SEASONABLE WORK. 



you put the winter mulch on in the 

 fall. Wood ashes are also an excel- 

 lent fertilizer for the rose. During the 

 formation of the flower buds, which will 

 be about the first of June, an application 

 of liquid cow manure, will help to swell 



the buds and give texture to the flowers, 

 but do not use any after the flower buds 

 begin to show color. 



O. G. Johnston, 



Elorist. 

 Kingston. 



SEASONABLE WORK. 



THIS is an excellent season to do a 

 little propagating, so as to have 

 nice plants for bedding out. Gera- 

 niums, which may be growing tall and 

 straggling, will yield cuttings which may 

 be potted firmly into soil in two-inch 

 pots ; they will do quite as well as 

 though put into sand. While they need 

 warmth and protection from draft when 

 rooting, the air of the room in which 

 they are kept must be pure and free 

 from the fumes of gas or coal oil. The 

 escape of illuminating gas is always very 

 destructive to plants, especially when in 

 bloom ; the usual result is immediate 

 dropping of the buds, followed, in the 

 case of such subjects as begonias, by 

 dropping of the leaves also. 



Ageratums may also be propagated 

 now, as they will soon begin to grow 

 straggly, and when the cuttings are 

 rooted, the old plants may be thrown 

 away. We find them very satisfactory 

 as a window plant, providing plenty of 

 bloom. They should be carefully looked 

 over .'"or traces of mealy bug ; if any of 

 the tiny white cottony dots are observed, 



rub them carefully oft' with a soft pointed 

 stick. These bugs are a great nuisance 

 on soft-wooded plants. If some old 

 coleus have been carried over from last 

 summer, propagate them from the young 

 shoots ; the old plants, which are 

 usually dull in color when cold weather 

 sets in, will be getting very angular and 

 stalky, as they so often drop their 

 leaves when in a low temperature. 

 They should, however, have plenty of 

 "breaks" or young shoots for propagat- 

 ing. Ivy geraniums will now be throw- 

 ing out long shoots, and they will be all 

 the better for stopping ; the top shoot 

 should be pinched off, to produce a 

 more stocky growth, and this severed 

 shoot may be planted in a small pot, 

 thus increasing the stock. Ivy gera- 

 niums have been wonderfully improved 

 of late years, and there is no reason to 

 grow the old-fashioned type with small 

 single blooms, when we can get the fine 

 new varieties, such as Souvenir de 

 Charles Turner. Their luxuriant foliage 

 and trailing habit render Ivy geraniums 

 indispensable w^here basket plants are 

 required. — R. N. Y. 



LiLiUM Si'EciosuM RosEUM, the lily 

 to be sent to members of our Horticul- 

 tural Society by the Ontario Association 

 is a grand lily, and succeeds well here 

 and is certain to bloom if protected in 

 winter by a heavy coating of manure. 

 They also increase rapidly. C. L. Allen 

 in his book on Bulbs says : " As a whole 

 this species of lilies (Speciosum) far 

 surpasses any other species of her- 

 baceous plants for the garden or for the 

 green house. Among the lilies there 

 are none to compare excepting ' L. 



Candidum ' which has no peer," and 

 Paxton describing this variety " Ros- 

 eum," says : " In the exquisite loveli- 

 ness of its flowers, their superior size, 

 and the stronger and more robust habits 

 of the plant, this charming variety 

 almost outvies the splendid species 

 (Speciosum). The dazzling brilliancy 

 of hue for which the species just men- 

 tioned is so deservedly admired alone 

 as to maintain its ascendancy, for in 

 every other respect it is decidedly un- 

 equalled " — Jas. LocKiE, Waterloo. 



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