lovage. 

 horehound, baln'i, sage, broad leaved sorrel, thyme, and 

 angelica, the last named is a very lusty grower and at- 

 tains a height of eight feet when in seed, and presents 

 a semi-tropical effect. Tarragon while hardy, will some- 

 times die out, and it is a good plan to winter a root or 

 two in a frame. .Some of the varieties which are annuals 

 or tender perennials are: Sweet basil, Summer savory, 

 Winter savory, sweet marjoram, ix)t marjoram, ddl 

 chamomile, coriander, anise, and caraway. There h h" 

 need to .sow any of the annuals outdoors until May, but 

 lavender and rosemary may be sown under glass now. 



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On mild days during the Winter, the spraying of all 

 fruit trees as well as deciduous ornamental shrubs and 

 the species of hardy roses .should be done. We should 

 not leave this very necessary work until S]>ring. Goodness 

 knows we have more than we can jjroperly acconii)lish at 

 that time. Such solul)le oils as Scalecide are liest for the 

 amateur — the big growers are divided between oils and 

 liquid lime sulphur. One or two oil ])rc])arations have 

 been put on the market which have damaged trees, InU 

 I have never known Scalecide at one to twenty to (Uj so. 

 A year ago I bad occasion to visit a private estate and 



was asked to explain why a house of jieaches and 

 nectarines bad failed to break. It did not take long to 

 locate the trouble — one of these soluble oils had been 

 applied at the fifty-fifty rate! 1 need hardly say that no 

 amount of syringing would make these trees break, as 

 tliev were practically killed outright. We have learned 

 to fear the San Jose scale less and less as we have learned 

 how to spray, and have better fruits and cleaner shrubs as 

 a result of these dormant Winter treatments. By all 

 means, if you have not yet sprayed, do so on a mild day 

 when the sun shines, and you will not only kill the various 

 scales, but many e.ggs of other insect pests. 



A query often repeated is "How can jxjultry manure 

 be used to the best advantage?" To begin with, the 

 scrapings from the roosts should be removed each week, 

 dusted with acid jjhosphate and placed in barrels on the 

 floor of a shed where they will not be e.xposed to the 

 elements. Acid phosphate is an inexpensive fertilizer, 

 is non-odorous, and pleasant to handle. It holds the 

 ammonia in the manure and for that reason, is much 

 used on the floor of cow Ixirns where the manure and 

 urinal constituents drop, thus preventing great wastes in 

 ammonia. It should be spread over the drop]iing boards 

 when they are cleaned off and a little more added when 

 the manure is placed in a pile or barrel. The wrong way 

 to keep poultry manure is outdoors where it will steam 

 if in heaps all Winter and waste the major part of its 

 strength. It is a forceful manure, and rather than dig it 

 or s]3ade it into the soil, it will be found especially valuable 

 as a top-dressing to stimulate ])lants when growing. Peas, 

 leeks, onions, cabbages, cauliflower, egg plants, squash, 

 celery, roses, gladioli, cannas, asters, dahlias, peonies, and 

 larkspurs are a few of the plants which respond readily 

 to a topdressing of it, which should be always worked 

 lightly into the soil with a hoe, rake, or cultivator. 



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The shortest days have passed and they are now 

 appreciably lengthening. The cold strengthens but the 

 sun's rays will ere long melt the snows on hillsides and 

 in warm secluded spots we shall soon be looking for the 

 first snow-drops, to be followed a little later by crocuses, 

 winter aconites, chionodoxa. and scillas. a group of simple, 

 mnocent, inoft'ensive bulbs, never known to bring in any 

 dangerous insect pests or diseases and not being success- 

 fully produced in .America at all, yet with the exception 

 of crocus denied to us by our all powerful I'^ederal 

 Horticultural I'oard which contains alas, not one 

 horticulturist, lint a late hearing somewhat encourages 

 us in supposing that facts adduced at a recent hearing 

 may have so far punctured the anatomies of these .\ugust 

 ])rotectors of our jilants and nurserymen that they may 

 relent and allow us to import some of the denied bulbs 

 'under suitable safeguards," for a limited period. It 

 seems <jueer that it should be safe and necessary for one 

 firm to import thousands of dicentra spectabilis and for 

 the issuance of special i)ermits for great numbers of sucli 

 extremely rare ])lants as .\orway maples for nurserymen 

 supporting the notorious (juarantine Xo. .i7, yet that 

 amateurs who have really made horticulture here what it 

 is. should have been denied the early little S])ring bulbs 

 named excejit they furnished bonds and went thrcmgh an 

 cr^dless and enlirelv ridiculous amount of red tajR'. And 

 ii is encouraging in some measure to those who steadily 

 condemned the embargo ;md dem.anded needful modifica- 

 linii in it, that the l''edcral Horticultural TarilT Hoard ( ;is 

 it would most projjcrly be called) has at last been com- 

 pelled to make a concession to the desjiisi'd ;uuateurs. 



