42 



GARDENERS' CHROMCLE 



iniperialis, and the beautiful, shrubby, H. bella. The}- 

 grow well in a good turfy loam in a greenhouse along 

 with Stephanotis" From November until February they 

 need to be kept rather dry to ripen their wood for flower- 

 ing. 



Secure cuttings of such plants as Acacia, Boronia. 

 Bauera. Eriostemon and heaths at this season, which root 

 readily in a propagating bed with a bottom heat of about 

 75 deg., keeping the top from 45 to 50 deg. Azaleas, 

 now that they are denied admittance, can be rooted in the 

 same manner if the wood used is not too hard. In about 

 three years they will make nice small plants. It is very 

 interesting to watch the development of seedling Azaleas 

 if one has the time to devote to it. .\ny gardener visit- 

 ing around Boston in the Spring should pay a visit to 

 Holm Lea, Prof. Sargent's place in Brookline, Mass. 

 Mr. Sanders, his gardener, is a master hand at raising 

 seedling Azaleas and has ome fine varieties of his own 

 raising. 



Camellias mav be rooted the same as the hard wood 

 plants noted above. They are now flowering freely and 

 care must be taken that they don't get too dry at the_ roots. 

 They flower best in a night temi>erature of 45 deg. 

 Bougainvilleas may now 1)e brought along in heat. Keep 

 them well syringed and tie them into wliatever shape is 

 most pleasing to tliose that enjoy them when in flower. 



Earlv plants of Clerodendron Thomsons (probably 

 better known as C. Balfouri ) may now be started into 

 growth in the sunnie.st part of the tropical house. If 

 they are not thoroughly ripened off, that is, if the old 

 leaves are still clinging to the twining wood, take them 

 into some shed, away from the greenhouses and give 

 them a good whifT of sulphur fumes. One will be 

 astonished how even they will break into eyes all over 

 last year's growths after this treatment. They can be 

 had in flower in about eight weeks by giving them a night 

 temi)erature of 65 deg., running it up during the day to 

 85 deg. 



Sow an early batch of Queen of the Market asters; 

 also antirrhinums. Tagetes and salpiglossis. Small seeds 

 sown on the top of sifted sphagnum moss without cover- 

 ing them, we find, do much better than when covered with 

 sifted loam or sand. The fungous growth, called danii>ing 

 oft among gardeners, we have never seen if s])hagnum is 

 used. 



Some of the early flowered calanthes will be s'.iowing 

 signs of starting into growth. It is advisable to shake 

 them out. and repot in fresh soil before the young growths 

 send forth roots, as the young roots are likelv to be 

 damaged in the oj^eration. They grow well in mixture 

 of the fibre of loam, sphagnum moss, and a third of dried 

 cow manure. Keep them shaded, near the glass, in ihc 

 warmest corner of the tropical house. 



By the end of Februan,' the orchids will have to have 

 a thin shade over them. If one has not roller blinds, we 

 find that a very- good shade can be made with a couple of 

 table spoonfuls of white lead tf) two f|uarts of kerosene 

 oil and spread evenly over the glass. This mixture lasts 

 well and is easily removed. I would on no account use 

 linseed oil in the mixture as it is very difficult lo clean 

 oflF the glass. 



Dendrobium nobile will now be flowering, and when 

 they have finished, repot any that require it, also remove 

 any shriveled up back bulbs. Thev like to make their 

 growth in a humid tropical heat and only lightly shaded. 

 They ought to be carefully watered until the young 

 growths are well up, for if moisture gets into them one 

 Is apt to lose them. The same holds true of Dendrobium 

 Phalajnopsis Schroderoe. Dipping is the best method of 

 watering these plants as one can keep the water well 



away from the growths. We find also that both these 

 Den'drobes respond to feedings with weak liquid manure 

 after thev emit roots from the young growths. We use 

 a handful of hen manure to three gallons of water, pre- 

 ferably rain water once a week, and alternate with the 

 ■••ame amount of Clay's Fertilizer. 



The early vines will now be setting fruit, and syringing 

 should be discontinued until a good set is secured. A 

 night temperature around 65 deg. should be maintained, 

 rising to 80 deg. during the day. There is some difference 

 of opinion about stopping the shoots ahead of the fruit, 

 we practice three joints and allow laterals to run out so 

 that all the glass is covered. After the fruit is set, we 

 always give the border a sprinkling of Clay's Fertilizer 

 or Thomson's Vine Manure and point it in. 1 think it 

 is a good thing to keep the border as loose on top as 

 ]X)ssible by frequent stirrings. Of course, care must be 

 taken that roots are not broken. 



Let pot fruit come along naturally. In forcing for early 

 use try to imitate natiu-al conditions as much as possible 

 at this season. High temijeratures v.'ill result in ruin, 

 and on the other hand, draughts from cutting wind, from 

 ventilators must be avoided. 



Peaches and nectarines should be thinned down to about 

 three hundred fruits to the tree, less would be belter. I 

 refer to a tree with about nine feet of spread on each side 

 and about nine to eleven feet in height. 



Keep up a succession of melons if one has plentv of 

 space. No one, however, should attempt melon growing 

 in Winter, unless they can command a night temf>erature 

 close to 70 deg. and, furthermore, there is also some 

 difficult}- in setting the fruit, which must be done by hand. 



FROZEN PLANTS 



(Continued from page 39) 



causes a sudden thaw. After these precautions have 

 been taken, secure a good supply of very cold water and 

 syringe the plants, pots, staging and glass with it until 

 the whole are drenched. This will cause a very gradual 

 thawing to take place, and many plants will be saved. 

 Leaves will probably be lost, and the plants will need 

 several weeks to recover from the shock ; but better this 

 than a total loss. 



Malf-hardy plants growing in sheltered jxisitions out 

 of doors are often ruined by the removal of the pro- 

 tecting material as soon as a thaw sets in. .Such pro- 

 tection should be left on tintil all sigiis of frost have 

 gone from the plant under notice. If such a specimen 

 has had no protection before frost occurred, much good 

 might be done by covering it with mats after it is frozen 

 but before it thaws.^/i.r <•/;«« t'r. 



DYNAMITING HOLES 



Years ago there was a veritable craze for dynamiting 

 holes for apple trees, and the dynamite companies boomed 

 this method of hole preparation as being simple and in- 

 ex])ensive as comjiared with digging them in the regula- 

 tion manner. This method of hole preparation is still 

 being ]>ractised and is necessary to break u]> certain kinds 

 of hard pan and very retentive loam. Hardly an ai>ple 

 grower in New England now practises it. The fruit men 

 find that while apples and other fruits in dynamited 

 ground made tremendous growth for two or three ye;irs, 

 at the end of six or seven years, trees planted in holes dug 

 out in the regulation way were su]>erior. The .Arnold 

 .\rl)oretum of late has adopted dynamiting its holes and 

 finds tiie labor co.st to be much less. It will be interesting 

 to note how the growth of trees and shrubs in these hf)le.s 

 a few years hence will compare with the undynamited 

 ones. 



