128 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 422. 



Garden Annuals. 



IT is now generally admitted that for the best and most con- 

 tinuous display of flowers during the whole of the summer 

 season annual plants are essential. Perennials can be relied 

 on for early flowers before tender annuals can be even planted 

 out, and they will also furnish a late fall display after the advent 

 of frost. The most approved practice, therefore, is to so com- 

 bine the two that there be no intermission, and this is not 

 difficult if a little care in selection and a little foresight in 

 planting be exercised. We have this week made such sow- 

 ings of the earliest annuals as may be deemed necessary, and 

 at a later date, say at the end of this month, the general sow- 

 ing of all such seeds as are planted each season will be 

 made, and this will be found a good time if a hot-bed or 

 a greenhouse be at hand to place them in after being sown. 

 The old-time plan of sowing in a hot-bed is not to-day super- 

 seded. There is no better place to obtain the proper condi- 

 tions that insure even germination and a sturdy aftergrowth 

 than a hot-bed of moderate heat if an inch or two of earth 

 be spread over the fermenting materials to prevent an 

 excess of steam. This is also a good place for plunging the 

 pots or pans, but a warm greenhouse is most generally used 

 where it can be commanded, although it is not at all essen- 

 tial. 



For the sowing of all seeds it is well to compound the soil 

 in such a way that it will neither become hard on the surface 

 so as to prevent the young cotyledons from pushing through, 

 nor dry out too quickly. No mistake is more fatal to success- 

 ful germination than allowing the soil to become dry just as 

 the seeds are about to sprout, and to avoid this we set the 

 pans or pots altogether in a warm place and cover them with 

 paper until germination takes place, when they are taken out 

 as fast as the cotyledons are well developed and set apart in a 

 lighter position ; this covering will prevent too rapid drying, 

 will also tend to guard against extremes of temperature, and is 

 altogther the best way to save labor in watering and get the best 

 returns for work and care. Soil for seed-sowing must always 

 be made light in texture as well as weight by the addition of 

 plenty of leaf-mold, and if the compost from a spent mush- 

 room-bed is available it is well to add at least one-third of this, 

 sifting the whole well, and after the seeds are sown covering 

 them with soil that has passed through a sieve with a mesh 

 no coarser than one-eighth of an inch. A sprinkling of sand 

 over the surface of the top will prove a good index as to state 

 of the soil as to moisture, as it is then possible to see at a glance 

 if water is needed. These little details may seem frivolous, 

 but are in themselves the secret of success in getting good 

 returns from seeds that are either slow to germinate or of 

 weak vitality. 



It may be well to name a few of the annuals that we have 

 found to fill all the requirements for display in the garden 

 and to be at the same time available to cut for house deco- 

 ration ; and it may be added here that if a plant does not 

 produce flowers that are fit for this latter use it is hardly worth 

 while to grow it. There are so many plants now that are good 

 for both purposes that we have a sufficiently long list of these 

 alone to choose from ordinarily. Zinnias we regard as indis- 

 pensable to even the smallest garden ; they have done more 

 toward filling the place of the scarlet Geranium than all the 

 other forces together ; they are easily raised from seed, and 

 give a profuse and abundant bloom for at least three months ; 

 we use the tall and dwarf strains — 1 double row, one of each, 

 makes a fine effect in a long border, or if used in the mixed 

 borders they may be planted in groups where other plants are 

 likely to die down early in the season, as sometimes happens 

 with early-blooming perennials, and they will cover the ground 

 and give a bright effect just when it is most needed, during 

 the early fall months. Good Asters are as essential as Zinnias, 

 but we here also prefer the tall kinds with long stems, such 

 as those known locally as Boston Market, for early use, and the 

 new branching kinds which are admirable later. There are 

 so many strains of Aster now on the lists that it is perplexing 

 to know just which to select, but it is safe to add some each 

 of the old standard kinds from the Pa-ony and Victoria sec- 

 tions, for example, as these are as good as any for a display, 

 and they also have a good length of stem. 



There has been an amazing improvement of recent years in 

 the Antirrhinums, and seed ot good strains will produce 

 Mowers that would hardly be recognized as the old-time Snap- 

 dragon. They are continuous bloomers from the time thev 

 begin until after frost, and may be even taken up and put in 

 the greenhouse for a winter crop if kept from flowering for a 

 tew weeks before lilting, when they will give a spring crop of 

 bloom that is most acceptable. Theannual Scabious are good, 

 too, for cutting, and give a great profusion of bloom ; these 



may be sown outdoors when the soil is warm and will do best 

 in this way, but a few started now will give earlier flowers. 



The new Japanese Ipomceas are well worth a trial if a good 

 strain is secured, but there are some that are inferior, and this 

 has brought into bad repute a most interesting novelty among 

 summer flowers, one of the best of its kind for a number of 

 years. The flowers are of almost all shades of blue, purple, 

 crimson, pink and many other intermediate shades, all of 

 silkiest lustre ; many of them, too, are double, and the foliage 

 is in many cases beautifully marbled or mottled with silvery 

 white, or golden bronze. These Morning Glories are peren- 

 nials, but are better raised from seeds each year, unless some 

 specially good variety is worth keeping over in the green- 

 house. The seeds are hard-shelled and need to be scratched 

 through the outer shell with a knife and put in water for a few 

 hours till they swell, and if planted then they will germinate 

 in a day or two. These plants are useful for fences, piazzas, 

 arbors and any other place where a climber of quick growth 

 is desired for the summer months. 



The Celosias are worth trying ; in fact, they have been suc- 

 cessfully tried in some places as summer annuals in the border. 

 We hope to make trial of them more extensively this year. 

 Though they have generally been grown in pots, they will do 

 much better in the open ground if strong when set out, and 

 the season of bloom is so long as to make them specially valu- 

 able in the border. Care should be taken to save the weak 

 seedlings, as these often carry the best plumes, the strong vig- 

 orous growers often making no plumes worth the name even 

 in pots where root-room is restricted. Last summer I saw 

 the new Nemesia strumosa splendidly in bloom in Mr. Cham- 

 berlain's garden, at Manchester, and when well grown, as these 

 were, there are few annuals so showy for a sunny position. 

 They have been somewhat disappointing here, but this was 

 evidently due to a failure to understand all their necessities. 

 The seed must be sown in pots to insure germination, they are 

 so small. 



In a dry, sandy, poor soil, which must sometimes be occu- 

 pied, there are a few annuals that will do better than in richer 

 compost ; indeed, I have failed altogether to flower the scarlet 

 Salvia in the ordinary border, where they never stopped to 

 bloom, but kept on growing until frost cut them off. In dry 

 positions, however, where the soil is poor, they will produce a 

 blaze of color, and are not to be despised as cut bloom for 

 house decoration. Petunias of the improved strains are also 

 well adapted to such soil, where they grow rapidly and flower 

 profusely, and a margin of Portulacca will complete a pretty 

 effect in a spot not easy to make beautiful under other treat- 

 ment. Willi Sweet Peas, as with Asters, it is a difficult matter 

 to select the kinds to grow from such a long list, but, given the 

 colors that are desired, they should be planted as soon as the 

 frost is out of the ground and it is possible to work it conve- 

 niently. We do not like to plant in the same place year after 

 year, but always take out the soil to the depth of at least 

 eighteen inches, placing at the bottom of the trenches good 

 manure, rilling up to within six inches of the top and then sow- 

 ing the peas. It is then possible to add a little more earth 

 later on at staking-time, and still leave a trench to pour on 

 water when it is needed. They are very thirsty in the flower- 

 ing-time, and we leave the hose running in the trench all 

 night, to their great delight. The annual sales of Sweet Pea 

 seeds have come to be one of the most remarkable features of 

 modern horticulture. They are grown by the ton in California, 

 and no better samples are to be found. There is no excuse for 

 foreign-grown seeds, and, indeed, we hear little of them now, 

 compared with what we heard a few years ago. Even 

 English novelties are now sent to California, where they are 

 grown to secure stock for selling. The climate is well adapted 

 to them, and their cultivation has been reduced to a profitable 

 system. I find that other seeds grown in California as well as 

 Sweet Peas are well acclimated, and thrive better here than 

 those of European origin do. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E. 0. Orpet. 



Physiamhus albens. — This is a pretty climbing Asclepia- 

 daceous plant from Brazil. The common name, White 

 Bladder-flower, is simply a translation of its botanical name. 

 Although an old plant, and once quite common, it was not 

 until last summer that I chanced to see it, when I was at once 

 attracted by the large number of cutworm moths which the 

 flowers had entrapped. For this reason it was named the 

 Cruel-plant by the late Dr. George Thurber, of Passaic, New 

 Jersey, who thus describes the contrivance : "The anthers are 

 so placed that their spreading cells form a series of notches in 

 a ring around the pistil. The insect, in putting its proboscis 

 down for the honey, must pass it into one of these notches, 

 and in attempting to withdraw it the end is sure to get caught 



