256 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



August, 



The Fraxinella: A Fine June-flow- 

 eringr Hardy Plant. 

 The subject of our engraving and sketch 

 is not as commonly met in American gar- 

 dens as its great merits should entitle it to be. 

 It is a plant of conspicuous beauty when in 

 bloom and afterwards the neat, smooth, 

 dark green compound foliage is more attract- 

 ive than that of the average occupant of the 

 hardy border. There are two varieties: the 

 one having white flowers, the other pale pur- 

 ple flowers pencilled with darker lines. As 

 seen in our illustration, re-engraved from 

 the London Garden, the blooms are borne 

 on numerous tall upright racemes. Alto- 

 gether a well grown clump of the Fra.xinella 

 (Dictamniis fra.rincUn) is certain from its 

 beautiful neat habit and strik- 

 ing flowers to arrest attention 

 and command admiration 

 the summer flower garden. 



Besides being of interesting 

 form and striking appearance 

 the Fraxinella is strongly and 

 agreeably scented both in foli- 

 age and flowers and on this ac- 

 count it is in much favor with 

 many for drying and placing 

 in rooms. Of the two varieties 

 the white is somewhat the 

 smaller grower, but it is not a 

 delicate plant and is equally 

 deserving of culture with the 

 other, if, indeed, it would not, 

 in many cases, be preferred be- 

 cause of being pure white. We 

 have never found this plant in 

 the least difficult to cultivate 

 in our own gardens, but com- 

 plaint as to this sometimes 

 comes from those whose gar- 

 dens are of heavy soil, and per 

 haps not well underdrained. 

 It delights in a light, loamy 

 earth, and if partial shade Is 

 provided it is all the better 

 .suited. Although entirely hardy some shel- 

 ter as where there is a back ground of shrubs 

 is favorable to the growth of the plant. 



While the Fraxinella seeds freely it is 

 not the easiest of plants to increase in this 

 way as the seeds often fail. The best time 

 forsowing is immediately after the seeds rip- 

 en. Those who are not aware that the seeds 

 often lay two years before germination may 

 have made the mistake of throwing them 

 out after one season, thinking they were 

 useless. To increase the plants by division 

 is also not ea.sy, which fact, with the forego- 

 ing one, sufficiently accounts for the com- 

 parative scarcity of the plants. Usually a 

 large percentage of the divided roots die, 

 while those that succeed require several 

 years before they attain a pleasing size. We 

 have heard of this plant being propagated 

 by cuttings of new flowerless shoots in the 

 spring, but have never tried this method. 



Plants of the Fraxinella can be procured 

 at all nurseries where the raising of hardy 

 perennial flowers receives fair attention. 



long and 6 feet broad, of oval form, dug 

 down to a rock bottom, and stoned up. It 

 adjoined the cellar on the west end and was 

 in a rather steep bank facing south. 



The wall between the cistern and cellar 

 was removed, and a door put in here, the 

 broken wall was relaid, leaving the interior 

 something like a horseshoe in shape: the 

 ground was leveled to the top of the cistern 

 wall, on this was laid the sills of "6x8 scant- 

 ling halved together and spiked at the cor- 

 ners and to the side of the house. 



Inch boards six inches wide were used for 

 rafters, cross strips were let in, to support 

 the roof boards on the north side and that 

 side and the west end were boarded and 

 battened. The roof on the south side had a 



A Home-made Plant Pit. 



''ELDER'S WIFE," LITINOSTON CO., N. T. 



I never before wintered my plants so suc- 

 cessfully as last season. Previously I had 

 had only a dark frost-proof cellar, the win- 

 dows of the living room and an adjoining 

 bedroom for winter plant quarters. Last 

 fall I had constructed a long desired pit and 

 in this I wintered 40 Chrysanthemums, .50 or 

 more Geraniums, a lot of Amaryllis, Fuch- 

 sias, and a variety of other plants, including 

 35 Cacti, Opuntias, Mamillaria, Echinocacti, 

 Cerei and Stapelia, with gratifying success, 

 and very little trouble. 



It was made and managed thus: The only 

 available place to build the pit was already 

 occupied by a leaky and now abandoned 

 cistern. This was about 7 feet deep, 8 feet 



CLUMP OF THE WHITE FRAXINELLA. 



wide board nailed on next the ridge and one 

 at both the east and west ends, to reduce the 

 amount of glazing required. The remain- 

 ing space, 5x6 feet, was covered by three 

 sash, containing six panes each. The sash 

 had once done duty as wall show case doors, 

 and cost less than .$1.00 each; just outside 

 the sashes at top and both sides an eight 

 inch board was set on edge and nailed fast. 



The north side of the roof and the west 

 gable were then banked with earth, and 

 over this and on the board portions of the 

 south side were placed leaves to a depth of 

 (i or eight inches and weighted down with 

 boards. The sashes should have been bat- 

 tened down and provision made for covering 

 it on cold nights, but other cares crowded 

 out these details. 



The interior furnishings consisted of a 

 wide shelf across the west end, level with 

 the sill and the east end the same, a nar- 

 rower one along the south side and a set of 

 shelves upon the noth side from the floor up. 



The south side shelf contained Violets, 

 Daisies, Alyssum, Verbenas, Pansies, etc., 

 which required plenty of light and grew 

 low; most of these bloomed pretty con- 

 stantly during the winter. The broad shelf 

 on the west was filled with Geraniums, 

 Roses, Stocks and many others; these all 

 grew very slowly and some budded and 

 bloomed. The corresponding shelf on the 

 east held a large box containing the Cacti, 

 and in the farthest corner a box of Fuchsias. 

 These grew slowly, but strong and stocky, 

 and in March began to bloom. The north- 

 ern tier of shelves had at the top Ipomea, 

 Lophospermum, Solanums, Sea Onion, 

 Acacia, Nasturtium and Geraniums, the 

 next lower one Amaryllis, and below these 

 on benches along the south and west were 

 Hydrangea, Agapanthus, Salvia, "Cactus 

 Vine," and Chrysanthemums. 



The winter was a very mild one, and the 

 temperature averaged about 45° until the 

 last of .January; February was quite severe 

 all through, 8° below zero occasionally, and 

 the morning temperature in the pit was 30° 

 several times, and I was quite certain that 

 when spring opened, my floral treasures 

 would be dead. When the outside air 

 began to grow milder and the frost fell from 

 tlie glass like snow and froze the leaves 

 stiff wherever it rested, you may imagine 

 that I felt decidedly blue, but after the 

 performance was repeated several times 

 without apparent injury to my pets, I began 

 to regard it with less apprehension. I have 

 since come to the conclusion that the uni- 

 form low temperature had made them 

 hardy and the lucky accident 

 of having it at the west side of 

 the house where it escaped the 

 morning sun, were the causes 

 that combined to prevent a 

 failure. 



Heretofore 1 have never been 

 able to grow Farfugium suc- 

 cessfully on account of red 

 spider, but a small one put in 

 the pit last fall has become a 

 splendid plant. Altogether I am 

 well pleased with my pit and 

 shall endeavor to make some 

 arrangement for keeping the 

 temperature a trifle higher dur- 

 ing cold snaps, without arti- 

 ficial heat if possible. 



In common with all pits 

 mine was somewhat troubled 

 with dampness, but not moul- 

 dy, and water stood upon the 

 floor quite frequently. Finally 

 Idug a hole in one corner where 

 the rock did not quite floor it 

 over, into this I sweep any 

 water that gathers and it oozes 

 away at leigure. 

 Opposite is a sectional vie w of 

 the pit complete. A small ladder gives 

 me access to any of the plants I desire to 

 attend to. The temperature is regulated to 

 some extent by opening or closing the door 

 leading into the cellar. The cost was not 

 great since the digging and stoning up was 

 mostly done already; the lumber was a 

 cheap grade of Hemlock. The work was 

 done by the "Elder" himself after plans 

 of my own, so that the chief expense was 

 the glazing, which in this case was not 

 great. I have hopes of making it do duty 

 during summer by removing the sashes 

 and substituting oiled cloth and growing 

 Fuchsias, Begonias and such like plants, 

 which thrive best in partial shade and 

 moist atmosphere. 



I have never before had my Cacti start 

 into growth so early and so thriftily as this 

 year, and this is the treatment they received 

 during the past winter: 



In November I placed them upon a high 

 shelf in the plant pit underneath the boarded 

 portion of the roof, where they had a mod- 

 erate light, and a little late afternoon sun. 

 The air, of course, was damp, as it is in all 

 pits, and I gave them not a drop of water 

 from the time I put them there until the 

 middle of March, then the sun being high 

 enough to heat the pit somewhat during the 

 middle of the day, I drew them out under 

 the sash-covered portion where they re- 

 ceived the full sunshine during the greater 

 part of the day, and about once a week gave 

 them a very little water, increasing the 

 amount with the plant's growth. 



The temperature averaged about 45° most 

 of the winter, but during the cold snap in 

 February I found it had fallen to 30° on sev- 

 eral occasions and entertained grave fears 

 for the lives of my pets in general and Cacti 

 in particular, but, though my collection 

 embraced Cereus, Echinocereus, Opuntia 



