96 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



April 1912 



^ £Spirea Japonica — A Shade Loving Plant 



bilis ; E. eximia ; D. formosa and the wild 

 D. canadensis (Squirrel corn) succeed 

 best in a partially shaded place ; Epime- 

 dium rubram (Barren Wort), several 

 varieties : Funkia (Plaintain or Day Lily), 

 numerous varieties ; Ferns, all hardy 

 kinds ; Gentiana excisa (Gentian) ; Helle- 

 borous Niger (Christmas Rose) ; Hemer- 

 ocallis (Day Lily) ; Hepatica (Silver 

 Leaf) ; Hibiscus Moschuetos, large flow- 

 ering Mallow, there are several desirable 

 varieties of these ; Iris (Flag). Almost all 

 of the different types of iris succeed best 

 when shaded from very hot sun ; Liliums, 

 all hardy kinds , especially late flowering 

 kinds, like a little shade ; Linaria dalma- 

 tica and L. macedonica ; Lobelia Cardin- 

 alis (Cardinal Flower) ; Lysimachia 

 (Loose-strife), several varieties, espec- 

 ially Lysimachia mumularia (Money- 

 wort), being very useful for planting un- 

 derneath trees ; Lythrum, Purple Loose - 

 strife ; Mentha (Mint) ; Monarda didyma 

 (Bergamot or Oswego Tea ; Nepeta (Cat 

 mint) • Paradisen Liliastrum major (St. 

 Bruno's Lily) ; Podophyllum pelatum 

 (Duck Foot or May Apple) ; Polygona- 

 tum multiflorum (Solomon's Seal) ; Prim- 

 ulas, all of the garden primroses ; Pul- 

 monaria maculate or P. officinalis (Lung- 

 wort) ; Ranunculus acris flore pleno 

 'Double Buttercup or Batchelor's But- 

 ton) ; Saxifraga crassifolia, thrives well 

 nlanted under trees ; Spirea (Meadow 

 Sweet), all herbaceous spireas succeed 

 best in partial shade ; Thalictrum (Mead- 

 ow Rue), several varieties; Tiarella 

 (Foam Flower or False Mitrewort); 

 Trillium grandiflorum (Wake Robin) ; 

 Trollius (Globe Flower), several varie- 

 ties ; Valeriana alba (Garden Heliotrope) ; 

 Vinca minor (Periwinkle), several varie- 

 ties ; Viola (Violet), all of the garden 

 varieties. 



ANNUALS BENEFITTED BY SHADE 



Convolvulus minor (Dwarf Convolvul- 

 us) ; Digitalis (Foxglove) ; Lavatera (An- 

 nual Mallow) ; Lobelia, several varieties 

 Malope grandiora (Large flowering 

 Mallow), Lophospemum scandens, trailing 

 plant ; Maurandya, climber ; Mimulus 

 (Monkey flower) ; Nicotiana affinis and 

 N. sylvestris ; pansies ; Tropaeolum canar- 

 iense (Canary climber). 



There are very few annuals that re- 



quire much shade. Almost all are sun- 

 loving plants of some degree of inten- 

 .sity. 



LAWN PLANTS 



Almos| all greenhouse plants, espec- 

 ially foliage plants, such as palms, au- 

 cuba, Norfolk Island pine, bay trees, 

 rubber plants, aspidistra, ferns and sim- 

 ilar plants are useful to stand out in shel- 

 tered and shady positions on the lawn in 

 summer time. Not only are the plants 

 useful from a decorative point of view 



on the lawn, but this treatment is also 

 very beneficial to them. 



There are a few flowering plants that 

 are also useful for temporary lawn dec- 

 oration in summer for shady positions. 

 Fuchsias, pot hydrangeas, Plumbago 

 capensis, Clivias or Imantophyllums, 

 Agapanthus umbellatum (African Lily), 

 and Japanese lilies are a few of the plants 

 that are very useful for decorating shady 

 positions temporarily during the sum- 

 mer season. 



Fertilizers for the Garden 



Frank T. Shutt, M. A., Dominion Chemist, Ottawa 



BEFORE making recommendations 

 as to fertilizers that will be found 

 useful for general garden purposes 

 and special crops, there are one or two 

 considerations of a fundamental charac- 

 ter that should be discussed. Too much 

 emphasis can scarcely be laid upon the 

 Importance of previous preparation of the 

 soil, not only by thorough cultural meth- 

 ods (including drainage, if necessary) 

 but by liberal dressings of good, prefer- 

 ably rotted, manure, well worked into 

 the soil. No subsequent application of 

 fertilizers can take the place of this treat- 

 ment, though such may very materially 

 increase the yield in some cases where 

 the soil is naturally poor and the supply 

 of manure limited. For the larger num- 

 ber of garden crops, and especially vege- 

 tables, the soil conditions should be such 

 as to induce rapid and continuous 

 growth. 



Quality in vegetables is a most impor- 

 tant desideratum ; it implies succulency, 

 crispness, absence of woody fibre or 

 stringiness, of pungency and bitterness. 

 Vegetables so characterized are the pro- 

 duct of a quick and uninte.Tupted de- 

 velopment and to ensure this growth 

 there must be a warm, moist, mellow, 

 well aerated loam with a large reserve of 

 available plant food. Such a soil can be 

 obtained and maintained only by a con- 

 stant enrichment with humus-forming 

 material, the very best source of which 

 is manure. The use of fertilizers must 

 be supplemental to and not as a substi- 

 tute for manure, for fertilizers can do 

 little towards making the soil an agree- 

 able habitat for plants though they may 

 be of the greatest value in performing 

 one important function of the soil, the 

 furnishing of available food for plant 

 growth and reproduction. 



NATURE OF FEETILIZER8 



Commercial fertilizers are materials 

 that supply nitrogen, phosphoric acid 

 and potash — the three essential elements 

 of fertility — in a more or less readily 

 available form. Their value depends sim- 

 ply and solely on the percentages of 

 these elements they contain and the 

 availability of this plant food. Lack of 

 space will prevent any consideration in 



the present article of the nature, com- 

 position and origin of the numerous 

 substances used as fertilizers and Ln 

 the making of commercial fertilizers as 

 found on the market. Many of them are 

 chemical compounds such as nitrate of 

 soda, and sulphate of potash, others are 

 by-products from manufactories of vari- 

 ous kinds, such as basic slag. The in- 

 telligent gardener would do well to make 

 him.self conversant with their nature by 

 consulting some work on the subject, 

 such as "Fertilizers," by Voorhees (Mac- 

 millan Co.), or "Manures and Fertili- 

 zers," by A. D. Hall (Murray), both ex- 

 cellent books. 



PHOSPHORIO AOTD AND POTASH 



One or two words must be said on the 

 particular function or part played by nit- 

 rogen, phosphoric acid and potash, since 

 such will be of assistance in compound- 

 ing fertilizers for special purposes. While 

 all three are necessary for growth, nit- 

 rogen is the dominant element of fertil- 

 ity ; its outstanding property is to pro- 

 mote leafy growth. Deficiency in nitro- 

 gen results in stunted growth, with yel- 

 low and sickly foliage. Excess in the soil 

 of this element will induce a large de- 

 velopment of stem and leaf, prolong the 

 vegetative period and retard seed forma 

 tion. On the other hand excess of avail- 

 able phosphoric acid shortens the grow- 

 ing period and hastens seed formation, 

 and the ripening of the crop. It is par- 

 ticularly valuable in wet seasons and on 

 "late" soils in districts subject to early 

 frosts. 



Potash is needed more especially for 

 the changes that take place within the 

 plant and which result in the conversion 

 of the crude food materials absorbed by 

 root and leaf into the substances form- 

 ing the various vegetable tissues. Its 

 function in aiding starch formation is a 

 valuable one. It is this property that 

 makes potassic fertilizers so useful for the 

 potato crop. Possibly, like nitrogen, ex- 

 cess of potash delays maturity ; a de- 

 ficiency in potash has a marked effect 

 in retarding the plant's normal develop- 

 ment. These considerations point to the 

 desirability of a fairly well balanced fer- 

 tilizer, that is, one containing all three 



