iSSy. 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



21 



that any attempt is made to cultivate it unless 

 in artificial ponds, it should be understood that 

 this plant may lie enjoyed by every household, 

 even without the facility of a pond or stream, 

 and at the cost of comparatively little trouble. 



AU that is necessary to the growing of this 

 flower is to procure a good sized, strong wooden 

 tub in which is plai'ed a layer of swamp mud 

 and the roots of the Lily, which may be ob- 

 tained from any pond or stream where they 

 grow or procured from their natural place of 

 growth, buried in the water, by the assistance 

 of friends who reside near. 



After the roots are well placed in the mud, 

 it is advisable to cover with a thin layer of 

 sand to hold the roots more securely in place, 

 and then the tub filled with water and kept so 

 as evaporation progresses. In this manner 

 Pond Lilies may be enjoyed through the sea- 

 son, and before winter the tub can be set in the 

 cellai" or some place where there will be no 

 great danger from frost, to be set out upon the 

 lawn again in the early spring. 



Eucharis Culture In the Window. 

 The Amaryllis and Ismene. 



A. P. NEKDHAM, MIDDLESEX CO., MASS. 



It is timel)' that I should speak of the culture 

 of this plant in the window perhaps, for mine 

 grown here is coming into bloom, and to flower 

 a plant well I believe is looked upon as the real 

 test of one's success in its culture. My success 

 with this exquisite plant, however, as with all 

 my plants, seems to be more a matter of intui- 

 tiveness than anything to be laid down by fixed 

 rules. Still, so far as I can recall the treat- 

 ment, it is at the service of your readers : 



In the first place I started a pot with four 

 good sound bidbs, in rich soil, made so by 

 good loam and old cow manure, and a small 

 portion of wood ashes, all well mixed, not 

 giving too much water at the outset but in- 

 creasing the supply daily. The Eucharis must 

 be grown in a high temperature. When I see 

 signs of flowering I give them liquid cow ma- 

 nure once or twice a week. I also add some 

 wood ashes. It must not be given too strong. 



For two or three years 1 had blossoms at 

 Christmas, the time I most want them. Last 

 yetir they did not blossom at that time, and in 

 the early spring they were put in a back room 

 and no attention paid them save an occasional 

 sprinkling of the leaves. They were put under 

 a window with light but no sun; the leaf 

 growth, which was fine, did not in the least flag. 



After about three months of absolute rest I 

 discovered that they were about to blossom ; 

 the soil being perfectly dry, I immediately put 

 them in water, soaking the earth through. I 

 then put the plants in a light window with 

 just a ray of sun, and gave them regularly 

 twice a week liquid cow manure. The result 

 was the largest and most beautiful flowers I 

 had ever had. This year I repeated the experi- 

 ment with the same result. 



Preferring to have them blossom in winter, I 

 am in hopes to again bring them round in the 

 course of time. 



Thus you can see how very informal my 

 way of culture has been, and in tills as in other 



Pick for Gathering Leaves on Floiver Beds. 

 classes of plants find my best results often 

 come in the same way. With an anateur 

 gardener it is not easy to follow in a beaten 

 track, and the best results often depend on 

 what seems to be very little things. 



But of one thing I am sure : the foliage of 

 any plant must be kept absolutely clean, and 

 especially in the Eucharis keep it as perfectly 

 clean on the under side as on the upper. 



I would like to take this opportunity to rec- 

 ommend to your readers the Amaryllis formos- 

 iesema and Ismene calanthena as late winter 



flowering plants, as the florists recommend 

 them for summer outdoor culture. It is very 

 true they blossom in the garden in summer, 

 but they are far more beautiful as house plants, 

 indeed they are not the kind of flowers to well 

 bear the vi<'issitudes of the outdoor garden. 



PLANT OF EUCHARIS IN FLOWER. 

 I put my bulbs in theii pots, using good, rich 

 soil, about the middle of February, and through 

 March and April they are a great delight. In 

 May they are turned out of their pots and put 

 in the ground for leaf growth, upon which 

 depends their next year's blossoms. 



Peter Henderson on Forcing Hybrid 

 Perpetual Roses. 



To get the Hybrid Perpetual class early (say 

 during December and January) requires special 

 skill and care, but it well repays the ti'ouble, as 

 this class of Roses now bring an average of $.'50 

 per hundred buds at wholesale from the 15th 

 of December to January 1.5th. 



The method found to be necessary is to grow 

 these Roses in pots, exactly Uke the evergreen 

 or Tea Roses, except that, as they have a ten- 

 dency to grow tall, the center should be pinched 

 out of the leading shoots before they get a foot 

 high, so that from five to six shoots run up, 

 and thus not only make the plant bushy, but, 

 what is of more importance, these slimmer 

 shoots are less pithy and ripen off harder, thus 

 insuring with more certainty a greater pro- 

 duction of buds. 



The varieties of Hybrid Perpetuals best 

 adapted for early forcing are : Anna de Dies- 

 bach (rich pink) , Countess of Oxford (very large, 

 soft, rosy carmine). Magna Charta (splendid 

 bright pink). La France (rich peach color). 

 Mad. Uabriel Luizet (light pink, splendid), Paul 

 Neron (immense size, dark pink). Baroness 

 Rothschild (rich shade of rose), Rosy Mom 

 (cherry rose, large and full), Merveille de Lyon 

 (pure white, other characteristics same as 

 Baroness RothschiM), Anna Alexis (dark pink). 

 General Jacqueminot (crimson). Princess C. de 

 Rohan (crimson, almost black), Dinsmore, 

 (crimson, scarlet), Maiquis de Castellaine 

 (briUiant, pinkish carmine), Pride of Waltham 

 (peach color). 



The plants if started from cuttings any time 

 from September to January, the season in which 

 we prefer to root them, will, if properly grown, 

 by August 1st, (or at less than one year old) , have 

 filled a seven or eight-inch pot with roots. Now 

 is the critical point. The plants must V)e rip- 

 ened off and restetl, if a crop of buds is wan- 

 ted by December, January or February ; so, to 

 do this at a season as early as the 1st of August 

 the plants must be gradually dried off sulficient- 

 ly to make them drop their leaves, though not 

 to wilt them so violently as to shrivel the shoots. 

 A rest of two months is necessary, so that the 

 plants, which were commenced to dry off by the 

 Ist of August, may be started slowly by the 1st 

 of October, and those begun to be dried off by 



the 1st of September may be started, also at 

 as low a temperature as possible, by the 1st of 

 November. 



On first starting, give the dry balls a thorough 

 .soaking of water. If placed in sunken pits or 

 greenhouses, where there is no fire heat, the 

 one good watering will usually be enough until 

 the buds swell, though the wood should be kept 

 moist, by syringing twice or thrice each day. 

 These, like the Monthly Roses, are best ripened 

 off by placing them in the open air; though, if 

 continued wet weather occui-s when they are 

 thus placed to dry and ripen their wood the 

 pots must tie placetl on their sides, or some 

 arrangement contrived to keep them from get- 

 ting wet, otherwise the rest absolutely necessary 

 for early forcing cannot be obtained. In our 

 own practice we cover up the Roses every night 

 while drying them oil', either with sashes or 

 sheeting, as one drenching rain during the 

 period of drying off would defeat the whole 

 work. The best kinds for early work are; 

 Magna Charta, Anna de Diesbach, and Gen. 

 Jacqueminot. 



When the forcing of Hybrid Perpetual Roses 

 is successful it is very profitable. And it is 

 profitable because of the unusual care and skill 

 that are required to have plants in the proper 

 condition. -In Practical Floriculture Revised. 



Fallen Leaves on the Flower Beds. 



To see handsome fiower beds in early autumn 

 littered with the first leaves that drop is not 

 pleasant. Neither is it an easy task ordinarily 

 to remove them, for now all the finer beds are 

 such solid masses of verdure as to prevent one's 

 gaining foot room for reaching their centers. 



One of our readers, J. L. W., of Hartford 

 Co. , Conn. , after suffering his shaie of annoy- 

 ance from this cause, hit upon a simple device 

 for picking the kaves off, which he refers to 

 with a pencil sketch in a letter as follows : 



"My leaf pick is such a simple affair for 

 gathering fallen leaves from parts of the flower 

 beds that cannot be reached by hand that I de- 

 scribe it for the benefit of others. It was made 

 by myself, of a straight 1-4 inch steel rod a foot 

 long, and this inserted in a Ught pole seven 

 feet long. A ferrule was placed on the end of 

 the pole to prevent its splitting, and a gimlet 

 hole in the end's center. Into this the steel was 

 driven three inches deep. Its projecting end 

 was slightly drawn out, and made sharp with 

 a file. The pencil sketch shows all that is uec- 

 cessary concerning its use. " 



300. Watering A gapanthus. We do not think 

 It a good plan to keep pots in water in the open air, 

 because during a period of rainy weather the roots 

 are apt to become too clogged with moisture. All 

 that you have to do is to water once or twice a day 

 in tiot weather, and if some liquid manure is given 

 twice a week it will materially aid the growth and 

 flowering of the plants. 



348. Clematis Failing. Clematis Jackmanii and 

 all others of its type require to be planted in a 

 deep, well-enriched soil, and to be manured freely 

 every season. As they flower on the young, vigor- 

 ous shoots, they should be trimmed back before 

 growth commences in the spring. In November 

 they should be given a good mulch of coarse, lit- 

 tery manure, and this should be well worked into 

 the soil in the spnng. Thus treated, they will 

 commence to bloom in July, and will continue to 

 tlower as long as the plants have strength to throw 

 out lateral siioois.— C K. P. 



376. Botany for Beginners. Woods American 

 Botanist and !■ lorist is the best work that I know 

 of.andcan be procured at a moderate price. — C.E.P. 



395. Lilium Candidum Failing. Pig up the 

 bulbs, wash them clean and remove all decaying 

 parts, and plant in fresh soil to which no manure 

 has recently been applied. Probably the Lilies 

 have got the disease. If they have, there is no 

 known cure for it.— \V. F. 



378. Trimming Evergreens depends entirely on 

 the condition of your trees and whetheryou wish to 

 invigorate or check their growth, or promote their 

 symmetry. Clip hedges in June, prune trees in 

 September or ( ictober. In the case of -specimen 

 trees by disbudding in May and shortening back the 

 current growths to an eye in June, I regulate the 

 growth, and if further pruning is necessary, cut 

 back to a fork or plump eye in August or Septem- 

 ber. But Norways and Cedars may be pruned any- 

 time except in severe frosty weather.— W. F. 



