THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



133 



almost endless variety of color, for careful hybridisation 

 but produces other fine shades also. Those who have 

 never seen a large and well grown collection of seedling 

 glo.xinias have \et to witness one of the most striking- 

 displays of floral bcautv. 



There are three distinct ty])es uf glo.xinias and all 

 need exactly the same treatment. The drooping strain 

 is the oldest, and is graduall}' giving place to the hori- 

 zontal, and the erect classes. They display their flowers 

 to so much greater advantage than the drooping class 

 that there is good reason for the increasing favor shown 

 to them. It is not generally noticed that c)uite as much 

 has been done for the foliage. The best strains now pro- 

 duce grand leaves which grow downwards and inwards 

 in such a manner as almost to hide the pot so that its 

 foliage has an extremely ornamental appearance. Ihose 

 who care for a display at Christas can have it from seed 

 sown in June, and further sowings late in the year should 

 produce plants to flower successively in almost every 

 month of the year. 



The soil most suited to gloxinias is light porous com- 

 post of fibrous loam. If tiiat is not obtainable leaf mould 

 will answer, mixed with peat and silver sand in ecjual 

 parts. New pots are advisable, or old ones must be 

 thoroughly cleansed ; free drainage is essential to suc- 

 cess. Fill with soil to within half an inch of the top, sow 

 thinly, and slightly cover the seed with very fine earth. 

 Place the pots in a warm, moist position, carefully shad- 

 ing from the sun. 



A light sprinkling of water daily will be necessary. 

 Immediately some plants are large enough for shifting, 

 lift them tenderly from the seed pan so as to least disturb 

 the rest, and prick off into two inch pots in which the 

 soil has a convex surface. Follow this process as plants 

 are ready until all the seedlings have been transferred. 

 W'hen potting allow the leaves to rest on the soil, but 

 avoid covering the hearts. On the first warm day give 

 air on the leeside of the house, briefly at first and in- 

 crease the time as the flowering period apjiroaches. A 

 clear space between each plant is necessary to ]jrevent the 

 leaves of neighbors meeting. The final shift shoifld be 

 into four inch or four and a half inch pots, unless extra 

 fine specimens are required, and then one or two sizes 

 larger may be used. An occasional dose of weak manure 

 water will also be beneficial, taking care that the foliage 



is not wetted. 



THE MIDSUMMER FALLOW. 

 llv Karl Lamikxhi'.ck, 



Wheat has now been very generally harvested and the 

 returns, in most all sections, are very gratifying. Where 

 the harvest has not come u[) to expectations, the trouble 

 has been due to specific causes in individual fields, rather 

 than to general ones. Of the chronic causes, it is im- 

 necessarv to speak. But, many cases have come to my 

 notice, in spite of good husbandry, where the wheat had 

 fallen and the grain could not develop and ripen. The 

 general conditions were, however, so favorable that 

 fields in which there w^as trouble with weak straw, and 

 which were predicted not to yield more than fifteen or 

 eighteen bushels, gave thirty. 



Men w'ho succeed are always men who learn from 

 failure. They are not those who throw up their hands 

 and say, "farming is such a complicated business that 

 you can not know : buy what fertilizer you can and let 

 it go at that." Was your drainage right? If there is 

 doubt about it, invest in some tile for the new field and 

 put down a couple of lines. But get advice about it. 

 Put in the tile where the labor will cost least and yet 

 work it with a complete system to be carried out section 

 by section in the future. If you own the farm, do some 

 of this rather than spend all your money for a hand to 



mouth fertilizer purchase. If you are a tenant, squeeze 

 the owner to do this, or a part of it, for you. Don't 

 let the demonstration of this failure slip by without pull- 

 ing him up to do his duty in bringing up his land. If 

 failure does not lie here, are the soil and subsoil of tlic- 

 new field you are jjlowing like those of the old? If so, 

 and wheat is in the rotation, stop before you decide to 

 put it in. "S'ou have time, before seeding, to get advice 

 from your State authorities. Some other croj) might be 

 safer. 



If you are plowing under a sod or manuring heavily, 

 and your soil has not been limed for some years, remein- 

 ber that the condition under which decomposition bac- 

 teria, which convert them into humus, thrive best, is in 

 land that is sweet. This is a most important matter for 

 the summer fallow is short. The best men started in 

 plowing at the earliest moment, even at the expense of 

 inconvenience, to gain time for it. From the desirability 

 of quick sweetening, so as to leave as much time as pos- 

 sible for imdisturbed bacterial humus-making, the most 

 soluble and quick acting lime is by all odds the cheapest, 

 in spite of greater first cost. This is the hydrate. If 

 properlv spread on the sod and turned under, one third 

 of a thousand poimds per acre dressing will be taken up 

 almost immediately by the soil moisture and cut the acids. 

 The rest will follow by diffusion and chemical action so 

 quickly, even in dry weather, that carbonate can not be 

 detected in 8 weeks time. Lime, when ground, or as 

 hydrate, is best spread on a sod and plowed under with 

 it. Or, if plowing is already done, it should be put on 

 and harrowed in as soon as possible. If \'ou have al- 

 ready manured, however, do not lime until after a rain 

 has leached the animal matter into the soil. Else you 

 will lose ammonia. Summer liming should be light, not 

 over half the late l'"all or early Spring practice. 



SPECl.MI.X KIIAIIS FLAnEI.T.IFORMIS (rillXAl RATTAX PALM. 



GEO W. HES.S, SIPERINTEXDENT U. S. BOTANIC GARDEN, 



WASHINGTON, D. C, IN FOREGROUND. 



