244 



* * * GARDENING. 



May /, 



following are some of the best: Akebia 

 quinata, Aristolochia sipho, Celastrus 

 scandens, Dolichos japovicus, Gelsimium 

 sempervirens, Lonicera bracliypoda, L. 

 Halleana and L. sinensis, among the 

 honeysuckles; Lycium chinense, Periploca 

 grseca and the several wistarias. Of 

 these the most used are akebia, the hon- 

 eysuckles and wistarias. As to hardiness, 

 the gelsimium is the only one of the list 

 which I think would not thrive north of 

 this. This is the lovely Carolina jasmine, 

 which displays its yellow flowers so beau- 

 tifully in the south in the earliest days of 

 spring. 



I may refer here to a slight error in Gar- 

 dening of a few weeks ago. Itwasstated, 

 if I remember right, by one of its corre- 



required in a place of this character. He 

 has also produced many delicacies in the 

 way of vegetables and fruits for his em- 

 ployer's table. It is about these and his 

 methods of keeping up the succession of 

 flowers, fruits and vegetables that we 

 shall aim to tell in this article, from infor- 

 mation kindly supplied by him. 



The houses contain 10 divisions, the 

 heating apparatus being so arranged 

 that any desired temperature may be 

 maintained in each. The conservatory 

 contains the collection of palms, ferns. 

 decorative foliage plants and orchids. 

 Back of this are houses devoted individu- 

 ally to the rose (shown in engraving) to 

 the orchid and to a display of blooming 

 plants. A side bench in the latter is seen 



on the benches to keep up the succession 

 and round out the year. 



One of the engravings shows a portion 

 of a bench in the house devoted to veg- 

 etables and fruit, as it appeared April 6. 

 Here are kept coming on in succession the 

 fresh tender lettuce, radishes and onions 

 for the table. This bench is 3\-> feet wide 

 and the soil is about 6 inches deep. 



The first planting of lettuce is made in 

 August, the varieties used being "Brown 

 and Gold" and "All Season." Five rows 

 are planted across the bench, the seed 

 being sown thinly in the rows, which are 

 one foot apart. The little plants are 

 afterward thinned out so those left are 

 about 4 inches apart in the rows. Be- 

 tween each row is planted a line of onion 



CONSERVATORY AND GREENHOUSES OP MR. MARTIN A. RYERSON. CHICAGO. 



spondents, that Dolichos japonicus was 

 not hardy north of Washington, D. C. 

 It is quite hardy here, and blooms nicely 

 every summer, and it is used with good 

 effect at Hartford, Conn. 



And while on the matter of corrections, 

 let me say that I have seen it stated more 

 than once in other papers that the Akebia 

 quinata would be seriously injured if 

 pruned in spring. I have a fine vine of it 

 running over my porch which has been 

 pruned every spring for sis years past, 

 without any injury whatever, and in set- 

 ting plants in spring nurserymen invaria- 

 bly cut the plants to the ground. This 

 vine and the three honeysuckles named 

 are among the best of all for use where 

 shade is required about a porch or an 

 arbor, and all of them are very nearly 

 evergreen in this vicinity. The celastrus 

 and the lycium are valued for their bright 

 colored berries in the fall, chiefly. 



Philadelphia. Tqseph Meehan. 



The Greenhouse. 



AN AMATEUR'S GREENHOUSES. 



The accompanying engravings are from 

 a number of recent photographs taken at 

 the private greenhouses of Mr. Martin A. 

 Kyerson on his place at the corner of 

 Drexel Boulevard and 49th street, Chi- 

 cago. 



Mr. John Keardon is the gardener in 

 charge, and he has been very successful in 

 keeping up the continual show of bloom 



in one of the engravings, now filled with 

 bulbous flowers and cinerarias. The long 

 house leading from these has several 

 divisions, devoted to various things, 

 including carnations, lilies, tomatoes and 

 beans in pots. At the corner is a tall 

 cool house and at right angles to this is 

 the house devoted mainly to fruit and 

 vegetables. 



The show house must always be kept 

 bright with bloom and to do this requires 

 considerable planning. The first mass of 

 bloom in spring is suprlied by the cinera- 

 rias and the calceolarias, seeds of which 

 are sown about September 1. Some 500 

 plants are grown in 6 to 7-inch pots and 

 in February, March and April they make 

 a grand show. Next follows a mixed lot 

 including pelargoniums, hydrangeas, 

 fuchsias and lilies. This lot will carry us 

 into June. The glass is then shaded on 

 the outside and there are ready gloxinias, 

 tuberous begonias, fancy caladiums, Adi- 

 antum Farleyense, etc. To have hand- 

 some foliage on the gloxinias the bulbs 

 should be started where you can be sure 

 of a quick-growing, close atmosphere and 

 some shade. Under such conditions the 

 plants will not have the rusty leaves so 

 often seen. The erect flowering varieties 

 have given the most satisfaction here, the 

 flowers being not only more beautiful but 

 produced in greater profusion. 



It is now September and the chrysan- 

 themums which have been coming along 

 demand more attention. The earliest 

 varieties bloom about October 10 and 

 from that date on there is aconstant suc- 

 cession until the end of November. De- 

 cember finds the primroses and cyclamens 



sets of the "Golden Globe" variety. The 

 onions grow tall and thin and do not 

 interfere with the lettuce. The onions 

 are of usable size in 4 to 6 weeks. Bey ond 

 the lettuce are planted five rows of rad- 

 ishes of the "White Tipped French Break- 

 fast" or "Twenty Day Forcing" varieties, 

 the rows also a foot apart. And between 

 these rows onion sets are planted too. 

 Successive plantings are made each week 

 so there is a continuous supply of tender 

 fresh vegetables for the table and with a 

 crispness and flavor not to be purchased. 



In the case of the lettuce it is from two 

 months to ten weeks from sowing to 

 being ready for the table. The radishes 

 are ready in about 21 days from sowing 

 the seed. As soon as one row of radishes 

 is gathered another row can be planted 

 in the same place, removing a little of 

 the soil with the trowel and replacing 

 with fresh. As the lettuce takes so much 

 longer to grow, when the bench is filled 

 additional seed is planted in pots and the 

 seedlings planted out on the bench when 

 room is available. A gain of some three 

 weeks in time is made in this way. The 

 radish seed should be planted quite 

 thickly and the little plants afterward 

 thinned out to about an inch apart. 

 From fall till March 1 the vegetable gar- 

 den is established in another house, as 

 the one illustrated is kept cold during 

 that period to rest the grapes, peaches, 

 etc., it contains. 



The tomatoes shown in another en- 

 graving are of the varieties "Early Cross" 

 and "Thorbum's Best." They were 

 planted in August in the bench where 

 they were to remain, three to five seeds 



