92 



Garden and Forest. 



[ArRii. i8. i8S8. 



sliciiild put in, Ijut rather a small quantity repeated in sucees- 

 sional sowings. This is true of Peas, Beans, Corn, Beets, Tur- 

 nips, Spinach, Lettuces, Radishes and some others. But of 

 Onions, Potatoes, Artichokes, Asparagus, Parsley and others 

 that readily suggest themselves, we should now get in a full 

 crop. 



Transplanting Contrary to advice usually given, transplant- 

 ing garden plants should always be done in clear, pleasant 

 weather. It is a great mistake to select a rainy day for this 

 important work. ^Plants should not be taken up, either for 

 transplanting into the garden or for potting for the window 

 garden, when the ground is wet. It is better to do this 

 work when the soiHs reasonably dry, so that it will drop en- 

 tirely from the roots without injury to them. When the soil is 

 wet and heavy much of it is sure to drop from the plant in 



rain are in too great haste to get through, to do their work 

 well. " C. L. A. 



Begonia gracilis, var. Martiana — Mr. Pringle's note (page 7) 

 upon the native hal)itat of this favorite old green-house plant is 

 highly interesting, for the information he gives of its being 

 found so far north quite accounts for the fact that it can be 

 grown here, in England, in cool houses, where the artificial 

 heat is just enough to keep frost out. Not long since I saw a 

 raised brick bed in an orchard-house, with no heating pipes, 

 quite over-run with the scaly tubers of this beautiful plant, 

 which in bloom in a large mass had a charming effect. Mr. 

 Sereno Watson may be interested in knowing that it has by no 

 means gone out of cultivation here, but that it is one of the 

 most cherished of green-house Begonias. In the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society's garden at Chiswick, it was a few years ago 







Fif:^. 17. — The VcUmv wood. 



taking up, and with the soil will .go the delicate feeding roots, 

 that will remain uninjured if the cliange is made when the soil 

 is dry. Transplant in a clear, warm day, make a hole suffi- 

 ciently large to hold the roots without crowding, fill with 

 \\'ater, put in the plant, till the hole with earth, which will im- 

 mediately become soft mud, press this firmly around the 

 plant, and cover the surface with perfectly dry, fine earth, 

 antl the plant will never flag or droop, no matter how sunny 

 or warm the day may be. The writer has practiced this plan 

 for years and has never lost a plant, not even the most deli- 

 cate subject. 



It may be urged that this is not practicable in large fields 

 where Cabbage or Tomato plants are to be set. Buf the best 

 way is always the most practical, and it is much cheaper to 

 devote a day to putting out plants and have them all live and 

 thrive, than to put them out in half the time and have a large 

 portion die and the remainder linger along only half alive. It 

 should be considered, too, that men wlio work out in the 



grown to great perfection as a pot plant. Another variety of 

 B. gracilis, named diversifolia, is also in cultivation at Kew 

 and elsewhere. 



Hardy Shrubs for Forcing.- -To Mr. Falconer's list of shrubs 

 (pa.ge 6), suitable for forcing into early flower, I should like to 

 add a few, knowing that they are among the finest. The new 

 Primus /"/j-jarr/zV, or purple-leaved Plum, is the loveliest shrub 

 imaginable when forced into early bloom, indeed it is 

 naturally so precocious that it requires little or no artificial 

 heat to bring out the flowers. Some bushes of it, four or five 

 feet high, in the green-house at Kew, are mantled with white 

 blossoms so profuse that the newly unfolded foliage is 

 obscured. The flowers are about an inch acrossand have pink 

 centres, while the new foliage, which at maturity is of a rich 

 ruddy purple, is onlv slightlv tinged with a vinous hue at flower 

 time. This Plum may be lifted in autumn and potted for forc- 

 ing, and taken into a slightlv warmed green-house in February. 

 Another first rate plant to force is Maule's (Tuince [Pyrus 



