132 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral Edition 



Lucie — Light yellow, and of value for 

 its season; The earliest in my garden of 

 light colors, and a fairly good flower too. 



Majestic — The color is ordinary, and 

 the spike poor. Pire it, brothers. 



Mary Pickford — A rather peculiar 

 white with lemon tints in the throat but 

 still quite nice. 



Mrs. Bothin — The finest in color of 

 all the Diener varieties that I have 

 grown. Lighter than Mrs. Pendleton, 

 and of the same type, with colors that 

 blend better. Mrs. Walsh of the same 

 grower looked better at St. Thomas, 

 but I do not fancy the colors so much, 

 and the price is an obstacle. 



Mrs. Norton— One of the great ones, 

 but none too easy of attainment. Next 

 year it ought to be cheap, and a well- 

 grown spike is something to be proud of. 



Nymph (Coleman)— Flesh pink, with 

 lighter throat. A tempting description 

 and better than it sounds. The best of 

 Joe Coleman's that has bloomed for me; 

 A great spike, two feet long, with 

 flowers up to five and a half inches. 



Pres. C. C. Moore— Lots of name, 

 but there would have been no loss, if it 

 had never been disseminated. 



Princepine — When this flowered, it 

 was Princeps, which is a grand flower, 

 but not easy, and never a good spike. 



Prim Beauty — Very fine again, though 

 some of my friends are derisive of my 

 enthusiasm, five feet high with a fine 

 spike of good flowers. The best of the 

 prims with me. 



Purple Glory — Another of Kundred's 

 great ones. At St. Thomas, this took 

 the award for, "Finest spike in the 

 show." Some praise! It is not purple 

 though, but a dark garnet, with a Httle 

 purplish tinge. 



Pythia, — Not a good color, but one 

 whose flowers open exceptionally wide, 

 and makes a fine show. Probably not 

 worth the high price. 



Rose Luisante — A lemon flower with 

 extensive rose edgings. A pretty com- 

 bination, and good enough to grow in 

 spite of its small size. 



Snow Glory— A pretty good one, that 

 would doubtless become more popular 

 if offered at a more moderate price. 



Superba — A grand red flower, but the 

 color seemed dull against some others. 

 When I first saw it at Detroit show, it 

 was outstanding, and the fact that Joe 

 Coleman introduces it is strong evid- 

 ence, but it developed no enthusiasm in 

 me in 1921. If we had more men Uke 

 Coleman, there would be less money 

 wasted on novelties that belong in the 

 ordinary mixture. Pretty soon it may 

 be time to discuss originators with the 

 same candor that we apply to varieties. 

 Might do them good too. Some of 

 them have put out some really great 

 things, and, trading on their reputation, 

 have sold a lot of worthless stuff, with 

 here and there a good one thrown in. 

 The men who refrain from such practices 

 deserve our heartfelt commendation 



Success with Dahlias 



W. E. Groves, Hamilton 



LIBERAL culture, well drained soil, 

 with sufficient moisture are each 

 indispensable to success, but given 

 these, there are no great difficulties. 

 The tuber of green plant whichever is 

 chosen should be planted about five to 

 six inches deep according to soil texture. 

 May, June and early July being suitable 

 times. It is well to avoid too early 

 planting, and June is possibly the ideal 

 month for this operation. Deep digging 

 before planting is more essential than 

 heavy manuring, planting in a hard pan 

 being a complete waste of time. 



If best results are looked for, a handful 

 of a cool fertilizer may be given each 

 plant, bonemeal being a safe and ideal 

 food to apply. It is surprising how 

 much bonemeal the dahlia will absorb 

 and being slow in action the soil is im- 

 proved for more than one year by its 

 application. The phosphoric acid con- 

 tained in bonemeal provides a steady, 

 safe supply of this essential element. 

 For intensifying the color of blooms 

 potash in some form is helpful, and 

 there is perhaps no better medium for 

 this purpose than wood ashes. This 

 may be given to the plants just when 

 coming into bloom, and caa be easily 

 raked in. 



Deep cultivation is necessary, a depth 

 of four inches being about right. Weeds 

 are kept down and moisture conserved 

 by this method. When the plants are 

 coming into bloom shallower cultiva- 

 tion should be practiced, the feeding 

 roots at this time being near the surface. 

 One to two inches should be the rule 

 from then on. Cultivation will help 

 largely to produce good dahlias in any 

 soil. Neglett in this connection spells 

 failure though every other condition be 

 provided. Some varieties may need 

 suppprt during the growing season, and 

 for this purpose a strong stake should be 

 provided to which the plant may be 

 loosely tied. 



Ferns for the Shady Corner 



A GROUP of fine ferns makes a 

 splendid display in the flower 

 garden where a suitable place can 

 be found. Make the conditions as near 

 as possible under which the fern lives in 

 its native haunts. The ideal place for 

 ferns is where the tree tops are suffi- 

 ciently thick to merely break the direct 

 rays of the sun during the early part of 

 the day. Where the shelter of trees 

 cannot be obtained, an east or north- 

 west exposure may be used. In these 

 locations they may be protected by a 

 fence from the biting north and east 

 winds. 



Ferns should be lifted while the 

 ground is wet, either early in the spring 

 before the ground is dried out or im- 

 mediately after a rain. Select the fern 



most pleasing to your fancy and after 

 cutting the top off, if it has grown to 

 any size, lift carefully with a spade, 

 leaving as much of the soil as pos.sible 

 around the roots. Wrap immediately in 

 a piece of burlap to keep earth and roots 

 intact until you are ready to plant. 

 After planting, give a tho^ough water- 

 ing, and put on a two-inch mulch of 

 pine needles, moss, sawdust, or any- 

 thing that will prevent the rapid evapor- 

 ation of the moisture. Ferns may be 

 removed any time during the summer 

 though spring is best. 



To prepare a bed for ferns dig out the 

 space to the depth of 12 or 1'6 inches 

 and fill with a compost of two parts 

 leaf mould, three parts meadow soil or 

 well-rotted sod, one part well-rotted 

 cow-manure and one part sand. Add 

 one pint of charcoal to each bushel of 

 the mixture. 



After the plants are well started, they 

 may be given liquid foods in consider- 

 able quantities, such as pulverized cow 

 or sheep manure, one ounce to two 

 gallons or potash one ounce to five 

 gallons of water. 



Sweet Peas 



FREQUENTLY in warm weather, 

 sweet peas are attacked by the 

 red spider and green fly and to 

 keep these down there is nothing better 

 than the use of tobacco extract (which 

 is sold under various trade names.) A 

 teaspoonlul to a gallon of water, used 

 in a sprayer will be found very satis- 

 factory. A small quantity of whale oil 

 soap thoroughl}' dissolved in warm 

 water (and strained) added to the so- 

 lution is helpful as it better adheres to 

 the plants. 



If there is a protracted period of 

 damp weather, the leaves may show a 

 tendency to mould and for this a dust- 

 ing with a mixture of two parts of lime 

 and one of sulphur will be found of 

 good service. 



The cause of the blighting of sweet 

 peas, using the word blighting in the 

 general sense, can be summarized as 

 follows : 



Sour soil. 



Shallow top soil. 



Shallow ploughing or spading. 



Use of green manure. 



Excessive use of fertilizers. 



Wrong use of fertilizers. 



Too late planting. 



Improper watering. 



Improper location. 



The remedy lies in the observance of 

 these causes. — The Flower Grower. 





The best time of the year to plant 

 peonies and iris is during the latter part 

 of August and September. When 

 planted at this time, new roots are 

 made before freezing weather, and when 

 spring arrives the plants are ready to 

 begin their growth 



