i886. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



27 



Applies to Many. Mrs. H. P. Jones, of 

 Henry Co., III., in a letter to us, after refer- 

 ring in most complimentary t^i-ms to her 

 appreciation of Popular Gardening, asks 

 quite natui-ally whether her paper, sub- 

 scribed for at some time during the first 

 volume, will come to the end of the time for 

 which she suliscribed, inasmuch as the price of 

 the paper has been changed. Most certainly 

 is our answer to her and to all simOai' sub- 

 scribei*s, he they such as came direct, or 

 through the FlarnnVorld or the Fruit Revoi-rler. 



Pot-grown Strawberry Plants. Mr. Peter 

 Hendereon in a note to us offers the statement 

 that: " Much of the talk against such plants 

 is all wrong and must be based upon some 

 unfortunate experieuie, for certain it is that 

 when we sell, as we have done for the past five 

 oi-six yeai-s, from l.")l>,(10ll to 300,CKX) pot^layered 

 Strawberry plants annually we would not be 

 able to do so unless they gave good results. 

 Moreover in our own practice we never fail to 

 get a full crop in 9 or 10 months from the 

 time of planting, which cannot be done in any 

 other way that is known to us. 



Shrub Flowers in Winter. Miss Belle G., 

 Niagara Co., N. Y., sends in the following 

 interesting item to what she facetiously styles 

 "Our Family's Knowledge Box," " From New 

 Year's until April my window presents a fine 

 show of Deutzia, Lilacs, Daphne and Bleeding 

 Heart (Diccntra spfctnhilis) in flower. To 

 have these I simply take up with care some of 

 the ofl'-sets of the lawn bushes, or else take 

 young plants that were raised from cuttings, 

 I)lant them in tobacco pails or large pots and 

 keep them in the cellar until wanteti. Brought 

 to the window, they grow and bloom quickly. 



Where do so many plant lice come from 

 people often wonder. Those who have studied 

 the lives of these little fellows have no trouble 

 in accounting for their free presence. Accord- 

 ing to Alphonse Kai-r, the observing French 

 naturalist, one of them will under favorable 

 contlitiou produce nearly twenty young in the 

 course of a day. A single aphis which, at the 

 beginning of the warm weather would bring 

 into the world ninety aphides, and these then 

 twelve days after, would each produce ninety 

 more, would be, in the fifth generation, author 

 of .5,004,000,000 aphides— which, he adds, " is 

 a tolerable sum.'' 



Names and the Point of View. The Garden- 

 ers' Monthly tells of a florist who is a German 

 and who does not think the English names of 

 plants any easier than Latin ones, and even the 

 English names used in florists' work worry him 

 considerably. He thinks Dutch names might 

 be adopted with great advantage by those who 

 think easy names a gi-eat desideratum. For 

 instance, he thinks the common phrase, " Flor- 

 ists' Supplies," a terrible word for any one to 

 pronounce, and he would substitute for this, 

 Garteuwerkzeugfabrik. While the subject of 

 short and easy names is up this simple word 

 may be worth considering. 



The Rhynchospernum is a handsome ever- 

 green climber which will succeed tolerably well 

 with house culture, and should be trained on a 

 small trellis. In the greenhouse, however, it 

 may be planted as a permanent rafter plant, 

 succeeding as it does much better than in pots. 

 The white Jasmine-like flowers fill the room 

 completely with exquisite fragrance, and aie 

 produce<l very freely throughout the spring and 

 early summer months. The flowers are hand- 

 some and are especially desirable for bouquets, 

 the perfume being agreeable to all. There are 

 two vai-ieties,viz. : R.jasminohlfs, plain green 

 foliage, and R. jrmrninuides i-arierjaln, with 

 lovely leaves. This plant succeeds with a night 

 temperature of only 40' to .50°, with propor- 

 tionately higher day temperature, — W. F. L. 



The Wallflower. Mrs. Geo. W. Bane, of 

 Kent Co. , Delaware, off'ers on a postal card, 

 first the query why these old flowers are not 

 more often seen, and then follows with this 

 welcome statement concerning hers: " I have a 



quantity at present in bloom, and a small 

 bunch of the bloom is enough to perfume a 

 whole house with a scent scarcely inferior to 

 that of Violets. My varieties are the single 

 clear yellow and the blood-red. For spring 

 flowers I sow in February, as they need to grow 



BLOOMS OF IMPROVED CYCLAMENS. 



a year before blooming; for autumn flowers, 

 as soon as the seeds are ripe. In summer I 

 grow them on the cool side of the house, where 

 the moisture from a well-watered lawn seems 

 to suit them perfectly. I winter the plants un- 

 der a cold-frame that opens into the cellar. I 

 find the plants among the easiest I can grow. 

 The Belmont. This new Strawberrj', of which 

 we give an engraving, is attracting so much 

 favorable notice in the East that we think It 

 worthy of introduction to our readers. For 

 several years it has received marked attention 

 at the shows of the Massachusetts Horticultu- 

 ral Society. In 1883 the special prize of ten 

 dollars, offered by Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, 

 for the best four quarts of the vai'iety of finest 

 form, color and quality, was awarded to 

 Belmont. It also took the first prize for best 

 four quai'ts, and first pi'ize for best two quarts, 

 at Boston, June 22, ISSC. The peculiarities set 

 down for this variety ai-e hardiness, lateness 

 of the blooming, on which account it escapes 

 late spring frosts, extra flavor, firmness and 

 the peculiar oblong shape. Parker & Wood, 

 of Boston, Mass., are agents for the Belmont. 

 Lay in Some Potting Soil, Sand, Etc. It is 

 only for fear some of our readers might over- 

 look this that we talk of it now, for all plant 

 growers must know the need of having a sup- 

 ply in the cellar or greenhouse shed, accessible 

 at any time in the winter. But many seem 

 not to know the value of some sand in the soil, 

 and this should come in now also. Sand in 

 the soil makes it more porous, promotes drain- 

 age and tends to the preventing of souring. 

 It also makes the soil pleasanter to handle. 

 Judgment is needed not to add too much sand, 

 for sand is not plant food, and an excess of it 

 destroys that firmness of soil particles which 

 most kinds of roots enjoy; the proportion of 

 one-sixth of the entire bulk is not far from 

 right. By using sand for rooting cuttings in 

 (and here it may be pure) better results would 

 follow than from the use of soil for this pur- 

 pose. Our choice for all purposes is a rather 

 coarse, sharp article of sand. 

 Eoses in Pits. A Missouri reader informs 

 , the Popular Gardening family that there is 

 ! no use of having from half success to entire 

 ) failure in keeping Roses and other plants over 

 winter in the cellar, when it can be done with 

 complete success in a pit, even of cheap con- 

 J stniction. Hers is simply a box:ixox(j 1-2 

 ft., sunk half its depth into the earth, in a 

 place sheltered by buildings, and then banked 

 up to the top with ground. The bank is not 

 small and narrow, but enough earth is used to 

 have an upper surface a foot or more wide, and 

 from this receding gradually away. The size 



of the box was governed by the size of a hot- 

 bed sash that is used for covering it. One end 

 of the box is five inches higher than the other, 

 for shedding water on the sash. In cold 

 weather old carpets are placed over the sash 

 several thicknesses deep; when very cold, 

 boiu-ds on top of these. In all fair weather, 

 fall, winter and spring, the sash is opened daUy. 

 In such a i)it Roses and other half-hard}' plants 

 wintered surprisingly well, lieing followed 

 during the sunnner with great crops of bloom, 

 A complimentary dinner was given in honor 

 I if the 88th birthday of the venerable Marshall 

 P. Wilder, of Dorchester, Mass., America's 

 most eminent horticulturist, on Sept. 22d, by 

 Mr. B. C. Clark, secretary of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural Club. In response to some re- 

 marks made by the host, Mr. Wilder gave 

 expression to the following words among 

 others: My love for rural life and the culti- 

 vation of the soil is well known to all of you. 

 Oh ! yes, I cannot remember the time, since my 

 sainted mother took me into the garden to help 

 dress and keep it, that I did not love the culti- 

 vation of the soil above all other pursuits, I 

 love every thing that is beautiful in Nature — 

 the balmy spring bedecking the earth with 

 flowers scarcely less numerous or brilliant than 

 the starry host above, the summer solstice rich 

 with the verdure of the forest and field, the 

 mellow autumn burnished with the golden 

 harvest of the year, and I have always loved 

 to commune with Nature in her secret labora- 

 tory, and learn from her how to produce those 

 beautiful flowers and fruits with which she 

 adorns the earth. Life at the longest is short. 

 I have passed its summit. But if I can have 

 the happiness to know that I have done any- 

 thing to promote the comfort of mankind I 

 shall feel that I have not lived in vain. And 

 so I shall continue to work on in the same old 

 way while life and strength shaU last. 



Persian and Some Other Cyclamens. 



The genus Cyclamen, known more widely 

 perhaps through the beautiful Persian species 

 shown in the engravings than by anj' other, 

 is a near relative of the Primroses. It con- 

 tains, besides this favorite flower of the win- 

 dow garden and the greenhouse, a number 

 of hardy kinds, and these are not so well 

 known. Tlie Persian species, however, is 

 the most valuable one for growing in pots; 

 the soil needs to l)e light and well enriched 

 with leaf-mold and old manure; in potting 

 place the crown of the bulb just above the 

 earth, keeping in a cool place and watering 

 but little until well started. Care should be 

 taken that the earth under the bidb does not 



A ireU-<ji-otrn Plant of the Persian Ci/clayiien. 

 become hard before the roots are established. 

 While these plants bloom they are bene- 

 fited by frequent applications of liquid 

 manure, and when through they may be 

 planted in open ground from Maj' until Sep- 

 tember, after which they are to be lifted 

 and started into growth. If kept from cross- 

 fertilization when in flower, all varieties re- 

 produce themselves tolerably well from seed , 



