7° 



• GARDENING. 



Nov. 75, 



vines down to within a foot of the ground, 

 and then place wood or coal ashes over 

 the crown, covering vines and all a foot 

 deep. If you sweep the snow from the 

 porch or a walk over them, then place an 

 inverted box, or some boards over the 

 ashes. The clematis prefers rather a light 

 soil, deep and rich. They contribute so 

 much to the beauty of our grounds that 

 it pays to provide well for them, even at 

 a little cost. 



Next spring dig a hole two feet in diam- 

 eter (a larger one would be better) and 

 the same in depth, and if you have reason 

 to suspect the under drainage to be poor 

 make the hole eight or more inches deeper, 

 filling in the bottom to a depth of eight 

 inches with stones, broken bricks, slag or 

 any non-decaying material, to act as a 

 drainage pit. Place an inverted sod over 

 the stones, and then fill in with a light, 

 rich soil. If all your soil is a heavy clay 

 and you cannot obtain any sand with 

 which to lighten it, go to some pasture 

 lot, or along side a roadway or anyplace 

 where you can obtain some sods, cut 

 them rather thin, chop them up rather 

 fine, mix a little manure with them and 

 then spread them out in some secure cor- 

 ner where the frost may act thoroughly 

 upon them. In the spring mix this up 

 well and pulverize all lumps, and use for 

 planting. If you keep a weed pile use 

 some of the soil from it. 



The ordinary method of making a com- 

 post heap of rotted sods differs from the 

 above in that the sods are packed closely 

 and rotted mainly by the summer's heat 

 and rains, but as you may want to use the 

 product next spring you cut up the sod 

 into small pieces so that the action of the 

 frost may pulverize the soil and in so 

 doing tear up the root fibres. 



account. Early killing frosts were kind 

 to us this year and postponed their visit, 

 enabling the cosmus and the dahlia to 

 swell the profit column. 



Of course we must place something in 

 the loss column or we would not be good 

 bookkeepers. We could have nothing to 

 balance. The cut worms bothered us 

 somewhat early in the season and might 

 have caused a large array of figures at the 

 wrong side, but a glance into the bound 

 volumns of Gardening soon told us how 

 to manage them. Other varmints ap- 

 peared at various seasons, but we have 

 forgotten all their deprecations, and the 

 loss was so small that we won't put it 

 down. 



The right kind of pleasure is conducive 

 to happiness. Happiness is the perquisite 

 of good health. Any light employment 

 that takes the mind away from business, 

 or household cares, tends to cause healthi- 

 ness, as it rests the mind, while employ- 

 ing it. If the occupation be congenial, 

 pleasure follows. When we consider this 

 feature of our summei's gardening, and 

 look back upon the happy hours we 

 spent among our flowers, and consider 

 the pleasures they have afforded us and 

 our friends, we cannot but help saying 

 here too is a large item to be placed in the 

 credit column. We do so and foot it a'l 

 up, and then looking at the insignificant 

 sum total of the loss column, we wonder 

 why we considered it at all. This winter 

 we will plan and figure to plant more 

 and then take pleasure in anticipation. 

 W. C. Egan. 



THE SEASON'S FLOWERS. 



The outdoor flowering season at the 

 north is now complete, and we may take 

 account stock of our summer's growing. 

 We may call pleasure, the profit, and dis- 

 appointment the loss. Let us balance our 

 accounts and see if we were repaid for our 

 efforts. A canna bed caused an outlay 

 of time and monej', but has not its 

 glorious and incessant blooms given us 

 such a wealth of pleasure that when we 

 credit it up, we must employ a large 

 array of figures, so much so, that as we 

 glance at it we are assured at once that 

 no disappointment we can recall to mind, 

 placed in the losscolumn, can overbalance 

 it. We go on with our figuring in good 

 humor, as we feel that in the outcome 

 profit is ahead. We will not take into con- 

 sideration that the canna roots may be 

 used another year, but place that feature 

 in the "suspense account," as something 

 may happen to them during their winter's 

 rest. 



How did icosa rugosa do? It opened 

 up the rose jubilee in June and was the 

 brightest of the bright, and then, con- 

 tinuing its blooms trough the sum- 

 mer months, it also converted its June 

 flowers into ruby balls that still hang 

 pendant at its tips, carrying the memo- 

 ries of early summer well into the winter 

 months. Here is another larger sum to be 

 carried to the credit of profit. 



Let us consider that bed of petunias in 

 the fence corner or the nasturtions that 

 seeded themselves! How many times we 

 have plucked their blooms and yet saw 

 no diminution in their ranks. And the 

 zinnias, four o'clocks and the mourning 

 brides that with the snapdragons give 

 scattering blooms even after a light frost 

 has cut down many of their companions, 

 all of these place large figures in the first 



ASTER TflRTflRIGUS. 



One of the most useful of late blooming 

 herbaceous plants is Aster tartaricus. 

 Very nearly all our native sorts, of which 

 there is such a large variety out of bloom, 

 but just as they are over and one thinks 

 the herbaceous display is past for the sea- 

 son, out comes this beautiful Asiatic spe- 

 cies. There are not many leaves besides 

 the radical ones. The flower stalks arise 

 to a height of four to five feet, carrying 

 masses of large light blue flow ers at the 

 summit, and these flowers are in perfec- 

 tion a long time. I write this October 

 28th, and should it not freeze before, 

 I am sure there will be a good display for 

 two weeks yet, and there has been a two 

 weeks' display already. 



This beautiful species spreads rapidly 

 from its roots, soon forming strong 

 clumps. It will be valuable for forming 

 masses to give late flowers. There is no 

 other herbaceous plant that I know that 

 approaches it in appearanceorinits value 

 for late autumn display. 



Philadelphia. Joseph Meehan. 



Trees and Shrubs. 



BEAUTIFUL AUTUMN TINTS. 



In the Oct. 15 number of Gardening 

 Mr. Meehan presents a timely article on 

 "Beautiful Autumn Tints." Ashehasnot 

 only been in the business all his life, but 

 has a love for plant life in all its forms, 

 and therefore an ardent observer ot na- 

 ture's moods, we can place implicit reli- 

 ance upon the statements he presents. 



There must be some climatic influences 

 that act upon the causes that produce 

 vivid coloring in some plants. Vitis Coi- 

 gnetix, which colors so beautifully in 

 Great Britain, fails to do so with me and 

 so far as I can learn, has not colored any- 

 where in this country. The liquidambar, 

 which is barely hardy here, retains the 

 natural color of its leafage, until they fall. 



Ampelopsis tricuspidata (A. Veitchii) 

 seldom colors at all here. The pin oak, 

 for the three winters I have had it, turns 

 to a rusty brown. The white oaks, espe- 

 cially some of the young trees, color a 

 vivid red, almost scarlet. The red and also 

 the scarlet oak color beautifully. Among 

 the shrubs he omits Cornus paniculata 

 which is one of the earliest in our woods 

 to color, being a little earlier than .Rosa 

 humilis which assumes a soft dark red 

 color very effective in masses. 



In his article on the Pinsapo fir, 

 when speaking of Abies (Picea,) Word- 

 man// he states that the latter "thrives 

 splendidly everywhere". 1 fear that he 

 must except Egandale and the late Robt. 

 Douglas' place at Waukegan; a place 

 similarely situated as regards Lake Mich- 

 igan. Two vears ago Mr. Douglas 

 showed me what he termed "his crip- 

 ple," a poor straggling Nordman's fir; 

 it was in a very sheltered place. Mr. Doug- 

 las remarked at the time that he had 

 never seen a good specimen of it in the 

 west. I grew one specimen forthree years; 

 each winter I placed a solid wooden 

 fence on four sides of it, a foot or so away 

 from the tips of the side branches, to act 

 as a wind break. It did fairly well at 

 first but lost the tip of its leader the 

 first winter. The next winter I put ex- 

 celsior shavings around the point of the 

 new leader in addition to the winter's 

 wind-break of boards, and in the spring 

 the leader was all right. Last fall I did 

 the same thing, but during the winter 

 the thermometer went to 25° below zero 

 and did not get above 18° below zero for 

 four days. This spring not a bud above 

 the snow line was alive. I waited until 

 June 15 to see if any development would 

 manifest itself that would give me hope 

 of saving it. It came out strongly on the 

 lowest tier of branches that had been 

 covered with snow during the cold snap, 

 but not above. I sorowfully bid good 

 bye to my Crimean friend and buried 

 him in a bonfire. Any one seeing the beau- 

 tiful specimen at Mt. Vernon would na- 

 turally want to grow one; but if he is 

 a near neighbor of mine, and I love him, 

 as I should, 1 would advise him to wait 

 until we can warm our front yards by 

 electricity. W. C. Egan. 



HARDY VINES. 



Enclosing the south side of the execu- 

 tive mansion there is a fancy iron railing 

 running the entire length of the grounds. 

 This has been utilized for the growing of 

 hardy vines, principally of the showy 

 flowered species, such as clematis, lonice- 

 ras and aristolochias. No better place for 

 the perfect development of these vines 

 could be wished, as the situation is pro- 

 tected from the west by the huge build- 

 ings of the State, War and Navy De- 

 partments and on the east by the Treasury 

 department. 



Clematis Viorna coccinea is a perfect 

 sheet of red flowers during early summer. 

 Could all the plants of this beautiful 

 variety be seen in like condition what 

 a demand there would be for it, but the 

 same might be said of all the species and 

 varieties which are there planted. None 

 of the lanuginosa section show a disposi- 

 tion to grow very vigorous, therefore 

 they are easily kept in check, allowing 

 plenty of room for a varied collection. 



Clematis paniculata is notcontent with 

 the section set apart for its use and 

 would soon swallow up several sections 

 were it allowed full sway. A large space 

 is taken up with Wistaria sinensis which 

 gives a good account of itself early in the 

 season before most other flowers are 

 awake. 



