86 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



January, 



53T. Pruning Evergreens. As you do nnt give the 

 names of the eversreens you lefer to it is difficult to 

 give precise directlous, but as a general rule Spruces, 

 I'ines and Firs may have the ends of the shoots pinched 

 hack while they are yet young and tender; while Arbor 

 Vltjes, Box and others of a more compact growth may 

 be tltmmed back more severely with the shears as soon 

 as the young growth is sufBclentiy hardened.— C. E. P. 



Sod. Salt for Quince Trees. Yes. Sprinkle as much 

 salt around the Quince as will make the ground look 

 barely white all around the trees for 8 to 10 feet in 

 early spring, say 1 to'> qts. to a tree.accordlng to size, 

 and again in Jime. Eveiy other year should be sufflc- 

 ient. The same treatment is excellent for fear trees, 

 especially Dwarfs. If the one application should not 

 Increase the color and health of the foliage do not re- 

 peat, for some soils have sufficient salt.— D. B. W. 



thotigh a few degrees will not do much 

 harm they are quite as well off without it. It 

 is a bad plan to store the plants away for the 

 winter in outhouses where they can receive 

 no attention; they never break so regularly 

 and well in the spring if they get entirely 

 dry during winter, though it is very little 

 water that they want for three or four 

 months in the dormant season. Well made 

 standards must indeed be kept growing 

 slowly all winter. 



Old plants kept over mainly for bloom 

 should be pruned In February and placed in 

 mild heat, and as soon as they begin to 



The Culture of Fuchsias. 



The Fuchsia needs no praise, and the 

 sub.iect of its cultivation may be summed 

 up in comparatively few remarks. 



The plants require to be grown rather 

 fast, and therefore a starving system 

 must not be practiced. They love warmth 

 and moisture, and some amount of sun- 

 shine. They cannot endure a dry soil or 

 a dry air, and a long-continued roasting 

 glare of sunshine. No matter whether 

 you wish to grow nice little bvishes for 

 a small greenhouse or the sitting-room 

 window, or for sale as pot plants, or 

 giant pyramids for a flower show, the 

 routine practice will be nearly the same 

 and must be given careful attention. 



If grand specimens are desired take 

 cuttings in September, but if only plants 

 of moderate size, take them in spring 

 as soon as you can get them. In the 

 month of December or January prune a 

 few old plants into shape and put them 

 in a temperature of (50 degrees, and keep 

 them regularly syringed. In the course 

 of a month they will supply you with 

 any number of cuttings, and to strike 

 these is the simplest task in plant 

 propagation. 



In the earliest moment the cuttings 

 should he potted off into bright two-inch 

 or small three-inch pots, and soon after 

 be shifted into four-inch and so on 

 according to size. It is a bad plan to 

 over-pot at any time (but they should 

 not get much pot-bound), for the roots 

 are too slow in finding their way into 

 the fresh soil, and the whole mass may, in 

 consequence, get sour. 



For a coTiipost use two parts nice flbry 

 loam and one part thoroughly decayed ma- 

 nure, with a little well rotten leaf mold or 

 rotten hops, and a good sprinkling of sharp 

 sand. The soil should be used rough; the 

 larger the pot the more lumjiy should the 

 soil be. The pots should be moderately well 

 drained and the plants potted firm, but not 

 rammed too hard. If the plants do well they 

 will make five to seven-inch pot specimens 

 suitable for exhibiting in September. 



Sometimes the plants will throw side 

 shoots close to the soil, and at others they 

 will not do so without stopping. But at all 

 times it is as well to niip the top out when 

 they get about a foot high; it strengthens 

 the .side shoots. For dwarf bushes the young 

 plants must be stopped when eight or nine 

 inches high, the young shoots again .stopped 

 and then trained out neatly with sticks. The 

 main stem must have a good stout stake to 

 keep it upright. The plants .should not be 

 stopped for si.\ weeks to two months before 

 they are expected to be in flower. 



For growing trees or standards no training 

 is required beyond rubbing off the side 

 shoots, and letting the main stem run up to 

 whatever height is required. It must then 

 be topped and allowed to throw out shoots, 

 which must be pinched twice or three times 

 to form a handsome head. 



Fuchsia plants kept over summer should 

 be stood out-of-doors, at least toward au- 

 tumn, to ripen the wood, but they should be 

 housed before any severe frost sets in, for 



A YOUNG POT FUCHSIA. 



break take them out of the pots and remove 

 as much of the old soil from them as you 

 can without in,iuring the roots, and put 

 them into pots two sizes smaller, or in the 

 same pots again, and keep them well syr- 

 inged from the time they are started until 

 they begin to flower. 



From .50° to tiO' is a good heat for growing 

 B'uchslas at all times, but if they are wanted 

 to be in flower at any particular time they 

 will stand 70" to 80"; but of course the wood 

 is much longer jointed when they are grown 

 in a high temperature. It is not advisable 

 to shade the plants much, though they will 

 not stand much sunshine. 



There can be no better liquid manure 

 than is made by putting fresh horse drop- 

 pings into a tub of soft water, and to use the 

 solution quite clear and considerably diluted. 

 It should be near the same temperature as the 

 house the plants are in, even one or two 

 degrees warmer; colder it ought not to be. It 

 is not well to play the syringe on the plants 

 when they are in flower, for the spla.shing 

 of the water disfigures the leaves. 



The Plant Houses not to be Closed 



The stronger advocates of the use of hardy 

 plants for the adornment of lawns anil 

 flower gardens advance as a main argu- 

 ment the saving the expense of annual 

 propagation and wintering over of large 

 numbers of tender plants. Bearing, as the 

 argument is supposed to do, directly on the 

 purse, it no doubt carries much weight. 

 And yet we must not forget that the two 



classes referred to are so essentially distinct 

 in their beautifying qualities that no true 

 gardener can or ever will entertain the idea 

 of giving up either the one or the other. 



If the yearly bedding out of tender plants 

 is more costly than the planting and keep- 

 ing up of a border of hardy perennials, 

 there are compensations, too, that go far 

 towards reconciling the increased expense. 

 There is, for one, the much prized advantage 

 of brilliancy of color and continuity of 

 bloom In a compact form, which can 

 never be adequately met in hardy plants 

 alone. The quick response in a handsome 

 display of flowers, foliage and forms, fol- 

 lowing on the investment for the plant- 

 ing stock is another merit in favor of the 

 latter, viewing the matter, as we are 

 largely bound to do, from the popular 

 standpoint. Then, too, the bedding out 

 system tends to enlarge the taste for 

 flowers and plants through drawing out 

 in the vicinity of every fair green- 

 house of perhaps half a dozen cultivators 

 of flowers in beds, vases and pots, for 

 every one to be found making a respect- 

 able show with hardy plants alone. The 

 fact that the cultivation of tender plants 

 in the summer out-of-doors serves di- 

 i-ectly to the increased culture of the 

 same as house plants, in keeping them 

 over the winter, must also be regarded. 



True the bedding out system has often 

 been very badly represented in those 

 gardens where it has been undertaken, 

 even on a large and expensive scale. But 

 the fault has risen mainly through a 

 lack of appreciation of the effects of 

 color and arrangement. We have not a 

 word against bright colors. They are as 

 indispensable as are the fine and free 

 forms of growth that are among the 

 marks of the hardy border from early to 

 late. In either case if there be faults 

 they come from the misuse of the ma- 

 terials employed. 



But what about the employment of 

 hardy herbaceous plants alone in the 

 flower garden? Shall we revert to the 

 condition of gardens before the bedding- 

 out system, mth what may perchance 

 have developed in it that is bad, opened the 

 eyes of the masses to the beauty of flowers? 

 Shall we not rather change what may be 

 bad to the better in the bedding out system, 

 and at the same time add all we can of the 

 beautiful, whether they be tender or hardy, 

 annual or perennial, to the number of our 

 out-tloor decorative plants? 



We must also not forget that the treat- 

 ment of hardy plants from a decorative 

 pomt of view is in many cases qiaite as bad 

 as ordinary bedding ever could be. 



Passing through gardens we often hear 

 the remark that there is always something 

 charmingly new and interesting coming 

 out among herbaceous plants as the growth 

 and flowers unfold. It is a point to be ap- 

 preciated at its full value. At the same 

 time let us not lose sight of the fact that a 

 great majority of garden possessors are 

 not seeking so much for something specially 

 interesting to the close beholder as bold ef- 

 fects and plenty of flowers. Whether these 

 are tender, half hardy, hardy, or of the 

 many desirable seed-grown annuals, bien- 

 nials or perennials, will not trouble them. 



And whether viewed from the standpoint 

 of the popular flower grower, or from that 

 higher one of the cultivated taste that de- 

 mands the best results for a reasonable out- 

 lay, it must be admitted that the last named 

 end is attainable only as we assume the at- 

 titude of slighting the use of no particular 

 section of plants. At any rate, unless 

 guided by very stringent motives of econ- 

 omy, the most gratifying results can never 

 be reached with the greenhouse doors closed. 



