April ii, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



147 



place of the expensive iron pipe, we will use lines of tile, laid 

 six or eight inches deep, with each line fed from a box at the 

 upper end. Very few experiments in this line have been made, 

 or are thus far reported ; but very many should and will be 

 made hereafter. The "new Celery-culture," without some 

 such plan of irrigation, for instance, cannot be expected to 

 give its best, or even sure, results. 

 La Salle, n. v. T. Greiner. 



For Beginners in Vegetable Culture. 



T OFFER the following suggestions and list of vegetable 

 ■*■ seeds for the use of inexperienced gardeners, who want 

 the most possible for the least expenditure of money and labor, 

 or for a boy who is making his first venture in gardening : 



Never disturb the ground by plowing, spading, hoeing or 

 tramping on it while it is wet. 



See that your garden spot is well enriched by spreading evenly 

 over it, before plowing or spading, a dressing about two inches 

 thick of well-rotted stable-manure at least a year old. If this 

 is unattainable and you must use fresher manure, work it over 

 and make it as fine as possible and then take great care to 

 spread it evenly. If commercial fertilizer is depended upon, 

 spread it evenly, at the rate of six to twelve pounds to the 

 square rod after plowing or spading and before smoothing the 

 ground in preparation for sowing the seed. 



General directions as to distance apart and methods of cul- 

 ture can be found on the packets or in the seedsmen's cata- 

 logue, but the seeds should be planted about in the order 

 given : 



Onion : one packet Yellow Globe Danvers. Radish : one 

 packet Long Brightest Scarlet. Beet : one packet Detroit Dark 

 Red or Crosby's Egyptian. Turnips : one packet Purple-top 

 Strap-leaf. Lettuce: one packet Tilton's White Star or Black- 

 seeded Simpson. Parsnips : one packet Hollow Crown. 



The young plants of the vegetables named above are not 

 killed by frost, and may be sown as soon as the ground is dry 

 enough to work. 



Peas : one-half pint Premium Gem, one-half pint Advancer. 

 Corn : one packet White Cob Cory, one-half pint Moore's Con- 

 cord or Country Gentleman. Summer Squash : one packet 

 Mammoth Summer Crookneck. Cucumber : one packet Chi- 

 cago Pickling or Cool and Crisp. Beans, Bush : one pint Chal- 

 lenge Black Wax or Pink-eye Wax, one pint Speckled Wax. 

 Beans, Pole : one packet Horticultural Lima, if as far north as 

 Boston', or one packet Challenger Lima, if south of that point. 



Plant this second selection as early as possible, without en- 

 dangering the young plants, which are liable to be nipped by 

 frost. 



Lettuce : one packet Deacon or New York, for summer use. 

 Muskmelon : one packet Netted Gem, Emerald Gem or 

 Osage. Watermelon : one packet Phinney's Early, if north of 

 Boston, or one of Peerless or Boss, if south. Radish : one 

 packet Chartier, for fall and winter use. Tomatoes : better 

 buy twelve or fifteen plants — Early Michigan, Essex Hybrid 

 or Perfection preferred. If raised from seed this should be 

 sown in the house about April 1st. Cabbage : better buy 

 twenty plants — Winningstadt or All Seasons preferred. If 

 raised from seed sow out-of-doors at the same time as Tur- 

 nips. Celery : better buy fifty plants each of Golden Self- 

 blanching and Perfection Heartwell. If raised from seed start 

 indoors at the same time as the Tomatoes. Cauliflower: better 

 buy plants of Snowball or Extra Early Erfurt. If raised from 

 seed it should be sown same time as Cabbage. 



The last two, although easily grown when one knows how, 

 will be more likely to fail without especial care than any of the 

 others, and will give the smallest return for the skill and labor 

 they require. 



The above list of varieties is by no means what I would 

 recommend as the best in quality or for an experienced gar- 

 dener, but they are all good, and are the sorts most likely to 

 give satisfaction under the conditions supposed. 



Detroit, Mich. WHIR. Tracy. 



Frost and Flowers. — After about three weeks of warm grow- 

 ing weather in March the low temperature a fortnight ago 

 brought on a sudden cessation of growth for a few days and 

 nights. In such conditions, with fifteen degrees of frost at 

 night, a garden of plants in flower or in a forward state of 

 growth is naturally a subject of some anxiety. As these cold 

 days were also clear and sunny, there was added another 

 element of danger from too rapid thawing, owing to which 

 tender fibres do not have time to rearrange themselves after 

 the threatened disruption by freezing. Looking over the gar- 

 den in the early morning after a night temperature of fifteen 

 to eighteen degrees at this season one would find all soft leaves 



darkened with frost and seemingly lifeless, many flowers 

 drooping, and a rather hopeless picture altogether. Yet, after 

 a careful search in warmer weather, I found no apparent 

 damage from the frost beyond the slight injury to the leaves 

 of one small clump of Tulips and a slight scorching of a leaf 

 or two of Iris orchioides. The latter was in a very sunny east- 

 ern location. The Tulips were Gesnerianas, and I have no 

 theory to account for their having been singled out for atten- 

 tion among the numerous varieties in the garden, many of 

 which were more exposed. Without mentioning the earliest 

 plants which one expects to come through such trials un- 

 scathed, as a matter of course, the following are a few bulbous 

 plants which passed the ordeal in safety : Calochorti, Brodiasas, 

 Gladioli, Zygadenus, Alstrcemerias (near a wall), Irises in va- 

 riety, Narcissi (a number in flower), Tecophilea cyanocrocus, 

 Tulips in variety, Alliums, Camassias and Leucojums. As for 

 plants other than bulbous which venture out at this season, 

 one never gives them an anxious thought, provided they have 

 been exposed during the winter. If, like the Poppies, they bow 

 a few hours to the frost, they quickly recover their normal posi- 

 tion. But it is always somewhat a matter of surprise that ap- 

 parently delicate plants and soft juicy foliage prove so indif- 

 ferent to a sudden chill. The flowers of the season are less 

 injured by frost than by a few hours' rain. lean imagine condi- 

 tions under which such a garden might.be badly wrecked, 

 though these are not likely to occur here. Possibly, with con- 

 tinuous warm rains, with rapid starting of foliage at this sea- 

 son, followed by hard frost, there would be much pulping of 

 leaves. My experience this season simply confirms me in the 

 belief on which I am in the habit of acting. This is to grow 

 thoroughly hardy bulbs without mulch or protection, and let 

 them run their course without endeavor to regulate them. 

 This presupposes, however, that they have been planted at the 

 right time and in the best position. 



Elizabeth, N.J. /■ N. G. 



Dendrobium Dalhousianum. — This is one of the most vigorous 

 of all East Indian Dendrobiums, and one of the most easy to 

 grow ; it is very free-flowering, too, since flowers are pro- 

 duced from the same stems for several years in succession. 

 Our plants were obtained as newly imported dry plants. We 

 have grown them for two years, and each year a quantity of 

 racemes have appeared from the apparently lifeless stems that 

 were made in India, where they had also flowered. The pecu- 

 liar fawn-colored flowers have two rich maroon blotches on 

 the lip, which renders them very striking even to any one not 

 interested in Orchids. The plant requires the warmest house 

 when in bloom, and a cooler place for a few weeks when 

 growth is over. It is always late in finishing up the long stems 

 in autumn ; our season is never too long for it, and, therefore, 

 the resting period is shorter than with most Dendrobiums. 

 The old stems should never be cut away until they are de- 

 cayed and useless, for, as long as there is vitality in them, 

 flowers will be produced in spring. 



Fritillaria aurea. — Last spring we took occasion to note the 

 value of this early and beautiful spring-flowering bulb, and 

 this, the second spring after planting, further proves its value 

 for the open border, as it is perfectly hardy and needs no cod- 

 dling. There was a fine colored plate of this Fritillary in the 

 London Garden of July 23d, 1892, but the picture failed to do 

 justice to the beautiful way in which the insides of the flowers 

 are checkered with brown. It is also noticeable how the 

 flowers vary, no two being marked alike inside, this probably 

 being due to the fact that the bulbs are fresh from their native 

 locality, the Taurus Mountains, in Cilicia, where it grows in 

 alpine pastures. It is one of the earliest outdoor flowers with 

 us, coming in with the first Narcissus. For its introduction 

 we are indebted to Herr Max Leichtlin. 



Double Hardy Violet. — When all indoor Violets are past, and 

 the single and double ones in the frames are about to finish 

 flowering, the value of this variety when grown in frames be- 

 comes manifest. It is the darkest blue of all the varieties, is 

 not liable to injury from disease, and is perfectly hardy even 

 here. What the real name of the variety is I am by no means 

 sure. It is known locally as the Cape Cod Violet, and has been 

 sold as the double hardy Russian, but that it is an old variety 

 which has survived its name appears fairly certain. It would 

 be interesting to know what it really is. The only objection to 

 it is that the stems are often very short, especially when grown 

 outdoors, but this is easily overcome when grown in frames 

 by encouraging a free leaf-growth. _ 



South Lancaster, Mass. -^* "• "• 



Garden Peas. — From the number of garden Peas catalogued 

 annually, it is each year more difficult to select from these a 

 good variety or two for home planting. Where quality is the first 



