60 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



annuals and of easy culture in the open. Great quantities 

 of dried flowers of these everlastings are annually im- 

 ported bv dealers in florists' sundries, and are used in 

 artificial wreath making. The variety Suworowi makes 

 a lovely pot plant and may be flowered from December 

 until June. The stalks are very much branched, and 

 the tail-like and twisted rosy red panicles which are 

 densely crowded with small flowers are most attractive. 

 By carefully selecting the seeds, it is possible to get a 

 strain which make ideal pot plants, looking in the dis- 

 tance like densely flowered and glorified ericas. The 

 way to secure a quantity of flowers for cutting in the 

 Winter is bv planting raised benches about eight or nine 

 inches apart each way and by growing in a cool house. 

 I saw two splendid benches on a private estate in Jamaica 

 Plain, Mass., on March first which bore a perfect thicket 

 of spikes and had been blooming since before Christmas. 

 Arranged with Jasminum primulinum, yellow jonquils, 

 and other yellow or white flowers, S. Suworowi is very 

 effective. This variety comes from western Turkestan 

 and is worthy of increased culture on private estates. 

 ^ ^,- ^ 



A rose which has jumped very much into favor the 

 last two seasons is Paul's Scarlet Climber, undoubtedly 

 the finest of all our scarlet pillar roses. It was raised 

 by William Paul & Sons in England and introduced in 

 1916. It is a fine rose either for the garden or for pot 

 culture. To succeed with it best for forcing, it should 

 be pot grown through the Summer ; then plants will 

 carry four to twelve of the largest brilliant red flowers 

 to a truss, almost rivaling Hadley in size. If field 

 grown and potted, the number of flowers to a truss is 

 disap]X)intingly small. To anyone who wants a first 

 class scarlet rose, which holds its color and does not fade 

 out to a sickly magenta shade, I heartily commend Paul's 

 Scarlet Climber. Juliet, the glorious Pernetiana from the 

 same firm, is one we cannot afford to overlook. 



There are general complaints from those who are 

 growing early tulips this year, both for forcing and out- 

 door culture, of the inferiority of the flowers produced. 

 An unusual number when forced, come blind, which is 

 sometimes due to too early forcing, using bulbs not prop- 

 erly cured, and improper treatment as a whole. But this 

 year both amateurs and florists are having poor results 

 all round, and I wonder whether the Dutchmen are not 

 becoming careless with their early tuli])s, and lavishing 

 all their attention on the Darwins, Breeders, and Cot- 

 tage varieties. The latter varieties are as fine as ever 

 and each year are pushing the early types more and more 

 to the wall. Certainly if forced bulbs do as poorly an- 

 other season, and l>edding ones look none too well, grow- 

 ers will be justified in gradually dro]>ping the early sec- 

 tion altogether. The late varieties are so much finer in 

 pans for forcing and in the garden, that the wonder is 

 that so many private estates, pjirks, and cemeteries i>ersist 

 in planting so many early varieties. 



* ^: * 



.Among small fruits, raspl)erries are deservedly po]Hi- 

 lar, and some very fine varieties of these have been intro- 

 duced in late years ; the red varieties have the 1>est flavor. 

 For many years Cuthbert was the leader in this section 

 and is still grown very heavily ; several other .sorts have 

 Ijeen jdanted extensively in recent years anfl are gradually 

 dis7>]acing the one-time leader. IlcrlK-rt is a favorite 

 with many, although it is lacking in flavor. It is of 

 Canadian origin and is said to have wintered eleven hun- 

 dred miles north of I'oston where minimums of as low 

 as 59° below zero have been recorded, and as many as 

 three hundred nineteen bushels of fruit to an acre have 



been picked from it. As raspberries are found in a native 

 state in the Klondyke sections of Alaska, as well as near 

 the great glacier fields, it should be possible to produce 

 raspberries which will .stand a very low temperature. Of 

 course, in the more northerly latitudes, the deeper snows 

 make ideal \Mnter protection. 



Minnesota is another very hardy variety which does 

 well in New England and St. Regis which originated on 

 the sandy lands of southern New Jersey has attained 

 considerable popularity : the new canes on this variety 

 fruit freely in the Fall. La France produces a large, 

 hand-^ome berry and gives a heavy Autumn ci-op; it 

 suckers abundantly and can thus be very rapidly in- 

 creased. Erskine Park which hails from the Berkshire 

 Hills of Massachusetts is considered by the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture to be the best of all late red 

 varieties. This by no means exhausts the list of red 

 raspberries. Golden Queen still fills the whole field of 

 the yellow, and Columliian remains supreme among the 

 dark purple varieties. 



^ j,k ;}: 



Liliums are one of our most important bulbs for forcing. 

 Our importations last year from Japan totaled some 

 seven millions. We also imix>rted some from Bermuda, 

 Holland and France. From the latter country come our 

 candidums which get cmaller, poorer, and more costly 

 each year. Some fifteen years ago it was easily possible 

 to get the stalks carrying thirteen to fifteen flowers each ; 

 today ten is a high number and a great proportion throw 

 only five to eight. As candidums do remarkably well in 

 some of our southern states, it should be quite possible 

 to produce bulbs equal to or superior to the French ; in 

 fact, in southern New Jersey and on Cape Cod, Massa- 

 chusetts, I believe bulbs can be produced as fine as any 

 we now arc importing from France. Years ago Bermuda 

 produced our finest Easter lilies and Harrisi's grown 

 there were of remarkalile quality. Disease and careless 

 sorting of bulbs disgusted growers in America, and for 

 years the Bermuda industry lay under a dark cloud. An 

 expert sent from Great Britain has gradually eliminated 

 disease, and the best lilies I have seen this season in New 

 England came from Bermuda bulbs. If they can give us as 

 good bulbs of longifflorum giganteum, we would readily 

 dispense with the large and costly shipments from Japan. 



That we can produce good Easter lilies in America 

 is beginning to be recognized. Some of the cleanest I 

 ever grew came from Orlando, Florida. A batch from 

 New Orleans, seen a few days ago, were ecjual to any 

 which came from Japan, and Texas can also grow good 

 lily bulbs. The increasing cost of bulbs from abroad 

 would api>ear to open up a new field of profit for some 

 lily propagators here. With the threatened debarment 

 of all bulbs in the near future, lilies included, owing to 

 the terrible dangers from insects and diseases, as yet 

 unknown, which may devastate our forests, fields, and 

 gardens, we may have to submit, if the ]>resent autocratic 

 F. II. B. continues to function, so we may as well prepare 

 to ])rodi'ce some lilies here at home as best we can. 



UNFOLDING LEAFAGE 



Leaves that are unfolding have a charming daintiness in 

 color and ])laitings. They exem])lify that ])rave fragility 

 that makes childhood so ap]x;nling. .V collection of just- 

 o])ened leaves will make a rare study in design. The wil- 

 low, a very light, thin, green, tinged with red and wooly- 

 whitc underneath : l)irclics yellow-green with a warm 

 furry coating of white and fluted like tiny lialf-opcned 

 fans: poplars living green and fragrant with balsam; 

 downy mouse-ear elms, showing every crease and fold 

 made bv tlieir swadflling clothes. — C. S. Monitor. 



