May 20, 1896.] 



Garden and Forest. 



207 



retreat such as the fairies might haunt, and where in the bitter 

 Christmastide a man may forget the outside world, and for 

 one too brief hour revel in a midwinter day-dream of glorious 

 summer. 



There is much thoughtful writing upon gardening in 

 general, as well as upon Bamboos in particular, in Mr. 

 Mitford's book which is certain to rank with the very best 

 books of horticultural literature. „. 



London. "• WatSOn. 



Cultural Department. 



The Hubbard Squash and How to Grow It. 



WHEN we consider the great improvement that has been 

 made in the quality of almost all garden vegetables dur- 

 ing the last half century, it is a remarkable fact that the Hub- 

 bard Squash, known and cultivated nearly a hundred years 

 ago, continues to be the most popular variety. There has 

 been improvement in uniformity of form and color, and last 

 fall careful inspection of a forty-acre field, grown for seed, 

 failed to discover more than twenty-five fruits which showed 

 any signs of mixture or of being off type. But, while the stock 

 has evidently become more fixed in external character, there 

 are those who maintain that it has deteriorated in the quality 

 of flesh ; that the rich, dry, sweet, chestnut-like quality which 

 made this sort so popular fifty years ago is lost. I think this 

 apparent loss is due to other causes than the deterioration of the 

 stock. There are no plants of ourgardens in which the quality 

 of the fruit is so dependent upon conditions of soil and climate. 

 Gardeners know that it is quite impossible to grow a really 

 good Melon in cold, wet soil, and that one ripened in a cold, 

 damp atmosphere is certain to be lacking in flavor and sweet- 

 ness. The same thing is true of squashes, and to develop the 

 nut-like dryness and sweetness they must be grown in warm, 

 dry soil and thoroughly ripened in warm dry weather. Unlike 

 most plants of the garden they will produce more fruit and of 

 a better quality on plants of moderate vigor of growth than on 

 those of rapid and rank growth. Again, Squashes, like 

 Beans, are more benefited by applications of potash and phos- 

 phoric acid, but are unlike the legumes in seeming to get 

 much good from these elements when in a comparatively 

 slowly soluble form. 



To grow good table squashes, then, warm, dry, moderately 

 rich soil should be selected and cultivation be begun as early 

 in spring as possible. A liberal dressing of wood ashes is 

 necessary, a full bushel to the square rod beingaslittleas should 

 be used. Just before planting, which we do about the 20th of 

 May, the ground should be plowed and harrowed and marked 

 out for hills about ten feet apart each way. At the intersec- 

 tions a handful of guano, hen-manure or superphosphate 

 should be scattered, and also one of fine ground bone-dust or 

 flour. Thoroughly mix this with the soil for a space two feet 

 in diameter and plant from twelve to twenty seeds, scattering 

 them well, as in this way one or two plants can often be saved 

 from cutworms and striped bugs, which would have destroyed 

 all if the plants had been close together. We do not know of 

 any certain protection against the striped bug. Dusting with 

 wood ashes, with lime fresh slacked, with a little sulphur, 

 sprinkling with dilute gas-tar water, or with liquid manure 

 made from fresh hen-droppings, are each more or less effective 

 and will sometimes seem to keep the insects off, but at others 

 utterly fail to do so. My advice is to use any or all of them. 

 The lime and ashes should be diluted with bran and plaster, 

 or, better still, with tobacco dust ; if used abundantly there is 

 danger of killing the leaves with strong alkalies. As soon as 

 the large squash bugs appear they should be trapped under 

 pieces of board or shingle laid near the plants and examined 

 in the cool of the evening when the bugs will be found hiding 

 on the under side and can be easily caught and killed. Give 

 as little cultivation as possible, only enough to keep the ground 

 clear of weeds, and the surface broken after heavy rains. 

 When the plants are well started thin out, leaving two or three 

 to each hill, and when these are three to four feet long remove 

 the surface soil under a joint twelve to eighteen inches from 

 the root. Press the vine down into it and fasten it, so that the 

 stem will arch up between this point and the root and cover 

 with earth. If the soil is at all dry water thoroughly, covering 

 the wet surface with dry earth. The vine will make root from 

 the buried joint, and in this way it will often escape death 

 from the borer working at the collar. 



In spite of all claims to the contrary, I am certain that the 

 quality of squashes is often affected by the fertilization of the 

 flowers with pollen from some inferior stock. In garden cul- 



ture it is quite feasible to prevent this by going over the patch 

 at evening and preventing the female flower, which would 

 naturally open the next morning, from doing so by tying the 

 tip of the blossom, and treating a few male flowers in the same 

 way. About nine o'clock the next morning pick the male 

 flowers ; carefully tear away the corolla and fertilize the 

 opened female flowers by dusting or rubbing some of the 

 pollen from the male flower over the pistil, then closing and 

 retying the female flower. While there will be failure to accom- 

 plish the purpose in some cases, enough self-fertilized fruits can 

 easily be secured for a full crop, and any others which may appear 

 can be cut out. As the fruits mature they should be protected 

 from the sun unless they are well shaded by the leaves. When 

 fully ripe, which may be known by their developing a shell so 

 hard as not to be easily penetrated by the thumb-nail and by 

 the part resting on the ground turning to a rich yellow, they 

 should be gathered and stored in an open building until there 

 is danger of freezing. In gathering, care should be taken not 

 to break the stem of the fruit, the vine being cut instead, and 

 also not to injure the surface. 



Grown and treated in this way the Hubbard Squash will be 

 found to have all its old-time excellence. The causes of infe- 

 rior quality are that it is grown in too rich and wet soil ; late 

 sowing, so that it does not mature until cold wet weather 

 sets in ; and leaving the fruits on the vines exposed to injury 

 from hot sun and cold nights after maturity. 



Detroit, Mich. Will W. Tracy. 



The Rock Garden. 



TTHE rock garden grows in interest every day as one after 

 *- another the plants come into bloom. In looking it over 

 this season we find an unusual number of self-sown seedlings. 

 Many of these are in themselves desirable plants, but their 

 number must be reduced or they would make a weedy effect. 

 Campanula Pallasii needs thinning out. It is a handsome 

 biennial, and effective when properly placed. Here it borders 

 a natural shrubbery, and being aggressive takes possession of 

 the ground beyond the limits allotted to it. When it extends 

 into the shrubbery, along with some Sunflowers, Helianthus 

 lasvis, we do not object, but outside these limits it must be 

 weeded out. Papaver nudicaule comes up everywhere, but it 

 is so graceful that we let it grow quite freely. It is short-lived, 

 and hundreds of the plants die every year. There are plants 

 in all stages of growth — some in bloom now, and seedlings to 

 bloom in the autumn. Some hybridization has been effected 

 with the P. alpinum form, so that now we have white and sev- 

 eral shades of orange, and some have become double. A 

 double Iceland Poppy is not, however, to be regarded as an 

 acquisition. 



Viola cucullata is taking up too much space. In spring-time 

 it is a hard matter to root the numerous tufts of attractive pur- 

 ple and white flowers. Gray's Manual says of this Viola, 

 " flowers rarely white." All our plants were originally the 

 variety cucullata, var. striata, and it was with pleasure some 

 five years ago that we found a pure white-flowered variety 

 among them. Now it has spread to all parts of the rock gar- 

 den, to the exclusion of the purple form, which will need arti- 

 ficial propagation. Saponaria ocymoides, formerly of the. 

 variety splendens, has so far retrograded that it is now a 

 weed. The beautiful Heuchera sanguinea fails to come true 

 from seed, freely hybridizing with the commoner H. Ameri- 

 cana. Aquilegia Canadensis seems to have improved by 

 contact, probably with some of the early-blooming coeru- 

 lea hybrids. We have some purple ones among them, but 

 it is hardly probable they are hybrids with A. glandulosa or 

 A. Bertoloni, A. Olympica possibly. Alyssum Wiersbeckii 

 has spread itself agreeably. It is the brightest and best of all. 

 Its long-branched spikes of bright yellow flowers are delicately 

 fragrant and make a handsome bouquet in themselves. Tufts 

 of Iris graminea, var. haematophylla, occur in pleasing con- 

 trast with the large Rock Cress, Arabis albida. Iris verna, 

 with lavender and yellow crested flowers close to the ground, 

 is really pretty, and is at the same time one of the few fragrant 

 kinds. We were pleased to find an uncommonly pretty and 

 scarce British scurvy grass, Cochlearia Anglica, come through 

 the winter in good condition. It was the first plant to (lower, 

 excepting the Chionodoxas and Squills, and was nearly a week 

 ahead of the Rock Cress. The flowers are pure white in dense 

 tufts, looking neat for a while, hut it will evidently, like many 

 other plants of this character, look ragged Liter, .111. 1 end itself 

 in going to seed. The same happens with Iberis Tenoreana, 

 one of the handsomest of rock Candytufts. It is also tender, 

 and with lessened vitality in producing seed it seldom goes 

 through the second winter. We secure it by taking a few cut- 



