258 



Garden and Forest. 



[July 25, 1888. 



black rot, and all affected berries should be picked off and 

 buried or burned. It dropped on the ground the spores of the 

 Plioma mature and are on hand to renew the attack next season. 

 Bagging Grapes is growing in favor among amateurs, but it 

 should have been done last month to insure safety. It would 

 not now save berries from rotting if the infecting germs are 

 already present, but it will protect against the depredations of 

 birds. E. Williams, 



Monlclair, N. J. 



The Vegetable Garden. 



IN marking off the rows for Cauliflower, Brussels Sprouts, 

 and the like, draw drills as if for sowing Peas and plant in 

 these. The drills are useful in holding water and after a 

 hoeing or two are leveled up. In setting out these plants, 

 Lettuces or other crops, do so in dull weather or in the after- 

 noon in sunny weather, and after planting give a good soaking 

 of water. In planting Leeks, dibble them in moderately deep 

 and also in furrows. By planting them in furrows and draw- 

 ing the earth up to them as they advance in growth, the long- 

 white necks so desirable in this vegetable are secured. Toma- 

 toes are now in vigorous growth. Thin their liranches and 

 shorten their laterals a little to give the fruit the benefit of a 

 free circulation of fresh air, and thus, inconsiderable measure, 

 prevent rotting, but do not e.\pose the fruit to sunshine, else 

 they may get scalded. Perfection, Acme, and selected Tro- 

 phy for summer, and Wmter's Early Essex for forcing in 

 winter, are capital sorts, but there seems to be a good deal 

 of confusion in tlie names of Tomatoes, and, indeed, the 

 Tomatoes intermix so much as often to lose their varietal 

 identity. As soon as early Potatoes become ripe, which is in- 

 dicated by the stems dying off, lift them and use the ground 

 for some other crop, as Celery, Cauliflower, Carrots or Straw- 

 berries. Should early Potatoes remain in the ground after 

 they are ripe, a soaking I'ain succeeding dry weatlier will start a 

 second growth, and thus render the tubers of inferior ciuality; 

 on the other hand, in storing these early Potatoes, great care 

 must be used; a cool, airy, moderately dark place is necessary, 

 and the tubers should be stored only in small bulk. It is not 

 advisable to raise any more of a very early Potato crop than 

 can be disposed of before September. 



In order to maintain vegetalile crops in their most vig- 

 orous condition, the ground must be kept clean and well 

 stirred about them, whether it be diy or moist, only do not 

 stir the ground in wet weather. In many large gardens 

 the plow is used ; in most private gardens the hoe is used. 

 In summer cultivation, plow shallow or hoe deep is 

 good advice, for it takes very deep hoeing to be as deep 

 as shallow plowing; and in summer weather, when the 

 ground is dry and hard, deep hoeing, although hard work, is 

 very necessary. In clean ground, raking is as gO(3d as hoeing 

 and much quicker work. The long, steel-toothed, bow-rakes 

 are most excellent tools for this work; they tear through the 

 surface soil in fine style and leave it loose and mellow; they 

 also root out and expose to the killing inlluence of warm 

 sunshine all young weeds that may be germinating. Where 

 the rows are narrow and tlie ground hard, and it is necessary 

 to break it deep, the Hexamer or prong-hoe is an excellent 

 implement. ]V. F. 



Glen Cove. 



The Fritillaria. 



"KXy HEN taking a few notes amongst the bulb gardens in 

 • • Haarlem and its vicinity, I \isited, amongst others, the 

 celebrated hardy plant nursery ot JNIessrs. Krelage & Sons, in 

 Haarlem. At that time— end of April — the leading feature in 

 the nursery, besides the ordinary Hyacinths, Tulips, etc., 

 were the Narcissus and Fritillari'as. The last-named have 

 been cultivated here for many years, and a very large space 

 of ground is set apart for the varieties of F. indeagris. It is an 

 old English garden plant, and one that was much esteemed 

 when exotic plants were scarcely heard of. There is some 

 variety of coloring- found amongst them, from pure white, or 

 white with a greenish tinge, to the usually niaroon-purple 

 checkered variefies. Probably the numerous forms in the 

 possession of Messrs. Krelage have been produced by cross- 

 ing other species with it. The deep yellow ground on son-ie 

 might claim the parentage of F. Mog'gridgci, "and others that 

 of F. Pyj-cnaica, but it may not be beyond the art of the hv- 

 bridist to produce the whole of them'fron-i the comn-ion spe- 

 cies — F. melcagris. Some varieties are very tall and vigorous, 

 others are dwarf and not at all free in growth ; but, like deli- 

 cate children in some families, they may l;ie e\-en n-iore 

 valued on that account. 



Tliere might be good stocks of some half hundred varieties. 



and I went carefully over them, noting the most distinct in 

 growth and fiowers. The colors range from pale yellow with 

 scarcely any n-iarkings upon them to rich chocolate heavily 

 checkered. Theresa Schwartze is a pale form, marked with 

 brown on yellow ground ; Paul Kruger is glossy chocolate, 

 heavily checkered ; Arentine Ardensen, greenish-yellow, 

 checkered reddish-ljrowr* ; Mr. DuUert, crimson-brown, 

 heavily checkered ; Siege of Haarlem, greenish-yellow, slight- 

 ly checkered a reddish-brown color ; David Bles, yellow, 

 faintly checkered red — a dwarf-growing variety; Stieltjes, 

 heavily checkered n-iaroon and yellow — a vigorous plant ; 

 Van Lerius, medium, blood-red checker, vigorous in growth; 

 Alma Tadema, pale greenish-yellow, with rosy-red and me- 

 dium-sized cliecker ; Rembrandt, n-iaroon-crimson heavily 

 checkered ; E. H. Krelage, heavily checkered chocolate-red 

 on yellow — an excellent plant ; W. J. Holdwijk, rich n-iaroon- 

 crimson, heavily checkered. The above are a dozen of the 

 best varieties -wdiich I noted in the collection. Some two 

 years ago this firm sent a selection of them to be inspected by 

 the Floral Committee of the Royal Horticultural Society, and 

 these were greatly admired at the time by some members of 

 the committee, and selections from then-i were awarded certi- 

 ficates, but cut flowers that had 1-1-iade a long journey, and 

 were crumpled and faded, gave a poor idea of the beauty of 

 the flower, and the effect produced when seen in masses of 

 varied colors. 



Fritillarias are grown without n-iuch trouble, their place 

 being in the herbaceous border, where they should be planted 

 in groups, and allowed to remain undisturbed for several 

 years. A deep, sandy loam, moderately n-ioist, is better for 

 them than a light, shallow, or gravelly soil. 



1 have grown several distinct species in pots, also the white 

 and ordinary forms of F. ineleagris, with success, the flowers 

 being greatly admired, coming as they do before any are in 

 flower'^outside. Repotting should l)e done annually, but the 

 bulbs themselves should not be disturbed until in the course 

 of lime they become too nun-ierous, and therefore crowded. 

 — J. Douglas in Gardeners' Chronicle. 



Cut Flowers in Midsiu-nmer. 



ALTHOUGH out-door gardens n-iay in n-iidsummer be 

 bright and gay and pretty enough, cut flowers for in- 

 door decoration are also needed in abundance. We cannot 

 gather blossoms from Coleus or Alternanthera and House- 

 Leek beds, for these plants in pattern beds are not allowed to 

 bloom; and we should not gather the flowers fron-i the Gera- 

 nium or Heliotrope beds, because the n-iore blossoms these 

 plants carry in the beds, the better do they serve the purpose 

 for which they have been planted. But in mixed borders or 

 reserve gardens should be grown an an-iple cpiantity of such 

 plants as yield a generous supply of flowers that are desirable 

 and well adapted for cutting. While at all tin-ies during the 

 summer we may have many sorts of flowers, there are always 

 a few sorts in their season tliat are in more demand than 

 others, hence shoifld be grown in larger quantity. This is 

 often a matter of taste; different persons have dilferent prefer- 

 ences. Just now the i-nain crop of cut flowers consists of 

 Sweet Peas, Mignonette, Heliotrope, double white Feverfew, 

 Hollyhocks, small-flowered Sunflowers, Drimimond Phlox, 

 scarlet Pelargoniums, Rose Geraniums, annual and perennial 

 Coreopsis, Nasturtiun-is, Candytuft, Eheman's Canna, and 

 the narrow-leaved, yellow Day Lily [Hemerocallis gramini- 

 folia). These may be supplemented by a great variety of 

 other flowers — for instance. Zinnias, Frencli and African Mari- 

 golds, Ten-week Stocks, Indian Pinks, Garden Pentstei-t-ions, 

 Verbenas, Poppies, Larkspur, Bellflowers, Veronicas, Cosmos, 

 Butterfly Weed {Asclepias tuberosa) and many Lilies, as L. 

 aitratuiii, L. tongifloruin and L. Htimboldtii. Fupliorbia corol- 

 la/a and Gypsopliila panicitlata are now in their prime and 

 very usefid for adding a light and airy effect to other cut 

 flowers. Although Dalflias are regarded more as autumn than 

 sun-imer flowers, they 1-1-iay now be had in tolerable abund- 

 ance. The earliest planted Gladioluses are in bloom. Mont- 

 hrictia crocosiiiiajlora has beautiful, orange-colored flowers 

 and should lie grown in quantity for sun-in-ier flowe-rs. It is 

 tender, but wintered in a warm frame or cool green-house, 

 and divided and planted out-of-doors in summer, it grows and 

 blossoms very freely. Lh-ilike n-iost other bulbous plants 

 used for summer gardening, it should be kept growing all 

 winter. In the same way the finer Cannas shoidd be kept 

 growing soi-newhat in winter, if we want a large increase of 

 stock. 



In order to maintain the crop of fiowers in their best condi- 



