'3° 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



March, 



Trailing Arbutus. 



Trailing Arbutus so dainty and sweet, 



Blushing when'er the sun's glances you meet. 



Hiding with modest coquetry so rare, 



Knowing dead leaves make your beauty more fair, 



Oally I pluck you with light, eager Angers, 



While close beside me caressingly lingers 



Some one, whose glance Is to melilce the sun. 



Yet as Arbutus, his gaze I would shun. 



Ah! little Mayflower, you are half human— 



The form of a flower, the heart of a woman. 



— Home Companion. 



March, you great blusterer ! 



March, hustUng flusterer ! 

 Bleak oft and bitter the breeze you bi-ing; 



But we can stand it all. 



Since Nature planned it all 

 As thine equipment, forerunner of spring. 



Deceitful Month ! Thy DaflodUs 

 Were born too soon: their golden bells 

 Are hanging full of icicles. 

 And hyacinths their perfume spread 

 O'er tempting Maple blossoms red 

 Where cling the wild bees frozen dead. 



—Edwin S. Hopkins. 



Sow only tested seeds. 

 Fetanias for a dry season. 

 A poor hot-bed is a cold affair. 

 Dress weak lawns with bone dust. 

 Dwarf Cannas are mowing in popularity. 

 One may feed plants too generously for bloom. 

 Destroy the basket worm often to be found on 

 Evergreens. 



Try some lifted Pansies in the window garden 

 for earlier bloom. 



Beets grown on heavy land are sweeter if sand 

 be mixed in the soil. 



"Worthless seed" is often only another term 



for careless sowing. 



For delicate flavor the old Early York Cab- 

 bage is hard to beat. 



The Dwarf Ageratum gives us our best laven- 

 der blue for bedding purposes. 



Are the profits too low in some years? The 

 same is ti-ue ot all Unes of industry. 



Why not add materially to your collection of 

 hardy perennials and shi-ubs this year? 



The Fruit Out-look in Western Michigan at 

 this date iFeb. llth), is good.— J". JV. Steams. 



No seed should be planted on land that is not 

 as rich as that which produced the seed.— OM 

 Gardener. 



Primroses form a large family. Herr Pax, of 

 Germany, in his recent work on this genus men- 

 tions 16 sections that contain 150 species. 



A Hint for the Season. The south side of a 

 board fence is fully a hundred miles south of the 

 north side, speaking as to warmth and earliness. 



Sweet Peas, an exchange tells us, are Mrs. 

 Harrison's favorite flowers. Well! that must be 

 safe enough to say, for with whom are they not 

 favorites/' 



A plant lover must above all else be on guard 

 to arrest the underhand depredations of numer- 

 ous insects that prey on the foliage and flowers 

 of our pets.— Jlf. B. W. 



New Bush Lima Bean, whatever the final 

 verdict concerning the worth of this novelty 

 shall be, it is represented as having an unprece- 

 dented sale in small quantities for trial. 



The Pests. An English reader recommends a 

 thick dressing of soot in the drills in which Sweet 

 Peas are sown, where birds and mice destroy 

 the seed, and when the plants appear above the 

 surface scatter Tobacco dust over them. 



Consider the Profitable Side, it does not re- 

 quire the outlay of many dollars for ornamental 

 trees, vines and plants about the home to add 

 some hundreds ot dollars to the real value of the 

 place. Such improvements tell for cash when 

 one comes to sell or rent the grounds. 



The Eose, Vick's Caprice. Some specimens of 

 this Rose received at our ofiice show the striped 

 characteristics rather more distinctly than any- 

 thing we before have met. The body color is pink, 

 with both darker and lighter stripes. The mark- 

 ings, quite pronounced in the buds, are not 

 specially attractive in the open blooms. 



A Violet luncheon (the latest floral caprice, ac- 

 cording to the New York Sun) was given by 

 Marion Harland to the contributors to her jour- 

 nal. Violets formed the decorations, and the flow- 

 ers candled were served to the guests as favors, to- 

 gether with corsage bouquets of the same. Every 

 thing even to the ices was of that Violet hue. 



Plant Orape vines around your buildings, and 

 train them on the walls by means of galvanized 

 wire staples. They keep the buildings cool and 

 will bear plentifully; the fruit is not so large but 

 of ;a more delicate flavor than when grown on 

 trellises in the open field. Those grown on south 

 or east walls will be finer flavored than on north 

 and west walls.— radar's Wife. 



With the young C^abbage plant comes the Cab- 

 bage flea beetle. The surest way to get rid of 

 him is to use either Paris green water prepared 

 as tor Potato bugs, using one-half ounce of 

 poison to five gallons of water, or mix it or Lon- 

 don purple with plaster, flour or dry leached 

 ashes, at the rate of one part poison to 50 parts 

 of the other material. Apply as soon as the 

 seedlings begin to break through the ground. 



Of Weeds Professor Prentiss says it is essential 

 for a plant to be successful as a weed that it be a 

 hardy strong grower, and to multiply itself rap- 

 idly either by cuttings, seeds or roots, or all com- 

 bined. While he is familiar with 130 weeds, yet 

 of those only iJO are natives,and of those common 

 in gardens (a total ot .54) but 11 were natives. Of 

 the Mayweed, a single plant in one season wil] 

 produce 40,000 seed; the Burdock 34,000, the Ox- 

 eye Daisy and the Dock each 13,000, the Ked 

 Poppy 50,000 and 2,000 come from the Dandelion. 



" A Xey to the Families of Insects," From the 



Popular PubUshing Co., Chicago, has come to 

 our table, a useful little work bearing the above 

 title. Although there are many keys to particu- 

 lar families, yet, excepting this, there is not to 

 our knowledge a key published in compact form 

 that starts the young entomologist in the way to 

 use these particular keys by indicating under 

 which family this or that unknown insect is to be 

 classed. It is from the pen of Prof. N. M. Eber- 

 hart, who is the author ot numerous treatises on 

 insects. 



A pleasing dwarf form of Ivy Geranium has 

 been received at this oflice, .which is said to be 

 entirely new by its originator, H. Growner, of 

 Illinois, who describes it as follows: It is a sport 

 from Lucie Lemoine, and has the leaf but not the 

 usual trailing habit of its class, as it grows in a 

 very compact form not higher than six or eight 

 inches, and is useful as an edging for beds. The 

 flowers are double and produced freely in clus- 

 ters, being white with a pink center. After four 

 year's culture it is believed to be valuable and 

 shows no signs of reverting to its parent. 



A Noble Ambition. Our correspondent, Jacob 

 Faith, of Missouri, writes* " I wish to leave this 

 world better than I found it, and place on record 

 that I have been here, that it may be said ■ he 

 is missed,' for the work of our hands, the bloom 

 and fruit on the trees and ^Ines, and evergreens 

 in winter will tell that we have been here. So 

 we should plant fruit that will give us pleasure 

 and treasure, to shed their blessings on milUons 

 when we are no more. So that it caimot be said 

 we ate the fruit of trees and vines planted by 

 our fathers, and in return did not plant for our 

 children." 



Salt and Plants. In the years of my inexpe- 

 rience, I was advised by a professional grower 

 that salt was beneficial as a top dressing for 

 plants. I knew of it being used on Asparagus 

 with benefit, so without further instruction I 

 appUed a liberal dose of salt to several choice 

 plants; their death was the natural result. But 

 from subsequent experiments I have found that 

 at the rate of a quart sown broadcast to about 20 

 feet square, at least on some soils it would in- 

 crease the brilUancy of colorand help the growth 

 of the plant. For each case, careful experiment 

 will give the proper quantity to use. 



Table Decoration with Plants. Our Ulustra- 

 tration explains itself so fully that hardly any- 

 thing additional is needed. The idea is that in 

 case a single plant decoration is wanted the pots 

 should be concealed by means of a box-Uke 

 receptacle Just beneath where the leaves of the 



Children and Flowers. 



extension table part. Or the opening may be 

 made wider, in which case short boards should 

 be fitted in on each side for the table service. The 

 opening is surrounded by pots of Moss-like plants, 

 Lycopodium and Ferns, or with wood moss, cut 

 greens and similar material. It is obvious that 

 two table cloths, and these meeting at the centre, 

 should be employed with this arrangement. 



Good Chinese Primroses. Our contributor, 

 J. F. Kupp, of Pennsylvania, sends us a collection 

 of very attractive Primrose flowers, and which 

 illustrate the advances being made in improving 

 this popular flower. Here we noticed magenta 

 colored blooms some thickly striped and speckled 

 with white, and other very fine selfs, a rosy car- 

 mine, the petals of which (having deeply fimbri- 

 ated edges) did not lap, as is usually the case, but 

 curled entirely free from each other; a remarka- 

 bly distinct 

 white, had a 

 star-hke centre 

 of yellow most 

 clearly outlined 

 and another 

 white had a fine 

 red center. 

 There were 

 various shades 

 of crimson,some 

 intensely clear 

 and deep, and 

 pink, purple, 

 etc., ruiming 

 through various 

 .— tints. 



The Plum and 

 Hop Louse. A 



c o rrespondent, 

 whose name 

 has been mis- 

 laid, sends in the following: '• Dr. C. V. Kiley 

 has shown that there are 13 generations of the 

 sexless or agomic females of the Hop louse. The 

 winged generations of this louse being developed 

 to permit migration in the spring from Plums 

 to Hops, and again in the fall from Hops to 

 Plums, where the last brood of females (wing- 

 less) lay their eggs. We have usually supposed 

 that the lice were preyed on so extensively by 

 other insects that they disappeared early from 

 our fruit trees. Have we been wholly or partly 

 wrong? It is possible that other formsor species, 

 beside the Plum aphis leave the fruit trees for 

 some other planfir" 



Tuberoses After Blooming. A Tuberose bulb 

 never blooms a second time. This is the i-ule, 

 there may be exceptions, as a bulb may some- 

 times contain two embryo blossom stalks and 

 send up both at once or one soon after the other. 

 Such a thing may be possible, though among 

 many thousands of bulbs that I have had bloom, 

 not one has had more than one flower stalk. The 

 bulb after blooming has no value, except If it be 

 planted out in summer there will be found in 

 the fall a good many set around where the old 

 bulb was. At the north it will require two or 

 three years of cultivation to bring these to a 

 blooming size, whUe here they often grow large 

 enough to bloom in one year.— TI'?1C, Sfeete, S(. 

 Johns Co., Fla. 



Spiraea Astilboides, This plant is destined to 

 become a great favorite on account of its per- 

 fect hardiness, free flowering propensity, ease of 

 culture and compact habit, in which respect it 

 resembles its well-known congener, Spirea or 

 Astilbe Japonica. The comparatively large pan- 

 icles of blooms produced are white and similar to 

 the form of Spirea aruncus, figured in the Au- 

 gust number of Popular Gardening, and the 

 cultural direction there given are equally applic- 

 able to the subject under note. It may be readily 

 increased by division of the crowns after the 

 foUage has died down, and these when planted 

 singly may be lifted after a season's growth, 

 potted and placed in a warm place, when they 

 will rapidly come into bloom and give great sat- 

 isfaction on account of their durability as a pot 

 plant, or for cut flower work.— jB. O. Orpet, Pas- 

 saic Co.,N. J. 



Three Late Autumn Bloomers. Professor By- 

 ron D. Halstead, of Iowa, mentions the following 

 trio of wild plants that he thinks should be 

 worthy the best attention of the floriculturist: 

 Eupatorium ageratoides bears flowers of almost 

 coral whiteness in a convex mass several inches 

 across, yet not losing the gracefulness of an easy 

 cluster. After being cut the flowers of all these 

 last perfectly for a week or more. The Fringed 

 Gentian (Gentiana crinata) has flowers of a large 



