lOO 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



will probably eclipse in healthy appearance and 

 brilUancy any spring-raised .Salvia, 



SOME INQUIRIES ANSWERED. 



63. Calceolarias. Sow in June or July. 

 Prick off, pot and repot as required. Use rich 

 open soil. Do not stint water. Keep as cool 

 as possible in summer and in an air}' place, but 

 shade from sunshine. Mulcli about the plants 

 with tobacco stems to repel aphides which are 

 extremely pai-tial to Calceolarias. They bloom 

 from.Febmary to May, but are in their heyday 

 in April. I gi'o w some 2.50 plants of them. 



59. Pond. Plant, do not sow. Yellow to 

 purple Flags, Bull-rashes 

 and the like, although 

 pretty enough in spring 

 and early summer get 

 unsightly before fall. 

 Why not plant it with 

 Winterberry (Pr i n o s), 

 Swamp Azaleas, Button 

 Bush, Clethras, Willows 

 and the many other be- 

 coming trees and shrubs 

 that might thrive in 

 such a place? You could 

 then introduce among 

 them Sarracenias, Lilies, 

 Ferns, "Cowslips," and a 

 host of such like flowers. 



00. Violets. In sum- 

 mer plant them in a cool, 

 somewhat moist or par- 

 tially shaded spot; 

 against the north side of 

 a close fence or building 

 is a good place. In fall 

 protect them with a 

 frame where they are,or 

 lift and transfer them to 

 a frame or elsewhere, in 

 a warm sunny aspect 

 where they may be pro- 

 tected. They will beai- a 

 deal of frost with im- 

 punity, but frost doesn't 

 do them any good. 



63. Fernery. Better 

 begin with plants and let 

 ' ' seeds " alone. Glass 

 cases are often more or- 

 namental than useful. 

 During the winter a 

 moister, and for Ferns, 

 a more genial atmos- 

 phere can be maintained 

 in a glass ease than in 

 the open room. Have 

 nice, well-rooted, small 

 plants, drain the case 

 well, use open soil and 

 not much of it, i^lant in 

 August, don't shut the 

 case till November or December, and don't 

 drown the plants or render the earth pasty ; 

 shade from sunshine. 



06. Angle Worms. As for the open garden 

 opinions differ, but in pots worms are injurious. 



67. English Ivy. Gas, dried to death, or 

 injury to the roots might defoliate your Ivy. 

 .Not knowing what caused the leaves to fall off, 

 I cannot suggest how to restore them. 



68. Ants. That depends upon what species 

 of ant it is. The most destructive ant in Texas 

 is, I believe, the cut-leaf ant, and it is extremely 

 destructive. Sulphur fumes injected into the 

 holes in their ' ' towns " destroys them. I have 

 also used cyanide of potassium dissolved in 

 water, I would pour a little of it into the ant 

 holes morning and evening. The fumes killed 

 all the ants that passed for a little while. 



73. Bulbs. I don't think you can grow 

 them along as perennials in Key West, but 

 you can get fresh bulbs from Holland and 

 bloom them the first season all right. But ob- 

 serve to plant them in the coolest and shadiest 

 part of the garden, and, say not before October. 



Mulch the ground over them as soon as planted. 

 Where are your Amaryllises, Pancratiums, 

 Tuberoses, Crinums and the like so peculiarly 

 fitted for favored noolcs in your garden. 



About Montbretias. 



Within a few years these flowers, which for 

 a long time occupied an unimportant place on 

 the lists, have advanced to a more conspic- 

 uous position. Now they seem destined to 

 become very popular, possessing as they do the 

 good traits of being handsome and as easily 

 grown as Gladiolus or Tigridia. 



MONTBRETIA FLOWERS 



It was near the beginning of the present 

 century when the fu-st Montbretia was intro- 

 duced into European gai-dens from the Cape of 

 Good Hope. For a long time the flowers at- 

 tracted but little attention, although the first 

 sort introduced was soon followed by others, 

 differing but little from their predecessor. The 

 reason for this was, that the fiowers of the early 

 kinds were not of a character to fascinate 

 flower lovers greatly. The colors were yellow, 

 in different shades. 



But within the last ten years a new species of 

 these plants was discovered in Southern Africa, 

 which was so great an improvement on its 

 forerunners as to at once draw fresh attention 

 to the class. This species was given the name 

 of Pott's Montbretia (M. Pottsii). Instead of 

 having yellow flowers like the former sorts, 

 it produced flowers of a bright orange red, and 

 on free-growing Gladiolus-like plants, qualities 

 which at once promised well for giving the 

 plant a position among populai' flowers. This 

 one, like all the Montbretias, is bulbous, and in 

 culture is found to be vigorous, healthy and 



very productive of bloom, both when gi'owu as 

 a bedding plant and in pot culture. 



Soon after the introduction of this last named 

 Montbretia, steps were taken to develop im- 

 provements in these flowers, and not without 

 good results. One advance made was the pro- 

 duction of a beautiful hybrid, between Munt- 

 hrctia Piitfsii and the nearly allied Crocosmia 

 auiva. This is known as Montbretia crocos- 

 miieflora and is now, along with other Montbre- 

 tias, being offered in a number of catalogues. 



One good thing to be said in favor of these 

 recent sorts, is that they not only grow and 

 flower with ease, but they increase rapidly un- 

 der ordinary culture, 

 hence the bulbs are al- 

 leady nuinerous enough 

 in the hands of growers 

 to permit of their being 

 sold cheaply. We see 

 them offered as low as 35 

 cents each in some lists. 

 Among American 

 florists who have given 

 considerable attention to 

 the Montbretias, are 

 Messrs. Hill & Co., of 

 Richmond, Indiana. In 

 their catalogue of Roses 

 and other plants re- 

 cently published, they 

 describe and offer a 

 number of different sorts 

 of these. It is to these 

 geutlemen that we 

 are indebted for the 

 splendid engraving of 

 Montbretias which ap- 

 jjears herewith, it having 

 first appeai'ed in their 

 catalogue refen'ed to. 



We think we camiot 

 do better in this connec- 

 tion than to make an 

 extract from the cata- 

 logue of Messrs. Hill & 

 Co, , bearing upon these 

 plants and their cultiu'e, 

 which we do as follows: 



A most beautiful new 

 class of bulbous plants, 

 resembling mi nature 

 Gladiolus in foliage and 

 form of flower. They 

 tlu'ow up numerous 

 flower spikes from a 

 single bulb. The spikes 

 often attain a height of 

 13 to 34 inches, with 

 numerous lateral stems 

 completely covered with 

 flowers. Whilst they 

 somewhat resemble 

 Gladiolus, they are not 

 unlike some Orchids in their formation and in 

 the manner of their flowering. 



The Montbretias are destined to become pop- 

 ular, from the ease with which they are culti- 

 vated. They succeed admirably planted in the 

 open ground, like other bulbs, and can be win- 

 tered in any place free from frost and excessive 

 damp. One of the finest plants we ever grew 

 in a pot was M. cruco.si}tia'Jfura: it furnished 

 hundreds of flowers on its numerous spikes, and 

 the whole plant, both foliage and flower stems, 

 ratliated like an immense fan. 



Dish Water and Plants. 



Washing dishes is very wearing to the soul, 

 coming three times a day, three hundred and 

 sixty-five days in the year, but it lightens the 

 burden, at least to plant lovers, to see the good 

 the dish water may do in the gai'den. 



I do not mean an indiscriminate pouring out 

 of slops close to the house, health and neatness 

 forbid, but a systematic applying of these day 

 by day so that the plants or trees are treated 

 to a dose about once a week, through the season. 



