1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



61 



of spcciiiu'iis of this pear early >" Nmcralier. 

 The whole of this season's erop of the (iriiriaal 

 tree mow ;iO or 40 years old) is thus ilistributed 

 amoiiK ineml'ci-s of the Amerieaii Niirsery- 

 men's Association for testing, whieh we think is 

 a Kood and eomnieudable praetiee. Peai-s ar- 

 rived in stood eoiidition. Fruit medium size; 

 abovate. obtuse pyriform: color, bright golden 

 yellow on greenish ground, with numerous small 

 brownish dots or specks over the whole surface, 

 and sprinkleil with russet; stem nearly an inch 

 long; calyx large, open. Quality \erj' good; 

 tlesh juicy, melting, aromatic; its only fault 

 being a slight tendency to rot 

 from the core. The tree is 

 said to lie a vigorous grower, 

 very productive and an annual 

 bearer. .Altogether it seems to 

 be well worthy of trial. 



The little brown jug is often 

 looked upon and drawn upon 

 as a protraction against both 

 heat and cold— in short, as a 

 sort of " lite preserver," and 

 although, indeed, it oftener 

 destro.vs than preserves. Now 

 a lady often uses it -and the 

 two gallon size at that— as a 

 preserver of plant life. When 

 the real bitter cold and the 

 howling winds make them- 

 selves felt clear into! the sitting 

 room and among the window 

 plants, so that it is feared they 

 may freeze the coming night, 

 the jug is filled with water- 

 good, hot water, no whiskey, 

 mind you— wrapped in a num- 

 ber of thicknesses of news- 

 paper, layer after layer, to 

 modify, preserve and equalize 

 the heat, then placed on the 

 table and the tender plants 

 around it, like little chicks 

 crowding around and hovered by the old hen. A 

 large sheet is finally thrown over the whole, and 

 held up liy little sticks thrust into the plant pots. 

 This method of protection is reported to be 

 etfectual without fail, and may be easily tried 

 by our friends. 



Yoang Trees and Shrnbs in Winter. The aim 

 in giving any kind of winter protection is merely 

 to preserve the gains made in root or top growth 

 during the preceding season. At a in our illus- 

 tration we show a j^oung tree well jjrotected both 

 by stake and mound. A few stones piled around 

 the stem, as shown at b. will often do very well, 

 at least are much better than no protection at 

 all, but will not prevent injury from rabbits and 

 mice, as the mound is quite liable to do. Young 

 trees with little root, when left exposed to the 

 sweeping winds without support, usually are 

 swayed back and forth until a funnel-shaped 

 cavity is formed around the base, as may be seen 

 at c, endangering the life of the tree from the 

 drying out of the alread.v scanty root supply, or 

 perhaps by being entirely blown over as .seen at 

 d. Young Evergreens with their comparatively 

 heavy tops are particularly subject to displace- 

 ment or partial uprooting by the winter's winds, 

 and may be held in position by stout strings 

 fastened to the stem and to small stakes driven 

 into the ground a few feet from the base of tree, 

 as shown at e. Small, compact Evergreens are 

 liable to be broken down in a heavy snowfall — 

 squashed— and the most natural protection per- 

 haps is the one suggested at /, consisting of a 

 sort of roof made of two pieces of board. Tender 

 shrubs may be treated in a variety of ways. At 

 g we have a shrub protected by an inverted 

 barrel. To make a sure thing still surer, the other 

 head might be taken out also, the barrel filled 

 with dry leaves and again cohered. At h we see 

 the shrub wrapped in canvas or mushn and at i 

 protected by straw ot straw matting. A simple 

 way of covering small tender shrubbery is by 

 means of sods, as illustrated at./, but ordinary 

 soil, as at k, will do about as well. A little timely 

 attention to these things may save some of your 

 young trees and shrubs from injury. Examine 

 their condition now, and see if you cannot put 

 some of our suggestions to practical use. 



An Interesting Datnra. I have a Datura, 

 which the German florist of whom I bought it 

 called " Bergantia." It answers the description 

 of Datura cornigera in every respect, except 

 " single flowered." My Howers have two rows of 

 petals or lobes, the recurved (>oints of the inner 

 lobes being midway between the outer ones. 

 Coralla white, or cream-colored, large funnel- 



shaped, striateti, the m<)uth spreading, the lobes 

 terminated by a long sul)ulate recurved jjoint; 

 peduncles axillary, cur\<ii downward so that the 

 flower is drooping. Lea\cs chiefly couHnecl to 

 the extremities of the braiuhes. Stem shrubby; 

 the young bi-anchesand alnit)st every part of the 

 plant clothed with soft down. I am much inter- 

 ested in this plant, because it affords me such a 

 wealth of bloom for decorative purposes. I 

 planted out the middle of .May two plants, one 

 one year old, the other two years old. They 

 budded at once, but a slight frost the first week 

 in June caused them to drop their buds, but did 



PROTECTING YOUNG TREES AND SHRUBS IN WINTER 

 not injure the plant. My husband said they 

 needed food, so we dug a trench around them 

 and ailed it with chicken manure, with a pail of 

 water every day for several days. From the last 

 of June until frost T picked on an average from 

 40 to 51) flowers a week. The larger of the two 

 plants was five feet high and five feet across. I 

 kept them in the house last winter, and found 

 out by experience that they liked an eastern 

 exposure, that they consumed a large quantity \ 

 of water, that continual syringing was absolutely 

 requisite to keep off red spider, etc., that they 

 quickly resented neglect by dropping both leaves 

 and buds, but that with proper care they would 

 bloom magnificently. I have charge of our 

 church decorations, and not only furnish the 

 flowers, but grow them. I often filled a large 

 Rose jar with these Datura, with a few feathery 

 spikes of Asparagus, or pulled up a plantof Cloth 

 of Gold Nasturtium, letting the leaves hang 

 all around the bowl like a fringe with the flowers 

 above them; or with vines of Adlumia or Aspar- 

 agus tenuissimus, and they were grand enough 

 for a queen. People stop me in the streets, on 

 the cars, everywhere, asking me about them, 

 and people with fine country homes and grand 

 conservatories beg tor a slip, and say they ne\er 

 saw anything so beautiful. The flowers are 

 fragrant like the Tuberose, only not so strong.— 

 Mrs. Georgina M. WiUl, Ills. 



New York Floral Notes. 



Chrysanthemums and (.'hrysanthemum shows 

 are the leading topic just now, and both are plen- 

 tiful enough. The show at Brick Church, of the 

 Orange Society, was, of coui'se, largest and best, 

 but a very good display was made by Siebrecht 

 and Wadley at their Fifth avenue store, and there 

 was a fine exhibit of the ITnited States Nurser- 

 ies. The show at the .\merican Institute was, 

 really, a little too late. 



The most elegant and unique of all the shows 

 was that arranged for the benefit of theWomen's 

 Infirmary, held in the studio of Mr. Louis C. Tif- 

 fany, the well-known artist and designer. Mr. 

 Tiffany is the possessor of a large collection of 

 Japanese curios, and the arrangement of the 

 glowing, gorgeous Chrysanthemums, mingled 

 with rare bronzes and beautiful china, presented 

 a wonderful picture. Ladies in attendance wore 

 authentic Japanese costumes, and the artistic 

 grouping of the flowers gave many ideas for in- 

 terior decoration. It is a pity that such arrange- 

 ments are not attempted at the ordinary shows, 

 giving an idea of the use of such plants in decor- 

 ation; they certainly show to greater advantage 



than when just stood aromid in groups without 

 any apparent reason. 



Chrysanthemums were, really, very dear the 

 earlier part of the seas(m, owing, no doubt, to 

 the continued rain. Somi' florists declared they 

 could hardly afford to rctuil them, as they had to 

 buy them at a high price and sell at a low one; 

 retail customers know that they are regarded as 

 a cheap flower, and consequeutl.v demand what 

 they consider their money's worth. There seems 

 little doubt that the coming of the Chrysanthe- 

 mums does reduce the price of other flowers, so 

 long as they last. These flowers are better 

 arranged now; we do not 

 so very often see Ferns or 

 other delicate foliage mingled 

 with them; a terribly mistaken 

 combination. Heavy Ferns or 

 autumn leaves only are per- 

 missible. A charming arrange- 

 ment recently noted in a flor- 

 ist's window was a dull red 

 Japanese jar filled with Golden 

 Dragon Chrysanthemums and 

 the burnished red-bronze 

 leaves of the Black Oak. 



Among new varieties. Dr. 

 Walcott's collection embraces 

 some very fine things. Shasta 

 and Alaska are two whites of 

 great exceUence, both large 

 and shapely flowers, long- 

 stemmed, with robust foliage 

 growing right up to the flower. 

 There are some very fine I'ich 

 yellows in the same coUection, 

 all promising well for com- 

 mercial use. Every year one 

 sees a number of new varie- 

 ties, which, whUe they may be 

 added to a general collection, 

 possess little commercial value 

 for lack of a distinctive color. 

 Undecided, tertiary colors are 

 comparatively useless in the trade; they are not 

 sufliciently showy or distinct. 



Mrs. Alpheus Hardy is better this year than 

 last, as seen at Short Hills. .\ good many seed- 

 lings have been raised from it, but so far none of 

 them appear to display the downy covering which 

 is such a remarkable feature of that flower. A 

 straw-colored seedling from Comte.de.Germiny, 

 recently noted at a small local show, displayed a 

 few tiny scattering hairs, recalling Mrs. Alpheus 

 Hardy's peculiarity. 



Some charming breakfast and luncheon decor- 

 ations lately have consisted entirely of Chrysan- 

 themums, yellow and white. These two tints are 

 certainly more popular than all the rest put to- 

 gether. In one case, the middle of the table was 

 filled with a bed of yellow and white Chrysanthe- 

 mums, standing upright, bordered byAsparagus, 

 and the room was arranged with the same plants 

 in pots. A library, furnished in ecru and bronze, 

 was decorated with red and orange Chrysanthe- 

 mums arranged in jars of Indian red pottery. 

 Another brighter room was arranged with old 

 pink Chrysanthemums in dull blue jars. Really, 

 everything seemed to smack of Chrysanthemums 

 all through November. At many church wed- 

 dings these flowers did duty in yellow and white. 

 White ones, in pots, ranged along the altar rails, 

 banks of yellow and white, backed by Palms, on 

 either side of the chancel, and bunches disposed 

 at the corners of the pen railings. Bridesmaids 

 carried them, either in loose hand bunches— no 

 set bouquets— or tied by broad ribbons to tall La 

 Tosca canes. 



At present there are very few Orchids in the 

 market, so these flowers are not very largely 

 used, but later there will cert<iiuly be an enorm- 

 ous crop. Think of 1«,000 Cypripedum insigne 

 from one place alone, and probably as many 

 Cattleyas ! Seems as if ( irchids might be cheap 

 when the dull time comes after the holidays. 



Some pretty mantel arrangements have been 

 noted, composed of potted Cyclamens, which 

 lend themselves very well to any banked arrange- 

 ment, their leaves adding greatly to the effect. 

 A beautiful ornament for a bay window is a 

 long window box or jardiniere, planted with Ivy 

 whieh is trained over a gilt Bamboo screen. Oth- 

 er flowering plants may be added to the jardinere, 

 to fill up. This screen may be utilized in many 

 ways; it is often seen decorated with flowers, or 

 used as a support for favors. 



The few good Beauty Roses now coming in, 

 show that this Rose's popularity is not at all on 

 the wane, though other varieties are being ex- 

 tensively boomed. Emily Louise Taplin. 



