476 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 510. 



a foot high. This banking will also attract the snow and thus 

 be a help. Roses are quite apt to die to the ground if they are 

 unprotected ; if straw litter is used it will attract the field mice 

 and these are worse even than frost, for they usually girdle 

 the plants down to the ground-level. 



A garden would lose half its charm were not these precau- 

 tionary measures needed. They keep us interested in the 

 well-being of the plants, and protective measures are never 

 lost labor. It is better to be safe than regretful, and this is the 

 time to get on the safe side. 



South Lancaster, Mass. E- O. Or pet. 



Wintering Bedding Stock. 



BEDDING Stock has little decorative value at this season, 

 and it is often a problem how to care for it without taking 

 up too much useful space. In some instances we must prop- 

 agate in the autumn to the full extent of next season's require- 

 ments. All the tricolor, as well as many bronzy-leaved Gera- 

 niums, are of slow growth, and it requires care and work to 

 make good plants from cuttings taken in the autumn. Nierem- 

 bergia frutescens, an uncommon but graceful little plant 

 which gives an abundance of pale blue, saucer-shaped flow- 

 ers throughout the summer, should be grown along through 

 the winter to get good plants, and this is the case with the 

 dwarf yellow and purple Lantanas. We take up the old plants ; 

 in time they make neat bushes and standards of these plants 

 are a most attractive feature in the flower garden at Welles- 

 ley. The yellow variety with an undergrowth of Nierembergia, 

 or dwarf Lobelia, makes an effective bed. 



Plants used for subtropical effects must either be held over 

 or propagated early to get plants large enough by planting- 

 time. Those which need a resting season, as well as others 

 which make little growth, can be stored in cool houses orfairly 

 light pits. These include Grevilleas, Coprosmas, Dracaenas, 

 Lantanas, Acacias and Australian Dracasnas. Abutilons are 

 less hardy and need a more genial temperature. For a suc- 

 cession we start seeds of Dracaenas, Grevilleas and Eucalyptus 

 after the days begin to lengthen, and put in cuttings of the 

 other sorts. A few old plants of Salvias give us all the cut- 

 tings we need. It is not necessary to take up more room with 

 them until spring-time, as cuttings root quickly and soon 

 make good plants. With the common tall Salvia splendens 

 we would not even take cuttings, as it is more convenient to 

 propagate from seed, but we have a selected dwarf variety 

 which has proved to be uncertain from seeds. Common bed- 

 ding Geraniums are stowed away on shelves overhead, but 

 not more than half of the number we need are put in, as we 

 take the tops again in February. A very few Coleus are 

 required to give an abundant supply of plants. Cuttings taken 

 in the autumn are preferred to old plants, for the latter are 

 liable to be infested with mealy bug. But by taking the tips 

 only of plants free from insects we keep our stock clean. A 

 few plants of Alyssum Little Gem will give plenty of cuttings, 

 but these must be started at once to get a good stock of fair- 

 sized plants. Different methods are employed to propagate 

 these plants. Some cultivators take up old plants, divide them 

 in spring and put them in hot beds. This is as good a plan as 

 any, for no growth is made until they are subject to bottom- 

 heat. Still it is little trouble to take cuttings, root them in 

 August and hold them over on shelves in a warm house until 

 spring. Heliotrope and Ageratum may be treated in the 

 same way as Coleus. Cuttings put in in March make good 

 plants. Old stools of Heliotrope and Ageratum have given 

 us quantities of flowers for cutting during winter, and as these 

 have been appreciated we are growing a few specially for this 

 use. The variegated Stevias make pretty decorative plants 

 for which we find use during the winter. 



Verbenas, once represented by a long list of named varieties 

 which had to be increased by cuttings taken from kept-over 

 plants, may no w be classed with Zinnias, Asters and other annuals 

 to be sown in early spring. There are now so many fine varieties 

 of Begonia semperflorens available for bedding, which can be 

 raised from seed, that few people take the trouble to keep over 

 old plants. I have known seeds of these to retain their vitality 

 through the winter and come up in spring. At Newport, Rhode 

 Island.it is quite common to find thousands of mixed seedlings 

 in beds where these plants grew the year before. Vinca rosea, 

 one of the best of summer bedding plants, comes best from 

 seed, but the seeds must be fresh and there must be a good 

 bottom-heat to start them. Caryopteris Mastacanthus has for 

 two seasons been one of the best plants for autumn bedding. 

 It is quite easily grown from cuttings. Dwarf blue Lobelia, 

 once raised from cuttings, is now to be had in established 

 strains from seed. 



Wellesley, Mass. T. D . Hatfield. 



Iris alata. — This Iris, sometimes known as I. scorpioides, a 

 south European species, is now in flower in a cool house, and 

 marks the beginning of a new season of this great family. 

 Its flowering is, however, sometimes anticipated by that of I. 

 stylosa, a species which, while hardy in this latitude in some- 

 what sheltered quarters, is preferably grown under protection, 

 for we seldom have such favorable seasons as the present for 

 plants which flower naturally in October and November. I. 

 alata is a bulbous Iris with thick persistent, but not perennial 

 roots, new ones being produced each season as the new bulb 

 is formed. It is an easily managed plant as far as the produc- 

 tion of the first flowers, as it starts promptly into growth and 

 flowers as well in a pot as when it is planted out, which is not 

 the case with some of the family. The plants must, however, 

 be carefully ripened up in the warmest and sunniest spot 

 available. The flowers vary somewhat, but are usually light 

 purple, marked with orange on the ridge. 



Elizabeth, N.J. /• A'. Cr. 



The Forest. 



Forestry in Women's Clubs. — II. 



CIVICS have in the past few years had serious atten- 

 tion in women's clubs, and in Pennsylvania for- 

 estry, educational interests and municipal improvements 

 receive special consideration. As indicative of the com- 

 mon interest in forestry it is interesting to note that on 

 October 27th, a day in advance of the meeting of the 

 Federation of Women's Clubs in New Jersey, and entirely 

 independent of the action of that body, forestry proved to 

 be one of the most popular subjects at the annual meeting 

 of the State Federation of Women's Clubs of Pennsylvania, 

 held at Harrisburg. 



Miss Mira L. Dock, of that city, known to readers 

 of Garden and Forest through her numerous contributions 

 in articles and illustrations, spoke on Our Forests and Their 

 Utility and Beauty, and described her experiences in a re- 

 cent tour of observation of woodlands in seven counties of 

 Pennsylvania. The section visited was selected because 

 it represented average, and not extreme conditions, and 

 topographic observations and close study of special fea- 

 tures were accomplished in extended drives and walks. 

 Two conditions shown from these examinations were the 

 extreme scarcity of good water and the unkempt condition 

 of the hamlets, villages and towns, both conditions being 

 due to an indifference that has almost ruined the beauty and 

 healthfulness of many portions of Pennsylvania. Almost 

 everywhere an interest in public improvements was no- 

 ticed, and in each place some one person at least was 

 thinking of a better water-supply, of village improvement 

 or of the great waste of timber, and the growth of sentiment 

 in favor of forestry was very marked. The enactment of the 

 last Legislature of Pennsylvania regarding forest tires was 

 universally approved, and the only criticisms heard regard- 

 ing the act creating State Reservations of 40,000 acres each 

 at the headwaters of tributaries of the Ohio, Susquehanna 

 and Delaware rivers, were that they were not sufficiently 

 large to insure safety from floods, and that more forest-land 

 should be set aside. 



The special interest of Pennsylvania forests in the variety, 

 size and beauty of native trees, in rich forest undergrowth 

 and in botanical interest was sketched by Miss Dock, who 

 said that in the first half of the last century many interest- 

 ing and valuable trees and plants, mostly from the forests 

 of eastern Pennsylvania, were taken to England. The 

 larger part of these were sent by John Bartram and 

 Humphrey Marshall, both Pennsylvanians born and bred. 

 These two men not only sent valuable American plants 

 to Europe, but they and William Hamilton, of Phila- 

 delphia, from his country-seat, now Woodlands Cemetery, 

 in Philadelphia, introduced into this country many valua- 

 ble species from Europe, among them the Norway Maple, 

 Horse-chestnut and Lombardy Poplar. The first Rhodo- 

 dendrons ever seen in England were sent from the Blue 

 Mountains of Pennsylvania about the time that George 

 Washington was born. Not only is the vegetation in Penn- 



