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GARDENING. 



Dec. 75, 



WtDBNIl 



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CONTENTS. 



Floral festivities (illus,) '■''■ 



A wrinkle or two about Christmas di ill s. '.'. 



Protecting somewhat tender plants in winter 



(illus.) j* 



Wistarias- Pruning »> 



Spiraa Van Houtei •••• f v 



Jessamine, Akebia. variegated honeysuckle 98 



Vines for a wall '■'■' 



Weeping Norwaj spruce (illus.) l'" 1 



A Harden hedge Iu " 



The holly-leaved olive I |KI 



The San Jose scale 101 



A 1 1 vantages of mulching strawberries... 101 



The strawberry fungus i"-' 



Two new chrysanthemums i illus. > i"-' 



Siniplifled chrysanthemum culture l"-' 



Camellia Japonica i"-' 



The cellar '"• i 



Prolonging plant life 



culture of good strains ol I ,il " 



Pompon and single chrysanthemums (illus.)... 104 



Notes 103,104,105,107,108 



Proceedings Society of American Florists 105 



Department of Agriculture Repori 105 



American I larnation Society '"■' 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society 105 



Greenboro Floral Club 105 



Eulalia japonica I illus. I IW 



Sweet pea history '"' 



Kudbeekia liolden IJIiih 1"' 



Hibiscus rosa sinensis 108 



The Soy bean II" 



Mr. C. H. Shinn of California is spoken 

 of as the next editor of Garden and For- 

 est. Our late lamented friend Mr. W. A. 

 Stiles edited the paper from its inception 

 till a few months ago. 



A slip-shod yard.— Even an empty 

 yard, if it is clean and tidy doesn't look 

 bad, but a rubbishly rag-tag yard is a 

 disgrace to anybody. Because the winter 

 is here and everything out of doors is at 

 a standstill doesn't justify us in the least 

 for having our yard all littered up and 

 forsaken. 



Scarlet and crimson carnations.— At 

 Mr. C. W. Ward's on Long Island the 

 other day, we saw two splendid new car- 

 nations, they were Maceo, a 6ne crimson 

 maroon, and Flame, a large glowing 

 scarlet. There were hundreds of each in 

 bloom. This is not the Flame that was 

 raised a year or two ago and then dis- 

 carded, but a newer and much superior 

 variety. 



As AN EDGING TO CROTON BEDS One of 



the prettiest and most appropriate plants 

 we know of is the dwarf pomegranate. 

 We saw it used very effectively for this 

 end at the Botanical Garden, St. Louis. 

 The pomegranates were also used with 

 crape myrtles and very nicely. By 

 the way, the intention is to use crape 

 myrtles quite largely in summer beds after 



this. The plants are hardy at Baltimore, 

 and we know them to live at Philadel- 

 phia, but at New York they are not 

 hardy. Better lift them in the fall and 

 heel them into a frame or pit or cool cel- 

 lar over winter. 



Big Camelias, where are they?— 

 "Japonicas" maybe most of you may call 

 them. They used to be great favorites, 

 especially about Philadelphia; then they 

 fell into disfavor, but they are being asked 

 for again. We wanted to get some big 

 plants, but had to content ourselves with 

 small ones. 



Bignonia venusta is a vigorous, long- 

 running, woody vine from Brazil and a 

 favorite in greenhouses. In late fall and 

 very early winter it bears the greatest 

 profusion of crimson flowers that hang 

 drapery-like from the slender vines. It is 

 very easy to grow but rather long-run- 

 ning for a window. It isnowin tine form 

 and bloom in the U. S. Botanical Garden 

 at Washington. 



Thunbergia laukifolia is another 

 winter-blooming vine those who can 

 should grow. It comes from India, and 

 blooms in great abundance, bearing large 

 showy lavender blooms, but alas, while 

 they are very beautiful on the plant they 

 have no lasting properties when cut. 

 This vine needs no' great heat in winter 

 and it may be treated successfully as a 

 window plant, giving it a good deal of 

 room. 



MlSACOCClNEA AND M. VITTATA.— C. T. 



L., Williamsport, Pa., asks where he can 

 procure these. We do not know. They 

 are both very ornamental plants, coccinea 

 of medium size has showy flowers, and 

 vittata of large size has white variegated 

 leaves. There is so little call for these 

 plants that florists do not carry them in 

 stock, there being no money in them. We, 

 at Schenky, are looking for the same 

 sorts. 



Rhododendrons don't need peat. — 

 You are right, and the sooner the people 

 get that fad of peat out of their heads the 

 better it will be for themselves and their 

 gardens. Peat! Why we grow rhodo- 

 dendrons in the open field in loamy soil 

 just as we do roses or lilac bushes, and 

 we have been doing this right along for 

 forty years, and know you'll admit that 

 we have propagated and grown more 

 rhododendrons than anyone else in the 

 country. 



After chrysanthemums, what? And 

 Christmas so near at hand too! Well, we 

 have a big show of Salvia involucrata, 

 reddish purple and S. leucantha, bluish 

 purple; Chinese primroses, bouvardias, 

 cyclamen, stevia, golden flax {Linum 

 trigynum), several begonias, poinsettias, 

 carnations, tea roses, Zanzibar balsams, 

 cannas, and a good sprinkling of orchids. 

 In the way of bulbs we are shy of rushing, 

 except Roman hyacinths and paper white 

 narcissi. 



The Goose Flower (Aristolochia 

 Sturtevantii) is the immensely big flow- 

 ered tropical variety of pipe vine that 

 bloomed in a greenhouse at the World's 

 Fair and such a fuss was made about. A 

 big plant of it bearing scores of blossoms 

 is now in bloom in the Phipps conserva- 

 tory at Allegheny. While it is a most 

 curious and striking flower, not unlike a 

 goose in form, when in bloom it is very 

 malodorous, hence not desirable in a 

 small greenhouse. 



Heat-loving Plants.— There is a gen- 

 eral impression that some plants are so 

 exceedingly tropical in their nature that 



they cannot be wintered safely in a mod- 

 erate temperature. Now, the fact is, that 

 I do not know of any plant in general 

 cultivation that must have a higher tem- 

 perature than 60° at night in winter. 

 First the plants must be strong and 

 healthy and inured to this lowness of 

 temperature, then study watering and 

 general care-taking and altogether stop 

 draughts. 



A White Maud Dean Chrysanthe- 

 mum. — Maud Dean is one of the best and 

 most useful of the pink-purple Japanese 

 chrysanthemums we have, and it was 

 with much pleasure we saw on Mr. Childs' 

 place, Long Island, the other day, a 

 white -flowered form of it, Except in 

 color it is the exact counterpart of Maud 

 Dean. This is its second year. The 

 owner had several plants of it all grow- 

 ing together and very fine and decided 

 they were. We at once got a plant for 

 Schenley. 



Some fine new chrysanthemums. — 

 Mr. C. W. Ward of (Jueens, N. Y., writes; 

 "Among the best of the newer chrysan- 

 themums are Belle of Castlewood, C. W. 

 Ward, Dorothy Devens, J. M. Woodford, 

 Golden Trophy, Maud Adams, Modesto, 

 G. F. Atkinson, Mrs. M. P. Raynor, Rose 

 ( iwni and The Harriott." Another excel- 

 lent grower ol central New York recom- 

 mends "Brooklyn, Australia, Dr. Park- 

 hurst, Geo. S. Kalb, Duchess of York, 

 Elvina, Lady Esther Smith, Defender, 

 Midge, and Oriental Glory." As soon as 

 the catalogues ate out consult them for 

 the colors and habits of these varieties. 



Colored Crotons in the Flower 

 Garden. — We use them largely and they 

 do very well; the main secret of success is 

 to have healthy, stocky, leafy plants well 

 hardened off to begin with and not to 

 plant them till the weather and ground 

 are quite warm, say well into June. We 

 turn the plants out of their pots and 

 plant them out and let them stay in the 

 ground till killed by frost, because we 

 raise young plants enough so that we 

 don't have to save the old ones. But 

 Mr. Brown, superintendent of the public 

 grounds at Washington, D C, who also 

 uses crotons freely in the summer garden, 

 repots them some days before setting 

 them into the beds and then instead of 

 planting them he merely plunges them in 

 the ground; the fresh soil in the pots 

 gives them enough to live on in summer, 

 and they lift in fall in good order, retain- 

 ing every leaf, and are at once nice speci- 

 mens for winter as well as summer deco- 

 ration. 



Field Mice. — What wretched pests they 

 are, more especially in winter! If we 

 mulch any of the plants before hard frost 

 sets in they at once take possession and 

 cut every green thing within reach. Like 

 musk rats in a root cellar it isn't what 

 they eat at all that bothers us but what 

 they cut and destroy out of pure wanton- 

 ness apparently. And if they can steal 

 into a cold frame it is Paradise to them 

 and they repay your hospitality with 

 gnawing off at the neck every living 

 plant, be it rows of parsley or beds of 

 pansies or violets. We must treat these 

 vermin with merciless vigilance. They 

 are exceedingly destructive to the fox- 

 gloves, bellflowers and pinks in our 

 woods that need a little winter covering, 

 and we hate to poison them there because 

 of the number of ground squirrels and 

 tree squirrels that are about and we are 

 trying to preserve. But in the frames a 

 little grain with a dusting of Paris green 

 on it awaits their pleasure. They don't 

 always eat it, though. 



