282 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



WALKS AND TALKS IN THE GABDEN-NO. V. 



" CoMK and look at this bed of double Zinnias. 

 The plant is rather coarse, but it is easily raised, 

 grows freely, and the flowers, when you get good 

 on^s, are superb. Here is one as large and double 

 as a dahlia." 



" Let us measure it." 



" It is exactly three inches in diameter, or nine 

 inches in circumference ! " 



" These balsams are fine. There are few flowers 

 that have been more improved. One would hardly 

 suspect that they are the same plants as our old 

 fashioned Lady Slipper." 



" They were never great favorites of mine. The 

 foliage is too den?e and the plant too large. The 

 flowers are handsome, bat you cannot see them 

 to advantage." 



" That is an objection, but if the plants are re- 

 peatedly transplanted they become stocky, and the 

 growth of the leaves and stalks is checked while 

 the flowers are finer and more abundant." 



" When gatliered and placed with a little water 

 in a shallow dish they retain their freshnesg some 

 time, and are really beautiful flowers." 



*' Can I save the seed ? " 



"Certainly; but the probability is that it will 

 not be very good. I do not mean that it will not 

 grow, but that the flowers produced from it will 

 not be as fine and as double as these are from im- 

 ported seed. Good seed is obtained from plants 

 stunted by being grown in poor soil in small pots, 

 and with little water. The seed grown from 

 plants 80 treated produces double flowers." 



*' Mr. VicK showed me yesterday a double por- 

 tulacca that was very beautiful. It is perfectly 

 double. I thought at first that it was a rose. He 

 has them of all colors and they grow as easily and 

 flower as well as the single kinds." 



" I have tried this year for the first time the 

 Champion of Scotland Pea, It beats anything in 

 the pea line I am acquainted with. Champion of 

 England is excellent — but it is too rampant a 



grower. Champion of Scotland does not grow so / 

 high and the pods and peas are larger. Look at 

 these. The pod is very long and well filled, and 

 the peas are as large as a medium white bean." i 



" Veitch's Perfection is also a splendid pea. M/' I 

 friend the Doctor has raised them this year for the 

 first time and thinks they are just right ; they bear 

 well and are of good size. It does not t»ke as 

 long to pick and shell a meal of them as of the old 

 fashioned small kinds " , 



" I injured my peas this year by turaing over 

 the vines. They were not poled, and the west 

 wind had blown them over on the east side of the 

 row. I thought I would put a few sh')rt slats in 

 the ground for them to rest on, I stick them on 

 the east side of the row and in doing so turned 

 over the peas on to the west side. This seemed to 

 check their growth, and they did net do well. I 

 suppose the wind injured them." 



" Few people realize how much damage we sus- 

 tain from high winds even in summer. I have taken 

 considerable pains this season to raise good water 

 melons — and have succeeded very well. The 

 Black Spanish, especially, is quite large, and the 

 Orange promises well ; but the best water melons 

 we have in the garden are some chance sown ones, 

 (Black Spanish,) that came up among the parsneps. 

 The vines cling to the parsneps and are not blown 

 about by the winds." 



" I have heard the same thing stated in regard 

 to weeds among melons and cucumbers. The vines 

 clinging to them instead of to each other, and are 

 more evenly distributed over the ground and less 

 liable to be blown about." 



" There may be some truth in this idea, but 

 weeds have no business in a well-cultivated garden 

 It is not much trouble to peg down the runners of 

 your melons, pinching them in at the same time. 

 It is certainly true, however, that shelter from 

 winds is very important." 



" Can any one tell what is the reason that an 

 apparently healthy cucumber or melon vine should 

 wither up and die so suddenly. I have noticed it 

 for years, and liave thought it was caused by an in- 

 sect at the roots or on the vines, but have failed 

 to find liim even if he is there." 



" I liad a strong, healthy cucumber plant grow- 

 ing in an old cold frame that withered up and died 

 a few days since without any apparent cause; and 

 bore you notice is a melon plant with two main 

 vines. One of these vines is dead, while the other 

 is still apparently healthy and vigorous. Why 



