July 



l'J19 



HORTICULTURE 



11 



CLEMATIS MONTANA RUBENS. 



One of the most attractive of the 

 numerous climbing plants sent from 

 China by Mr. E. H. Wilson is the pink 

 form of the old garden favorite, Clem- 

 atis Montana. When first flowered in 

 Europe some twelve or fourteen years 

 ago it was at once recognized as an 

 important and beautiful addition to 

 the hardy garden and I venture to pre- 

 dict it will be very popular in this 

 country when it can be obta!.ied in 

 quantity. During the latter part of 

 May and the early half of June in the 

 vicinity of New York one may see 

 good specimens and when care is 

 taken in selecting the position the 

 masses of pink flowers produce a de- 

 lightful effect. It is particularly well 

 adapted for growing on columns sup- 

 porting a structure or over a balus- 

 trade or where a light and graceful 

 climber is required, and I think it is 

 undoubtedly true that this Clematis in 

 company with many others appre- 

 ciates having their roots protected 

 from the sun by other plants. Clema- 

 tis montana rubens may be raised 

 from seed and while the resultant 

 plants will show considerable diversity 

 of color, all will be desirable. 



A. E. Thatcher. 



lovely red roses fold away among their 

 petals are not all of happy childhood's 

 day, for they are the flowers which the 

 Huguenots, driven from their homes 

 in France, took with them to England. 

 Then the English colonists brought 

 them here. Today they are found 

 growing around the old deserted 

 houses of Vermont and New Hamp- 

 shire. In our gardens they are known 

 as the Sunakee roses, their roots came 

 from a cellar near that beautiful blue 

 lake, life and thought had gone away 

 but left the roses. Had some of them 

 been taken from there to a distant 

 home on the prairies? Had they been 

 gathered in the olden days for the 

 daughter's wedding, or for the younger 

 girl's graduation from school? 



They have multiplied in our gardens 

 sending up new suckers each year, 

 blossoming both in sunshine and in 

 shade. The rose itself is very beauti- 

 ful with its dark green foliage, seldom 

 attacked by aphis or by beetle, and 

 its cherry red petals opening out to 

 show a wealth of golden stamens. 

 Gathered for the house they keep their 

 dainty crispness. But cut the buds if 

 you want your enjoyment of them to 

 linger. M. R. Case. 



Weston, Mass. 



PROVENCE ROSES. 



A rose by any other name would 

 smell as sweet, yet what a wealth of 

 association there is to the names of 

 flowers. The pink weigela and white 

 syringa blossomed in my grandfather's 

 garden. Diervilla was an unknown 

 name and Philadelphus would have 

 suggested the City of Brotherly Love, 

 but I delighted in the fragrance of the 

 syringa while tying up in the corner 

 of my handkerchief the dark brown 

 strawberry blossom, little thought I 

 then of its being a Calycanthus flori- 

 dus, but I enjoyed its fragrance while 

 nibbling the aromatic leaves of the 

 mint. 



It was a pretty fancy of Mary Wil- 

 kins Freeman to write the story of the 

 different flowers. If I were to charac- 

 terize these crisp red roses I would 

 liken them to a group of merry chil- 

 dren in freshly starched dresses with 

 laughing eyes and curly gold hair, for 

 there is such a fresh brightness about 

 them so different from the tea roses in 

 their satiny lustre, while that big hy- 

 brid perpetual suggests a very Beau 

 Rrummel. Yet the stories which these 



ANCHUSA MYOSOTIDIFLORA. 

 Lovely as a ground cover is the: low 

 anchusa myosotidiflora which keeps 

 its forgetmenot blue flowers from) 

 June to September. The tall anchusas, 

 Dropmore and Italica, have vanished 

 from my garden but the myosotidiflora 

 blooms on and increases, covering the 

 ground where it was planted. It in- 

 creases by spreading its roots through 

 the soil and sending up fresh shoots 

 from them. At Hillcrest it grows in 

 a warm half-shady place and in a cool 

 shady spot by our wood road. It has 

 begun to blossom just as the flowers 

 of the true myosotis are changing 

 into seed. The delicate sprays of 

 blossoms have the pink buds and yel- 

 low eyes of the true myosotis. They 

 grow on stems from eight to ten 

 inches high. We cover them with 

 leaves through the winter and they 

 were not harmed by the cold weather 

 of 1917 and '18. By growing the 

 anchusa myosotidiflora one can appar- 

 ently have lovely blue forgetmenots 

 all summer. 



M. R. Case. 



LAWNS AND LAWN-MAKING. 



By George C. Watson. 

 The making of a good lawn starts 

 long before the sowing of the lawn 

 grass seed. I appreciate the impor- 

 tance of good lawn grass seed, but I 

 appreciate still more the foundation 

 of a foot deep of good soil; and when 

 I say a foot deep of good soil I don't 

 mean the kind you dig out of the cel- 

 lar, 10 or 20 feet below the surface. I 

 mean the surface soil, which is the 

 only soil that's got any fertility. This 



surface soil matter is the first thing 

 that must be understood. Those who 

 have been brought up on the farm 

 (like the writer and other seedsmen) 

 know all about it, and think, naturally 

 enough, that everybody else ought to 

 know, but they don't. Most of us who 

 have not been brought up on the farm. 

 I have found by an experience of 

 thirty-five years behind the seed coun- 

 ter, think that soil Is just soil, and one 

 soil is just as good as another in which 

 to grow grass or anything else! No, 

 the top soil is the only kind. It may 

 have taken a million years to accumu- 

 late on the surface, and yet you let 

 your house-builder bury it under the 

 excavations from your cellar, and then 

 wonder why the grass seed doesn't 

 thrive. The writer would prefer not 

 to dwell on the point; it seems so in- 

 fantile. Yet on that one point most of 

 the failures fundamentally hinge. Few 

 amateurs realize that grass needs just 

 as good soil as celery or cabbage. 

 Many of them seem to think grass wtll 

 grow on rocks. 



So then, it will be understood that, 

 when we say a foot deep of good soil, 

 it means top soil from some old farm 

 land, and not cellar-diggings. 



Furthermore, after you have your 

 foot of good top soil, add five pounds 

 of bone-meal or ten pounds of sheep 

 manure to each space 10 by 10 feet. 

 The reason for using bone-meal or 

 sheep manure rather than the ordi- 

 nary barnyard manure is that the lat- 

 ter Is apt to be full of weed seeds. 



Killing Weeds. 

 And speaking of weeds brings us to 

 another point: All soils will bring 

 forth more or less surface weeds the 

 first year. George Troup, superinten- 

 dent of the park system of the city of 

 Buffalo, gave it as his opinion that all 

 ground intended for a lawn should be 



