THE CANADIANHORTICULTU Ril S T . 



149 



Toronto Factory made Beautiful with Vines and Window Boxes 



"In selecting specimens I would 

 suggest for bloom semi-double crimson 

 geraniums, one to each foot in length ; 

 bright colored foliage plants, half as 

 many as geraniums; two nasturtiums 

 in a four foot box ; in the front part of 

 the box, for trailing or climbing, Cobsea 

 scandens is the best vine, but the 

 miranda is very good — say one of each. 

 Many other plants might be suggested, 

 but in our experience boxes filled with 

 these have given much the best satis- 

 faction. 



"Boxes can be made of ordinary 

 inch pine, and if painted a nice color, 

 emptied out in the fall and put awav 

 in a dry place for the winter, they will 

 last for years. Any one can make 

 them as well as a carpenter. 



"Our boxes are mostly sent to the 

 florists about May 1 and the plants 

 filled in, after which they are left in 

 the greenhouse until May. 20 or 24. 

 Then they are safe from the spring 

 frosts, and may be put up on the win- 

 dows, and the warmth and protection 

 from the nearness to the house keeps 

 them green long after most of plants 

 in the open are frozen. 



"Any person who will take the trou- 

 ble can easily choose the plants and 

 fill the boxes himself, but it does not 

 pay to do this in Guelph, as the florists 

 do it very reasonably." 



Give the children a flower bed to 

 take care of. They will learn to love 

 pretty things, and have implanted in 

 their minds the ideas of order which 

 time can never efface. — N. S. Dunlop, 

 Kloral Dcpt. C.P.R., Montreal. 



"Was Not Coffee 



Frank Veal, C.S.I., of Bombay, India 



My attention was called to an arti- 

 cle in )'our valuable paper for March, 

 headed "Coffee in Glengarry," in which 

 a Mr. Gamble claims to have some coffee 

 plants growing and bearing berries. 

 This is utter nonsense, as coffee trees 

 take three years to mature and to pro- 

 duce the berries known as coffee beans. 

 Coffee will not grow in Canada, as it is 

 a tropical plant and will not grow nor 

 bear fruit in this country unless in a 

 hot house. 



The plant that is being grown by 

 Mr. Gamble probably is the one know^n 

 under the commercial name of Gram, 

 the seed of which is roasted with coffee 

 and used very largely for adulterating 

 and flavoring coffee. Most people call 

 it chicory. 



If Mr. Gamble were to read Wm. 

 Crashley on coffee cultivation in the 

 Brazils, he would find that the coffee 

 plant is a tree which often attains the 

 height of 10 feet. It is not a vine. I 

 have seen the trees growing in a small 

 way in India, and they are much higher 

 than four feet, and have branches the 

 same as other trees. The pods of the 

 real coffee contains only two beans, 

 but sometimes there are three. 



I came out from India to Canada to 

 see if tea could be grown in this coun- 

 try, but find the chmate would not suit. 

 Jt was also my intention to grow coffee, 

 cochineal and alloas, but none of 

 these would be suitable. I have ex- 

 amined the ground carefully and find 

 the soil also is not good enough. 



Fving'vis on Wild Rose 



W. T. Macoun, Ottawa 



Is the black fungus growth on wild rose 

 bushes the same as black knot of plum and 

 cherry? The wild roses on my premises are 

 covered with it. It is several years since it 

 attacked the fruit trees. — C. W. B., Prescott. 



The fungus on the wild rose bushes 

 is known as the Rose Phragmidium and 

 is distinct from the black knot. To 

 eradicate this disease, which is a diffi- 

 cult one to deal with, it is necessary to 

 destroy as many of the knots as possible, 

 and then spray the bushes and the ground 

 about the bushes, early in the spring 

 before the leaves open, with copper 

 sulphate in the proportion of one pound 

 of copper' sulphate to 25 gallons of 

 water. The bushes should be kept 

 sprayed until the middle of summer 

 with Bordeaux mixture or ammoniacal 

 copper carbonate. 



Palms from Seed 



A Toronto subscriber to The Horti- 

 culturist wrote asking for information 

 regarding how to obtain palms from 

 date stones. The enquiry was forward- 

 ed to Mr. Walter T. Ross, of Picton, 

 who has had great success with tropical 

 plants of different kinds. 



In reply to questions regarding the 

 time required to develop and general 

 cultural methods required, Mr. Ross 

 wrote as follows: 



"The seed takes about nine months 

 to start, but if cut or soaked in warm 

 water, it will sprout more quickly. 

 The plant afterwards requires only the 

 ordinary care of a palm. The roots go 

 deeply. I had pots made specially for 

 palms, not so wide as the ordinary pot 

 but much deeper to give the roots a 

 chance. This proved to be a great 

 advantage." 



Sowing Aster Seed. — I have learned a 

 lesson this spring about sowing aster 

 seeds. We sow our seed too early in 

 the season. I sowed mine the first of 

 March, and before it was time to set 

 them out the plants either grew too 

 large or became stunted. They were 

 in the house, and the necessary handhng 

 resulted in many of them being stunted 

 and not doing well. The growth was 

 very uneven. I believe that the first 

 of April is plenty of time, and I am 

 going to follow that rule in future. — 

 C. F. Coleman, Burlington, Ont. 



I prefer roses grafted on their own 

 roots because those struck on wild 

 roots sometimes die back, and when 

 growth comes the wild shoots are 

 the stronger, and the amateur is sure 

 to keep one of the sort that is no use. — 

 Edwin Utley, Toronto. 



