62 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edition. 



ihe piTfiiniul IjDidur in the (,'araen oi .\lr. A. u. Palmer, Hamilton, is a source of much plea- 

 sure. On the right may be seen lilium auratum. .-Kt the rear of the fence border is rose color 



phlox. Note the bird house. 



handsomest of the species and pro- 

 duces erect, showy clusters of pale, 

 rose-colored flowers during the first 

 week in June. The foliage is beauti- 

 ful and characteristic. Syringa japon- 

 ica is from Japan, and approaches more 

 nearly to the size of a tree than any 

 other lilae. It has enormous white 

 flower clusters about the end of .June, 

 and is the latest of all lilacs to flower. 

 Syringa oMata comes from northern 

 China, and is about the earliest of the 

 lilacs to bloom, and is sometimes in 

 flower about April 26th. It is the only 

 one that has handsomely colored foli- 

 age in the fall, and turns to a deep 

 scarlet red. Syringa Wolfii is another 

 new lilac from western China, and 

 flowered with us for the first time last 

 spring, and is of a deep shade of lilac, 

 with flowers produced in great profus- 

 ion. 



All of the species of lilacs can be 

 easily raised from seed, which should 

 be sowed as soon as ripe. Varieties 

 can be budded, grafted, raised from 

 green cuttings, layers, or suckers (pro- 

 vided the suckers are taken from vari- 

 eties that are upon their own roots). It 

 is always preferable to have varieties 

 upon their own roots, but they are 

 usually hard to obtain. Green cuttings 

 should be taken as soon as the wood 

 has made its full growth, about the 

 first or second week in June, and placed 

 in four to five inches of sharp sand in 

 a hot-bed in which sufficient stable 

 manure has been packed to create good 

 bottom heat. The sashes should be 

 kept closed for several weeks and shad- 

 ed from sunshine at all times of the 

 day by cotton-cloth three feet away 

 from the glass. The cuttings should 

 never be allowed to become dry. They 

 should be well rooted by August or 

 September, and they can either be pot- 

 ted and kept in a cool green-house or 

 planted in a frame and protected 



throughout the first winter. 



The next best method of propagation 

 is to wedge graft on the roots of the 

 California Privet, using two-year-old 

 privet stock, the roots need not be 

 more than three inches long. This 

 should be done about the first of Feb- 

 ruary. The graft? should be placed in 

 "flats" about four inches deep, deep 

 enough for the unions to be covered 

 with soil. If the flats are placed on a 

 green-house bench with bottom heat 

 and a moderate temperature overhead 

 not to exceed fifty-five degrees, they 

 will soon unite and root. They can be 

 planted out in the nursery about the 

 middle of May. If this stock is planted 

 sufficiently deep it invariably gets on 

 its own roots and the privet ultimately 

 disappears and dies. 



Buddin;^ on to the California Privot 

 is practised in many nurseries. They 

 grow witli tremendous vigor for a few 

 years, but ficcording to our observ.a- 

 tions they are short lived. Budding on 

 to the common lilac stock is oiteu re- 

 sorted to, but in this case there has to 

 be a constant repressing of suckers, and 

 if ordinary vigilance is neglec+ed fiie 

 graft will soon be overpowered, [iayi^i-- 

 ing is an easy method, but requires pa- 

 tience, riiis should be done in spring 

 and it takes about two vears beforf the 

 layer is fit to be disturbed. 



A selection of the most distinct vari- 

 eties of 'ilacs, including some of the 

 newer ones and some older standard 

 kinds would be as follows: Single 

 flowered, in shades of purple-red, vio- 

 let-red, and carmine-red; Danton, Ca- 

 vour, Pasteur, Milton, Reaumur, Negro, 

 Congo, Toussaint 1' Overture, and 

 Uncle Tom. Single flowered, in shades 

 of blue to bluish mauve; Beautre, Gil- 

 bert, Crampel, coerulea superba, and 

 Colmariensis. Single flowered, in 

 shade of bright lilac pink; macros- 

 tachia, lilarosa, amoena, Schermer- 



hornii, and Lovaniensis. Single flow- 

 ered white; Vestale, Madame Florent 

 Stcpman, Virginalia, Kate Ilarlin, 

 Princess Alexandra, Marie LeGraye, 

 and Frau Bertha Daniman. Double 

 flowered, :n shades of purple-red, vio- 

 let-red, and carmine-ied ; Charles Jolv, 

 Paul Ilariot, Stadtgartner Ilothpletz, 

 De Saussure, La tour d' Auvergne, and 

 Matechal de Ba.ssompiere. 



Double flowered in shades of blue 

 to bluish-mauve; Marc Micheli, Maur- 

 ice de Viliiiorin, President Viger, Con- 

 dorcet, Godroy, Viviand Morel, Abel 

 Carriere, O'ivier de Serres, and Victor 

 Lemoine. Double flowered in shades of 

 light pink; Louis Henry, Edouard An- 

 dre, Conite de Kerchove, \Valdeck Ros- 

 seau, and JIadame Jules Finger. 

 Double flowered white ; Madame Lemo- 

 ine, Miss Ellen Willmott, Jeaiie d'Arc, 

 Dame Blanche, Obelisque, Madame de 

 Miller, and Madame Casimir Perier. 



Ginseng Growing 



Wm. Cilgour, Peterboro, Out. 



There are two varieties of ginseng, 

 Canadian and American. In the au- 

 tumn of 1903 I received several hun- 

 dred ginseng roots, purchnsed from a 

 grower in Joplin, Missouri, U.S.A. 

 Two hundred of the roots were three 

 years old. They came up the following 

 spring and made a Ihrifly growth all 

 summer, but not one of the seeds ripen- 

 ed. They grew on late into October, 

 when the first heavy frost cut them 

 down. These roots were accustomfd to 

 a longer growing .season in their native 

 climate, hence their failure to ripen, ex- 

 cept in favorable seasons, when planted 

 in the north. 1 saw by the latter part 

 of September that I would have no rijje 

 seeds from those plants. I hf-ard of a 

 man who had a small plot of ginseng in 

 the backwoods so I drove thirty miles 

 north of the city to his place and bought 

 one thousand roots — all the one, two, 

 and three year old plants he had. The 

 following summer, the three-year-old 

 plants of this lot produced a fine crop 

 of scd. They were all ripe and har- 

 vested by the middle of September. The 

 nati\e root has this advantage over the 

 southern. We have a f^ill crop of ripe 

 seeds, and we can dig the roots for 

 market early in September and dry them 

 in the sun. 



Look for scale and mealy bug on * 

 ferns and other house plants. To rid 

 the plants of the insects wash with soap 

 and water, using a soft sponge or 

 brush, then cleanse with clear water. 

 Rain water is better than well water, 

 since it does not contain alkali, which 

 often leaves white streaks on the 

 leaves. 



