194 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



September, 1909 



combination of soil, sand and water. 

 Place in the bottom of the vessel to be 

 used, an inch or so of good rich loam or 

 soil from the compost heap. The soil 

 cannot be too rich, the only requirement 

 being that the fertilizing element is thor- 

 oughly decomposed and ready to be taken 

 up and converted into plant and bloom as 

 soon as roots and soil come together. 

 Over this, place clean sand to the desired 

 depth upon. which place the bulb, holding 

 in position with pebbles. Allow the water 

 to come up just high enough to be seen 

 above the sand. 



Paper white narcissus may be forced 

 into bloom within four weeks from the 

 time of planting. By starting to plant in 

 September and planting at intervals dur- 

 ing October and November, blooming 

 plants may be had throughout the winter ; 

 or the last planting may be made in Oc- 

 tober and the blooming period regulated 

 by the temperature of the room in which 

 they grow. Heat will hasten the bloom- 

 ing period and, if the plants are coming 



Paper White Narcissus 



on too quickly they may be retarded by 

 placing in a cooler room. 



About Peony Varieties 



Rev. Andrew B. Baird, Wionipet 



There are half a dozen distinct varie- 

 ties of peonies from which the hundreds 

 of varieties now offered for sale are de- 

 scended. These species differ in the 

 shape of the leaf, in the smoothness or 

 hairiness of the stem and in the color and 

 shape of the flower. 



The most distinct of these is the old- 

 fashioned "piney" familiar to our child- 

 hood [PcBonia officinalis) with its foliage 

 dark green above, light green beneath 

 and with dark crimson flowers. This is a 

 native of Switzerland. The others come 

 from Siberia, Southern Europe, the Him- 

 layas and the tree peony from China. 



One of the features in which improve- 

 ment has been most noticeable is frag- 

 rance. The old "officinalis" had a pung- 

 ent and rather disagreeable odor. Nqw 



tww varieties possess the greatest diversi- 

 ty of perfume — Marcelle Dessert and 

 Madame Boulanger have the fragrance 

 of the rose, Humei is cinnamon-scented, 

 the Nymph has the 

 fragrance of the pond 

 lily, and others recall 

 the heliotrope or the 

 violet. 



It is to be hoped 

 that some local dealer 

 will make a specialty 

 of peonies and will 

 carry a good stock of, 

 say, at least a dozen 

 of the best varieties. 

 While the number of 

 the advertised variet- 

 ies runs up into the 

 hundreds, it must be 

 admitted that most of 

 the differences are in 

 the names rather than 

 in the flowers. The 

 range of colors is not 

 great ; it runs through 

 white, pink, the var- 

 ious shades of red and 

 purple, with two or 

 three varieties more 

 tjr less yellow. My own c. llrction numb- 

 ers some thirty plants of twenty varieties. 

 The kinds that I would specially recom- 

 mend will be given in a later issue of 

 The Canadian Horticulturist. 



stands pruning well, if a somewhat low 

 hedge is required, and blooms freely if 

 left unpruned. The foliage is a bright 

 green right up to severe frosts, but prun- 



Hedges for Western Homes 



S. A. Bedford, Manitoba Agricnltaral College 



For the city or town, a hedge can with 

 advantage be planted on each side of a 

 walk or driveway leading to the resi- 

 dence. For this purpose a low-growing 

 fine-sprayed plant should be used, as a 

 coarse hedge would obstruct the view 

 and look out of place. 



The native snowberry, with its tiny 

 blossom in summer and pretty white 

 fruit in fall is excellent for the smallest 

 sized hedges. It takes kindly to pruning 

 and can be kept down to one or two feet 

 in height. The native spirea, found all 

 over the prairie, is another excellent plant 

 for this purpose. It makes a hedge a 

 little taller than the former and is covered 

 with showy flowers in early summer. It 

 stands pruning well and there is no dif- 

 ficulty in getting it to thicken out at the 

 base. It is suitable for a hedge from 

 three to four feet high and is well adapted 

 for planting beside wide walks or nar- 

 row roads, leading to a residence. 



In the city a hedge is often required 

 for the purpose of a dividing line between 

 two neighboring houses, where a fence 

 would look unsightly. For this purpose 

 it should be somewhat taller than the 

 other two hedges I have mentioned, but 

 still r^eat and compact. Nothing is bet- 

 ter for this than the purple lilac. It 



Isolated Overgrown Shrubs Spoiling Fine Trees and Clogging Vistas of American Falls 



In Queen Victoria Park at Niagara Falls. See page 198. 



ing must be frequent if a shapely hedge 

 is required. 



For the purpose of a screen between 

 the front and rear of a house, nothing is 

 better than the caragana, if properly 

 pruned, but this shrub is difficult to train 

 unless taken very young. It should be 

 planted in the hedge row when one year 

 old and cut back severely at once. It 

 will then start to branch close to the 

 ground, and make a handsome hedge. 

 Owing to the soft silver foliage and 

 bright yellow blossoms, this is a very at- 

 tractive hedge plant. 



To serve the purpose of a fence parallel 

 with the sidewalk, caragana, lilac or wild 

 rose can be used. The latter requires 

 very frequent pruning, otherwise it quick- 

 ly bcomes unsightly. For foliage effect 

 our native red willow (Cornus) is excel- 

 lent. It grows readily from cuttings and 

 is a bright red color even in winter. For 

 a contrast, our native buffalo berry is 

 excellent. The foliage of this plant is a 

 bright silver color and its small fruit 

 nearly covers the branches in the autumn. 



Dwarf Apples 



Can dwarf apples be grown successfully 

 in the Grimsby district? — A. R., Grimsby, 

 Ont. 



Dwarf apples can be grown as suc- 

 cessfully about Grimsby as anywhere else 

 in the province of Ontario. Dwarf pears 

 are grown there quite extensively. The 

 large nursery firms in the Niagara dis- 

 trict offer dwarf apples and pears for 

 sale. 



Give trees in the nursery plenty of 

 room if you want them to be stocky. 



