SOMETiILSG ABOUT FLOWERS. 



75 



with the dignity of the forest tree, and all 

 the grace of the weeping willow, the archi- 

 tecture and handiwork of God, of which 

 the eye never tires, and one leaves it re- 

 freshed and delighted. 



Individual trees planted by famous men 

 and women are often to be seen by those 

 who visit the old land. About a century 

 ago there was quite a fashion for planting 

 willows. It is recorded the first weeping 

 willow (Salix Babylonica) was introduced 

 into England in a rather novel way by Alex- 

 ander Pope, the well knowai poet, who re- 

 sided at Twickenham, who received a bas- 



ket of figs from Turkey. He was told that 

 the basket was made from the branches of 

 willows, the very same species under which 

 the captive Jews sat when they wept by the 

 w^aters of Babylon. Being associated with 

 so much that was interesting he untwisted 

 the basket and planted some of the branches, 

 -taappily the willow is very quick to take 

 root and grow, which they did, and one soon 

 became a tree and drooped gracefully over 

 the river in the same manner that its race 

 had done over the waters of Babylon. It 

 is said that from this source all the w'eeping 

 willows are descended. 



CHRYSANTHEMUNS IN THE GARDEN 



G. H. MILLS, 



DO not try to grow chrysanthemums on 

 a piece of heavy clay ground. They re- 

 quire a nice, medium loam. If you have 

 such soil on the south side of a fence, with- 

 out trees or buildings shading it, you are 

 fortunate. Cover the ground with three 

 inches of old manure and one pound of bone 

 meal to a yard. Early in Alay dig and 

 break up the soil until it is fine, and if the 

 weather is suitable the planting can be done. 

 The plants should be rooted early, say in 

 March, and kept growinr in pnts until 



TOROXTO, ONT. 



planting time. If you want to grow them 

 to a single flower you can plant them six 

 inches apart in the rows and eight inches 

 between the rows, but you can get nearly 

 as good flowers by taking the top off the 

 plants, as they will break and produce three 

 or four shoots. The time to do this top- 

 ping is when they are growing nicely out- 

 side. When hot weather sets in the plants 

 will require lots of water. A mulch of one 

 inch of old manure will prevent the surface 

 of the ground drving and will hold the 



Lilies as Grown in the Great Little Island of Japan. 



Now that most people are thinking of Japan as a warlike country it is a pleasure to find that many of our best lilies come 

 from Jajan. This shows a bed of lilies ^s grown iu Japan under contract for the Steele Briggs Seed Co., of Toronto, as described 

 elscwheie in this issue. 



