/SpS. 



' ' GARDENING. 



359 



ing with its pure white night-scented 

 flowers. If cut back soon now, there will 

 be another crop of flowers when cool 

 weather sets in again. Lythrum roseum 

 superbum has been in flower for some 

 weeks; its long spikes of bright rosy red 

 flowers are distinct and producer! contin- 

 uously during the summer and fall. 

 Monarda didyma. the best of its family. 

 is at its best now, and will continue to 

 brighten up the border with it? deep red 

 flowers for several weeks. It is good for 

 cutting. Oenothera Youngii the best of 

 the taller ccnotheras. will continue to 

 open its bright yellow flowers for some 

 weeks yet unless the soil becomes too dry. 

 CE. riparia is quite as continuous, and is 

 fine lor the front row- of the border. 

 Pentstemon barbatus Torreyii keeps in 

 flower longer than most of the pentstem- 

 ons, and its long spikes of scarlet, tubular 

 flowers are unique. 



Phlox sufl'rutieosa varieties are still 

 very beautiful; they are not so set look- 

 ing as the P. decussata sorts, start flow- 

 ering two or three weeks earlier, and if 

 the flower spikes are cut off will bloom 

 again later in the season. The range of 

 color is from almost pure white to dark 

 pink. P. decussata has started to flower 

 and will continue to make the border 

 look bright till fall. We have over 150 

 varieties on trial this season, including 

 some of Lemoine's latest novelties, and 

 will describe the newest and most distinct 

 as they come into flower. Sedumspectab- 

 ilis fol. rar. has very handsome golden 

 variegated foliage, which keeps its color 

 well from spring to hard frost. Thymus 

 montanus alhus and T. montanus coccin- 

 eus should be more generally grown; they 

 make a very dense carpet of green, and 

 for several weeks are covered with their 

 small flowers. T. languinosus forms car- 

 pets of hoary foliage, and is worth grow- 

 ing on that account; the flowers are not so 

 showy as those of the two just mentioned, 

 being of a dull lilac color. T. vulgaris ar- 

 genteus and T. vulgaris aureus have very 

 pretty variegated foliage, and are good 

 for sunny, dry situations. We find T. 

 vulgaris argenteus the hardiest and the 

 variegation is well fixed. T. vulgaris 

 aureus is liable to go back to the green 

 form if in a shady position or rich soil. 



Viola cornuta and its white variety 

 have a second crop of flowers, and are 

 helping to make the border bright. Yer- 

 haseum nigrum we find the most satisfac- 

 tory of its family; it started to flower 

 two weeks ago, and by cutting off the 

 flower spikes when over, a succession will 

 be obtained for the rest of the season. It 

 is a true perennial, which is more than we 

 can say for the rest of the verbascums. 



Massachusetts. R. N. 



The Greenhouse. 



ODONTOGLOSSUM PRINCE OF WALES. 

 This superb variety of Odontoglossum 

 crispum, exhibited at the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society's meeting of June 1-4-, by- 

 Hugh Low~& Co., of London, was 

 awarded a silver medal and the coveted 

 first-class certificate. This species of 

 odontoglossum, in its numberless exqui- 

 site forms, has given us many pleasant 

 surprises, but certainly none more won- 

 derful than the present variety. The indi- 

 vidual flower measures nearly five inches 

 across, and the labelluni is totally abnor- 

 mal in its size of lAtxlU inches. The 

 substance of the blooms, like their size, is 

 quite exceptional. The specimen exhib- 

 ited had twelve pseudo bull.s and four 



ODONTOGLOSSUM PRINCE OF WALES. 



leads. It was imported from Colombia 

 by the Messrs. Low about four years 

 ago, but while thriving satisfactorily at 

 all times, it had never bloomed until this 

 occasion, when it produced one spike 

 with twelve flowers. The plant has 

 passed into the orchid collection of Baron 

 Schrrcder, at Egham, Surrey, which is 

 world-renowned, especially for its repre- 

 sentatives of the genus odontoglossum. 



CHRYSANTHEMUM NOTES. 



Plants benched early in June should, by 

 this time, be in condition for a mulch of 

 well-rotted manure. If they have made 

 a vigorous growth and the soil is well 

 filled with roots showing on the surface, 

 it is time a mulch was applied. Later 

 planted stock will get along for a week 

 or two without being mulched, or until 

 such time as the beds are in the condition 

 described above. Before mulching go 

 over the beds and cut out any r suckers 

 that are pushing up through the soil. It 

 is well to take a little care in doing this 

 and not tugand pull themupwith agood 

 sized piece of root from the plant, as is 

 often the case when the work is done 

 carelessly. It is tar better to take a 

 knife and cut the suckers away. Then 

 try and have the soil in as even a condi- 

 tion as possible, using caution not to 

 have it dry or the plants will absorb the 

 manure too rapidly. The idea of a mulch 

 at this time is to act as a protection for 

 the young roots from the hot sun and 

 drying winds, and also as a gradual nour- 

 ishment. The manure should be well 

 rotted and made as fine as possible, 

 spreading it as even as can be and not 

 too thick— just enough to cover the sur- 

 face. 



A watchful eye is a necessity now to 

 keep the lateral shoots removed before 

 they get too large and have sapped a 

 great deal of the vitality from the main 

 stem. It is therefore best to pinch them 

 out as soon as they are large enough to 

 handle without injuring the leading shoot 

 that is to be retained. The early varie- 

 ties must be given every encouragement 

 possible from now on, as the production 



of fine blooms early in October depends 

 greatly on the treatment given theplants 

 during the next few weeks. They must 

 not be allowed to dry out or thev will 

 soon get stunted, and this means dry and 

 hard wood with small foliage and short 

 petaled blooms. 



The plants need to be well syringed on 

 hot days to keep the foliage in good con- 

 dition and the sap flowing, so that in 

 about four weeks from now they will be 

 in condition to form the kind of bud that 

 is essential for an early and well formed 

 bloom. If any specimen plants aregrown 

 for exhibition or market purposes, care 

 must be taken not to allow- them to 

 become drawn and leggy. They should 

 be kept away from dark corners and 

 given lots of ventilation. If any are 

 grown outside and they show a tendency 

 to get hard.it is best to put them indoors. 

 For specimen plants that are well rooted 

 a weak application of liquid manure 

 every six or seven days will be beneficial. 

 C. W. Johnson. 



FERTILIZATION OF GUGUMBE.R5. 

 1 was very much amused by a recent 

 article in a contemporary, in which the 

 writer questions the fact that cucumber 

 flowers do not have to be fertilized, or 

 rather pollinated, before they will swell. 

 The erudite personage in question must 

 have been partaking of mixed drinks at 

 the soda fountain on a hot dav and got 

 his knowledge of cucumbers mixed with 

 that of melons, though even in the case of 

 melons I believe it is the proper thing to 

 wait till noon and get the house drv 

 enough to let the pollen fly. Some of his 

 efforts at pollination, however, had not 

 been in vain, as can plainly be seen bv the 

 number of fruits with a bulb on the end- 

 shown in an illustration accompanying 

 the article to which reference is made. 

 This is a fatal defect in a cucumber of sal- 

 able size. I would advise the budding 

 trucker, and the admonition is given in 

 all Christian charity, not to get too 

 deeply into the business, and to stay in 

 bed as long as the average gardener. He 

 will then have better looking cucumbers. 



G.J. 



