1885. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



17 



goofl thing wIk'U tliey see it." There is no dis- 

 counting" the common sense of tlie peoi»Ie, that's 

 certain. By tlieui true worth is ajipreciated. 



A teaspoonful of tinc-ture of a.ssafietichi in 

 half a liui'ketful of liijuid nmd, apjilied with a 

 brush to the stem an<l branches of 3'ouug trees, 

 will preserve them from the attacks of rabbits 

 and other pests, without iujui-y to the trees. 

 Two or three applii'ations during the winter 

 will be sufficient. So says the Kinjliuli (larili'ti. 



The Golden-leaved Oak, 

 Qitt'rr}fs Rithur ronrtinliti is 

 one of the handsomest, small- 

 growing lawn trees we know 

 of. The leaves are of a rich 

 yellowish hue. ami present 

 a remai'kably waxy appear- 

 ance. The peculiar color is 

 retained throughout the 

 season, thus rendering the 

 tree most efTeetive for plant- 

 ing in conjunction with 

 " blood- leaved ■' trees, for 

 creating strong contrasts. 

 We notice this tree is offei'ed 

 by Ellwanger & Barry. 

 Rochester, N. Y., and Parsons & Sons, Flush- 

 ing. N. Y. 



Impatiens Sultana. This new Balsam, while 

 not as showy in our garden as we anticipated 

 it would be, still proves very desirable. The 

 gi'owth has been free.' the flowers faii'ly numer- 

 ous since July: perhaps if our seasons now for 

 two ,veai's, had not been both cool and wet, the 

 gi'owth in both, would have went more to bloom 

 and less to plant. We would not however give 

 it up, even a.s a wet season bedder. 



A doable significance attaches itself to the 

 botanical name of the well known Ice Plant. 

 Mcst'inhrijaiithfininn rrystaUinifni. Crystalli- 

 uum refers to the appearance of the watery 

 pustules with which the plant is covered, and 

 which glisten in the sun like fragments of ice. 

 On the other hand, in the Canary fslands 

 where the Ice Plant is at home, large quantities 

 of it aj'e gathered and bui-ned, the ashes being 

 sent to Sijain for use in the making of glass. 



"I read every word of number one" writes an 

 admiring correspondent from Michigan. This 

 we take as the highest fonn of praise for oui- 

 work. There is so much wordj' trashy, reading 

 afloat concerning gardening matters, which no 

 one can caa'e to read, that when in the estimation 

 of readers we succeed in our purpose to make of 

 Popular fiARDEKiNO a paper every word of 

 which is to the point and interesting, we ai'e 

 well jileaseil. 



No objectionable oi- um/outh advertisements 

 will lie admitted into this paper. Gt.iod adver- 

 tisers will thus alwavs find themselves in good 

 company in our columns, with theii" anuounce- 

 uients set up in gooil looking pages. That a 

 better class of readers can be foimd anywhere, 

 before whom t<3 place advertisements, than the 

 readei-s of Popular Gardening, no one will 

 assume. To advertise in this paper can hardly 

 fail to jirove a good investment. 



Flower-loving employei's and flower-loving 

 employees do nt )t always come together. Usu- 

 ally the complaint is heard from the former, 

 that their help are intUfferent to the beauty or 

 well-<loing of flowere. The other day the writer 

 hearil a ca.se just the revei-se of this. A coach- 

 man who also attends the garden, and is more 

 enthusiiustic perhaps over tine flowers than over 

 horses, ordered some choice Tulips (>f one of our 

 dealers, saying he must have them; if his em- 

 ployer wouldn't pay for the bulbs he would, 

 and set them in his own little garden. 



Early Flowering Narcissi. There are two 

 Narcissi r>f special value for the production 

 of flowers at mirl-wint^i'r, found in nearly 

 every bulb dealer's stock. These ai'e the Ro- 

 man, which has iloulile white flowers, and 

 the Paper White, which ha.s snuiU single white 

 flowers. Both are especially suitalile for cut 

 flowers, and also for conservatory decoration. 



For the latt<'r ])un»se, grow in five inch pots, 

 a bulb to each. But when intended for cut 

 flowers, gi-ow in iians or boxes, as they then 

 re(iuire much less space. Their re(|nircments in 

 the matter of soil do not difl'er matt'rially from 

 those of any other bulbs, a soil that is light and 

 rich suiting them well. 



A Horticultural Directory of great merit has 

 recently been issued by Isaac f). Sailer, Phila- 

 delphia, Pa. It is the work of Mr. C. F. Evans, 



many suKscriliers, 'M.m) in fact. Now wliile 

 we are much encouragwl at the gi-oHth of our 

 list of subsi-riljoi-s since starting this paper, 

 we are free to say it ought to grow still faster, 

 considering the nature of our papei- and its 

 price. If you are not a subscrilKM-, mav we not 

 count upon you as one at once, and not only 

 this but that you will interest yourself to get 

 up a cluh. In this way, you can help along our 

 needed .")ll,i)0() subscribere, at a jumping rate. 



Location of Auturrin Flowers, 



The Mixed Flower Border" page 18. 



of that city, a gentleman qualified for such a 

 task as few others are. The directory proper 

 embraces the United States. In addition to 

 this there is "Supplement A," giving the names 

 and addresses of those engaged in the Horti- 

 cultui-al trade in the British Isles, and "Supple- 

 ment B," the same covering Continental 

 Em-ope, Australia, Africa, India, Japan and 

 Brazil. A careful examination shows this work 

 to be remarkablj' correct in detail, while the 

 above outline is sufficient to indicate that no 

 directory could be more comprehensive. 



The Cardinal Flower, Lobelia Cardinalis, is 

 one of the most brilliant flowers known. The 

 flowers are of a deep scarlet, produced on short 

 pedicles in a handsome nodding raceme. The 

 plant is hardy and a native, found in moist 

 meadows and along streams, in many parts of 

 our country. Although it likes moisture, it is 

 of ea.sy cultivation in the common border, and 

 even in clay soils. It succeeds well on the shady 

 side of a house. Its time of bloom is from late 

 summer until October, There is also a white- 

 flowering variety. The plants are procurable 

 at those nurseries, which make a specialty of 

 hardy perennial plants and bulbs. 



Count them. An enthusiastic friend of Popu- 

 lar (Jardexing— anil the paper has many such 

 already — tells us what we ourselves were not 

 aware of, that last month's issue contained .34.5 

 sepai-ate and distinct articles and items of infor- 

 mation. Whether the present issue contains 

 more or less we cannot say, but one thing we 

 know, and that is that our endeavor is to make 

 each succeeding number better than those be- 

 fore it. But let us take om- friends count, and 

 figure a little. At this rate, a yearly volume 

 would contain over 4000 such articles or (!9 for 

 fetch cent the paper costs. Who that loves 

 flowers or gardening can afford to do without 

 such a paper? 



House top gardens will perhaps never be as 

 popular in America as in Europe ; land for gar- 

 dens lieing so plenty here. Still we maintain 

 there are many places in which if the needed 

 patch cannot be secured on term firiiiii, that 

 the right thing to do would be to gai'den on the 

 roofs. It would be easy in nuiny such cases to 

 Ht these up, so far as gi'ade, and other mattei's 

 are concerned, for the purpose. The objection 

 has been raised, that the sparrows would injure 

 such gardens; we would not expect much 

 trouble. Snap a gun at them every time they 

 are around, and you can frighten them from 

 being verj' bad. Their occasional presence would 

 be some help in keeping down insects. 



Reader : Your aid nml influence in behalf of 

 swelling the subscription list of this periwlical 

 is solicited, and will be greatly appreciated. To 

 furnish such a handsome and valuable paper 

 as this one is aihnitted to lie, at the present low 

 price, requires not only subscril)ei-s, but very 



A new red label for exjiress packages of cut 

 flowers, has l)een designed for, and as we are 

 told, has been adojited by the Society of Ameri- 

 can Florists. We hope there may be some mis- 

 take about the last |)art of this statement. A 

 sample before us, shows the label to he about 

 as far from what such a latel for general use 

 should be, as it could be made. The designer 

 evidently had in mind to create a fanciful 

 effect, with ornamented letters and words all 

 jumbled together, so as to l:)e almost um-eada- 

 ble, instead of making a card so plain, that he 

 who runs as express caiTiers do, may read. 

 Fancy seeing shipping agents all over the coun- 

 try .spending time in unravelling the muddled 

 lettering of this label, which should tell them 

 at a glance, that the contents of the package 

 are quickly perishable, fresh flowei-s ! It is not 

 a label we expect to see practical shippers adopt, 

 whatever the Society's committee may have 

 done about it. Try again, gentlemen ! 



How is this. Either we failed, after a good 

 deal of pains, to make clear the fact in our last 

 issue, that Popular Gardening is an inde- 

 pendent paper without a single seed, bulb, 

 sprout, root, cion, jdant, shrub, trailer or tree 

 for sale, or else the jjerson who sent us a postal 

 card with the following matter on it, must have 

 skipped a good deal of what we wrote ; 



N, J., Sept. 21, 1885, 



Messrs. Ransom, Long »£ Co, 

 Dear Sirs:— 



Will you plea.se send to nie bj- return mail 

 your prices of Double Hyacinths, Tulips and Sum- 

 mer Snow Flake, and oldige. 



We have nothing in the world to sell, but 

 this paper and a few incidental hooks. We 

 don't aspire to more than this, provided we get 

 the 50,000 subscribei-s we have now made a 

 good beginning on enrolling. Our resjiected 

 but possibly careless reader, is referred to our 

 advertisci-s for the information he is in want of. 



Bell-flowered Scilla. Sometimes the botani- 

 cal name of a genus, is prettier and easier to 

 use than the conmion name it is knowni by. In 

 such a ca.se the former should be used for the 

 icmnuon n.ime. An instance of this kind, is 

 found in the Scilla, or as it is often called 

 Squill. We greatly prefer foi- the s])ecies fig- 

 ured on the opposite page, the name Bell-flower- 

 ed Scilla to BeU-flowcrcd Squill. But najiie 

 a.side. this is a desirable Spring-flowering bulb 

 that should oftener l)e seen. It is harrly in 

 the ojien ground even in the nt)rth, but a slight 

 cover over the bulbs during wintci- is lieneficial. 

 The color of the species is a l)eautiful hyacinth 

 blue; but there are also varieties of white and 

 other colorivl flowers. Plant the bulbs in the 

 fall months, at any time liefore the gromid 

 fri'ezes. They can be bought for about 7.5 cents 

 a dozen from dealei-s in Dutch Bulbs. The bulbs 

 also force easily for flijwers, in the window. 



