May 17, 1893.] 



Garden and Forest. 



219 



and healthy young Roses from three-inch pots, with good 

 roots, will often do better when planted out than larger 

 stunted plants from four or five inch pots. 



Eel-worms have been troublesome in some localities during 

 the past winter ; in some instances whole houses of promising 

 young stock have been ruined ; the only preventive measure 

 against this insect is the thorough cooking of the soil before it 

 is placed in the beds, quite a troublesome operation unless 

 proper apparatus is provided. Some large trade-growers fol- 

 low this plan, and have an arrangement of steam-pipes and an 

 oven, and claim it to be a paying investment for them. An 

 additional advantage of this baking of the soil is that the seeds 

 of various weeds are destroyed in the process, so as to do away 

 with the weeding of beds to a great extent. 



Holmesburg, Pa. ^- H. Taplin. 



Correspondence. 



The Re-appearance of Wild Flowers. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — The fear has sometimes been expressed in your col- 

 umns that our best native flowers are in danger of extermina- 

 tion by the close-cropping and grazing of the meadows and 

 the destruction of the woodlands. I have shared these fears 

 myself, but of late years my opinion is considerably changed. 

 The inherent power of nature to re-establish herself from the 

 smallest possible beginnings, the power most seeds have of 

 lying dormant for years under unfavorable conditions, only to 

 spring quickly into growth when the conditions are improved, 

 and the friendly aid of birds in their visits to inaccessible places 

 where wild flowers yet linger, all these factors are favorable 

 to the establishment and increase of wild flowers. 



When we built here, something over seven years ago, the 

 site was chosen for its beauty of location and for its fine grove. 

 There were no flowers save the festive "Jimpson" and rol- 

 licksome Dog Fennel, that obligingly hemmed in the old 

 shoes, battered tin-cans, beef-bones, skulls and other accumu- 

 lations on this unfenced piece of ground in the suburbs of the 

 village. Our town is too small to enforce stock laws, and for 

 nearly forty years hogs had rooted, cattle grazed and horses 

 tramped over this ground at their will. Our only hope for na- 

 tive flowers was to bring them to our grounds from the distant 

 hills. 



The first spring after we came to Oak Lawn, one weak little 

 Violet appeared, together with a few stunted Erythroniums, 

 possibly a dozen sorry specimens in the whole grove, one small 

 cluster of the beautiful bulbous flower, Camassia Fraseri, a 

 starved wild Rose or two, and several sturdy plants of Ipomcea 

 pandurata. Wild Smilax, Clematis viorna, Passiflora lutea and 

 Pentstemon laevigatus, var. Digitalis, that no amount of abuse 

 could kill. It will be noticed that, with the exception of 

 the Pentstemon, all these last-named are vines, indicating that 

 our climbing plants have more than an even chance of exist- 

 ence in the struggle for life over other herbaceous plants. It 

 was interesting to see how these plants responded to our care. 

 The weak little Violet grew lustily and scattered its seeds far 

 and wide ; to-day its progeny is numbered by scores, if not by 

 . hundreds. The same can be said of the Erythronium, which, 

 not content with the woodland, has begun to surprise us on 

 the lawn, in the paths and in the flower-beds. The pretty nod- 

 ding flowers appear so very early, and the low, broad, mottled 

 foliage is so striking, we do not count them usurpers, but 

 gladly welcome them. The Camassias, with every care, have 

 increased but slowly, but the clump is now a large one, and the 

 blossoms, at a distance, appear like a soft blue cloud resting 

 on the green grass. As for the other plants mentioned, they 

 increased so rapidly that considerable weeding has to be done 

 every year to keep them within bounds. 



But this is not all. In another year the advance-guard of 

 Wild Asters began to appear, accompanied by a new Pent- 

 stemon laevigatus, the purple Milk-weed (Asclepias purpures- 

 cens), and Lobelia leptostachys. Two fine Junipers came up 

 that year, in just such places as we should have chosen had we 

 been planting them. They were, doubtless, planted by the 

 birds, which are never molested in our grove, and which come 

 in great numbers. Two years later, or four years after our 

 taking possession of the grove, there appeared a fine specimen 

 of the purple Cone-flower (Echinacea angustifolia) in our 

 shrubbery border. The next year two important additions ap- 

 peared, a plant each of Dodecatheon Meadia and Sabbatia an- 

 gularis, both beautiful flowers. A little visitor unluckily pulled 

 up the Dodecatheon for its pretty blossom. The Sabbatia, in 

 spite of its tempting pink blooms, was allowed to seed. In 

 two years' time plants of this species dot a quarter of the grove. 



Last year another Sabbatia made its appearance, this time 



in the middle of a bed of Tea-roses. It grew wonder- 

 fully in the loose, rich soil, and dunng the entire midsummer 

 was a solid she^t of clear, rose-pink blossoms, generally ad- 

 mired, although not recognized as a wild flower. Last year, 

 seven years after our coming, in a low corner of the grove 

 several plants of Lobelia syphilitica came up, to our surprise. 

 We begin to think that anything is liable to make its appear- 

 ance in the most unexpected place, not excepting plants which 

 we thought entirely exterminated. If an asylum is provided 

 for our oppressed wild plants they seem certain to find it out, 

 and to appear of their own accord. 

 Pineville, Mo. Lora S. La Maitce. 



Recent Publications. 



Celery for Profit. By T. Greiner. W. Atlee Burpee, Phil- 

 adelphia. 



This little handbook, although it contains less than a 

 hundred pages, tells the amateur planter in the plainest pos- 

 sible manner all that he needs to know in order to grow a crop 

 of Celery in his home-garden, and then how to preserve it 

 properly through the winter. Perhaps the most interesting 

 chapter is that devoted to the "new celery culture," which 

 consists in growing the plants so closely together that they 

 blanch in their own shade. This is not altogether a new idea ; 

 it was suggested years ago, but Mr. Greiner shows how it can 

 be made uniformly successful. The two essential conditions 

 for growing the plants so closely are (i) enough plant-food and 

 (2) enough water to get this food ready for the roots. Of course, 

 if a square rod of ground is to grow as much Celery as is gen- 

 erally grown on four or five rods, the land must contain four 

 or five times as much available food. There is little dangei- 

 of having the ground too rich, and if no better arrangements 

 are made for irrigation the plants must be watered by hand. 

 This plan will answer for two or three hundred plants for 

 home use, but it will be a back-aching contract for some one if 

 a larger number of plants are cultivated. Still, even in very 

 considerable fields where Celery is raised for market, Mr. 

 Greiner shows how easy it is to arrange some scheme of sys- 

 tematic irrigation. 



In the new culture it is advised to set out two or three hun- 

 dred plants of White Plume Celery, in late May or early June, 

 on thoroughly fertilized and well-prepared ground, in short 

 rows ten inches apart, with plants five inches apart in the row. 

 If there are more than eight rows a central one should be left 

 vacant to give a pathway through the bed for watering. To 

 bleach the outside rows each bed is enclosed in boards eight 

 or twelve inches long, set on edge and held in position by 

 stakes. The surface should be kept well stirred for a few weeks 

 after the plants are set out, and in the early season they usually 

 need no water. They will soon cover the ground and choke 

 out the weeds, which will be done more surely if a mulch of 

 fine compost, some inches thick, is placed between the rows 

 soon after the plants are set out. Unless there are continual 

 and heavy rains the ground must be soaked once every five 

 or ten days. Water should be applieddirectly to the ground be- 

 tween the rows, flooding rather than sprinkling. By the first 

 of August, or even earlier, the crop will be available for use 

 and three hundred plants will give a good supply for an ordi- 

 nary family. In July make another bed with a few plants of 

 White Plume for early use and the main crop of Giant Pascal, 

 New Rose and other good non-bleaching sorts. Since the 

 late crop makes its growth during the period of abundant rain- 

 fall, artificial watering is not always needed, but it will be in 

 most cases beneficial to soak the ground occasionally, even if 

 the weather is not dry. For the market-gardener, Mr. Greiner 

 explains how to cultivate the crops on a large scale, how to 

 prepare the product for market and how to make the business 

 profitable, and he gives full directions for fighting the Parsley 

 worm, the slug, the rust, the blight and other enemies. 



Notes. 



The largest yield of oranges at Pomona, California, this year, 

 was from a grove of trees seventeen years old. Six acres 

 yielded 3,500 boxes. Two trees yielded thirty-five boxes. 



A WhiteOak was lately cut near Shenandoah Junction, West 

 Virginia, which made three logs whose continuous length was 

 thirty-six feet, the diameter of the largest one at the butt be- 

 ing seventy inches, while the smallest end of the smallest log 

 measured forty-two inches across. 



We have seen a flower of one of the so-called Yellow Callas 

 (Richardia aurata), which has just been brought to this office, 



