March 19, 1890.] 



Garden and Forest. 



H5 



much crowded, and will require thinning out. The winter 

 temperature for tin's species should vary from fifty-five to 

 sixty-five degrees, Fahr., and a few degrees more in the 

 summer. John Weathers. 



St. Albans, F,ng. 



The Spring Garden. 



THE earlier flowers are usually most uncertain in their time 

 of blooming, but this season they have carried their va- 

 garies to the extreme, and began to bloom in the first days of 

 the new year. In planting a garden one usually has an eye to 

 effective combinations and harmonies, and while in the early 

 garden these pleasant pictures are often slightly disturbed 

 because some plant fails to contribute its color at the antici- 

 pated time, I have never before known such a revolutionary 

 change in the schedule. Snowdrops in a southern border were 

 showing color on the first day of the year and were soon after 

 in full flower. Owing to the comparatively low temperature 

 there has been a succession of flowers for quite two months, 

 and, in fact, a few lingering ones were snugly buried under 

 the snow last week. Two months of Snowdrops means much 

 pleasure to a lover of flowers, for those exquisitely lovely 

 flowers, usually the first harbingers of spring, have a purity, 

 delicacy and freshness all their own. Elwes' Snowdrop 

 {Galanthus Elwesi) is the most satisfactory variety for the 

 border, since it is very much larger in all its parts than G. 

 nivalis, and slightly earlier. More conspicuous it is, too, 

 though not at all coarse. The buds of G. Elivesi are compara- 

 tively shorter and more round than the elegant pointed buds 

 of G. nivalis. This is an Asia Minor variety, originally found 

 by Mr. H. J. Elwes, and, as it has become plentiful, it should 

 have a place in every garden. No garden ever had an over- 

 stock of Snowdrops. Plant them thickly and let them alone 

 to make nice clumps. Like many of the small spring flowers, 

 they require time to become established in masses and effect- 

 ive. For the collector of curiosities there is a number of 

 varieties of Galanthus (perhaps a dozen or so), differing more 

 or less widely, but as many of them are so nearly alike that 

 experts seem to have difficulty in their separation, the differ- 

 ence in some cases must be very fanciful. The great curiosity 

 iti the family is Galanthus nivalis Octobrensis, which, as its 

 name implies, blooms in October. This variety is excessively 

 rare. 



Vieing with the Snowdrops in earliness of bloom, a little 

 colony of Anemone blanda has given me great pleasure and is 

 still showing its bright flowers with foils of charming foliage 

 — "each spray," a friend says, "a bouquet of itself." This 

 Anemone is also from Asia Minor, and a true winter-flower, 

 by which I understand one that will pass unharmed when in 

 bloom through the severest weather, a distinction I was trying 

 to make against the Hellebores not long ago in these columns. 

 Collected forms of A. blanda range in color from deep blue to 

 white. They bloom almost as soon as they appear above 

 ground, and they appear as soon as the surface soil is free 

 from frost. The foliage is deeply cut and has a bronzy hue 

 which is very attractive. Anemones are not usually happy in 

 my garden, but this species bids fair to be as satisfactory as it 

 is beautiful. Without doubt it should be counted a first-rate 

 addition to the earliest blooming plants. A cheerful plant is 

 the old Winter Aconite (Eranthis hy emails), with its bright yel- 

 low flowers within their green collar. These plants gave a flush 

 of color in February which was all too short. They are some- 

 what slow to become established, but are very hardy, very 

 dwarf, and good things to tuck into the front of a crowded 

 border, where they will be undisturbed. 

 Elizabeth, N.j. /. N. Gerard. 



Kohl Rabi. 



PHIS is a vegetable of peculiar habit of growth and a curi- 

 -*■ osity to many, as I have found when offering it for sale. 

 The leaf of the plant resembles the leaf of the Cabbage, and 

 it grows out of the sides and centre of an enlarged root that 

 lies on the surface of the ground, a round mass varying in size 

 and usually three inches in diameter. The root has the texture 

 of a turnip, with the flavor of a cabbage. The early White 

 Vienna is well and favorably known as a tender and rapid- 

 growing variety; but the red or purple color is only a super- 

 ficial difference, and the flesh of all varieties is nearly white, 

 and when not overgrown very tender. When old the fibre of 

 the root extends upwards, first on the outside and then through 

 the heart of the vegetable; a thick rind taken off at first will 

 remove all the fibre, but when the root is (Hied it is useless. 



The best practice is to plant seed in succession for use, be- 

 cause after the bulb has begun to form the period in which it 

 is edible is comparatively short. It is very easy to grow, and 



is less affected by the attacks of the cabbage-worm than other 

 members of the Cabbage family. The seeds for the first crop 

 should be planted about the first week in March and treated in 

 all respects like Cabbage, setting the plants in the open ground 

 as soon as Cabbages can be set. The growth in rich land will 

 be rapid, and a second planting a month later will make a suc- 

 cession. For fall use, sow in open ground early in July. My 

 practice is to transplant, but this is not necessary, as the plants 

 can be thinned where they grow to about six inches apart, 

 having the rows two feet apart. They bear transplanting 

 and extremes of heat and cold or drought well. In fall the 

 unused plants are taken up, and, after the leaves are cut 

 off, are set with the root in earth in a cellar, where they will 

 keep well into the spring months, and be as good as when 

 harvested. 



To prepare for the table a common method is to pare, cut 

 in cubes of about an inch square, boil till tender, and then 

 serve with drawn butter. 



Hampden County, Mass. IV. H. Bull. 



Symphoricarpos racemosus, var. pauciflorus. — This dwarf 

 variety of the common Snowberry in its natural home is usu- 

 ally a low, diffusely branched little shrub growing on rocky 

 banks, sometimes in the sunlight, but oftener in the shade or 

 partly shaded situations. The flowers and fruit are neither 

 numerous nor conspicuous, but the dense light green foliage, 

 which seems to retain its freshness throughout the season, is 

 quite pretty, and the plant seems to thrive in a thin and poor 

 soil when most others would not. In its native home, where 

 the soil is very thin, it is often no more than six inches high ; 

 but these same dwarf plants attain a height of fifteen to twenty 

 inches in one season when transplanted into the nursery. It 

 thrives well under cultivation, producing larger foliage and a 

 longer growth of branches. Shepherdia Canadensis is an- 

 other shrub more difficult to transplant than the dwarf Snow- 

 berry, but frequently growing with it. It is never so abund- 

 ant, but it has many valuable qualities. The usual height of 

 this shrub is about four feet. The flowers are dioecious, and, 

 when not in flower or fruit, it is almost or quite impossible 

 to distinguish the male from the female plants. The yellow- 

 ish red fruit comes before autumn, and, though it remains 

 ripe on the plants only a few days, it adds much to their 

 beauty. The foliage, nearlysmooth and green above, covered 

 with rusty scabs underneath, is pretty on the wild plants ; but 

 when these are established in the nursery it becomes much 

 larger and more beautiful. On the headlands of Lake Cham- 

 plain this shrub is quite common, usually along the margins 

 of half shaded cliffs overhanging the water. 



Southwick, Mass. F. H. Horsford. 



Seasonable Hints. — Cold frames should be uncovered every 

 fine day and carefully ventilated at all times, or the result will 

 be spindling and enfeebled plants. As soon as the ground is 

 sufficiently dry — that is, when it can be readily pulverized with 

 spade and digging-fork — shrubs, small fruits, hardy herbaceous 

 plants, and the whole line of dormant roots in the kitchen-garden , 

 like Asparagus and Rhubarb, should be transplanted. When 

 Strawberry-plants show signs of returning life, remove the 

 mulch a little from around the crown of each plant, so as to 

 allow the young leaves space to develop. If the bed has no 

 mulch it will pay to apply it even now. 



If the lawn was neglected last fall, a light dressing of thor- 

 oughly rotted manure, or, better still, some of the standard 

 commercial fertilizers, should be applied. This is the time to 

 sow nearly all the vegetable and flower seeds which should be 

 started under glass. Tomatoes, Peppers, Egg-plants, Cabbage, 

 Cauliflower and Lettuce should be sown in the hot-bed with- 

 out delay, and three seeds each of Cucumbers and Melons 

 should be placed in a three-inch pot, and the strongest one 

 only allowed to develop. 



Pansies may be had for late flowers by sowing seeds now, 

 and for succession a month later. Plants may be had in this 

 way almost as good in September as in April. They require 

 a heavy, rich soil that retains moisture well, and when signs 

 of exhaustion are shown they should be treated with liquid 

 manure. A mulch of sphagnum moss, through which has 

 been mixed a small quantity of pure bone-meal, say two 

 pounds of the meal to one bushel of the moss, will produce 

 abundant bloom. 



Cannas should be separated and potted now. The new so- 

 called dwarf varieties, which are really ever-blooming, are 

 among the most effective plants of recent introduction. 

 Tuberous Begonias are growing in favor for garden culture, 

 and they should be started at once, as also should Gloxinias, 

 Caladiums, Achimenes and the like. P. 0. 



Bergen, N.J. 



