THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



Ill 



are invigorated by its use. I repeat 

 the dose in a few days if there happens 

 to be much rain-fall, which washes the 

 nicotine too soon away. Growei*s, try 

 it faithfully. 



Yours truly, 



Geo. Vair. 

 Chestnut Park, March 19, 1883. 

 P. S. — Anti-tobacco men may yet 

 laud the name of Sir Walter Raleigh 

 for the introduction of the weed. 



G. V. 



HARDY BORDER PLANTS. 



(DUcussion on various hardy harder plants at the 

 meeting of the Ma-ssachiuset^ Horticultural Society, 

 held in Boston, February, 1883). 



Edward L. Beard said that the nar- 

 cissus is among the most neglected 

 plants. They will repay all the care 

 that can be given them. The double 

 Narcissus poelicus has a tendency to 

 blight its buds when the soil becomes 

 exhausted, but generous feeding will 

 cause an astonishing improvement, and 

 the same is the case with the long-tubed 

 species, such as the Emperor and Em- 

 press, two very fine new varieties. The 

 same may be stiid of the Lily of the 

 valley, which is so generally left to take 

 care of itself ; and indeed the mistake 

 is made with many herbaceous plants. 

 The double Pyrethrums are among the 

 most desirable plants ; they require 

 division and good culture. Some herb- 

 aceous plants will live along without 

 much care, but the finer kinds require 

 as much as a bed of roses. The Ane- 

 mone Japonica, especially the white 

 variety, may be placed in the fore- 

 ground of useful plants. 



Hon. Marshall P. Wilder spoke of 

 the old double candytuft as having been 

 so neglected that ten or fifteen years 

 ago it was introduced as a new plant. 

 It is very desirable. 



Mrs. H. L. T. Wolcott said that her 

 narcissus buds failed so that she gave 

 up in despair, but she took them up 



and reset them, and every bud gave a 

 flower. 



Dr. Wolcott said there is one plant, 

 the Fraxinella, which will flourish year 

 after year without removal ; he knows 

 a plant seventy-five yeai-s old, wliicn 

 blooms just as well as ever. It is the 

 typical hardy perennial. 



Mr. Wilder spoke of spirasa sinensis 

 (known also as Spiroea a^tilhe, or H(d- 

 ei.a Japonica) as one of the most beauti- 

 ful herbaceous plants. It forces finely. 

 Nothing is more gorgeous than the 

 pseonies, either tree or herbaceous, but 

 they are much neglected. If the old 

 dark crimson pseony were introduced 

 now as new, it would be highly es- 

 teemed. 



Mrs. Wolcott thought it should be 

 the aim of the society to encourage the 

 cultivation of plants which are within 

 the reach of people generally. The 

 tree pseony is vii-tually out of their 

 reach. She had tried the fmxinella 

 over and over again without success. 



Mr. Beard thought the fraxinella 

 likes a clay soil ; a plant which he set 

 in such a soil five years ago had done 

 well. 



C. M. Hovey said that the fraxinella 

 should be grown from seed where it is 

 wanted ; it makes strong woody roots, 

 with no fibres, and is very difficult to 

 transplant. The same is the case with 

 the Asclepias tuber osa, which he es- 

 teems the most beautiful of all our 

 native plants. The herbaceous pseony 

 is everybody's flower ; it is easily grown 

 and makes an unsurpassed show in the 

 garden. The delphinium has been 

 much improved ; some of the new kinds 

 are apt to die off, but t})e old ones are 

 very stately. The dahlia is again 

 coming up in the single fonn. 



Mr. Beard spoke of the Everlasting 

 Pea, either the rose-colored or white 

 variety, as one of the most beautiful of 

 garden flowers, scrambling over rocks 



