i8 97 . 



• ' • GARDENING. 



339 



A HEDGE OF ROSA RDGOSA. 



needn't even touch the button, as I'll "do 

 the rest." 



No cold disturbs them, no heat burnsor 

 disfigures them, no insect attacks them. 

 During the June carnival, when all other 

 roses are gaily decorated in unrivalled 

 colors, they too are profuse in their 

 bloom and produce their sweet scented 

 offerings in successively ppening clus- 

 ters, set amidst the richest of leathery 

 green foliage. When the carnival is 

 past, and the 'June roses" retire for 

 the season, and a few of the hybrid per- 

 petuals prepare a limited quantity of 

 scattered blooms for the fall show, this 

 rose not only goes onproduciugitssaucer 

 shaped open flowers, but in addition it 

 matures its heps in a generous manner, 

 generous in quantity and generous in 

 size, tinting them like cherries, and hang- 

 ing on to them tenaciously until the frost 

 shrivels them. All through the summer 

 months, be the season wet or dry, this 

 rose blooms and matures its heps, and as 

 one stands and admires its rich, dark, 

 uninjured foliage it is an undecided ques- 

 tion which is the handsomer, the flowers 

 or the berries. 



The flowers are single, large, opening 

 out well, and have that delicious "wild 

 rose" scent we all appreciate. The white 

 form is a paper white. The pink seems to 

 vary from light to a quite dark pink. 

 They present a fine appearance in masses, 

 either in mixed colors or separate, and 

 require no special culture, but of course 

 appreciate a good heavy soil. 



The grasses seen beyond the hedge are 

 the Eulalia graciilima univittata. Im- 

 mediately in front of them is a Teas' 

 Weeping Mulberry, grafted eight and one 

 half feet high, planted this spring. Being 

 cut back quite severely and slow in start- 

 ing it presents a singular appearance from 

 the road, so much so that I was asked the 

 question if I had not planted the tree up- 

 side down. It will take a few years to 

 make a good specimen of it, but it will 

 then be much superior to the low grafted 

 forms. W. C. Egax. 



SUMMER BLOOMING CARNATIONS. 



In Europe the carnation (Diantlms 

 caryophrllus) is one of the most popular 

 of garden flowers, but strange to say we 

 see very little of them here, and why 

 should this be? They are of easy culture, 

 with us they have proved perfectly hardy 

 and are now giving a wealth of bloom. 

 From a few papers of choice seed one can 

 expect some very good flowers, although 

 a percentage of them will be single. 



Carnations are divided into four classes, 

 namely bizarres, flakes, cloves and pico- 

 tees. The bizarres have three colors in 

 the flower, flakes two, cloves are self- 

 colored and strongly clove-scented; pico- 

 tees have a white ground with the edges 

 of the petals a different color, generally 

 light to dark pink, and to our taste are 

 the loveliest of all the carnations. 



As a cut flower the carnation comes 

 next to the rose. The summer blooming 

 varieties are more highly scented than 

 the varieties forced by the florists in win- 

 ter, but are not of such fine form and size, 

 unless named varieties are obtained. 



Carnations can be propagated in three 

 ways, namely by seeds, cuttings or layer- 

 ing. If from seeds these should be sown 

 in the early part of July in boxes or pre- 

 pared beds, but I prefer boxes as the seeds 

 of a choice strain are very few indeed, in 

 fact some of the most expensive ones we 

 sowed the other day had only from 15 to 

 25 seeds to a paper, but from these we 

 will expect something good. They ger- 

 minate very quickly coming up in from 

 four to eight days. When large enough 

 they should be potted in small pots and 

 plunged in an open frame. They should 

 have the protection of a cold frame for 

 the first winter, as in this way the plant 

 will be larger and give more and better 

 flowers. If it should not be convenient 

 to winter over in frames it would be ad- 

 visable to sow early in spring and when 

 large enough plant out where they are to 

 remain. From seed we always get some 

 single ones, and if cheap seed is sown you 

 cannot expect many good flowers. From 



Sutton's prize perpetual and early scarlet 

 (grenadin) we have some fine flowers and 

 in great variety of color. We go over 

 them every other day and mark the best 

 so as to know which to take cuttings 

 from. II some seeds are sown every year 

 and only the best of them kept a collec- 

 tion of good sorts will soon be had. 



Propagation by cuttings is sometimes 

 a difficult matter in summer, the cuttings 

 being so soft that they damp off very 

 readily, but I have had very good ljck 

 with them by using bell-glasses. I put 

 the cuttings in pots, eight to ten in a 

 4-inch pot, using clean sharp sand with 

 some moss in the bottom of the pot. I 

 place them in a shady part but where 

 they will get plenty of light and keep the 

 bell glasses free from moisture. When 

 they show signs of growth a little air is 

 given by tilting the glasses. To-morrow 

 (the loth of July) we will put in 500 cut- 

 tings in this way. These are to be planted 

 out about the 15th of September and 

 wintered outside. Again in September 

 we will put in 500 more to be wintered 

 in frames. Some may ask why put them 

 in a frame? This is to make sure of hav- 

 ing them. Our garden is situated near 

 the deer park, where rabbits abound in 

 great numbers, and these garden pests 

 are very fond of carnations, which we 

 know to our sorrow, as they almost 

 cleaned us out last winter. 



Propagation by layers is best done in 

 the early part of August. It consists of 

 putting some sandy soil around the plant 

 and stripping each shoot of leaves, that 

 is, have two or three joints bare, then 

 with a sharp knife cut half through a 

 shoot below a joint, bringing the knife up 

 the center of the shont a little. Take a 

 peg with a hook in it and press into the 

 soil. Just as the peg comes down it will 

 catch the shoot where it has been cut. 

 Press it into the ground a little and put 

 a little more soil over it, making it firm, 

 and the operation is complete. This is 

 the English way of propagating, but it is 

 a tedious one and rarely done in this 



