20 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



choose a scarlet. The variety called 

 " Herald of Spring " is my favorite 

 among the scarlets. But there are 

 dozens of others which you might con- 

 sider equally as fine, possibly finer ; and 

 where there are so many to select from 

 it is not of much use to name one par- 

 ticular variety. I would select the 

 Single Geraniums for winter culture 

 because the double varieties do not 

 Moom freely beyond November. To 

 my mind the single ones are handsomest. 

 If you want a pink variety, one that is 

 almost always in bloom, you can do no 

 better than take "Master Christine." 

 It is a beautiful, soft rose color, marked 

 white, and blooms profusely. You can 

 suit your taste about color, for we have 

 Geraniums in all shades of scarlet and 

 crimson, pink, salmon, magenta and 

 white. The "nosegay" or Dwarf Ger- 

 aniums are better for small collections 

 than larger growers, for, while the plant 

 is dwarfish, the flowers are as large and 

 profuse as those on the robust kinds. 

 Of course you want a Rose Geranium. 

 No collection is complete without it. 



HELIOTROPE. 



This favorite flower will bloom all 

 through the winter, and though not 

 showy, its fragrance and its modest 

 beauty make it a general favorite. It 

 likes a warm sunny place. You want a 



CALLA. 



It would be well worth cultivating if it 

 did not bloom, because of its large, fine 

 leaves, borne on stalks from a foot and 

 % ijalf to three feet high, giving the plant 

 9, tropical appearance. When we add to 

 fk» attractive foliage its large, trumpet- 



shaped white flowers, with their delight- 

 ful fragrance, we have one of the finest 

 and most desirable plants in the entire 

 list of kinds suitable for house-culture. 

 It requires a large amount of water 

 and the pot should stand in a deep sau- 

 cer which is never allowed to get empty. 

 Let the water given it be as warm as 

 you can bear on your hand. 



For an additional list, I would name 

 Carnation, Abutilon, Begonia, Chrys- 

 anthemum, Cyclamen, Eupatorium, Pet- 

 unia, Chinese Primrose, Oxalis, Lan- 

 tana, and for training about the window, 

 Ivy, Cobea and Smilax. — E. R. Rex- 

 ford, in Farm Library. 



FRUITS IN RUSSIA. 



The readers of the Canadian Horti- 

 culturist will remember some communi- 

 cations from Mr. Chas. Gibb, written 

 while he was in Russia investigating 

 the fruits of that country, and published 

 in the November number for 1882. He 

 was accompanied by Prof. Budd, of the 

 Iowa Agricultural College, who writes 

 as follows to the Iowa Homestead : — 



"The blackberries, huckleberries and 

 cranberries we see here are wholly unlike 

 those of the United States. I should also 

 state that plums and cherry trees are not 

 grown in tree form any more than are the 

 gooseberries and currant. They are really 

 large bushes with several stems from the 

 roots. The pruning is done by cutting 

 out the older stems, as the most and the 

 best fruit is found on the younger off- 

 shoots. Really these northern cherries 

 and plums are large shrubs rather than 

 trees, but very desirable in fruit. 



** In fruit growing the Russian is ^ 

 creature of habit and a close follower of 

 the habits of his forefathers. This ten- 

 dency is bad enough in south Europe, but 

 it is intensified here to a degree often 

 painful to the versatile American. For 

 instance, in the immense province of 

 Vladimio, east of Moscow, the whole pro- 

 vince is given to growing the cherry. 

 Hundreds of proprietors have orchards of 



