rSg6. 



GARDENING. 



pipes; can it be that too much moisture 

 is used? The grass is closely cut each 

 week. Edgemoor. 



Chicago. 



The crab grass has come to stay, no 

 matter what you do, and plowing under, 

 reseeding. fertilizing, or watering won't 

 destroy it, lor it is as fond of good living 

 as any other grass we know of. It is an 

 annual and bears and ripens lots of seed 

 about this time of year, the wiry seed- 

 laden branches huggingthe ground below 

 the reach of the mower so as to escape to 

 sow another crop for next summe - . But 

 we can help to keep it in check. Fertiliz- 

 ing and watering so as to encourage and 

 retain an early and full growth of blue 

 grass and white clover will help to check 

 it out, and frequent mowing tends to les- 

 sen its strength, and raking and mowing 

 will nip the countless spears that other- 

 wise might escape uncut. 



ARUM DRflGUNCULUS. 



I procured last September two large 

 bulbs of Arum Draeunculus. fine healthy 

 looking bulbs with some signs of bud be- 

 ginning to break through. Thinking the 

 fall was the proper time to start them I 

 potted them in same soil and treated 

 them just like my hyacinths, putting 

 them away underground for eight weeks. 

 I noticed when I took the hyacinths that 

 no growth showed on the arums. Turn- 

 ing them out of the pot ■ to examine them 

 I found four or five healthy fleshy roots, 

 so I put them back in the dark for four 

 weeks more. At the beginning of the 

 year I put them into a cool frame think- 

 ing they needed light, and meanwhile I 

 read in a book or paper that they were 

 spring bulbs. I kept them in good light 

 and moisture until May, when I turned 

 them out of their Dots into a nice rich, 

 moist, sunny position expecting them to 

 grow, but though they are plump and 

 healthy and the roots the same they have 

 never budged a shoot. The little shoot 

 at the top is as silent and forlorn as the 

 day I received them. Pleasetell me what 

 is the cause of this moroseness and taci- 

 turnity, and what shall I do to make 

 them grow? Is it a disease or is it just 

 "a way the family has of doing"? 



Abilene, Texas. A Subscriber. 



The plant is a summer grower and 

 bloomer. You should have planted them 

 out in your garden in nice, rich, moist 

 soil, but not in a sunny position, instead, 

 in a slightly shaded one, and let them 

 alone. They are perfectly hardy with 

 you. 



GlflNT flYSSOP-SALVIfl. 



1. W. H. S. W., New York, sends us by 

 ex press two plants for name. One was 

 raised from seed sent to him from China 

 under the name ol Calamintha Clinopo- 

 dium. "It gro jvs from S to 12 feet high, 

 and a large clump of it is very imposing 

 on the lawn. The bees are immensely 

 fond of the flowers and almost fight (or 

 possession of them." Ans. Calamintha 

 Clinopodium is a common American 

 plant. We make out the plant you send 

 us to be a species of giant hyssop (Lo- 

 panthus). 



2. "The other plant sent is a member 

 of the salvia family." Ans. It is Salvia 

 coccinea, a plants in common cultivation 

 in gardens, being easily raised from seed 

 and flowering freely out of doors. There 

 is also a dwarf form of it and a white 

 flowered one as well as the typical scar- 

 let one. 



GLflDlOtUS GtilLDSII. 



These have been very fine with us this 

 summer. How beautiful they are! They 

 are fai superior to the common run of 

 gladiolus. We grew a number of them, 

 and so pleased are we with them that we 

 shall plant them more largely next sum- 

 mer. By planting them from time to 

 time up to the first week in July a steady 

 supply of flowers wiil be had all summer; 

 the first planting can be done just as 

 soon as the ground can be worked in 

 spring. As cut flowers they are very 

 good, only they have to be cut as soon as 

 the first flowers are opening. They will 

 then open nicely all other buds up the spike. 

 Cut a little piece off the stalk every other 

 day, and they will keep much fresher. 

 Among the finest ones we had were: 

 Mohawk, Ruby, Bessie Tanner, William 

 Falconer, Yolande, Burlington, Dr. Park- 

 hurst, Torchlight, Mrs. W. M. Bird, 

 Henry Gillam, Winthrop, Rosedale, Cin- 

 cinnati, Dexter. Brilliant, Livonia, Sacra- 

 mento, Mrs. Beecher, Oddity and San- 

 duskv. David Fkaser. 



Matawata, N.J. 



THE LEATHER FLOWER. 

 {Clematis Viorna.) 



In rambling through the woods near 

 Berkeley Springs, W. Va., last July Icatne 

 across a very] pretty clematis in flower. 

 The flower was of the form and character 

 of the coccinea, but of a lighter pink color, 

 but the vine had the leaf and manner of 

 growth of the "Virgin's Bower." It was 

 not a round leaf like the coccinea, but 

 long and sharp pointed. The growth of 

 the vine like the purple clematis. What 

 kind is it? I brought the roots and stem 

 and propagated it properly, and it has 

 made a new growth of 15 inches. 



Pittsburg, Pa. E. D B. 



No doubt it is the above named (C. 

 Viorna ) . 



GLEMflTIS PflNIGULflTfl. 



This most splendid hardy climber is 

 just bursting into bloom, and is a splen- 

 did sight even before it opens fully. There 

 is nothing as fine in the way of a climber 

 at this season, and nothing better at any 

 season in a situation for which this clem- 

 atis is adapted. ]. A. E. 



Utah. 



And be sure you grow Clematis Flam- 

 mula, too. It looks like paniculata, and 

 is as vigorous and healthy, but it blooms 

 a month ea lier and is very fragrant. 



Worms v. Fertilizer.— R. J. R., St. Jo- 

 seph, Missouri, asks: "Can you recom- 

 mend any fertilizer for flower beds that 

 does not breed worms, as horse and cow 

 manure do? Also are worms in all rich 

 soils?" Ans. Rich, cultivated, heavily- 

 manured soils are apt to be much infested 

 with worms, and the more animal ma- 

 nure that is put into the ground the 

 greater is the attraction for the worms 

 to breed in it. But whether or not worms 

 in such soils are injurious to vegetation 

 is an unsettled question, they certainly 

 don't eat the living roots ot plants as 

 some suppose they do. They channel the 

 soil and render it pasty, and their heaps 

 of casts on the surface of the soil are un- 

 sightly. Any "complete" fertilizer \\ ill 

 suit you; in fact if your ground is already 

 surfeited with humous a commercial fer- 

 tilizer maybe very desirable for it. "Is the 

 fruit of white fringe ( Chimonanthus) 

 poisonous?" .Ins. We do not know. 



LIalsam and Larkspur Seed. — R. A . 

 Watertown, N. Y., writes: ' 1 have bal- 

 sams and larkspur in a bed in which 1 

 wish to plant bulbs. Will the seed ripen 

 by pulling the stalks and hanging in ;i 

 dry. cool place? Woulc it be better to 

 remove the plants with the earth around 

 the roots intact to a tr neb?" .Ins. 

 Pluck off the rougher leaves and pull the 

 plants up by the roots, then hang them 

 up in a dry-, but not draughty, place: it 

 the seed is well filled and finning it may 

 ripen. But really both balsam and lark 

 spur seed are so cheap the game isn't 

 worth the candle. 



Plants for name.— W. S., Stratford. 

 Ont., writes: "I send by same mail some 

 leaves of plants for name. I have num- 

 bered them. Ans. Number 1 is Argemone 

 Mexicana.a somewhat thistle-like annual 

 with yellow poppy-like flowers; Xo. 2 is 

 ginger (Zinziber officinalis); we wish you 

 had given us some particulars about the 

 plant from which you plucked the long 

 yucca-like leaf Xo. 3. 



Cri'in dwarf sweet pea. — I planted 

 one large "original packet" of seed as 

 carefully as I knew how and waite. 

 patiently for the young plants to appeal 

 but did not get a sprout. Many varieties 

 of the tall sorts, from the same source, 

 did finely. F. C. Down. 



Connecticut, September 7, 1896. 



Aquatics. 



«0W TO MRKE fl WATER LILY POND. 



The simplest, least costle.and the mist 

 effective aquatic garden or lily pond can 

 be coustructe i from a natural hollow or 

 swampy spot that one hardly knows 

 how to treat otherwise. It may have- 

 sloping banks with an abrunt projection 

 or two. and a background of trees at the 

 top of the slope. 



If nature is kind enough to furnish such 

 material to work upon, the making of an 

 aquatic garden is an easy task. How- 

 ever, with proper consideration of the 

 location and conformable treatment an 

 aquatic garden can be made to harmon- 

 ize with its surroundings, be thev the 

 natural forest, the city square or the 

 floral pasture. 



Having such a piece of ground as that 

 outlined above, the first thing is to stake 

 out the shore line, taking advantage of 

 aud bringing out any natural beauty the 

 place may possess. The outline of the 

 pond should vary in contour; bold points 

 should be made to flank and partly mask 

 deep recesses of the shore into the line of 

 the bank, aud thus help the idea of vasl- 

 ness of water surface. 



From off a strong point an island may 

 be thrown up with the excavated mate- 

 rial, all tending to break up and lengthen 

 the shore line; it is from near the shore 

 that an intimate acquaintancecanbe had 

 with our aquatic plants. A walk should 

 follow nearly the shore line, occasionally- 

 forming a part of the beach, again pass- 

 ing behind a thickly planted point, to 

 strike the water again at the head of a 

 cove bedewed with starry blossoms and 

 fringed with other beautiful forms of 

 aquatic growth. The banks between tin- 

 walk and the water may be planted with 

 hardy and mostly native plants in groups 

 and masses. 



The treatment of the ground farther up 

 the slope should be of the character of a 

 setting for the pond, such as an arrange- 

 ment of shrubbery and native plants 

 Boulders and rocks of large size can here 

 lie used to advantage, as well as on the 

 banks of the pond. 



