144 



The Ilorticidiurist and Journal 



Double Crimson Poionia ; now excelled in 

 size and fragrance perhaps, but in brilliancy 

 never ; we cling to it as the antiquarian does 

 to his old edition of some rare work, but with 

 this difference, that while the latter is valued 

 merely on account of its anticpiity, the former 

 has the additional merit of being as valuable 

 to-day as ever it was. And then the old 

 Blue Flag, Avhat a host of pleasant memories 

 the very name recalls ! Here, too, the skill 

 of the modern florist has given us an almost 

 endless list of varieties, with every imaginable 

 shade of color, but amidst them all the old 

 favorite holds its place with a pertinacity that 

 seems impossible to overcome. The Daffys, 

 too, or to speak correctly, the NaTcissus — I 

 must not forget them, although it is not at all 

 probable. If I had the space, I really believe 

 I could write quite an interesting paper on 

 this one family of plants. When massed thickly 

 in beds, they show to much greater advantage 

 than when placed singly in a mixed border. 



A circle, for instance, filled with the Orange 

 Phoenix, and edged with a ring of Albus 

 adoratus, or Pheasant's eye, makes a superb 

 show when in bloom and thoroughly estab- 

 lished. And again, there is another old- 

 fashioned bulb, the Crown I/i/perial ; how 

 seldom we see it now in cultivation, and yet 

 how deserving it is of more notice. To be 

 sure, the odor does not remind one of " sweet- 

 smelling incense," but what of that? it is 

 made to look at, not to handle. One objec- 

 tion is, the plants do not remove as easily as 

 some other bulbs, but care in the transaction 

 will overcome all difficulties. 



Whilst we nmst acknowledge that great 

 improvements have been made in the hardy 

 Garden. Pinks, still our long acquaintance 

 with the old Pheasant-eyed variety, causes it 

 to be more appreciated by some ; and it is 

 beautiful yet, if its new relations are finer- 

 formed and brighter-colored. Occasionally 

 our ancestors introduced a plant that was in- 

 clined to presume on its position, and so prove 

 rather too familiar — such was the Coppcr- 

 coloied. Day Lily. It was showy and easily 

 cultivated, and when a gardener once had it 

 established, the next serious question arose. 



how to get rid of it, for the succeeding season, 

 in the place of one, we were liable to have a 

 dozen, and so on forever after, until there was 

 no room for anything else. 



In the rush for novelties, one is apt to turn 

 his back on the old friends that are even yet 

 worthy of his regard, hence my prolonged dis- 

 sertation on their merits ; and dearly as I 

 love to test the newer introductions, there 

 still remains, for the old-time flowers, a large 

 corner in the grounds of an " Old Gardener." 



'* Kyauizhif/" Plant Labels. — The fol- 

 lowing method of " Kyanizing" wooden labels 

 that are to be used on trees or in exposed 

 places, is reconnnended in a German paper : 

 Thoroughly soak the pieces of wood in a strong 

 solution of co})peras (sulphate of iron), then 

 lay them, after they are dry, in lime water. 

 This causes the formation of sulphate of lime, 

 a very insoluble salt (gypsum), in lhe wood. 

 The rapid destruction of the labels by the 

 weather is thus prevented. Bass, mats, twine 

 and other substances used in tying up or cov- 

 ering trees or plants, when treated in the 

 same manner, are similarly preserved. 



At a recent meeting of a horticultural so- 

 ciety in Berlin, Germany, wooden labels thus 

 treated were shown which had been constantly 

 exposed to the weather during two years with- 

 out being affected thereby. 



Tjiqaid Manure for Strawberries. — 

 An English gardener has been very success- 

 ful with his strawberry crop for several years 

 on the same bed, and attributes the abund- 

 ance and size of his fruit to the use of liquid 

 manure, composed of one pound each Epsom 

 salts, Glauber's salt, pearl ash and carbonate 

 of soda, and one-half pound of muriate of am- 

 monia to sixty gallons of water. He applies 

 this manure as soon as the plants show signs 

 of growth in spring, watering them pretty 

 freely without a hose, three times, at intervals 

 of about a week, so as to finish before they 

 come into flower ; and, if the season be dry, 

 he finds it absolutely necessary to supply them 

 liberally with common water afterward during 

 the whole time of growth, or their increased 

 activity, he thinks, would quickly kill them. 



