ii6 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



July, 



wild Roses. 



Sweet wayside Roses I Inns of journeying bees 

 That grew aweary in their journeyings, 

 Or butterflies with gold-dust on their wings, 



That rest from voyaging on the idle breeze ; 



For where his nest is hidden in the trees. 



Thy praise all day the laureate robin sings. 

 More sweet than ever in the ears of kings 



Piped royal minstrels emulous to please; 



And whether Gypsey June tents in her fields. 



Or with abashed mien comes down these streets. 

 Still as I see how fair in sun or rain 



Your bloom in well known spots its treasure yields, 



Day after day, a voice in me entreats 



That through green fields I come to you again. 

 —G. M. Strent. 



In the May the pink peach-blos.soms,^ 



Seen against a pale blue sky. 

 FormM a picturesque complet-eness 



On the branches bare and dry. 



But the warm breath of the summer 

 Thrilled with life the leafless tree. 



Till, 'neath leaves in July weather. 

 Blushing rosy fruit we see. 



—L. E. Williams. 



Lantanas like poor soil. 



Double Callas are not rare. 



Sweet Williams date from 1.573. 



Now, if ever, the Smoke Tree smokes. 



The Tomato is a native of South America. 



Gardeners ! Write something for your paper. 



German seed catalogues are the most exten- 

 sive. 



The Lantaua came from the West Indies in 

 1I1!I3. 



One bird in the bush is worth a dozen on the 

 head. 



Napoleon had a passion for landscape gar- 

 dening. 



Wanted, at this office, many July sub- 

 scribers. 



The Golden-leaved Elders look brilliant in 

 simny July. 



Many trees in cities are killed by leaking gas 

 pipes in the streets. 



Buttercups are common from the Arctic 

 Ocean to the Tropics. 



Squirrels have been known to devour young 

 Horse Chestnut shoots. 



Be free to send in your queries about flowers, 

 shrubs and trees to the editors. 



The Sweet Pea, we find, succeeds not at all 

 badly, as a window-box climber. 



Single Hollyhocks, like Single Tuberoses, 

 come in ahead of the double ones. 



Where flies trouble, hang up some bunches of 

 the fragi'ant Melilot and they will trouble less. 



" I have written many verses, but my best 

 poems are the trees I have planted." — O. W. 

 Holmes. 



Farmers will never strike for eight hours. 

 How the weeds would laugh if they did! — 

 Hartfiiril Tiinr.'i. 



An attractive flower, growing equally well 

 in a wet or a dry place, is the large-flowered 

 Prunella or Self-heal. 



Gardening was the one occupation fit for 

 Paradise. To the extent that we garden suc- 

 cessfully we may have Paradise restored. 



Fancy vs. Plain Pots. Sister Gracious is just 

 right when she says that "these very fancy 

 flower pots, painted and gilded, are an abomi- 

 nation." 



" Oh, mamma ! " see the popcorns for the 

 birdies," exclaimed a two-year-old Waterbury 

 miss, who this year saw cherry blossoms for 

 the first time, since she could speak. 



Strelitzia Begina is a valuable conservatory 

 plant for amateurs. It is a subject of easy cul- 

 ture, while the handsome bird-like flowers of 

 gorgeous color give the plant distinction. 



A rocky mound on a neighbor's lawn covered 

 with nothing but Moneyvine {Lyaimachin 

 mimiinil(irio) is attractive at all times, but es- 

 pecially so when the crop of bloom is out. 



Sweet Alyssum. "Lida"asks the practical 

 question whether the sisters know how easily 

 this plant is raised from slips. She finds it 

 much easier to so raise them than from seed. 

 It is the only way with the double sort. 



If you now do no gardening, either useful or 

 ornamental, don't hesitate to engage in the 

 work on the score of inexperience, when you 

 can procure such a plain and reliable guide as 

 Popular Gardening for 60 cents a year. 



No need to growl about the weather ; if the 

 season is cool, Pansies and Roses are the finer; 

 if very hot and dry, Portulacas, Tuberoses and 

 flowers of a similar heat-loving class will be 

 the better for it. Look on the bright side. 



It is to be Bound. Mrs. F. E. W. closes a 

 business letter by saying; "I am delighted 

 with Popular Gardening, and shall recom- 

 mend it to all my friends who have flowers, and 

 shall have mine bound at the end of the year." 



A correspondent states that her Dafliodils 

 flowered twice, first producing double yellow 

 flowei's, and some weeks later white ones. That 

 sounds sti-ange, but we can solve the mystery 

 on the ground that jthe clump contained from 

 the first bulbs of both the early and later 

 flowering sorts. 



Progress in Reform. We are glad to see the 

 Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cru- 

 elty to Animals step forward and promptly 

 ofl'er two SIO prizes and twenty of $5 each 

 for convincing evidence of the killing of any 

 insectiverous birds in that State, or taking an 

 egg from the nest. 



Popular Gardening wants to know, why more 

 people do not plant ornamental trees on the 

 strength of the increased value they give to a 

 place, through increased attractiveness, when 

 one comes to sell. From this standpoint, let 

 alone all others, such planting without fail 

 proves very profitable. 



" If these workers," says the Boston Tran- 

 script, referring to Chinch Bugs, Grasshoppers, 

 etc., in the West, "could only be induced to 

 join the Knights of Labor, and agree to con- 

 fine their operations to eight hours a day, the 

 cause of labor would get the biggest boom it 

 has ever yet received, even in this year of labor 

 booms." 



Hard to Comply With. " I find," writes M,"in 

 the various seed catalogues the ' Normandie,' 

 ' Trimardeau,' ' German Imperial ' and ' Eng- 

 lish Pansy.' Are they distinct varieties ? If 

 so, please define the difference." As for this 

 matter, we are unprepared to give an answer 

 — not having tested the sorts named — beyond 

 saying, that they are probably distinct. 



Phlox Drummondi Wild. An item in a re- 

 cent number of Popular Gardening on the 

 Phlox Drummondi in Florida, brought out the 

 f oUowing from a correspondent in that State ; 

 " Phlox Drummondi of exquisite beauty grows 

 wild here in many places, increasing by self- 

 sowing. I call to mind one ten-acre orange 

 grove where this plant literally covers the 

 ground. " 



A Century Plant (Agave Americana) is in 

 bloom in the garden of Mr. George Casey, 

 Auburn, N. Y. It is believed to be about 60 

 years old. The flower stalk, when at its most 

 rapid stage of growth, grew at the rate of 

 three inches a day, and has pushed way beyond 

 the roof of the green-house. The flowers are 

 of greenish yellow, produced at the points of 

 branches, and arranged in a perfect pyramid. 



Black Ants. It is easy to get rid of them. 

 Open the hills with a hoe, scatter on a handful 

 of salt and sprinkle on a quart of water and 

 the ants will leave immediately. Yesterday 

 my house was overrun with these insects. I 

 found eleven anthills within two rods of the 

 building and to-day there is not an ant to be 

 found anywhere on or about the premises. — 

 G. Tn'/.s-oii, in New York Tribune. 



Twelve Amaryllises to one Pot. " I wish 

 every member could have seen my blooming 

 Amaryllis Johnsonii some time ago," writes 

 "Lida,"but neglecting to give her postoffice 

 and State. "Two bulbs were set into a six- 

 inch pot ; the one sent up one, the other two 

 blooming stalks, and together they bore twelve 

 magnificent blooms. The flowers were out for 

 two months. I manage the bulbs by planting 

 in the ground in partial shade, when frosts 

 are over, potting again in September. 



Yellow Boses are reported deficient of color 

 this year, and correspondents ask the reason 

 why. We confess to feeling nonplussed at the 

 question, and inclined to imitate the philoso- 

 pher who replied to gay Charles's proposition on 

 the globe of gold fishes. "How is it," asked 

 the King, "that a globe filled with water does 

 not increase in weight when a number of fishes 

 are added.'" And the philosopher replied, "I 

 doubt the fact," to which the merry monarch 

 responded, "So do I." — Garrleners' Magazine. 



A new Balsam, by name Impatiens Marianne, 

 is announced from Chicago. Unlike the old 

 annual favorites, the recent /. sultana and nu- 

 merous other members of this interesting 

 genus, this new one's chief claim to attractive- 

 ness is found in its clear, silver-marked foliage. 

 It is said to be a good gi'ower, and increases 

 easily by slip propagation. It is now being 

 tested as a summer bedding plant, and it is 

 hoped that it may prove of value as a plant for 

 lines and masses. Mr. George Wittbold, of 

 Chicago, is its introducer, having received it 

 from Germany last fall. 



Thanks to American enterprise for giving 

 the cheap lawn mower, where formerly the 

 lawn scythe was in use, or oftener still, lawns 

 were totally neglected. Now everybody may 

 have a neatly kept grass plat. By its use the 

 work of mowing the average yard is really lit- 

 tle more than recreation ; the trouble of keep- 

 ing the machine in order, is as nothing com- 

 pared with that of keeping a scythe in shape 

 for good work. Popular Gardening gladly 

 recognizes the great help of the American 

 lawn mower, in giving our people an increased 

 appreciation of lawn and garden beauty. 



Brill's Treatise on Cauliflower. In the 

 writer's gardening experience he has realized 

 larger profits per acre for the outlay, in grow- 

 ing Cauliflower for market, than from that of 

 any other crop. A reason for this was found in 

 the fact, that but few gardeners seemed to be 

 successful with this crop, and he happened 

 among such lucky ones. It is a crop that re- 

 quires some particular conditions in cultiva- 

 tion, and in the new work referred to in the 

 head-line called ' ' Cauliflowers, and How to 

 Grow Them," Mr. Francis Brill, a Long Island 

 gardener, has succeeded in setting these forth 

 very clearly. The pamphlet sells for only 20 

 cents and may be ordered through this office. 



New Jersey Heard From. From Sussex 

 county, of that State, Mrs. S. E. Cole ofl'ers 

 the following about some favorites: "The 

 Tritclia nniflvra, spoken of in the May num- 

 ber, is pretty, with its star-like flowers, but not 

 as handsome as Allivnt neapolifanum, bearing 

 as it does lai-ge clusters of pure white flowers, 

 lasting two and three weeks. Neither is it so 

 fine as the Freesia, another excellent winter- 

 bloomer of delightful fragi-ance. Of the latter, 

 some are white and some are pale yellow. I 

 had these all last winter for the first time, and 

 vpas much pleased with them. Another nice 

 winter plant is Yellow Oxalis, as it blooms all 

 winter with me. Thanks for the aid I derived 

 some time ago from the " Exchange Column " 

 of your exceedingly valuable paper. 



