1 68 



GARDENING. 



Feb. 75, 



2. No, don't pinch off any buds from 

 the cinerarias; they never need any pinch- 

 ing or disbudding. If they are throwing 

 up a spindling flowershootthey are either 

 in need of more root room or you have 

 them in too warm a house; 45° at night 

 is plenty high enough, and if it is higher 

 than that outside then give plenty of 

 ventilation. On bright warm days the 

 leaves of the cineraria will wilt if the 

 roots are dry, but they will revive when 

 watered. If you are sure your plants 

 were wet at the roots and still wilted it is 

 a bad sign and you have more than likely 

 overwatered. The cineraria is easily 

 killed by overwatering. That is why the 

 soil should be rather rough in texture, 

 and the drainage of the pot perfect, so 

 the water will pass freely through the soil. 



3. Six good double geraniums for win- 

 ter flowering are: F. S. Raspail, scarlet; 

 Emile de Girardin, pink; La Favorite, 

 pink; Ernest Lauth, amaranth; W. P. 

 Simmons, crimson; Beaute Poitevine, 

 salmon. Six singles that will be found 

 free bloomers are: Athlete, scarlet, fine; 

 Daybreak, flesh; Marguerite de Layre; 

 William Kelway, scarlet, intense; Princess 

 of Wales, pink; Comtesse de Cornulier, 

 white and rose. William Scott. 



past its best but E. Gaertnerii will soon 

 take its place on the show bench. Better 

 results will be had from E. Gaertnerii by 

 grafting it on Cereus grandiflorus and E. 

 truncatum should be grafted on the 

 pereskia stock. If grafted in April they 

 will bloom the following year. 



James Jensen. 



GREENHOUSE NOTES. 



There is still time to sow seeds of a few 

 begonias for bedding purposes. The well 

 known Begonia Vernon ( B. semperflorens 

 coccinea) and its dwarf form are very 

 effective when massed and should be 

 classed among our best bedders. B. 

 Erfordia? is another pretty variety which 

 is easily propagated either by seeds or 

 cuttings and does equally well in either 

 shade or open sunshine, which makes it 

 very useful. 



As soon as the seedlings are large 

 enough to handle plant them out a suita- 

 ble distance apart in shallow boxes of 

 soil. Often this must be done before the 

 little plants are large enough to handle 

 conveniently with the fingers, and it can 

 then be done with a pair of wooden 

 pincers made for the purpose. This 

 transplanting or ''pricking out," as it is 

 called by the gardeners, is to give the 

 individual seedlings an opportunity to 

 secure proper light and nourishment. If 

 allowed to remain too long in the crowded 

 seed patches they are apt to become 

 spindling and weak. These little seedling 

 plants require most careful attention in 

 their very young state. 



Water lily seedlings are very apt to 

 float away from the seed pans. A light 

 covering of coarse sand will prevent this. 



For chrysanthemum cuttings always 

 choose the best and strongest shoots, and 

 this advice will apply to all kinds of cut- 

 tings. It is poor policy to put the chrys- 

 anthemums under the benches after they 

 are through blooming and then propa- 

 gate from the sickly shoots produced in 

 that situation. If you have been so un- 

 wise as to treat your chrysanthemums as 

 indicated it will be better to throw them 

 out and buy healthy plants. 



Set aside your best plants of cinerarias 

 and primulas for the production of seed it 

 you wish to perpetuate the strains you 

 now have. Old plants carried over do not 

 give so good flowers as those raised from 

 seed every year. For the proper ripening 

 of the seed a dry and sunny position is 

 required. 



Forget-me-nots are very effective used 

 as an edge for a bench filled with bulbous 

 flowering plants. 



Xanthoceras sorbifolia forces well, is 

 very attractive and helps to decorate our 

 greenhouses at this time of the year. 



In cactuses Epiphyllum truncatum is 



WISTflRlfl-DOUCflOS JflPONlCUS. 



Would a wistaria be a good plant to 

 grow in a tub in a conservatory? And 

 would it have to be wintered in a warm 

 sitting room or would a frost-proof cel- 

 lar do? Our winters are too severe here 

 to think of leaving it out. What variet)' 

 would you advise me to grow in that 

 way and when do they flower? 



Do you know anything of a creeper 

 advertised by some seedsmen as Dolichos 

 japonicus and claimed to be a hardy 

 quick-growing vine? 



Manitoba. L. O. Paterson. 



It is doubtless much too cold for wista- 

 ria in Manitoba unless well protected. 

 If your conservator) - is large and you 

 have not much to put in it the wistaria 

 would make a good summer occupant, 

 although there are many plants more 

 worthy of the place. After November it 

 could be wintered in a light cold cellar 

 perfectly well or in a cold shed. The 

 greatest trouble would be that either the 

 cellar or shed would be often warm and 

 in early spring would start a growth. 

 If so remove to the greenhouse, not out- 

 side where a late frost would kill the 

 young growth and ruin it for that year. 

 There are only five or six species of wista- 

 ria and chinensis is the best. The flow- 

 ering season of chinensis out of doors 

 extends over June, July and August; more 

 properly there is a second crop of flowers 

 in August. 



Dolichos japonicus is a pea-flowering 

 woody, perennial climber, but not hardy, 

 at least not north of Washington, D. C. 

 It would make a very satisfactory climber 

 planted in a conservatory where the win- 

 ter temperature was from 45° to 55°. 

 \Ym. Scott. 



SOWING SEEDS. 



February is a good month in which to 

 sow a great many seeds. Some of them 

 are slow growers, such as the tuberous 

 begonias and gloxinias, and if these are 

 wanted for this summer's decoration the 

 sooner they are in the better. 



A number of annuals lor the flower gar- 

 den that may be sown now are Begonia 

 I 'ernon, lobelia, pansies, vincas, verbenas, 

 antirrhinums, Marguerite carnations, 

 Centaurea candidissima and C. gymno- 

 carpa, lavender, etc. 



Among the hardy perennials and bien- 

 nials that will flower the first year if 

 sown early are the delphiniums, Alyssum 

 saxatile, geum, gaillardias, pyrethrums, 

 Lychnis Haageana, Lobelia cardinalis, 

 Paparer nudicaule, platycodons, lyth- 

 rum, arabis, CEnothera Lamarckiana, 

 and many others. David Fraser. 



STAG'S flORN FERNS. 



The platyceriums or Stag's Horn ferns 

 form one of the most distinct and inter- 

 esting groups that are found in all the 

 vast fern tribe, and are certainly worthy 

 of more extended recognition than they 

 have thus far received. Some of them 

 will stand considerable exposure without 

 much injury, and they are all admirable 

 for greenhouse decoration, providing the 

 conditions are such as would be favora- 

 ble for fern growth. 



The members of this genus are epi- 

 phytal in habit, and for this reason are 

 most happy when grown either on a sec- 

 tion of a tree fern stem or block of wood 

 or in a basket, though this treatment is 

 not absolutely essential for all, as some 

 of the species can also be satisfactorily 

 grown in pots. But in either case the 

 potting material must be of an open, 

 easily drained character, the best soil 

 being rough, fibrous peat, or peat and 

 sphagnum, and as such soil soon dries 

 out frequent waterings will be found nec- 

 essary. In order to keep the foliage in 

 good condition it is best to keep the 

 water off the leaves as much as possible, 

 especially in the winter, as at the latter 

 season these may soon be discolored. 



The propagation of the platyceriums is 

 not a very rapid process, and depends on 

 two methods, viz.: either by means of 

 seeds or spores, or by the production of 

 young plants or suckers from the roots, 

 the latter practice being common to most 

 of the species, and the young plants so 

 produced being readily separated from 

 the parent plant after they have made 

 one or two fronds. If spores are resorted 

 to they should be sown as soon as possi- 

 ble after they are gathered, using a coarse 

 compost of peat and sand on which to 

 sow them, and keeping them moderately 

 close until they show signs of germina- 

 tion, after which they need rather careful 

 watching in order to prevent them from 

 damping off. 



The spores of these plants are some- 

 what slow in germinating at best, and it 

 seems a rather uncertain operation too, 

 but the only safe plan is to give them a 

 fair chance and not to empty out the 

 seed pots in disgust within six months 

 after sowing. 



The first species in cultivation and 

 doubtless the most widely known is P. 

 alcicorne, the common Stag's Horn fern, 

 which was introduced from Australia 

 about the beginning of the present cen- 

 tury. In common with the other mem- 

 bers of the genus this plant has fronds of 

 two very different types, the barren ones 

 being more or less flat and shield-like, 

 while the fertile leaves are upright in 

 habit and deeply cut into such long, 

 narrow lobes as to clearly indicate the 

 reason for its ordinary name, the ends of 

 these lobes drooping over in a very grace- 

 ful manner. This is probably the most 

 hardy member of the genus, and can be 

 readily grown in a night temperature of 

 50 degrees. 



A considerable improvement on the 

 above as a specimen plant was sent out 

 some years ago in the form known as P. 

 alcicorne major, this being of much 

 stronger growth and more upright than 

 the type. The fronds of this variety are 

 of thick leathery texture, and very dark 

 green in color, giving the plant a very 

 attractive appearance and making it also 

 one of the best exhibition ferns in culti- 

 vation. 



Probably the most noted species is the 

 one of which an excellent illustration ap- 

 pears in the present issue, P. grande, the 

 specimen shown being a well-known ex- 

 ample at Horticultural Hall. Fairmount 

 Park, Philadelphia, from a photograph 

 taken some time ago. 



The barren fronds of P. grande are very 

 large and almost erect, and are deeply cut 

 into spreading divisions, while the fertile 

 ones are thrown out at almost a right 

 angle to the first, being from three to six 

 feet in length in a large plant, and are 

 deeply divided into long pendent segments 

 The spores of P. grande are produced in 

 a large irregular patch at the base of th 

 segments noted above, and in genera 



