488 



Garden and Forest. 



[December 5, 



will also improve the growth. It should be grown in a warm, 

 light house, witli just shade enough to prevent tlie foliage 

 from scorcliing, and it needs frequent syringing to keep down 

 red spider. This treatment should be persevered in until 

 August or September, or later if desirable, when the supply 

 of water should be gradually decreased vmtil the wood has 

 ripened and the foliage dropped off. Tlie period of rest 

 should be from two to four months, after which it mav be 

 started into growtli again, and will soon give an abundant 

 crop of flowers. Probaljly the easiest method of propagation 

 is by root-cuttings, made by cutting moderately strong roots 

 into lengths of from one to two inches. These should be 

 placed in pans of light soil, and the pans should be set in a 

 cutting-frame or on a bench having some Ijottom-heat. Here 

 tlie roots will soon start, just as some of tlie Bouvardias, 

 Aralias and otlier pl.tnls do when similarly treated. 



Stiphanotis floribunda. — The handsome, dark green, glossy 

 foliage, and pure white, fragrant flowers of this excellent 

 plant are well known, and its free habit of growtli makes 

 it one of the most useful of white-flowered clinibei's. It will 

 grow very well in an interinediate house, where the tempera- 

 ture ranges from fifty-five to si.xty degrees, and, if space can 

 be spared for it, it will grow more rapidly when planted out 

 and the slioots trained on wires attached to the roof of the 

 house, but if it is not convenient to grow it in this manner it may 

 be put in a pot or tub and trained on a balloon trellis. The 

 soil most suitable for it is composed of light loam and pent in 

 about equal proportions, with a liberal allowance of sand and a 

 little broken charcoal, and in mixing the soil it is better not to 

 break it up very fine, as the plant does best in a rather coarse, 

 open soil, and needs free drainage. The Stephanotis is 

 readily propagated, either by cuttings or from seed, but some 

 growers prefer cuttings, on the ground that the plants so pro- 

 duced are more floriferous than seedlings. The cuttings 

 should be made of moderately hard wood, and if given some 

 bottom-heat they will emit roots in a few weeks. 



Passiflora raceinosa [princeps) is another beautiful climber, 

 and when well-established it produces its bright red flowers all 

 the year through. The long and graceful flowering sprays of 

 this plant are specially adapted for draping around large flower- 

 vases or for mantel-decorations ; and used in this way they 

 are very striking and effective. This plant is also of easy 

 culture, its chief requirements being good drainage, a mod- 

 erately light soil and a temperature of about sixty degrees. 



Watering with liquid manure at intervals during the grow- 

 ing season is beneficial, and care should be taken to prevent 

 the mealy-bug from gaining a foot-hold, as when this pest 

 becomes established on plants of this class it is difficult to 

 exterminate it. Passiflora raceinosa may be increased |jy cut- 

 tings or by grafting, and in the latter case either one of tlie 

 free-growing Tacsonias or one of the other PassiHoras of 

 rapid growtli, such as P. Raddiaiia {Kerinesina), may be used as 

 a stock. Grafted plants usually make moi'e rapid gi'owth 

 than those on their own roots, and therefore that plan for 

 increasing them is generally adopted. 



Philadflpiiia, Penn. "' 



Soils. 



'X'HE importance of special soils for the different genera or 

 •'■ species of plants is often overrated, and the difl'erent 

 formulas found in the cultural instructions of various cata- 

 logues and works on liorticulture are often useless or mislead- 

 ing. These specific directions as to soils have frightened 

 many persons from growing plants both in the open air and 

 in window gardens. American writers are comparatively free 

 from mistakes in this direction; but in nearly every foreign 

 publication on this subject the peculiar soil in which each 

 plant should be grown is carefully described, and too often 

 the mi.-tures recommended can only be olitained at an ex- 

 pense that amounts to prohibition. It often happens, too, that 

 the directions laid down with such care are ludicrously use- 

 less, for our climate at least. For instance, an English writer 

 asserts, " To grow Portulaca well it should be given a soil 

 composed of turfy loam, leaf-mould, well-rotted manure in 

 equal parts, and a little silver sand added." For a plant that 

 comes up so freely everywhere as to become a troublesome 

 weed, this attention seems quite unnecessary. 



The simple preparation of the soil according to rule would 

 require a considerable amount of labor, even though the ma- 

 terials were at hand. Few persons would think of taking so 

 much trouble for a choice and costly plant, much less for 

 tliose that tlirive in neglected places. 



The fact is, that where common vegetables will grow, flow- 

 ering plants will grow, and if the books say turfy loam, and 

 you have a clayey soil, or a sandy loam, put in your seeds, 



bulbs, plants or trees without fear. Hoe frequently and thor- 

 oughly, and gootl fruits and flowers will be the result. It is 

 true that some soils are more productive than others, or are 

 easier or more difficult to till ; some require more manure 

 than others; and yet any soil that will produce good Beans, 

 Beets or Potatoes will produce flowers as well. And soil that 

 is best for vegetables in the garden is best for plants in pots. 

 Exhausted soil will not produce good garden crops. You can 

 no more draw from the soil without making deposits tlianyou 

 can from your bank. If you overdraw in either case your 

 drafts will be dishonored. And as the amount of soil in pots 

 is of necessity limited, it should in all cases be made strong 

 and rich. The best soil for this, or any otlier puri^ose, is well- 

 rotted sod, antl this can be iH'ocured anywhere. Takesodsfrom 

 tlie road-sides or meadow, pile tliem up in any conve- 

 nient out-of-the-way place, and let them rot, and you will 

 liave all the elements that contribute to the growth of plants. 

 The best time for this work is in early spring, wiien the turf is 

 fresh and green; then the roots will die quicker than at any 

 other time. It is by no means necessary for the roots of the 

 grass to become thoroughly rotted ; all that is required is to 

 have them killed, as the growing plant will feed upon the old 

 turf as fast as it is decomposed. Plants grown in this soil will 

 be strong, healthy and floriferous. A more rapid growth will 

 be induced if a liberal proportion, say one-fourth, of well- 

 rotted manure is added, in which case more weeds and 

 worms must be contended with, but all trouble will be repaid 

 by the increase in quantity and quality of bloom. Young 

 plants intended for summer blooming in the garden should 

 be grown in soil without manure, if it is naturally rich and not 

 too heavy. Plants grown in such a soil will be healthy, and 

 when planted out in the garden, they will have strength to 

 assimilate all the food prepared for them, and will make a 

 far stronger and more rapid growth than if stimulated at the 

 outset in a very rich soil. The most successfid Rose-growers 

 use nothing but rotted sod for young plants, and the almost 

 universal satisfaction their young stock gives, is due to this 

 fact alone. The largest plant-grower in this country, if not in 

 the world, has but one soil for everything, but one compost 

 heap, and that is rotted sod. No doubt good peat or leaf 

 mould will benefit a stiff, clayey soil for many exotic plants, 

 and certain plants indigenous to a given soil and locality will 

 thrive better there than anywhere else ; yet the soil in which 

 any plant is found in its native state is not always necessary for 

 its perfect development. Indeed, many plants will not suc- 

 ceed as well in a soil that is natural to them, when they are 

 grown in a different countrv, wiiere climatic influences are 

 different ; for instance, the Cactus, or, at lea'st, most of the 

 genus, is found growing in arid wastes, but, introduced into 

 green-houses, (hey will not thrive in the soil brought from 

 their native habitats. The different atmospheric surroundings 

 make a different soil necessary. Earth and air must work in 

 harmony together to produce the plant. 



Again, it is true that all plants cannot be grown equally 

 well in a clavey or in a sandy soil. But your soil will need no 

 more manipulation for flowers than it does for x-egetables. 

 Work well the soil you have, give it food if exhausted, drain it 

 thorouglfly if wet, but do not be discouraged in planting bulbs, 

 seeds or shrubs, because you have not some special soil rec- 

 ommended in the catalogues and trade journals. 



Garden City, New York. C. L. Allen. 



Top-dressing for Trees. — Now is the time for top-dress- 

 ing; around evergreens and other choice trees and shrubs. 

 First clear out dead grass and leaves from under the young 

 Conifers, as they afford a favorite lodging-place for field mice, 

 which are so destructive in winter in gnawing off the bark of 

 trees. And in place of what is removed return a dressing 

 of rotted manure under and around the trees. At Mr. G. W. 

 Childs' place, near Philadelphia, 1 lately observed that a heavy 

 dressing of manure, and sometimes of loam and manure, 

 was being strewn under and around the trees, whose splen- 

 did vigor is ample testimony of their appreciation of this 

 generous treatment. 



Pruning Trees. — Now that the trees are leafless, we can 

 readily see where branches cross and rub each other, where 

 some project too far, where the trees are too thick or are 

 lopsided, and we should prune accordingly. Avoid heavy 

 pruning. Cut off clear all stem and root sprouts. And where 

 it is necessary to cut off large branches, saw them off short, 

 then smooth over the cut with a sharp knife or small plane, 

 and paint tlie wound to exclude moisture and prevent rot. 

 In some trees. Lindens particularly, we often find diseased 

 branches ; cut these quite out at once, for there is no cure 

 for them. In other cases, branches of Yellow-wood, Willow 



