442 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



equally good results. Last year a friend of the writer's 

 planted Tulips on the 19th of February, and later in 

 the year reported as follows : "My Tulips bloomed 

 nicely the first week in June, and some in a friend's 

 garden that were planted at the same time but in 

 heavier soil flowered one week later." It is also a 

 common practice of commercial men who know their 

 business to take a chance on buying late batches of 

 bulbs, which can often be had at sacrifice prices in 

 December or even January, and by putting them in 

 flats or shallow boxes, place them away, as is done 

 with the ])otted stock, under ashes, soil, or fiber in cold 

 frames, allowing them to come along very gradually, 

 and so having them in bloom between Easter and 

 Memorial Day. Last year I set out a large number of 

 Tulips, Darwins and late-flowering sorts, in the last 

 days of November, and although the flowers came 

 when those of some of my neighbors were over, there 

 was nothing to complain of in the quality. From an 

 entry in my diary I see that they were at the height of 

 their glory on the 15th and 16th of May. This is in 

 Long Island, N. Y. But perhaps the record for late 

 planting, coupled with thoroughly successful results, 

 is held by Mr. L. W. Acheson, P'ittsfield, Mass., who 

 had splendid flowers of Emperor Narcissus in perfec- 

 tion on the 4th of June last year and the "crop" lasted 

 for some time after that. Mr. Acheson regularly cuts 

 this Narcissus for Memorial Day. All this is certainly 

 very interesting, and also shows, does it not, that our 

 knowledge of just how late planting can actually be 

 done without disaster is very limited. Naturally the 

 weather will always be the governing factor, for the 

 most ardent experimenter would not be rash enough 

 to try to plant any kind of bulb if he had to break the 

 ground with a crowbar or a pick axe ! Generally, how- 

 ever, there are open periods even after hard weather in 

 December, and if a little care is taken to cover the 

 ground with flakey manure or with some leaves, the 

 early light frosts will not have penetrated far ennugh 

 to prevent our purpose. 



5i< ^ * 



One of the best long stemmed Tulips for forcing is 

 the variety William Copeland. This is comparativel.\- 

 a new comer, of a taking lavender color. It comes 

 easily and quickly, being in l)loom early in February. 

 This is early for a Darwin, such as this is. 

 ^ % ^ 



While on the matter of bulbs, has any reader tried 

 growing on those that have been forced? Some years 

 ago, while visiting my father-in-law at Christmas, I 

 filled two or three large brown jjaper bags with Tulips 

 that he had forced for the Christmas market and was 

 throwing away. He had hundreds, or it may be thou- 

 sands, of them, and I asked whether it would not pay 

 him to save them and plant them out-of-doors, as there 

 was plenty of ground to spare. He thought not, it 

 being better to get a new supjjly from Holland each 

 season. However, the few I took were planted, just 

 as thev were, with their tops cut ofif clean across the 

 top of' the bulb. It was pretty rough treatment to 

 plant out in the cold soil in January, Tulips that had 

 been forced in a temperature of 65 or 70 degrees, and 

 which, moreover, had had all their foliage removed. 

 Nevertheless they made some new roots and developed 

 oiifsets of sufficient size to carry them over for the next 

 year when a few flowered. They were left where they 

 were and in the second spring from planting they 

 bloomed most brilliantly. These were the double 

 varieties Murillo and Rex Rubrorum. The results 

 were gratifying to me, as experimenter, and surpris- 

 ing to the old gentleman. 



Talking of keeping a diary, surely this is one of the 

 most essential things a gardener can have. He is 

 dealing with crops, weather, fertilizers, all that per- 

 tains to the living plant, and is apt to forget just what 

 the results of one season were unless he writes things 

 down. This applies particularly to dates of sowing, 

 maturing, flowering, harvesting, and so on. The mat- 

 ter of good or bad color combinations is another thing 

 that requires to be put down in black and white. Ex- 

 perienced elderly men don't require these helps, es- 

 pecially if they have been on a place a long time : but 

 to the beginner or young man the diary is simply in- 

 valuable. The difficulty is not to keep a diary but to 

 keep it properly, consistently (could it be a "diary" 

 otherwise?) and sufficiently full. It is not until in 

 after years, when we are called to undertake some 

 considerable and responsible work, such as a drainage 

 scheme, the building of a ro\y of cement frames and 

 pits, the puddling of a pond, the surveying and leveling 

 of ground, or the keeping up of a supply of vegetables 

 for a large family all the year round, that we dis- 

 covered the weaknesses in our note-taking and wish 

 we had taken pains to be more explicit. It furnishes 

 practice in writing, spelling, and in habit of taking 

 care, without which nothing great has ever been ac- 

 complished. 



^ ^ * 



The rock-garden idea is still engaging attention, 

 and indeed as these notes are being read, many a new 

 rock garden is either being planned or is already well 

 under wav. All the time one hears of new ones 

 finished or contemplated. Thomas Roland, the suc- 

 cessful florist at Nahant, Mass., completed a rockery 

 last spring, one that he is immensely proud of, and 

 which proves that he is just as clever in his outdoor 

 field of gardening as he is under glass. Some time 

 ago W. A. Manda, of South Orange, N. J., read a paper 

 on hardy plants at Boston, and the selection of jjlants 

 he recommended is worth being reprinted, although 

 it is not, by a very long way, intended to be exhaustive. 

 The list is as follows : 



Achillea repens. Dianthus phimarius 



Ajuga reptans. plenus. 



Anemone japiniica. Dianthus superbus 



Anemone japonica alba. (and others) 



Festuca glauca. Dicentra eximia. 



Ilieris sempervirens Papaver nudicaule. 



superba. Phlo.x amoena. 

 Aquilegia hybrids. Phlox subulata. 



Linum jierenne. Plumbago Larpentae. 



Armeria maritima. Polemonium caeruleum. 



Arrhenatherum Inilbfisum Sedum (several kinds). 

 Campanula carpatica. Thymus serp}-llum. 



Cer astium tomentosum. \'iola cornuta. 



Dianthus plumarius. Dicentra eximea. 



Dianthus plumarius albus. Irises ( dwarf kinds). 



Perhajjs in another number of the Ciikoxici.e I will 



add to this list. 



* ^ ^ 



The New York Botanical garden is a highly useful 

 institution, but from a horticultural point of view it 

 would be greatly strengthened if at least one of the 

 larger houses were given over to purely show pur- 

 poses. Such a house should have a bright display all 

 the year round ; in summer, of course, a much quieter 

 exhibit would suffice. A well-kept show house would 

 mean a great deal of labor and attention, but the re- 

 sults in pleasing and educating the puljlic to a better 

 love of gardening would far outweigh any extra cost 

 the upkeep might entail. At present the great city of 

 (Continued on pi'iic M^b.) 



