August 22, 1894.] 



Garden and Forest. 



337 



affected plants pulled up and burned. This season has been 

 so extremely dry that we have found it necessary to water the 

 plants on several occasions. Plants dry at the root are, I be- 

 lieve, more liable to disease than those kept moist and grow- 

 ing. Swanley White spotted very badly here last year, but so 

 far this season it is perfectly clean, and so also is Lady Hume 

 Campbell. Plants that are being grown along in the frames 

 where they are to bloom should not be kept too much shaded ; 

 after three o'clock in the afternoon the sun may be allowed to 

 shine on them. A thorough soaking of water twice a week 

 will keep them growing satisfactorily. Runners will be form- 

 ing on all plants now, and these should be cut off about every 

 ten days, as they weaken the crowns if they are allowed to run 

 freely. Plants should be lifted from the open from the begin- 

 ning to the middle of September. Manure and compost for 

 them may be put into the frames at any time now, and this 

 will save some of the rush when the time for planting arrives. 



Carnations. — Carnation-plants grown for summer blooming 

 out-of-doors require regular watering or the flowers will be 

 small. A soaking of moderately strong liquid manure, after a 

 wetting with clear water, once a week proves beneficial. Fad- 

 ing flowers should be picked off, both on account of appear- 

 ance and for the welfare of the plants. Straggling shoots need 

 tying in occasionally, as flowers near the ground are likely to 

 be ruined in a heavy shower. Among pink varieties now be- 

 ing tested as summer bloomers, William Scott and Nicholson 

 are flowering freely. Plants for winter blooming have made 

 excellent growth this season, the hot dry summer having evi- 

 dently suited them. The next few weeks will be a season of 

 vigorous growth for them, and they will need looking over 

 once a week and topping. Some varieties, as Mrs. Fisher, 

 Hector and Ferdinand Mangold, have a marked tendency to 

 produce flowering-shoots at this season. Just when topping 

 should be discontinued depends on the variety of the plant 

 and how soon flowers are desired indoors. As out-of-door 

 Carnations, under favorable conditions, may be had until the 

 middle of October, indoor plants need not be brought into 

 flower before that time. The compost for the beds or benches 

 should be turned over, and if cow-manure has been mixed in 

 it a sharp lookout must be kept for the larva? of the common 

 May beetle, the white grub and muck-worm, as it is better 

 known. The larger grubs may easily be hand-picked and 

 killed when the compost is being turned, and if it is carefully 

 examined again when carried into the benches the bulk of 

 these pests may be destroyed. Steaming or heating the soil in 

 some other way seems to be the only effectual way to entirely 

 kill them. When Carnations are sickly, it is owing, in many 

 cases, to these grubs eating the bark from the stem below the 

 surface of the soil, and also to theirgnawing the roots through. 

 A writer in a contemporary journal states that the pest maybe 

 destroyed by washing diluted kerosene emulsion with plenty 

 of water into the compost, but not having tried this method 

 I am unable to speak as to its efficacy. „ r . 



Taunton, Mass. W. N. Craig. 



The Quince Rust. — The station has lately received specimens 

 of Quinces, from different parts of the state, affected with the 

 rust, which shows itself in bright orange patches on the fruit 

 or leaves. The rust is caused by a fungus, Roestelia pyrata, 

 which also attacks the Apple. The fungus spends part of its 

 life on the Red Cedar and causes what are familiarly known 

 as "Cedar apples," which attain their growth and germinate 

 in April and May. The spores from the Cedar-apple stage 

 pass to the Apple or Quince, where they germinate and cause 

 the bright orange rust on the young fruit or leaves, rendering 

 the fruit worthless. In some cases the disease is sufficiently 

 serious to cause defoliation of the tree, but this severity is not 

 common. Bordeaux mixture, applied as soon as the first 

 leaves appear, is used to check the fungus. It is also recom- 

 mended to remove all Red Cedar trees in the vicinity of an 

 orchard. ,, 



Cornell University. G. Harold PoiVell. 



Correspondence. 

 A Border of Herbaceous Perennials. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — Many of us find a great fascination in a perennial gar- 

 den, and an interest renewed every spring as our old friends 

 re-appear to greet us, creating a sentiment that cannot be 

 gained by the use of annuals, and still less by the familiar beds 

 of Geraniums. Nothing seems easier in theory than to make 

 a good border, with no bare spaces, at any season, a constant 

 succession of bloom, and with all our colors in perfect har- 



mony. Unfortunately, in practice, the difficulties and disap- 

 pointments are many. Some of these difficulties could be 

 avoided by a more careful description in the nurserymen's 

 catalogues ; but the virtues alone are usually recorded in such 

 descriptions, and we are left to discover by experience the 

 faults or peculiarities of each flower. 



The creation of a new garden brings surprise after surprise. 

 In early spring we find large spaces that remain obstinately 

 bare ; later more bare spaces occur, even more hideous, 

 where the week before it had been a blaze of color ; some 

 flowers that were so fine the first year have grown coarse and 

 rank the second, and so on through the year our disappoint- 

 ments are endless. 



Now, in our catalogues we find no explanation of our 

 troubles ; no mention is made of any of these peculiarities. 

 Much information can be found in Robinson's English 

 Flower Garden; but, unfortunately, it contains advice for a 

 climate radically different from ours, and I have looked in 

 vain among American books for any advice of value in form- 

 ing a perennial garden. 



It would seem as if much good could be accomplished by a 

 series of articles on the subject, comprising, first, general ad- 

 vice as to the arrangement and grouping of spring and 

 autumn bloomers, the advisability of massing many plants of 

 the same kind, possibly giving some good combinations of 

 color among plants that bloom simultaneously, and the like. 



After this a short catalogue of the best-known flowers might 

 follow. With each flower the ordinary florist's description of 

 height, general habit, time of blooming could be given ; to be 

 followed by the more valuable information that we can find 

 nowhere — whether it comes up early in the spring or not ; if 

 it dies down after blooming or retains its foliage throughout 

 the entire season ; whether it grows coarse and unfit for the 

 garden in a year or two, or improves with age. In other 

 words, a description of its habit and peculiarities that would 

 enable us to place it intelligently in our garden. 



I am aware that I am proposing a somewhat long series of 

 articles, but there still remain many weeks before another 

 spring, and I feel sure that they would be read with great in- 

 terest. At present our sources of information are scanty and 

 meagre, and I hope that Garden and Forest will come 

 to our aid and furnish us more information on a subject that 

 interests so many of its readers, either in the form suggested 

 above or in some other better way. 



Boston, Mass. H. S. H. 



Chrysanthemums for Exhibitions. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — After the Chrysanthemum-shows are over, one invaria- 

 bly sees in the gardening papers letters on the subject of 

 judging. Often they are from dissatisfied competitors. Some 

 good points, however, are occasionally made, and one can 

 easily see that the system of judging is not all that it should 

 be. There is never a year but some changes are made in the 

 schedules, and there can be no doubt the committees honestly 

 desire to make the work of the judges easier. 



During recent years in this country we have passed almost 

 altogether from exhibits of chrysanthemums on boards to long 

 stems in vases, with foliage. To a great many persons it is 

 doubtful whether one extreme is not as bad as the other. The 

 long stiff stems with foliage has nearly shut out all but the 

 coarser Japanese varieties. Raisers of new varieties are every 

 year compelled to discard many fine flowers, often superb in 

 form and color, solely on account of a weakness in the stem. 

 Trade discrimination is in a great measure the cause of this. 

 Florists now almost wholly decide what a flower shall be. 

 Standard colors rule, clear and decided, with stiff stems and 

 good lasting qualities, and any flower lacking these qualifica- 

 tions gets no recognition. Many of my gardening friends, 

 failing to see beauty in these formal exhibits, think great im- 

 provement may be made by the introduction of more artistic- 

 ally arranged vases of flowers, with varying lengths of stem, 

 some bending and others standing out at various angles. And 

 again, the foliage prerequisite shuts out many excellent varie- 

 ties which can only be grown on a crown-bud, and the result 

 will undoubtedly be that these in course of time will be dis- 

 carded. 



Size being now almost the only criterion, the compact form 

 and regular outline of the incurved Chinese is seldom seen ; 

 at least, on this side of the Atlantic. This is much to be re- 

 gretted. So, too, with the Anemone-flowered and the Pom- 

 pones. It is to be hoped, when the limit in size is reached, 

 that more attention will be given to the neater and more re- 

 fined forms. Something might be done at the forthcoming 



