1890. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



257 



forcing in a cool pit, this bcinj; in<lce(l the 

 treatment from wliich in our climate the 

 best results should be expected. 



It may be well to add at this season of 

 planting DatTodils, that a deep, moist soil is 

 the one chief requisite for obtaining a free 

 growth and abundant bloom of the larger 

 varieties, while the smaller kinds prefer a 

 drier soil. All love a humid atmosphere, 

 and as the shelter of trees and shrubs favors 

 humidity, it follows that the family will 

 thrive better where such growths are 

 abundant than elsewhere. Clumps 

 growing in an exposed situation, sub- 

 ject to winds unbroken by trees, will 

 not do nearly as well as the same 

 varieties favored by shelter and more 

 moisture in the air. 



The variety comprised in this family 

 is now something quite wonderful. 

 Formerly there were twenty -one species 

 recognized, but later classifications by 

 the Daffodil Conference of Great 

 Britain has reduced these to thirteen. 

 They are all plants of Europe, being 

 found wild throughout the region of 

 the Mediterranean. Including the 

 varieties with the species and fully 

 600 distinct Daffodils are numbered. 



with bright pink tlowers, and those with 

 flowers of a tolerably good blue are not un- 

 frequently met with in positions near each 

 other, and apparently in soils exactly alike, 

 while plants grown in an ordinary manner 

 for the most part have either all pink or all 

 blue flowers, as the circumstances of their 

 abode may determine. That every attempt 

 to change the color of Hydrangeas is not 

 attended with the desired success is a fact, 

 and the many failures which have occurred 



A Cheap Plant Box. 



In former years when the writer was 

 extensively engaged in the plant and 

 flower-growing business, he found use 

 for many boxes of the style shown in 

 the accompanying engraving. The 

 boxes were made of rough pine inch 

 boards, six inches wide and with the 

 sides and ends flaring slightly, to ad- 

 mit of readily removing the earth at 

 any time. The inside width of the 

 boxes at the top was about eight inches 

 and tw-o inches less at the bottom. The 

 bottom board was about two inches shorter 

 than the opening, in order to admit of a 

 small space at each end for affording ample 

 drainage. 



The use these boxes was put to, was that 

 of receiving lifted plants from the lot in 

 September, such as were designed for stock, 

 plants for propagating purposes and also 

 plants being grown for cut flowers. Their 

 advantages were that they answered as a 

 good substitute for pots, but without the 

 danger of breakage. They were less ex- 

 pensive than pots, plants in them required 

 less care in watering, as the boxes retained 

 moisture better than pots. By their use 

 greenhouse plants could be lifted and con- 

 veniently stored under some temporary 

 structure of sash, for weeks after the first 

 frosts and then be removed to the green- 

 house, thus giving those that were moved 

 directly into the structure ample space 

 until they become adapted to the quarters. 



^fti advantage to the plants in such boxes 

 over setting them directly into beds, is that 



HOME-MADE PLANT BOX. 



the space can readily be suited to their 

 growth — that is when plants are first 

 brought in, the boxes may stand perhaps 

 one against the other, but as growth pro- 

 ceeds they can be spread somewhat. These 

 boxes were home-made. 



Hydrangeas with Blue Flowers. 



" J " IN JorRNAL OF HORTICUI.TCRE. 



The variable character of Hydrangea 

 Bowers when the plant is grown under cer- 

 tain circumstances has for many years been 

 a sort of horticultural puzzle, wliich is still 

 far from being satisfactorily solved. Plants 



QUEEN ANN'S DOUBLE DAFFODIL. 



have led to the conclusion that the proper 

 means to accomplish the end in view are 

 not yet sutflciently understood. 



Some time ago it was pointed out that 

 iron rust would not always effect the change 

 in color so much desired. But certain it is 

 that the removal of a plant from a soil in 

 which this element Is only foimd in very 

 minute particles to one in which it exists in 

 greater abundance does not tor some time 

 -produce any change, yet that a change does 

 eventually take place in most cases (not aU), 

 is also generally admitted. 



In general, Hydrangeas growing in a 

 peaty soil flower blue, while those in soil of 

 an opposite character produce pink flowers, 

 but there are exceptions in both cases. As 

 a proof that iron alone will not always 

 change a pink Hydrangea into a blue one, I 

 may mention that large quantities of that 

 metal have been at times added to the soil 

 without the desired effect. Neither has 

 alum dissolved in the water applied to the 

 plants been always attended with success. 

 On the other hand, now and then a plant 

 will produce blue flowers without apparent 

 cause. 



Time is always required; a plant that has 

 been growing under conditions favorable to 

 the productions of pink flowers will not 

 produce blue in the first season that it is re- 

 moved to a soil where blue flowers are the 

 rule. This slow change is easily accounted 

 for, as the Hydangea sets its bloom buds in 

 the preceding autumn, and their expansion 

 the following season will be in accordance 

 with the character of the material in which 

 they have been formed, but in course of 

 time, in consequence of the new food, the 

 juices of the plant become changed, and 

 the flowers of another character are pre- 

 pared. This change may possibly not be 

 effected, even in the second year, as I have 

 witnessed, but it is sure to follow. 



Notwithstanding the general hardiness of 

 the Hydrangea, in some cases where it has 

 been injudiciously planted out in a damp 



situation its summer growth is not suffi- 

 ciently ripened before winter sets in, and 

 there is consequently no blossom. A low 

 damp situation is by no means suitable to 

 it ; a dry, sunny, and airy one is more in 

 accordance with its wants, and I believe the 

 largest plant I ever saw of it was in a very 

 exposed situation in Northumberland, ele- 

 vated considerably above the surrounding 

 country, but at the same time dry, the sub- 

 soil being the loose shatter stone overlying 

 a freestone quarry. This plant flowered 

 pink, as might be expected from such 

 a soil; but if it had been growing in a 

 valley not more than a stone's throw 

 * from its position, in all probability it 

 would have produced blue flowers, if 

 indeed it had bloomed a tall, as a black 

 peat morass of considerable depth 

 formed the base of this quarry. 



It is remarkable that few, if any, 

 plants show such a difference in the 

 character of their flowers as the Hy- 

 drangea does when planted in soils 

 favoring the two extremes. Most 

 plants to which chemical and other 

 substances are sometimes applied ex- 

 hibit a difference in their general 

 health as well as in their foliage, but 

 the Hydrangea possesses as robust 

 health in the one condition as in the 

 other; at the time we may be right in 

 assuming pink to have been the 

 original color. Its change to blue 

 seems to be due to soluable substance 

 contained in the soil and taken up by 

 the plant, and carried through its 

 system into the flower buds. 



I cannot conclude without advert- 

 ing to a very common disappoint- 

 ment—namely, that this plant will 

 not produce blue flowers when grown 

 in a pot and in peat soil, and water 

 impregnated, perhaps with chalk or lime, 

 is supplied to it from a well. Water of 

 this kind neutralizes the effects of the peat 

 and the flowers are pink instead of blue, I 

 believe many of the so-called failures in ob- 

 taining blue flowers arise from this and 

 similar causes. Those, therefore, who ex- 

 pect to have blue flowers on Hydrangeas 

 ought to be careful what description of 

 water is supplied them, and it is not too 

 much to say that this has really more to do 

 with the success of the plants than the soil 

 they are grown in; but to make doubly 

 sure the one as well as the other ought to 

 be duly attended to. 



2,006. Winter Covering for Fansies, Spinach, 

 Etc. The virtues of Evergreen boughs tor cov- 

 ering plants needing slight protection from cold, 

 or from the influences of changes in temperature, 

 are not yet appreciated as they deserve. Forest 

 leaves, where to be had in quantity, also serve a 

 good purpose, and Pine boughs or Cornstalks put 

 over them will keep than in place and add to 

 the protection. Evergreen boughs placed over 

 Pansies are also useful in keeping fowls away, 

 and save the buds that are threatened from that 

 source. Of course, any coarse material, weeds, 

 straw, marsh hav. etc . can be used for covering 

 also.-G. R. 



1,8.18. Melon Blight. It has often puzzled us 

 to find a cause of the sudden withreingand dying 

 of Melon and Cucumber vines. The trouble 

 seems to begin with the leaves, which die down 

 while no indication of any trouble whatever is to 

 be found on any part of the stalk or root. What 

 to do to prevent this disease, we do not know, 

 e-xcept it be planting on new ground. There is 

 another disease, which manifests itself in the 

 leaves becoming spotted with greyish-white dis- 

 colorations, turning to brown, and causing a de- 

 crease in the vigor and vitality of the plant. 

 This is caused by the same fungus which attacks 

 Bean vines, and causing the disease known as 

 authraconse of the Bean. ReUable remedies for 

 this have not yet been found. In many cases 

 however, the withering and dying of the plants is 

 not the result of disease, but of the attacks of 

 the larva of the yellow-striped Cucumber bee- 

 tle, which gnaws and sucks at the root part of 

 the plant. Whether this can be reached and 

 killed by applications, such as Tobacco tea, salt- 

 peter water, etc, we can not yet positively af- 

 flrm.— E. R. 



