December 



1890. | 



Garden and Forest. 



589 



seed was sown, making weeding difficult and slow, the task 

 was comparatively easy in the other bed. At the second weed- 

 ing it was necessary to remove many of the small Onions in 

 the bed where the seed was sown, an operation which is 

 equivalent to an extra weeding. Counting the extra trouble of 

 growing in the greenhouse and transplanting, the work on the 

 two beds was about the same for the whole season — that is, 

 transplanting adds nothing to the cost of growing the crop, 

 aside from the necessity of a greenhouse, hot bed or cold 

 frame, in any of which the plants can be started. 



The difference in the time of ripening was about one month 

 in favor of the transplanted Onions, making it possible to use 

 them for bunching, and also to market the crop at an earlier 

 date than could be done with those sown in the open ground. 

 The yield of the transplanted Onions was about double that of 

 the others in most cases, as the following table of some of the 

 leading varieties will show : 



Name of variety. Transplanted. Not transplanted. 



Giant Rocca 1,106 bu. 596 bu. 



Mammoth Pompeii 1,428 " 996 " 



Spanish King 1,319 " 751 " 



White Victoria 1,179 " 5° 2 " 



Yellow Danvers 594 " 398 " 



Red Weathersfield 779 " 560 " 



In the above table the yield per acre is estimated from small 

 plats, and the actual yield on an acre might fall below those 

 given, and yet it is believed that even better results could be 

 obtained by attending carefully to all details in management. 

 It will be seen that the best results and greatest difference in 

 yield were obtained with the foreign varieties. There was a 

 gain with both Yellow Danvers and Red Weathersfield, but 

 less marked than with the other varieties. The greater size 

 and uniformity of the transplanted Onions made the product 

 more marketable in all cases. 



The advantages of transplanting Onions may be enumerated 

 as follows : (1) The greater probability of securing a good 

 stand of plants. (2) The saving of labor at the most critical 

 period. (3) Advance in time and maturity. (4) Increase in 

 the crop. (5) Improvement in the appearance of crop, en- 

 hancing the market value. (6) The ground is occupied for a 

 shorter period, and therefore it can be occupied by another 

 crop the same season. 



This plan may not be feasible for those who grow Onions on 

 a large scale, but it can be followed to advantage by gardeners 

 who do a general market-garden business, and who have the 

 necessary hot-beds or greenhouses. It should be remem- 

 bered that the foreign varieties with which the above results 

 were obtained are not so good keepers as the varieties com- 

 monly grown, but they bring a higher price in the market 

 early in the season. 



Ripened Wood Makes Hardy Trees. 



I" LATELY saw in Woodlands Cemetery, West Philadelphia, 

 *■ a flourishing specimen of Magnolia foetida (grandiflora) 

 which was nearly twenty-five feet high. I have been satisfied 

 for a long time that it is entirely feasible to have this tree a 

 common one about here if care were taken to plant it in the 

 right place, for there are now several good specimens not far 

 away. But the luxuriance of this one was so evident that it 

 ought to scatter every doubt as to its hardiness. What the 

 tree wants, and what many other so-called " half hardy " things 

 need, is a high, well drained situation, where there will be no 

 unripened shoots when winter comes. Early matured wood is 

 what is wanted, and this the high situation gives. I have seen 

 Deodar Cedars about here flourish well on rocky bluffs with 

 good top-soil. This Magnolia at the Woodlands stands on ele- 

 vated land not far from the Schuylkill. On its western side is 

 a dwelling house, some thirty feet away ; and on every side, 

 though not close enough to prevent its growth, are large de- 

 ciduous trees, for which this place is famous. Then the numer- 

 ous monuments about the place also break the wind. Every- 

 thing tends to make shelter, and if this was given the Magnolia 

 could be made at home in a proper position anywhere in this 

 latitude, so that there is no good reason why the cidtivation 

 of this most beautiful and stately of broad-leaved evergreens 

 should not be greatly extended. But the seeds or plants should 

 be had from northern trees, or from those not far south, to 

 have the best chance of success. 



In this cemetery, too, as well as in Laurel Hill, are flourish- 

 ing specimens of the English Holly, a plant rarely seen here 

 out-of-doors. In every case the situation is high, dry and shel- 

 tered from the wind and sun. In Laurel Hill I have seen 

 thriving specimens of the common greenhouse shrub, Azalea 



Indica alba, some of which have been flourishing out-of-doors 

 for many years, yet it is not generally known that this plant is 

 hardy. 

 Germantown, Pa. Joseph Meehan. 



Early Chrysanthemums. — Mr. Gerard, in his excellent note in 

 Garden and Forest for November 19th, doubts whether it is 

 desirable to spend time in the cultivation of the earliest 

 flowering Chrysanthemums, because they are not equal to the 

 best of the late flowering varieties, and illustrates his position 

 by comparing August Celery with November Celery. It may 

 be granted that Celery after hard frost is more crisp and deli- 

 cate than that which is earliest in the market, and yet many 

 people who are of the same mind cultivate early Celery, and 

 early Celery always sells well in the market. Just so, the early 

 flowered Chrysanthemums may not be the best of Chrysanthe- 

 mums, but they are beautiful flowers none the less; they are 

 admired by people of taste, and they will always be grown ; 

 and even if we can never have the best Chrysanthemums in 

 early September we may have better ones than we now have, 

 and the people who are working to improve these early 

 varieties deserve encouragement and not criticism. A plant 

 of any of the Desgranges, when in healthy condition, as early 

 as the 10th of August makes one of the most effective of all 

 garden plants. Unfortunately, however, not one plant in 

 twenty-five of this variety will maintain a healthy growth from 

 start to finish, because the thin leaves are not able to endure 

 the heat and drought of our summers. But I feel assured that 

 there is a section of these plants, of which M. E. Nichols is 

 the type, which will give us a very satisfactory list of early 

 Chrysanthemums for flowering from the first of September to 

 the middle of October. Chrysanthemums of this type have all 

 the qualities of good garden plants ; dwarf growth, shrubby 

 habit, thick, leathery leaves, and flowers of medium size, freely 

 produced on stiff foot-stalks. From my experience I have no 

 doubt that we shall very shortly have a fair showing of Chry- 

 santhemums with these desirable characteristics. 



Pearl River, N. Y. J Jill Thorpe . 



Autumn Flowers. — After Sweet Williams were removed from 

 the margins of our herbaceous borders in July we planted a 

 mixture of Calendulas and Viola "Perfection," the former 

 forming a kind of background. The effect has been quite 

 pleasing, and long after the frost cut everything else down 

 these two plants have kept blooming. Everybody knows how 

 persistent the Calendulas bloom during autumn. This Viola, 

 however, has more than kept it company. It may be raised 

 just as easily as the Pansy, and, if anything, is the hardier of 

 the two. I sow a little seed in a cool frame in spring and get 

 plants into blooming condition in June. I then transplant 

 them in the borders wherever needed, where they bloom for 

 the remainder of the summer until late fall. 



Wellesley, Mass. T, D. Hatfield. 



Correspondence. 

 Care in Selecting the Seeds of Trees. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest: 



Sir. — I have been much interested in reading the editorial 

 on the " Improvement of Trees," which appeared in your issue 

 of October 29th. The theory you illustrate by the case of the 

 eastern and western Douglas Spruces, if lived up to and gen- 

 erally adopted, would save many disappointments. About the 

 time the seed of the Colorado Douglas Spruce was planted in 

 Massachusetts I received seeds of this tree collected in Colo- 

 rado by the late Dr. C. C. Parry. At the same time Burnet 

 Landreth & Sons sent me several pounds of the seed of this tree, 

 gathered on the Pacific side of the continent, to grow for 

 them, as they intended to use the Douglas Fir in their forest- 

 planting in Virginia. The seedlings of both were carefully 

 covered in the autumn of the first year with coarse prairie 

 hay. The seedlings from the Pacific-coast seed were at this 

 time much larger than the others. Both lots grew well the 

 second year ; they were planted in the same soil, the Pacific- 

 coast seedlings being in the autumn of the second year still 

 much larger than the others. Each lot of seedlings had the 

 same covering the second winter. When they were uncov- 

 ered the following spring the Colorado seedlings were as fresh 

 as Norway Spruce or Scottish Pine seedlings of the same age, 

 having wintered perfectly. The Pacific-coast seedlings turned 

 brown wherever they penetrated through the covering of hay, 

 although they were green where they had been well covered. 

 When the time came for them, however, to commence their 

 new growth they all died. 



