FLOWER QUESTIONS ANSWERED. 



397 



unfit for a small garden. I, however, grow 

 three each year in my little garden, and 

 their handsome leaves and luxuriant growth 

 I continually admire. Gerard (about 1569) 

 describes this plant under the name of 

 " Flower of the Sun," marigold of Perii, 

 " that it grew in his garden in Holborn 

 (London, Eng.) 14 feet high, with flowers 

 16 inches across." These large flowers 

 have been known to contain more than 2,300 

 seeds. The seeds are excellent for fatten- 

 ing poultry, and the oil from the seeds 

 makes good salad oil. 



SCABIOUS — SCABIOSA. 



This flower is found in the Caucasus, 

 Phrygia and south of Europe, and is known 

 as the Pincushion Flower, Blue Bonnet, 

 Blue Buttons, Gypsies Rose, Devil's Bit, 



Ground Ivy in Lawn 



PROF H. L. HUTT, ONT. AGRI. COLIvEGE^ 



GUEIvPH. 



The grass on a portion of my lawn is being 

 smothered by a noxious weed, a specimen of 

 which I enclose. It seems impossible to destroy 

 it. Kindly state best means to eradicate the 

 weed. — ^(J. Gardner, Bayfield, Ont. 



The weed is the Ground Ivy (Nepeta 

 Glechoma) , one of the creeping species of 

 the mint family. This plant has been used 

 largely as a trailer- in the making up of 

 hanging baskets, but when it escapes from 

 such cultivation it becomes a very trouble- 

 some weed in the lawn. It has a creeping- 

 stem, which works through the grass and 

 strikes root at every joint. 



In moist shady places it often crowds out 

 the grass entirely. It has, however, very 

 shallow roots, and the easiest way to get rid 

 of it is to remove a couple of inches of the 

 surface soil in which it is growing so as to 

 entirely remove the rooting portions of the 

 stem and replace with fresh sod or soil. If 

 soil is used instead of sod, a fine surface 

 should be made and lawn grass may be 

 sown at any time, preferably early in the 

 spring. 



and the purple one as the Mournful Widow. 

 It derives its name from Scabies, because the 

 common sort is said to cure this and other 

 cutaneous complaints, and on this account 

 it is fabled that the devil having found the 

 plant in Paradise, and envying the good this 

 herb might do to the human race, bit away 

 a part of the root in order to destroy the 

 plant, but which still continues to flourish 

 with a stumped root, and hence one of the 

 species is called Devil's Bit. The Scabiosa 

 is an old favorite, and of late years has been 

 greatly improved. The plant is 12 to 24 

 inches high, the flowers are white, pink, 

 scarlet, crimson and maroon, borne on long 

 wiry stems, and excellent for bouquets. It 

 is an attractive flower in the garden. 



Pests on Clematis Vines 



W. T. MACOUN, CENTRAL EXPER. FARM. 



I have two clematis, a Jackmanii and a 

 Henryi, which were attacked last year in a 

 rather peculiar manner. A stem would sud- 

 denly wither and ^le down to the ground, a lit- 

 tle while after another would do the same, until 

 the Jackmanii appeared to be completely dead. 

 The Henryi had only two or three stems killed. 

 Both are alive and growing again this year, but 

 a few days ago one stem of the Henrya 

 wilted down as last year. What is the cause ? 

 Have looked for insects at roots. Would the 

 trouble be caused by dogs ? Other flowers are 

 not affected in the least degree. — (E. Gurney, 

 Hespeler. 



The large flowering clematis are fre- 

 quently affected with a disease caused by a 

 very small nematode worm which works on 

 the roots of plants, causing the whole top to 

 die or part of it at a time. This little worm 

 does most damage to young plants in the 

 greenhouse, and it is supposed that it is 

 brought from the greenhouse outside with 

 the plants. 



The best remedy known is to allow the 

 soil in which the plants are growing to 

 freeze to a considerable depth, as it is be-* 

 lieved that this will destroy the nematodes. 

 The insects at the roots would not be 

 noticed as thev are verv small. 



