178 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 375. 



may be felt in the leafy tips of the shoots. The object now 

 should be to keep the plants as dormant as possible. Very 

 little light will suffice, providing that the temperature of the 

 storage-place is low enough, say, forty degrees, Fahrenheit, 

 not to excite them into growth. They may be kept in first-rafe 

 condition in an ordinary barn-cellar; even a house-cellar 

 would do if shut off from furnace-heat. Water might be 

 needed once a week or once a month ; it depends on whether 

 the place they are kept in is dry or moist. A month before 

 Easter is early enough to bring them out into warmth and 

 light, and they will bloom well in an ordinary house-wmdow. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D. Hatfield. 



Notes on Carnations. 



THE time for planting young stock out-of-doors is now close 

 at hand and the plants should be gradually hardened off. 

 Ours are now in cold frames, where they are freely ventilated, 

 and some air is left on overnight, except when frost is threat- 

 ened. In this latitude we usually commence to plant out from 

 the 15th to the 20th of May. In some years there is a light 

 frost after these dates, and Coleus or other tender Ijedding- 

 plants are killed, but Carnations have not been damaged. We 

 allow our plants eighteen inches between the rows and place 

 them a foot apart in the rows. Between every fourth row we 

 leave a path two feet wide. The plants can be topped and 

 hoed from these paths and all weeds raked into them. 



The soil best suited to most varieties of Carnations appears 

 to be a rather light, sandy loam well enriched with manure. 

 Certain varieties prefer a heavier soil, and the finest Grace 

 Wilders I have seen were grown in a heavy clayey loam. As 

 a general rule, however, we find that Carnations do best in a 

 sandy compost. They also lift with much better roots at 

 planting time. 



Summer-blooming Carnation plants should now be nicely 

 rooted in three-inch pots. These should not be stopped after 

 this time if good flowers are desired by the middle of July. 

 Mrs. Fisher is still the best all-around variety in this class. It is 

 as satisfactory for summer flowers as it is unsatisfactory for win- 

 ter blooms. Nobscot is unexcelled as a scarlet. William Scott 

 and Daybreak are good bloomers of their respective shades of 

 pink, and F. Mangold does fairly well as a crimson. We 

 usually test a few plants of the newer varieties each season to 

 try their capabilities as outdoor bloomers; it is possible some 

 kinds, while not successes indoors, may prove useful 

 outside. Young stock to be grown along for next 

 winter's crop should be gone over at least once a week 

 and stopped before running up too much. As a rule these 

 are grown in boxes ; if in pots they will need very careful 

 attention in watering, as at this season they dry out rapidly. 

 If they are becoming pot bound they should be transferred to 

 a pot a size larger. 



Carnation-houses will now need an abundance of ventilation. 

 In addition to opening the roof-ventilator, some side or bot- 

 tom air should be admitted daily on bright days unless a 

 cold wind prevails. A good crack of air should be left on 

 all night. Under no circumstances should ventilators be 

 closed tight after this season of the year. On the morning of 

 every clear day we give our plants a thorough good syringing ; 

 this is necessary to keep down that insidious foe, red spider, 

 which will quickly ruin a batch of plants if these precautionary 

 measures are not used. 



Plants indoors are now giving an abundance of flowers. 

 The individual flowers are diminishing somewhat in size, 

 and as the beds are a mass of roots, abundant watering is 

 needed and slightly stronger stimulants. We have gone over 

 our plants recently, cleaned and tied them up for the last 

 time, and after slightly loosening the surface gave them a 

 mulching of well-rotted cow manure screened through a 

 one-inch sieve. The plants repay this attention. Quite a 

 number of growers do not stake their plants at all, and seldom 

 or never clean them, at this season of the year. Plants so 

 neglected show a marked contrast to those more carefully 

 looked after. Certainly no one who has once staked and 

 cleaned his plants will want to go back to the old careless and 

 slovenly method of growing them. We find that during 

 bright weather such as we are now having, our plants require 

 a good watering every other day, and once a week we use 

 stimulants. Some shade will now be needed on the glass. 

 We use a mixture of naphtha and common whiting to which 

 is added a little hard boiled linseed oil. The shade is applied 

 with a common whitewash brush ; it need not be put on 

 thickly as yet. 



Some Carnations which have not bloomed very freely during 

 winter are now giving fine crops of flowers. Among pink ones 



Ada Byron easily takes the lead with us. It is to be regretted 

 that this variety is not a satisfactory winter bloomer. It has a 

 beautifully fringed flower of good size and color, with a de- 

 lightful odor, and is borne on a dense stout stem ; we have 

 not seen a burst calyx. As a spring and summer bloomer it is 

 unsurpassed. Helen Keller, the best striped variety in com- 

 merce, is a grand sort grown as Messrs. llonsdale and Daille- 

 douze showed it at the Boston Carnation Show. We find, 

 however, that it has a bad habit of "going sleepy" or fading 

 out its blooms instead of opening them properly. Fully half 

 the flowers on the small lot of plants we grew are useless, and 

 other growers near by say theirs are similarly affected. We 

 purpose trying ours in a heavier compost next season. Among 

 pink varieties, William Scott is far the most consistent bloomer, 

 and appears to give general satisfaction. Some growers still 

 cling to the old Grace Wflder, and two thousand of these flow- 

 ers which I saw recently were excellent, though in some in- 

 stances the calyx was burst. Fred Creighton, another pink 

 variety, almost discarded, was also noted in splendid condi- 

 tion. This variety gives a great spring crop of bloom, but 

 flowers only moderately in winter. 



Some of the new varieties sent out during the present year 

 promise to be of first quality. Alaska, from Mr. Chitty, and 

 Storm King, from Mr. Ward, are very highly spoken of by all 

 who have seen them, and the Canadian variety. Bride of Erles- 

 cort, has many admirers. Meteor is bidding for popular favor 

 as a crimson, while Mr. Dorner's Bridesmaid, Mr. Simmons' 

 Rose Queen and Mr. Hunt's Peachblow are all promising pink 

 varieties. It is unfortunate that the new yellow. Dean Hole, 

 has been attacked by rust. There is much need of a good 

 yellow, since none of the kinds at present grown are very sat- 

 isfactory. A good scarlet which will bloom and grow as well 

 as Portia, with flowers the size of Hector, is much needed. 

 Hector is a fine scarlet, but it has defects in its lack of stem, 

 bursting of calyx and fading out of flower. It is, however, a 

 good Carnation, and the best one of its color now grown. 



Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig. 



Early Flowers. 



THERE are few prettier sights in the garden on a bright 

 sunny day of the early year than a bed of the little Anem- 

 one blanda or A. Apennina. I fear that there are few rarer 

 sights than a good colony of the first species unless more care 

 is taken of them than is usual in the average garden, for, like 

 all plants which die down, in the early year they offer special 

 opportunities to the destructive garden-helper. It will probably 

 be found to be the best practice to take up the tubers when 

 ripened and store them in sand in the early autumn, when they 

 may be replanted. The small pieces of roots of this species 

 usually received make large strong tubers, even in our heavy 

 soil, and I think it is only the tidying up of the borders which 

 prevents their constant increase, for a lot of tubers planted 

 between Sedums and other plants, which are watered during 

 the summer, hold their own. My impression is that Anemone 

 blanda is adapting itself to to our climatic conditions in its 

 flowering period. Our winters are so variable that one can 

 only arrive at an accurate conclusion after many years' expe- 

 rience, and this plant has been grown here only five seasons. 

 When first grown it flowered about the first of January, the 

 season being open. Since then the period of flowering has 

 varied greatly, but on the whole with a later tendency. This 

 year they are yet in flower at a time when A. Apennina is 

 usually expected. 



Up to the present time the garden is dependent almost en- 

 tirely on bulbous plants for flowers, the few Saxifrages and 

 small alpine planls not making much effect, and, in fact, being 

 unreliable and uncertain here. As yet among the non-bulbous 

 plants flowers are only found on Hepaticas, hybrid Primroses, 

 Dondia epipactis and Arabis alpina, with the alpine Poppies 

 and Aubrietias just opening. Hepaticas being abundant in the 

 woods are too much neglected in gardens, where, in a suitable 

 location, they thrive and are a capital illustration of the rare 

 beauty of common things. I wish Primroses were as common 

 as their beauty deserves. They are plants so easily grown 

 and increase so rapidly that there seems no reason why they 

 should not be seen in every garden, and at this season they cover 

 themselves with lovely flowers, ranging in color from white, 

 .through the yellows and reds. A well-grown Primrose, with 

 flowers on single stems, poised just over the lusty leaves, is a 

 very pleasing sight. Arabis is the best white-flowered plant 

 of the spring, as its prostrate growth is covered with sunny 

 bloom. It has a pleasing way of wandering around the garden 

 and showing at this time its flowers in new places. 



Elizabeth, N. J. J- N. Gerard. 



