December 30, 1911 



HORTICULTURE 



929 



Campanula persicifolia grandiflora 



Karl Foerster in bis new book on "Modern Hardy 

 Herbaceous Flowering Plants" (published in German) 

 classes the peach-leaved campanulas among the "floral 

 nobility" of the garden, in rank close to Lilium candi- 

 • 1 1 ] iii. Campanula persicifolia and its various improved 

 forms nave been introduced to American gardeners and 

 landscape architects and offered on the lists of Leading 

 linns for a years, but whether there has ever 



n any concerted or even one notable effort made to 

 bring out and use tin- most beautiful type "l' bellflow- 

 ers in its full effed maj In- -till doubted. Two years 

 ago the members of 'I ' ■ <•< rman Society of Garden Ar- 

 tists and Landscape Archite* te went on a tour of inspec- 

 tion of parks and garden- n tiival l'.rilain. Tin i r iv 

 port was full of interesting criticism, but all appeared 

 most favorably impressed bj the skillful and artistic 

 work in English gardens and 1 noticed special stress 

 was laid on the beautiful displays of peach-leaved cam- 

 panulas they had seen. What has the best type of 

 American gardens of the present day to show of such 

 displays? 1 am afraid very little indeed. Beds or 

 good-sized plantations of Campanula persicifolia at 

 flowering time offer such magnificent subjects for the 

 camera thai reproductions of photos would have ap- 

 peared a- star illustrations in every volume of our hor- 

 ticultural periodicals bj the dozen. 



That the peach-leaved campanulas are extremely pop- 

 ular among flower loving and— be it understood — flower- 

 buying society, is clearly evident in our northern sum- 

 mer resorts. The keeping qualities are excellent; stems 

 of well-grown stock are 2 to 3 feet high, abundantly set 

 with- buds and the flowers if bandied with reasonable 

 eare will stand shipping to considerable distances. It 

 seems likely thai somi Eew out of the pathfinder- 



class of American limits will begin to grow this beau- 

 tiful garden flower systematically and make a profitable 

 side issue for late Bpring -ales out of it. The herd in- 

 stinct will bring followers. Then the large and at- 

 tractively-shaped single and semi-double bells will be- 

 come a permanent and familiar sight in the miscel- 

 laneous section on the May and early June counters of 

 commission man and retailer. Advanced that far, the 

 private and landscape gardeners are bound to see their 

 chances at last. 



To grow Campanula persicifolia exclusively for the 

 cut flower trade means, according to my observation, to 

 mat the plants as biennials — that is, to sow the seed 

 n spring during February and March under glass; 

 transplant seedlings into flats as soon as they can be 

 handled and in May plant in richly manured garden 

 soil out of doors in permanent position where they are 

 intended to be flowered the following season. Well- 

 grown two-year-old stock, especially if left undisturbed, 

 will produce flowers as freely as shown in our illus- 

 tration. The grandiflora single varieties appearing in 

 pure while and several clear blue shades should in my 

 opinion receive consideration first. Both the white and 

 blue are nearly equally in demand. 



As for the sale of plants conditions are different. 

 Seedlings, no matter how good the strain may be, can 

 not be absolutely relied on to come true to variety and 

 color. To meet the ever-present call for single and 



semi-double and double varieties in district colors plants 

 must be treated as perennials. Propagation in this case 

 has to be done by divisions or cuttings after flowering. 

 Campanula persicifolia requires a good leaf-covering 

 throughout the north and a light protection of evergreen 

 boughs or clean straw in the middle states. 



SjutAAXfod. Sdcrt^/ 



\ ortheast Harbor, Maine. 



Rev. G S. Harrison in Summer 

 Land 



r I [OHTICDM i BJ : 

 I find myself in this land of dreams and of eternal 

 summer. It is so different from our northland. Last 



I (ailed on a large nursery and they were shipping 

 stock. Every day in the year, except Sundays, is deliv- 

 ery day — no packing houses or burying stock. What 

 impresses one most is the rapid rise of land. I think 

 they must fertilize it with yeast. You are almost afraid 

 to go on some pieces through fear it may rise while you 

 are on it! Ten acres soon becomes twenty, and then 

 forty, and then one hundred and sixty. Men look me 

 squarely in the eye and say "we get better returns from 

 ten acres than you can from your one hundred and sixty 

 in Nebraska." Now we consider eastern Nebraska as the 



i spot of the west and I feel so ashamed I can 

 hardly look up. 



My son. a few months ago bought a lemon orchard — 

 10 acres for $10,000. He went home, turned around a 

 few times, and when he got back they told him it had 

 doubled in value. He took me out to see it. It i- a 

 fine piece; but I am lame and did not venture on it. I 

 didn't know but it would take a rise with me on it and 

 didn't know how I could climb off. Harry, however, 

 walked over it, and got off before it had time to rise. He 

 examined the trees and found every one alive and doing 



well. 



In the neighborhood of Whittier are immense or- 

 chards of English walnuts. They were looking fine and 

 were bearing well. But I saw they were cutting them 

 down by the thousand. "How is this?" I asked. They 

 were returning $100 per acre a year, with a prospect of 

 twice that when they got their full growth. The reply 

 was "we can't stand any such little measly return as 

 that, so we are planting lemons which will give a yearly 

 income of $500 to $1,000 per acre per year," and so it 

 goes. 



You needn't wonder if I get a little dizzy looking on. 



But this is great. 1 left a Nebraska blizzard last month 



and came to this summer land and it is delightful. 



a man gets to be near 80 he cannot stand the cold. 



ago in Minnesota I traveled when the mercury 



was frozen solid, and now zero weather is too much. I 



expect to stay at this hotel, "The Occidental," all winter. 



Living is very cheap. You can get good meals for 15 



to 25 cents and rooms are reasonable. 



Yours, 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



(| ^ji^yr^h^ 



