1889. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



175 



iiist'itod iu a pint bottle and hermetkally si'aliMi, 

 will precipitate from twelve to twenty Kraius of 

 water in a few hours. From this Mr. Murray 

 makes tlie following calculation : A Maple ti-ee 

 of eight or ten inches in diameter, well formed 

 and gi-owthful. has on the average twenty-five 

 thousand leaves on it, and it is a sate computa- 

 tion to say that such a tree will throw off in the 

 siwc-e of every twelve hours three hundred and 

 forty thousand grains weight of water. Now an 

 acre will easily contain six or seven hundred 

 such trees, so that from a single acre of forest 

 land three thousand eight hundred and seventy- 

 five gallons of pure water are thrown off and 

 distributed through the body of the surrounding 

 atmosphere in every twelve hours— Our readers 

 may draw their own conclusions as to the bene- 

 ficial influence of such explanation on the earth 

 and air. 



Catalogue PromiseB. I believe I could make 

 money by going into the plant and flower 

 business and telling the exact truth in my cata- 

 logues. For past dozen years these radiant pub- 

 lications have led us to expect too much in many 

 directions, are ambiguous, so that when we 

 buyers are disappointed, the sellers can crawl 

 out of it. I instance " Clematis " and " Khodo- 

 dendron " and "Auratum Lily." .My wife and 

 daughter hold up the brilliant pictures of "Moou 

 flowers", with the sides of rural cottages covered 

 with bloom, and ask one another when " papa's 

 vine will have any posies on ", and wonder, what 

 day that dollar-and-a-half " Clematis " will give 

 up the ghost— and if Rhododendrons bloom like 

 Century plants.every hundred years— and what a 

 pity that the " Mahonia aquifolia " has to be "hid 

 under a bushel " of leaves every winter instead 

 of " cheefing with its gorgeous green foliage." 

 Between the exuberant fancies of florists, and 

 the sarcasms of women, my life is made un- 

 happy. You Mr. Editor, cannot remedy the 

 latter, but you might do something to restrain 

 the former.— J. B. D.. Pa. 



Sog8 for Fertilizer, Some of the horticultu- 

 ral papers are insisting that we most inaugurate 

 a dog killing crusade, which is not a bad idea. 

 The land is infested with an army of domestic 

 brutes that are useless, or worse than that, are a 

 sheep-killing, cattle-worrying, howling lot of 

 demons. The states are paying a large amount 

 of bounty yearly tor sheep that are killed by 

 these savages. But a dog may be a noble crea- 

 ture, a companion almost human, a friend, de- 

 voted and self-sacriflcing, faithful, true and 

 brave. I agree with the Rural New Yorker, that 

 it would pay millions into the pockets of the 

 people, if they would inaugurate a common 

 movement to kill off the cui-s, poodles and no- 

 breeds of all sorts and introduce Scotch Collies 

 as freely as they have Holstein and Jersey cattle. 

 The dog should be as valuable as a cow. It was 

 the first animal tamed and made useful to primi- 

 tive man ; but it sadly needs improvement to 

 adopt it to our present needs and conditions. 

 There are millions of dogs in America that should 

 be buried at the root of some good Grape vine 

 and made useful.— E. P. Powell. 



Hew Tigridiaa. Among the many new si>ecies 

 of plants which Mr. C. G. Pringle of Vermont 

 has discovered in his botanical travels through 

 Arizona. Mexico, Southern Texas, etc., are two 

 new Tigridias. The first, T. Piinglci (H'of-son), 

 was first found in Northern Mexico in 18,si by 

 Mr. A. Buchan Helpburn at a height of li,U00feet, 

 and a specimen was sent the Royal Gardens at 

 Kew, England. In LSST Mr. Pringle re-discovered 

 the plant in the state of Chihuahua, and sent 

 specimens to the Botanic gardens at Cambridge, 

 Mass., where Mr. Watson, curator of the Herba- 

 rium of Harvard College, identified it as an un- 

 described species and named it after Mr. Pringle. 

 Some of the bult>s which Mr. Pringle brought 

 home, were sent to the Kew Gardens, and from 

 these a beautiful colored plate was made tor the 

 December No. of the Botanical Magazine. 

 Under cultivation the collected plants soon 

 double in size of bulb and flowers. But they do not 

 increase by offsets as much as the T. gramiifiora ^ 

 conchiflora, etc. The flowers surpass those of 

 grandiflora in their brilliant scarlet wide-spread- 

 ing outer segments. In Texas, not far from 

 Laredo, in the fail of '88 when only the dry leaves 

 and seed pods were visible, Mr. Pringle found 

 what he supposed was a species of Nemastylis, 

 and brought home about a hundred bulbs. Sam- 

 ples of these were sent Mr. Watson who found 

 it to be a new Tigridia, and named it T. buccifera. 

 This species has smaller purplish flowers. Like 

 all of this genus the flowers are short-lived, en- 

 during hardly twelve hours, but they are very 



l>cautiful and each bulb l)ears in long succesion 

 from si-x to thirty flowers. We believe this is 

 the first and only species that has been found in 

 the United States. Mr. Wat.son in his descrip- 

 tion says that the s|>ocics was found by Mr. 

 Pringle in the mountains of Jalisco, Mexico: but 

 this was a mistake, as Mr. Pringle afterwards 

 collected it in the original locality which is on 

 the southern borders of Texas In certain loca- 

 lities it is very abundant growing as a weed in 

 cultivated flelds. T. buccifera in cultivation is 

 grown like the other species, and the bulbs 

 should be wintered in dry sand in the cellar.— 

 F. H. ifi)rs/i)i(i, Ma.-<.i. 



Flowers in Pot. The past two winters 1 have 

 had a pit in which I keep such a miscellaneous 

 assortment of plants as the average amateur 

 collects. The location of the pit is at the west 

 end of the house, faces south, and is sheltered on 



THE SWING AS A CURCULIO REMEDY. 



the north and west by the ground rising rather 

 abruptly. The entrance is by a door opening 

 into it from the cellar, and as its only exposed 

 portion is that covered by glass 'the plates rest- 

 ing on the earth, and the gable and north part of 

 the roof being banked with earth and covered 

 with leaves etc.), it is easy to preser%-e a compa- 

 ratively uniform temperature. Last winter the 

 frost falling from the glass as the sun warmed 

 the air, sometimes froze the leaves on which it 

 fell, but notwithstanding the repeated freezings, 

 few of them died soon enough to admit of their 

 death being laid to that cause, and buds that 

 were just beginning to appear when the plants 

 were housed in November, gradually enlarged 

 until in Februar.v or March they came to full 

 bloom, and their fading was nearly as longdrawn 

 as their blooming process. This winter we made 

 a lightljoard shutter to cover the glass as a pro- 

 tection from cold and storms of wind and hail as 

 well. The effect of the use of this has been to 

 preserve a more even temperature, and as a con- 

 sequence slightly increased growth and a trifling 

 shortening of the time necessary for buds to ex- 

 pand. When colder nights demanded, the shutter 

 was left down until the sun could shine into the 

 pit, which owing to its location was not until two 

 hours after sunrise. During the time of the 

 " prolonged nights, " 1 was surprised at the length 

 of time flowers kept perfectly fresh. Violets 

 have kept two weeks, and were cut for bouquet-s, 

 and a pink Hepatica, double as a Rose, lasted si.x 

 weeks. Roses which in summer fade in a day, 

 in the pit retained their loveliness for a week. 

 It occurred to me that while a pit without arti- 

 ficial heat would hardly answer to grow flowers, 

 one might be employed profitably to keep them 

 when once grown. Perhaps this has been done 

 alread.v, though I have not known of it; it would 

 be a cheap and easy way of keeping a supply on 

 hand to meet emergencies, provided the change 

 of temperature had no detrimental effect. Can 

 someone speak from experience on the subject ? 

 —Elder's Wife. 



New York Floral Notes. 

 New York florists are congratulating them- 

 selves on the best Easter they have seen for 

 several years. Prices were not unusually large, 

 averaging just about the same as last year, but 

 the demand was \evy large, being generally re- 

 garded as much in excess of previous years. 

 Not only were the church decorations extremely 

 lavish, but flowers were used by many bodies 

 which formerly made no decorations at all, and 

 it seemed as if everyone who could afford to do 

 so purchased either plants or flowers. Flowers 

 formed the most favored Easter gift, and they 

 were worn to excess on that day. It was notice- 



able, as it is on the occasion of ever.v festival,that 

 loose flowei-s or good blooming plants were sold 

 far more than any other class of designs. Church 

 memorials usually took this form, instead of the 

 unmeaning or ugly designs formerly in vogue. 

 Most of the churches make it u practice of dis- 

 tributing these decorations when done with them 

 to the hospitals. 



Naturally Lilies took the lead in everything. 

 The cull for these plants was enormous. A 

 week before Easter some of the growers were 

 rather anxious to get rid of these flowers, under 

 the impression that the market would be over- 

 stocked, but it is doubtful whether there were 

 any left over on the Saturday night, and it was 

 hard to buy them on Saturday afternoon. 



.\zaleas. Hydrangeas, Lilac and Genista were 

 favorite pot plants, and so were pot bulbs, es- 

 pecially Dutch Hyacinths. Small pot Lilacs 

 were seen arranged in gilt baskets, tied with 

 Lilac ribbon. These plants were usually arrang- 

 ed in fancy baskets, when intended for gifts, 

 and graceful baskets of growing Ferns were also 

 used as Easter presents. 



Some of the fashionable silversmiths were in- 

 iiching on the florists' province by selling 

 .aitiful silver baskets, made for table decor- 

 ations, filled with growing Ferns. 



Roses and Orchids were certainly most favored 

 iu fine cut flowers, either for a gift in the form 

 of loose flowers, or as a corsage. All winter 

 women have worn few flowers besides Violets or 

 occasional Pansies, but on Easter Day they 

 blossomed out in all sorts of gay Roses A quan- 

 tity of very fine Jacqueminots were in the mar- 

 ket, and these were largely used. This Rose Is 

 always a favorite with women.but fine specimens 

 of it have not been in the market this season, 

 except in small quantities, until Easter. Large 

 or mixed corsage bunches seem permanently re- 

 tired; from one to three really fine.long-stemmed 

 Roses is the leading style. With the large hy- 

 brids, one only is worn, but one sees two or three 

 Jacqueminot,La France, Mermet, Madame Hoste, 

 or the like. But as a corsage flower always in 

 style, worn on all occasions, the Violet invariably 

 leads. The number of white Violets sold is very 

 small, compared with the colored ones, partly 

 because they are never really so fragrant, and 

 partly because the color is peculiarly associated 

 with the flower. These flowers have been used 

 in a great many wa.vs during Lent, the color 

 being generally regarded as appropriate to the 

 season. Lent has not been nearly so dull as 

 usual to the florist ; though there were few large 

 entertainments, flowers were needed in many 

 other ways. In the Easter church decorations 

 there was an effort to use white and pale colored 

 ribbon among the flowers, but it is to be hoped 

 this idea will not prevail : it is too suggestive of 

 millinery. 



Easter week promised a quantity of weddings, 

 some of which called for elaborate decorations. 

 There were no especially novel features promis- 

 ed, but a good many Lilacs and Hydrangeas 

 were reserved for this purpose. Orchids, Orange 

 blossoms and Lily-of-the-valley are the usual 

 bridal flowers. One promised innovation is the 

 giving of flower favors to wedding guests— little 

 posies tied with ribbon, and having Orange 

 flowers caught in among the loops. Needless to 

 say the trade wiU favor this idea. 



Some pretty dinner arrangements of green 

 and gold are made ; gilt baskets are filled with 

 growing Ferns for a centre-piece, whUe trailing 

 sprays made of Jonquils'are laid on the cloth at 

 either end. A good many dainty arrangements 

 are made of Ferns only. One very pretty idea— 

 not the work of a professional, was carried out 

 in green and white. A green silk lable cover 

 was loosely draped over with white and silver 

 open-meshed muslin. Scattered irregularly 

 about the table were small irregularly-shaped 

 rustic logs filled with Ferns. The accessories 

 were aU green and white, and it was very dainty. 

 Fern baskets and Palms are often the only decor- 

 ation at receptions. Loose bowls of large Roses 

 have come much in use, both for room and table 

 decorations. 



Carnations were really quite scarce at Easter; 

 something unusual. Bulbs were not very plenti- 

 ful either, but this season has been very hard on 

 them. An old bulb now revived is the Ixia ; a 

 limited quantity was flowered this spring, and 

 they proved attractive ; very few people knew 

 what they were. It is more than likely that they 

 would pay for a season or two ; for they are very 

 .pretty, and a novelty. They require the same 

 treatment as the Freesia. 



Emily Lodise Tapux. 



