404 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



You know what tough-skinned, tiavorless things the to- 

 matoes are that you huy in ]\Iid-\vinter ; well, vou ought to 

 have seen our two vines which were trained iii a single 

 stem up the roof — it was quite an event when deliciously 

 meaty tomatoes were served from our greenhouse, not in 

 abundance, of course, but more than you would think two 

 vines would grow. Next \\'inter we shall have more. 



One gardenia and two camellias were most responsive, 

 and considering the price the Fifth .\venue folk were pay- 

 ing for theirs, our thirty or more Ijlooms from the one 

 plant were decidedly satisfying. 



''What of the failures?" They really were few con- 

 sidering the fact that most of my friends s])oke discourag- 

 ingly, and the florists of whom I asked occasional advice 

 shook their heads in a grandfatherly way. Three lessons 

 we did learn — that snapdragons grow too tall and take up 

 too much space in a small house — that carnations are cool- 

 headed chaps and resent June temperatures — that it is a 

 great temptation to fill the benches "too chockful." as our 

 man Fridav remarked. 



Perhaps I have dwelt a little too much on the pleasures 

 of such a house, but it has a very practical side as well, 

 and that is the starting of plants for early setting out in 

 the Si)ring. We grew in flats, hundreds of asters, cosmos, 

 dahlias, ageratum, calliopsis, cockscomb, deli^hinium and 

 stocks, not to mention peppers, lettuce and tomato-plants. 

 In an average spring season such plants will give one 

 several weeks' start over garden-sown seeds, but in a 

 Spring as cold and discouraging as this one has been, 

 it is a wonderful help. One of our neighbors, for instance, 

 is just setting out his tomato-plants that look rather 

 spindly (said in a whisper), while ours are stocky and al- 

 ready have green tomatoes on the size of hickory-nuts. 



To me, the greatest value of this little house is the satis- 

 fying way it bridges that restless period between the dull 

 dreary days of late Autumn and the fickleness of promise 

 ing April. People growl about the trains — about the 

 snows — about the slowness of the country, and keep them- 

 selves in a ])erpetual state of discontentment, when they 

 might just as well take advantage of Nature's natural 

 pause and get acquainted with what she stands waiting to 

 do for you, if you will only friendly up to her flower- 

 children and give them a warm, cozy little house to winter 

 in. It is better than all yotu' new thoughts, all your sani- 

 toriums — all your nerve-tonics — because it is natural, and 

 to be natural is to be reasonable, which is only another 

 way of saying health and happiness. 



THINGS AND THOUGHTS OF THE GARDEN. 



(Continued from /'(i.c 402) 



at San Francisco in the third week in August. This 

 national society is ostensibly a gardeners' society as 

 well as a florists' one, and is intended to supptirt and 

 encourage the interests of professional gardeners : 

 but in later years the S. A. F. has been obliged, whether 

 it wished to or not, to devote practically all its time to 

 matters of purely business concern ; that is to say, to 

 legislative, advertising and financial discussions per- 

 taining to the coinmercial side of the horticultural, and 

 particularly the floricultural, industry. The profes- 

 sional gardeners, moreover, have a strong and progres- 

 sive society of their own — the National Association 

 of Gardeners — so there is no need to worry, nor any 

 need at all to complain. Ours is a many-sided calling, 

 divided into the seed trade interest, the nursery trade, 

 the florists, the parksmen, the landscape engineers, 

 and last but not least, the professional gardeners. The 

 time has come when each must attend to and solve its 

 own problems. Each requires its own organization. 



Under these large central associations there are the 



numerous local clubs and societies, as well as the 



totally distinct State horticultural bodies. 

 ^ :'f ^ 



\ great deal has lieen written and spoken in the past 

 in regard to the commercial cultivation of bulbs in this 

 country, particularly such kinds as come from Holland. 

 In Washington State the Federal Government has its 

 experimental farm and has gone so far as to colonize 

 Hollanders there so that the skill necessary for the proper 

 cultivation and propagation of hyacinths, tulips, narcissi 

 and other bulbs may be ensured. We have also proof of 

 the success of bulb culture, particularlv tulips and nar- 

 cissus, in Massachusetts, northern New York. Tennessee, 

 \'irginia and elsewhere. Given light sandv soil that can 

 be well enriched with farmyard maiuu'e or similar organic 

 material and fertilizers, there is no reason in the world 

 why many hundreds of acres in all our large estates 

 could m it i:)e devoted to the successfifl cultivation and 

 selection of vigorous growing tulips and daft'odils. 



Considerable attention has been directed within recent 

 times to the value of the graceful pinnate-leaved tree 

 named Kolreuteria paniculata. Those who know it well 

 and have made the closest study of the street trees and 

 trees for parks, are unanimous in saying that it succeeds 

 in a great variety of positions, and always looks graceful 

 and pleasing. So far as the writer's experience goes the 

 Kolreuteria seems to have a tendencv to grow some- 

 what lopsided, crooked or much branched, but this may 

 be, of course, through direct want of attention. No one 

 can gainsay its beauty, and the real charm and attractive- 

 ness of its foliage. It also bears panicles of attractive 

 yellow flowers. It is a Chinese tree, yet it does well not 

 only in this country but in European gardens. Some one 

 has suggested that its name is against its having become 

 more popular, as there is no common name attachced 

 to it. 



In looking over some notes in reference to greenhouse 

 plants in English gardens, I was struck by the great 

 diversity of kinds therein grown, and which are all too 

 uncommonly seen here or even totalh' neglected. \'ery 

 few gardens have what one would consider a large and 

 interesting variety of green-house or warm-house plants. 

 Of course, the gardener is not to blame, as he has to sup- 

 ply in so many cases almost unlimited quantities of the 

 best decorative plants for indoor use as well as cut flow- 

 ers and to do this requires all the space of glass at his 

 hand. \Miere, however, the owner is a real lover of 

 plants and flowers the gardener has a chance to introduce 

 quite a number of subjects that otherwise are seldom 

 seen. Take, for instance, the following list : Humea 

 elegans, Leonitis leonurus, Impatiens Olivieri. Rehman- 

 nia angulata and R. Henryi, Streptosolen Jamesoni, Eri- 

 cas and Epacrises in variety, .\cacias, Ruellia macrantha, 

 E.xacum macranthum, Centropogon Lucyanus, Eranthe- 

 mum pulchellum. Selaginella \\'atsoni and half a dozen 

 other most beautiful kinds, Eupatorium ianthinum, Clero- 

 dendron fallax, Heeria rosea, Rrowallia speciosa. Plum- 

 bago rosea. Lobelia tenuior, Rochea falcata, scented 

 Geraniums, Epiphyllums, Reinwardtia trigynum, Trach- 

 elium caeruleum. Medinella magnifica, Jnsticia carnea 

 and J. myrio]3hyllum (yellow). The semperflorens Be- 

 gonias make good pot plants, and these various plants, 

 together with forced bulbs, forced shrubs, annuals like 

 Schizanthus, Alonsoa, Clarkias, etc., and .Amaryllis, Cy- 

 clamens, Primulas, zonal Geraniums, Carnations and so 

 forth, furnish something of value all the winter. 



