I89I. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



195 



less trouble than they can raise annuals, 

 and at no greater cost. June is a good time 

 to sow them, but it can be done in July or 

 August; if, however, during the former 

 month a somewhat shady place should be 

 selected. 



The seedlings may be allowed to grow 

 where they start until spring, thinning out 

 as needful, or they may be transplanted to 

 the bed proper in early autumn. The first 

 method is preferable for many reasons; they 

 attain greater vigor by not beiug disturbed, 

 and the trouble of removal will be confined 

 to such only as survive. If started, how- 

 ever, in June, the case is different. 



In a large garden, unless previously 

 stocked, with wise forethought, there will 

 always be vacancies during the season, and 

 it is well to have a surplus of plants at hand 

 to fill those places. I have saved many per- 

 ennials, and some annuals, to meet this de- 

 mand. I have packets of mixed biennials 

 and perennials, embracing 250 varieties, and 

 also a packet of miscellaneous seeds, em- 

 bracing 1,000 varieties, which will be sown 

 this month in an out-of-the-way bed, from 

 which selections can be made, if needed, 

 and the rest make a wild surprise garden. 



Arahis alba.— I have not seen any men- 

 tion in the periodicals of this charming, 

 early blooming, hardy perennial. Three 

 years ago I sowed a packet of seeds and now 

 have quite a patch, from less than half-a- 

 dozen seedlings. Rock Cress, as it is some- 

 times called, comes into bloom with the 

 Crocuses, and during two months is such a 

 mass of whiteness as to hide the foliage en- 

 tirely. It is of a low, creeping habit, and 

 bears its clusters of flowers like the Candy- 

 tuft. Its long duration of bloom is produced 

 by a succession of new shoots. It increases 

 very rapidly, and, from its hardiness, is ad- 

 mirably adapted for cemetery planting. 

 Sow a packet for next spring's blooming. 



Field Notes of a Horticulturist. 



L. B. PIEBCK, SUMMIT CO., O. 



I have twice plowed up about a third of 

 an acre of lawn, with a view to regrading 

 and getting it in permanent form, but each 

 time was prevented from doing anything 

 further. Last year I went at the same plat 

 with a view to doing it piece-meal. 



This like installment buying of any kind 

 costs more in the end, but it has its advan- 

 tages, as one can put in odds and ends of 

 labor and time. For example I had a bit of 

 ground that had been occupied with an 

 evergreen nursery. The carriage drive 

 from the street crossed this diagonally, and 

 this was cleared and excavated and twenty 

 feet on either side graded with a rise from 



In two cases where the higher ground 

 covered a square yard or more, I carefully 

 rolled back the turf and taking out the sur- 

 plus earth, spaded the sub-soil and then re- 

 placed the turf. Some soil excavated from 

 an adjoining greenhouse furnace pit was 

 used to All the holes. Thus with little 

 trouble, this uneven piece of ground has 

 been brought to a uniform surface, which, 

 if I choose, can be at any time spaded deep- 



high, and only two feet in diameter, a Black 

 Willow, growing from the stock of a Kil- 

 marmock Willow once standing there, re- 

 mained from the nursery before spoken of. 

 The Willow has been cut down several 

 times, but persistently sprouts up, and each 

 spring presents a beautiful array of yellow 

 catkins against a background of green Pine. 

 Of themselves there was little beauty in 

 grouping and still less sense in arrange- 



OOOOOO^OOOOOOOODOOClOO 



STREET 



The Orounds shown opposite, with suggestions for certain charges in the Arrangment. 



A Three-itt-one Amateur (Jreenhouse. 



the drive of about one foot in the twenty. 

 The remaining part of the ntirsery stood 

 thus for four years, when all the trees were 

 disposed of. It was then a tough sod with 

 many holes and a few little hillocks. 

 Several specimen trees were left growing. 

 It was apparent that plowing would not 

 make the matter any better, so I took a 

 sharp spade and pared down the excrescen- 

 ces throwing them into the depressions. 



ly, fertilized, raked, and seeded, not all at 

 once, but in small sections. 



The same course Is being taken in the 

 larger piece referred to. Its general surface 

 is all right, and except in one corner re- 

 quires no cutting down. This makes it easy 

 work as I can at odd times fill in the depres- 

 sions with earth. 



The corner that is too high will be plowed 

 and the sod thrown in piles to rot, and then 

 it may be wheeled to where it is wanted. 

 If put in thin layers the grass will grow 

 up through, but if it does not, a little stable 

 manure from animals fed on hay, scattered 

 over the surface will quickly grass it over. 

 But says some over-critical 

 reader: "A fine lawn can only 

 be obtained by deeply pulveriz- 

 ing the soU and good seeding." 

 Generally speaking, this is true, 

 and only thorough work should 

 be done in new places where 

 the coast is clear, as such work 

 always pays. But at this time 

 there are thousands of places 

 where the trees already growing 

 will not permit a general tear- 

 ing up of the surface, yet the 

 owners desire to obtain a good 

 even lawn, to such the method 

 indicated mil bring relief. 

 Again I know parties who have waited 

 for years for time and a little spare cash, to 

 overhaul their door yards, who if they had 

 done so piece meal, a little every spring and 

 fall, might now have beautiful lawns. 



The gradual process may be used to ad- 

 vantage in planting shrubbery. In my case 

 a Red or Norway Pine, a Norway Spruce, 

 two dwarf Pines growing close together, a 

 singular Norway Spruce, short, seven feet 



ment of these accidental trees left In the 

 nursery, but I set to work to make them a 

 nucleus of something that would in time 

 grow to be of value as a group. So I have 

 since planted six dwarf evergreens, a Tar- 

 tarian Honeysuckle, which is now nine feet 

 high and six feet broad. A Golden Spirea 

 opufolia, a .Japan Quince, a rare Weigela; 

 and one part of the clump is a flower bed at 

 present devoted to odds and ends from the 

 greenhouse. 



A Pleasing Home Greenhouse. 



The adjoining sketch of a greenhouse at- 

 tached to a home, has been re-engraved 

 from the catalogue of Messenger & Co., 

 London, England, who build various styles 

 of glass structures for amateurs. Its ad- 

 vantages are that it is constructed to give 

 the least obstruction to light and sun, with 

 great strength and rigidity. 



The plan provides, in fact, three separate 

 houses within a small compass, thus suiting 

 the glass to plants of varying needs. For 

 instance, one part might be fitted with heat- 

 ing apparatus to insure a stove temperature; 

 another part, say the larger, center one, for 

 an intermediate house with a night tempera- 

 ture of from 5.5 to 65 degrees, and the third 

 to be a cool greenhouse. 



Moreover, the design of the structure is 

 decidedly pleasing, just as one should de- 

 sire to have a greenhouse that adjoins the 

 residence. And this is obtained without re- 

 sorting to curves in the roof, a point that 

 woxild tell when it came to paying the car- 

 penter and glazier's bills. 



Tnlips Coming Blind. The temperature was 

 too liigh. Bulbs may have been selected that 

 were not old enough to flower.— F. W. S. 



