342 



GARDENING. 



Aug. 



The Greenhouse. 



FUCHSIAS. 



The fuchsia, when properly grown, is 

 one of our most elegant indoor flowering 

 plants. It is, to be sure, a very old- 

 fashioned occupant ot ourgreenhouses.but 

 none the less meritorious on that account. 

 There are a great many species and vari- 

 eties known to horticulture, some rare 

 and interesting, but most of them strik- 

 ingly beautiful. Kiccartoni, a variety of 

 the small-flowered F. macrostema, is said 

 to be moderately hardy as far north as 

 Philadelphia, and while a most deserving 

 garden plant where it survives the winter, 

 we prefer some of the more modern sorts 

 for interior adornment. Our illustration 

 shows a plant in a five-inch pot of a 

 variety called Charming, which certainly 

 looks well, although the name is a new 

 one to us. This specimen was grown by 

 Mr. Peter Cronetto, of Millbrook, N. V., 

 from a cutting propagated last January. 



SHADING GREENHOUSE5 TEMPORARILY. 



As I am now busy painting the rose 

 houses, removing the soil and refilling the 

 benches, I have thought it opportune to 

 give your readers the benefitof myexperi- 

 ence in making a rose house a comforta- 



ble place to work in when the sun is 

 shining brightly on a hot summer day. 



My first trial in this line was in 1SS0. I 

 had 'just finished two new houses and it 

 was bright, hot weather. We were anx- 

 ious to get them filled and planted, but 

 it was impossible to work in such a tem- 

 perature. I suggested wetting the glass 

 and dusting some flour on it. A pan of 

 flour was soon procured and dusted over 

 the house. We filled and planted the 

 house in comfort, wondering, meanwhile 

 why no one had tried the plan before. 

 But we never used it again. It had to be 

 taken off, for the roses would not grow 

 without sunlight, and the time spent on 

 the roof of those houses with soda, hot 

 water, cloths, brushes and putty knives, 

 rubbing and scraping, more than counter- 

 balanced the pleasure and comfort we had 

 experienced working in the shade. 



The flour baked into bread and we did 

 not run short of that article of diet very 

 quickly, for it could be four.d on the glass 

 until the following summer. Since then 

 we have been in the habit of mudding our 

 houses, that is, mixing up a bucket of 

 mud and putting it on with a white- wash 

 brush. This answered the purpose fairly 

 well. A shower, however, is liable to 

 wash it off before the work is finished, 

 and one is then compelled to repeat the 

 operation. But when the work indoors is 

 completed, the weather clerk sometimes 

 forgets that his assistance is needed and 



it becomes necessary to ascend to the 

 roof and wash it off. Then, too, it leaves 

 the nice white paint all stained with mud, 

 which will not come off until it is washed 

 by a number of heavy rains. 



This season I have been using shading 

 cloth, unbleached muslin dipped in some 

 preparation to prevent its mildewing. 

 The seedsmen all keep it for sale. This 

 we sew together so as to make one piece 

 cover the front of the house and another 

 to cover the back. It is quickly put up 

 and as quickly taken down. Rains will 

 not hurt it, and with careit ought to last 

 several years. But if it only serves one 

 vear it will be a good investment, for the 

 men with its aid will do the work in so 

 much less time as will pay for the mate- 

 rial, not to speak of the comfort in doing 

 it. With this material in place, and the 

 front and top ventilators wide open, the 

 workmen can attend to their duties in the 

 houses with no greater exertion than 

 would be required outdoors in the shade 

 . if a tree. 



I have sixteen houses to fill and sulli 

 cient material to cover two oi them. 

 When two are completed, the shading is 

 removed to two others, and it is my 

 intention to proceed in this way to the 

 end. My planting, with less help, is in a 

 more advanced state that it has ever been 

 before at the same date, and the credit 

 must certainlv be given to this idea in 

 shading. Joseph Heacock. 



Wyncote, Pa. 



FUCHSIA CHARMING 



CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 

 One of the most important things in 

 caring for the chrysanthemum at this 

 season is to keep them free of black aphis 

 and greenfly. The hot weather we are 

 having now making it impossible _ to 

 fumigate, we have to resort to spraying 

 with tobacco extract which we find, when 

 used with a little judgment and more as 

 a preventive than as a cure, to do the 

 work well. We use about a wine glass 

 full of the extract in an ordinary bucket 

 lull ol warm water, allowing it to stand 

 for a few hours before applying with a 

 sprayer late in the afternoon after the 

 sun has left the glass. 



Some varieties are more difficult than 

 others to rid of insects and once the 

 pests get a good foothold it is a hard 

 matter to dislodge them. We have found 

 Major Bonnaffon to be particularly sub- 

 ject to greenfly, which seems to thrive 

 well on the young, curly foliage, the 

 formation being such that the insects are 

 sometimes not noticed unless the plants 

 are examined closely. Grasshoppers are 

 beginning to get troublesome and the 

 only thing to do is to catch and kill them 

 the same as with catterpillars which, if 

 not looked after, will spoil the foliage of 

 a plant in very little time. 



Specimen plants should be given every' 

 encouragement to keep them growing 

 healthfully. Ample syringing two or 

 three times a day is what they delight in, 

 and see that they never want for water. 

 It is time to stop pinching back specimens 

 of the late varieties or they will not be 

 ready for show time. Early varietiescan 

 go one or two weeks longer. 



Now that the specimens are in their 

 flowering pots they should have a few 

 stakes to spread upon and to protect the 

 branches. Young stock intended for 

 single stemmed pot plants should be 

 removed from the sand as soon as rooted 

 and shaded for a few days, after which 

 they should be placed as near the glass 

 as is practicable, as they need all the light 

 possible and plenty of ventilation. They 



