i888. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



195 



double, and a very early bloomer. The 

 finest yellow Teas are Perle des Jardins and 

 Etoile de Lyon; large golden flowers borne 

 abundantly all through the season. 



A French Flower Balloon. 



Wliat may be called a novelty in the style 

 of using summer bedding plants is shown 

 illustrated on this page. The figures were 

 re-engraved from the pages of the French 

 journal, RevueHorticole. 

 The mound as here 

 shown is adapted moie 



especially for use m 



parks or other extensn ^ f 

 grounds, but some modi =:_ 

 flcation of it might aKo -;^^ 

 come in very well m jj^. 

 grounds less extenshe 

 As a novelty in summer 

 embellishment, what 

 could be more pleasing 

 than such an arrangi 

 ment on a small scale, 

 using for plants such <is 

 Money vine, Othonn 1 

 Petunias, etc. 



As will be observed b\ 

 the lower engraving'^ 

 the balloon consists ot 

 frame work to contaiii n 

 series of shelves or boxes 

 which, filled with soil, 

 are planted with flower- 

 ing and ornamental 

 leaved plants. 



The base is made in 

 two parts, of T shape, 

 bolted together. Upon 

 the base is placed a 

 kind of oak cask, larger at its base than its 

 summit, and with staves or ribs set at wide 

 distances in order to allow the free passage 

 of rain water, and that from the sprinkling 

 cans. The cask is made in two parts, one 

 with upright staves, and one with staves 

 smaller at the top than at the bottom, the 

 sloping part placed on the top of the other, 

 and fastened together as shown in the en- 

 graving. The whole is covered with an iron 

 rib-work made in two parts and forming a 

 great balloon about eighty inches in diam- 

 eter and one hundred inches in height. The 

 upper extremities of the iron ribs are joined 

 to a large iron hoop, affording space wherein 

 to set astrting Palm or other handsome plant. 



Between the cask and the rib-work is 

 placed a series of inclined siielves, fastetied 

 at their lower edges to the cask, and at their 

 upper to the iron ribs, thus forming stages 

 or boxes to hold soil in which to set plants. 



Flower Chat by " Elders's Wife." 

 I never had apineciated Verbenas until 

 la.st fall. 1 had a fine mixed l)ed of them, 

 and when the frosty nights of autumn came 

 it seemed too bad to leave them out to die 

 by the first frost, and I would like to have 

 taken them all indoors if I could, but I had 

 to content myself with taking a few cuttings 

 which 1 had no idea would grow anyway, 

 but they grew finely, and were quite nice 

 plants before those out-of-doors finally 



and springs up in spring, as soon as the 

 ground is warm. Klowers shaded from deep 

 violet to mauve and white. The crop cream 

 and pale tinted green. A true pa.ssioii flower; 

 native of the Gulf States. 



Pi.tiMBA(!() Ckvi-onica. White Climbing 

 Plumbago from Ceylon, half hardy in lati- 

 tude of Mississippi. This Plumbago is a 

 fine bedding plant for summer, a good win- 

 ter bloomer, and thesnuill white Howers are 

 very elTective worked up in fioral decora- 

 tions. It seeds abund- 

 antly as a common an- 

 nual; makes a large plant 

 the first summer. I have 

 never grown it from 

 slips. I think it is prop- 

 ^^=l§^^^ agated from the young 



ottshoots which appear. 

 Yucca Aleofolia, 



INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION OF THE BALLOON. 



A balloon of this size requires from eight will 

 hundred t<j a thousand plants to fill it. A 

 balloon planted with scarlet Geraniums and 

 placed in the middle of a large lawn is said 

 to produce a tine efTe<:t. But a great variety 

 of plants can be employed, and there is no 

 end to the changes tliat can be nimle. 



Considerable care will be necessary to keep 

 the plants supplied with water, as the soil 

 in the boxes will evaporate it more rapidly 

 than that at the surface of the ground, A 

 firm and level foundation should be secured 

 on which to place the structure. 



A FRENCH FLOWER BALLOON. 



yielded up their lives to the frost king, in 

 fact they were among the last things to suc- 

 cumb, and made their corner of my little 

 garden bright until well into November, and 

 in .January the plants raised from cuttings 

 taken in September were blooming. They 

 do nicely in a south window, close to the 

 glass, if the green aphis can be persuaded to 

 leave them alone. 



Does everybody know what a splendid 

 vine the Scarlet Honeysuckle is? If not let 

 them plant one, they cannot help but be 

 pleased with it. I have one, growing in 

 rather poor .soil (a rather stiff clay loam), 

 and receiving very litte care or attention, 

 which was in continuous lilooni from early 

 in .June until late in November, and the 

 clusters of bright Ijerries remained through 

 the winter to remind me of the departed 

 glory of the fiaming fiowers and lustrous 

 green foliage of summer. 



Some seeds are so dillicult to 

 get to germinate that the ama- 

 teur frequently fails in getting 

 them to do so at all. Some cul- 

 tivatoi-s recommend soaking 

 them in water for hours, or even 

 days, but I like tliis plan better: 

 Plant the seeds in pots or boxes 

 of fine rich earth, and if only 

 slow to start like Cyclamen, 

 Smila.x, etc., water the soil with 

 water as hot as one can put the 

 finger in. Such hard shelled 

 seeds ;vs liantana and Canna 

 bear it boiling hot (Of course the 

 drainage of the pots or boxes must be good). 

 Subsequent watering should be made with 



> called the Spanish Dag- 

 ger, from its sharp 

 jiointed leaves. This 

 Yucca is perfectly hardy. 

 ./ . Stands the hardest treat- 

 ment. I have seen the 

 plants thrown in wiushes 

 and they would root from 

 the trunk without any 

 earth thrown over them. 

 Up to three years this is 

 a very effective plant for 

 the decoration of houses. 

 As far south as New 

 Orleans, where the Fan 

 Palms fill the swamps, 

 this Yucca is used for 

 '4 decorating the Opera 

 Houses throughout the 

 winter. Its seed germi- 

 nate rea<lily. 



L.\GERSTri(EMERIA INDICA. Vick (whO iS 



good authority above Mason and Dixon's 

 line) says the Crape Myrtle is propagated 

 like the Grape-vine. In the South the Crape 

 Myrtle is a shade tree. I have never known 

 it killed by cold. Here we have severe cold 

 weather. The ground is often frozen for a 

 week, and the next week is like balmy spring 

 time and the most trying time on tender 

 plants. We grow the Crape MjTtle from 

 offshoots taken up last of February or 1st 

 of March, just before the leaves burst out. 

 It is grown from seed; and in New Orleans 

 great quantities of the seed is sold, I hiul 

 a seedling which came up in my greenhouse 

 in February. I let it stand and in .June it 

 was (1 inches high, one mass of purple bhjs- 

 soms. Tliey say the trees on my place were 

 the first brought to Mississippi. They were 

 large 30 years ago. The tree is long lived. 



water as warm as the hand will bear. 



Some Southern Plants. 



MR.S. T. A. B. W., RAYMOND. MISS. 



PASfilFLOliA INCARNATA GliENADII.LE, or 



as the .Southern Negroes call it. May Pop, 

 on accoimt of the fruit or seed pixls which 

 hold the seed encased in a juicy pulp some- 

 thing like the Pomegranate, sweeter and 

 more fragrant. The vine dies down in winter 



WK. Shortening Old Eose Bushes. To render 

 yom- Ijii.sbes shnrter than at present we would 

 advise workinfc' nuiinly on the new shoot.* that 

 annnall.v come up from the tj-own. This we 

 would a< eomplish l>y ciittin); away the older 

 canes aomewluit freely <<> Ki\ e the yoiuiff shoots 

 more roiini fi>r development. Then a year later 

 we would cut hack these fresh shoots to si.\ or 

 eight buds, and usain make a free cut at the old 

 ones. By bending over a portion or all of the 

 old shoots and securing tbem in this position 

 more t)uds would start from the crown as a re- 

 sult, and thus admit the sooner of making over 

 the i)ushes. 



'.a. Salt for Orape-yines. Salt would only 

 have value as a fertilizer of Gnipe-\nnes(m dry 

 sandy soils by fiirnLshing them witli more moist- 

 ure. A slight application would do no hainn on 

 any soil, ami sriTuTiilly no good. On reiLSonably 

 good soil good tlinroiigh cultivation is all the 

 native Grape-vine requires. On very poor soil 

 thoroughly i-otted manure eiuiy in the fall anil 

 unbleached ashes in .June are best.~D. 11. W. 



72.5. Bark Coming off Apple Trees. It is causeil 

 by injury from extreme cold, and the e.\pansi<m 

 of ice in the sharp crotches or forks l>y cold 

 splitting the wood and bruising and killing the 

 hark. Such ruptures and bruises are then oftt-n 

 attacked by the wooly aphis or Apple-root louse, 

 causing .still further damage. The remedy is to 

 hang something in the forks that will shed off the 

 water in the fall of the year, to remain over 

 winter and thus to kill the lice.— U. B. W. 



