iS 97 . 



GARDENING. 



123 



a 6-inch pot if fine large flowers and 

 plants are wanted. A second sowing in 

 Mav will give flowers from February till 

 spring. It is well to get the best strain 

 of seed and each variety by itself as mixed 

 seed is sometimes poor. We have Sutton's 

 Roval Scarlet, Sutton's Royal White and 

 Sutton's Purity, with flowers nearly two 

 inches across. 



Primula obconica is a free flowering 

 variety. If sown in February and kept 

 potted on it comes into flower in October 

 and lasts all winter. It is fine for cut 

 flowers and lasts a long time in water. 

 Some people have a dislike to it on 

 account of its stinging nature While at 

 Dosoris it used to trouble me very bad 

 but it has no effect on me now and we 

 regard it as one of the finest winter 

 blooiing plants we have. 



Primula Forbesii is a compact growing 

 little plant and very free flowering. It 

 comes earlv and lasts all winter. The 

 flowers are pale lilac and grow in whorls 

 all up the stalk, which is about 15 inches 

 high; it needs the same treatment as P. 

 obconica. 



Libonia Penrhosiensis is a pretty free 

 flowering little plant. If wanted early it 

 is best to grow it in pots all summer, but 

 it does best when planted out and lilted 

 in September, it makes bushier plants in 

 this way. Cuttings should be put in in 

 March. Our early plants are now past 

 their best. 



Stevias can be had in flower from 

 October to February if a cool greenhouse 

 or pit can be used for them to keep them 

 back. The ones that are wanted for early 

 flowers should receive their final potting 

 into a 5 or 6-inch pot in the early part of 

 August, while the others for later flower- 

 ing can be potted on as needed up to an 

 8-inch pot. Some people plant them out 

 all summer. I have tried both ways but 

 the pot grown plants were th*- best, not 

 so much in flower as in foliage. The 

 plants that were lifted lost their lower 

 leaves giving them a naked appearance. 



Marguerites or Paris Daisies make a 

 fine display in early winter. These are 

 also best grown in pots all summer as if 

 planted out they grow too large. Cut- 

 tings put in in April make nice bushy 

 plants by fall if kept well pinched in and 

 repotted as needed. 



The new hybrids of streptocarpus are a 

 pretty class of plants. Seed sown in 

 February will give nice flowering plants 

 in late summer and fall and if kept potted 

 on as needed will bloom all winter. A 

 little care has to be taken in the sowing 

 of the seed, which is just like dust, but 

 when once they are up they grow very 

 fast. They seem to like an airy house to 

 grow in and they make nice window 

 plants. They also do well planted out in 

 a shady frame, lifting them in the fall when 

 cold weather sets in. 



Cyclamens have been in bloom for some 

 time. The old bulbs started in July are 

 giving plenty of flowers while the ones 

 that were sown last December are just 

 beginning to flower. These were grown 

 in a shady frame all summer with plenty 

 of air and they seem to like this sort of 

 treatment. Amongst the newer ones Sut- 

 ton's White Butterfly is a lovely large pure 

 white flower. Some other newer ones 

 are not yet in flower. 



Violet's do very well in pots and come 

 in flower early. One of the best for pot 

 growing is Lady Hume Campbell. The 

 foliage is good and the flowers large. 



Carnations can be had in flower quite 

 early. Cuttings put in about the first of 

 February, planted out in April and lifted 

 in September, will give flowers by the end 

 of October. Three of the best for pots are 



Thomas Cartledge, W111, Scott and Day- 

 break. 



Oeraniums are a much neglected class 

 of plants. When a good collection is in 

 flower it is hard to find anything to com- 

 pare with them. Cuttings put in about 

 the first of Mav and kept pinched make 

 nice flowering plants by fall. 



Begonias in variety can be had for 

 early fall flowering. One of the best for 

 this purpose is Begonia semperflorens 

 hvbrida. This also makes a fine bedding 

 plant and if lifted in the fall it flowers all 

 winter. 



Oesnera zebrina discolor is a lovely 

 bulbous plant. If potted up in July and 

 grown on in a warm house it comes in 

 flower in November. The foliage is very 

 pretty. The flowers are in shape much 

 like a foxglove and the plant lasts a long 

 time in flower. 



Freesias potted up in July are now in 

 flower and a succession of them can be 

 had all winter. They are one of the 

 sweetest plants grown. 



Schizostylis coccinea is a halt hardy 

 bulbous plant that comes in flower in 

 October. It has long spikes of scarlet 

 flowers which are very good lor cutting. 

 It should be planted out in spring and 

 lilted in September. It grows quite fast 

 and a stock of it is soon worked up. 



Roman hyacinths and paper white nar- 

 cissus can be had in flower by Thanks- 

 giving if potted up early, and a succes- 

 sion can be kept up till March. 



David Fraser. 



Mountain Side Farm, Mahwah, N.J. 



CYCLAMENS. 



I have a batch of cyclamens about two 

 years old just coming into flower. The 

 plants look vigorous and healthy but the 

 flowers are coming deformed and dis- 

 colored. 



Last year the same plants threw very 

 few perfect flowers, nearly all turning 

 black and withering when about to open. 

 There were no insects that I could see on 

 them, so I blamed too rich soil, it was 

 nearly half leaf-mold, and a little rotted 

 cow manure, the rest loam and sand. 

 This year I shook them clean of soil, 

 repotted in plain loam and sand, housed 

 them September 15 in cool greenhouse, 

 gave no fertilizer of any kind, and thev 

 are now fine plants and full of buds. 



Some days ago I noticed the flowers 

 that were showing color coming like last 

 year's, deformed and discolored. With 

 the aid of a magnifying glass I discovered 

 on dissecting some flowers, numbers of 

 small insects, not unlike the red spider 

 but rounder and more transparent, very 

 lively when disturbed. Will you please 

 tell me if these insects are wholly the 

 cause of the trouble and if it is possible 

 to rid the plants of them. Situated as 

 they are inside the petals of the flower no 

 insecticide can reach them. Would like 

 to keep the plants for another year as the 

 strain is first-class. 



I may add that immediately on discov- 

 ering the insects I gave all the plants a 

 bath in a tub of fir tree oil and water, but 

 it did not reach the insects inside the 

 flowers. Canuck. 



In answer to "Canuck" would say that 

 the little insect he has discovered on his 

 cyclamen flowers is most likely the same 

 small creature that troubles verbenas, 

 petunias and some other plants, and used 

 to be called rust because it gave the leaves 

 the appearance of rust, as does the chrys- 

 anthemum rust. With the verbena and 

 petunia the rust appeared after a stunt in 

 their growth, and this is the case with the 

 attacks of most all of our plant enemies. 



The vitality of the plant is weakened, and 

 then these minute creaturesortheirgerms 

 have congenial conditions to get in their 

 work and develop. 



It is, however, unlikely that these 

 insects are the only cause of" failure with 

 "Canuck's" cyclamens. If the bulb, or 

 mor.' properly corm, received an injury 

 from being too wet or too dry you could 

 not expect either healthy leaves or flow- 

 ers to follow. 1 have often, and so have 

 all growers, seen cyclamens in the state 

 described above, and there is only one 

 reasonable cure, but it is entirely satis- 

 factory to all live gardeners, viz , throw 

 them on the dump pile at your earliest 

 convenience. You were very wrong to 

 attempt to grow them the second year, 

 and it would be a bigger sin against wis- 

 dom to attempt to grow them the third. 

 As good a strain can be readily procured. 



I am not asked by "Canuck" for achap- 

 ter on cyclamens, tut I will briefly say 

 that seed should be sown anywhere from 

 September to New Years, and from the 

 time they are in 2-inch pots should never 

 receive a stunt of any sort, but kept vig- 

 orously growing. Many years ago 

 cyclamens were often carried over the sec- 

 ond year, but since the improved method 

 of growing has been in vogue that is sel- 

 dom attempted, even by the most antique 

 expert. William Scott. 



The Fruit Garden. 



CRAFTING FRUIT TREES. 



The winter season affords the opportu- 

 nity of looking through the orchard and 

 deciding whether or not any of the trees 

 would be the better for grafting. Very 

 often there are trees of kinds unsuited for 

 the locality, and which would be greatly 

 improved by being grafted with sorts 

 known to do well. It may be, too, that 

 room could be found for the trial of some 

 of the newer kinds. It is better where 

 trial kinds are to be used, that the}' 

 should be placed on a tree by themselves, 

 rather than a kind here and there through- 

 out an orchard. A tree with more than 

 one sort on it is rarelv good shaped. 

 Nearly every variety of fruit has a habit 

 of growth peculiar to it, and when two 

 are on one tree the growth is rarely uni- 

 form, so that a well shaped tree is out of 

 the question. Trees are often as much 

 valued for their beautiful growth as for the 

 fruit the}' bear. 



Cions for grafting should be cut while 

 still entirely dormant. If left on the trees 

 until the buds begin to swell, grafting is 

 not apt to be successful. A good many 

 practice cutting them soon after New 

 Years. The best shoots are vigorous 

 ones from vigorous trees. Such as are of 

 about three-eighths of an inch in diame- 

 ter are about the right size to use, or a 

 trifle smaller or larger. These shoots are 

 to be kept buried up in soil, out of doors, 

 or in a cool cellar, there to remain until 

 wanted. When to be used, cut them so 

 that two eyes will be left to each piece, to 

 appear above where inserted in the stock. 



The proper time to graft is when the 

 buds on the trees are visibly swelling. 

 This indicates a flowing of the sap, which 

 must commence beforehand, or grafting 

 will not succeed. If the cions are entirely 

 dormant, grafting may be successfully 

 done even after the trees are almost in 

 leaf, though much better done when the 

 first signs of swelling buds are perceived. 

 On the other hand, if done before the sap 

 rises, the cions dry out and die, receiving 

 no support from the stock. 



