408 



Garden and Forest. 



[Number 346. 



being pinched off as they appear. Half the leaf is sometimes 

 cut off, but this is not advantageous unless the plants are over- 

 crowded. The height of the plants must be regulated by the 

 convenience of the house, but after four or five clusters of 

 fruit have set they will in most cases be high enough, and the 

 points should then be pinched out, and all lateral growths 

 carefully removed, to concentrate the vitality of the plant upon 

 the work of maturing the fruit. Sometimes the fruit will set 

 naturally, but it is always safest to resort to artificial pollination. 

 A light well-ventilated house, with a medium supply of bot- 

 tom heat, where a temperature of sixty degrees can be main- 

 tained at night is most suitable. On bright days the ther- 

 mometer may run up to eighty degrees, but every advantage 

 should be taken to admit fresh air. As to varieties, there are 

 several adapted for forcing, but for a good reliable variety the 

 Lorillard is still the best all-roundforcingTomatoatcommand. 



Tarrytown, N. Y. William Scott. 



Chrysanthemums. 



THE earliest Chrysanthemum blooms are now open, and the 

 time between now and the end of November will be full 

 of interest to all lovers of this best of autumn flowers. By 

 attending carefully through the early summer to stopping the 

 shoots, and later, to tying, specimen plants should now be in 

 good shape. All that can be done from this time forward is 

 to attend carefully to disbudding. We allow one bloom only 

 to a shoot, which looks scant for a while, but experience has 

 shown that one good bloom with a stout stem is preferable 

 to half a dozen small ones. 



We shall continue giving abundance of water, with liquid- 

 manure every few days, until the blooms begin to open, with 

 less and less afterward, keeping the roots and atmosphere 

 drier during the blooming season. Under this treatment the 

 flowers are not so liable to damp, and the color holds better. 



Plants for blooms should have all their buds set by this 

 time. They should be fumigated several times before it is 

 too late. After the flowers open it is dangerous. With these 

 plants, as well as those in pots, less water will be needed after 

 the blooms open. 



All kinds of buds have, no doubt, been taken, " first crowns," 

 "seconds" and "terminals." It is most interesting to watch 

 these various buds as they open and note which ones are the 

 best for our purpose. 



In the houses abundant air should be given, but draughts 

 from the windward side should be guarded against, since they 

 increase the liability to mildew and spot, which disfigures the 

 foliage badly. We use a little fire-heat on damp days and 

 severely cold nights. 



Wellesley, Mass. 1 . L). Hatfield. 



Lime for Chrysanthemums. — Now that the buds are all set, 

 these plants require liberal feeding, but care must always be 

 taken to avoid overfeeding. The Chrysanthemum has a 

 strong digestion, but even the most voracious plants are only 

 capable of taking food in very weak solution, and if strong fer- 

 tilizers are given they are worse than wasted, because the 

 general health of the plant is impaired ; the soil becomes sod- 

 den and sour by the accumulation of unwholesome acids, and 

 the roots cease to act, so that, instead of feeding rapidly, the 

 plants come to a standstill. It is good practice to change the 

 fertilizer frequently, and an occasional application of lime will 

 be of great service not only in the way of sweetening the soil, 

 breaking up insoluble compounds and making them available 

 for plant-food and clearing the pots of worms, but it is be- 

 lieved, also, that it actually strengthens the feeding properties 

 of the plant. It is held that lime thickens the secretion inside 

 of the root-hairs, and thereby assists them to absorb food more 

 rapidly. Whether this is actually true or not, all experienced 

 Chrysanthemum-growers know that lime is of great service in 

 helping to build up buds and flowers, ever, although it is 

 only to a limited extent plant-food in itself. Perhaps the most 

 convenient way of applying lime is to place a quantity of it in 

 a tub or other receptacle, then fill it up with water, stir freely, 

 and allow it to stand overnight. The sediment will then be at 

 the bottom, and the clear water may then be drawn off and 

 applied to the plants. The parts of the lime which the water 

 holds in solution will be found to produce the desired effect. 



Tarrytown, N. Y. William Scott. 



Gloriosa superba. — It was Mr. Orpet, I think, who once said 

 in Garden and Forest that "we learn much often by our 

 failures.' This may be true, but I have a great many failures, 

 and usually do not profit much by them. Among failures 

 which have conspicuously left me without a trace of gain is 

 that with Gloriosa superba. The tubers of this plant, year 



after year, start at their accustomed season with apparent 

 vigor, but the stem, after reaching a height of six inches, in- 

 variably yellows and dies off. I shall be pleased to know the 

 reason and the conditions of water, air and temperature 

 requisite to grow this plant successfully. 



Elizabeth, N. J. J. N. G. 



Correspondence. 



When to Transplant Conifers. 

 To the Editor of Garden and Forest : 



Sir, — I observe in your issue for September 19th, that Mr. 

 Orpet recommends the transplanting of Conifers in autumn, 

 and I have seen the same practice commended elsewhere. 

 Mr. Robert Douglas, of Waukegan, Illinois, opposes, I under- 

 stand, the fall planting of evergreens. Is there any peculiarity 

 in our inland winters which makes it unwise to treat Conifers 

 here as they are treated in the east ? If it is true that the best 

 practice varies in different sections, that is, if it is advisable to 

 transplant Conifers here in the spring and transplant them in 

 autumn throughout the Atlantic coast region, then your read- 

 ers who reside in both sections should know it. 



Highland Park, III. W. C. Egan. 



My experience agrees with the recommendations of Mr. 

 Orpet that autumn is a favorable time for transplanting 

 Conifers. I may add that when the conditions are favorable, 

 August is a better month than September, and the last half 

 of July is quite as good as August, since nearly all Conifers 

 finish their season's growth before the 4th of July. My 

 first experiment in summer transplanting was made more 

 than thirty years ago. At that time many writers were 

 stating in the agricultural papers that June was the best 

 month for transplanting evergreens, and even Henry Ward 

 Beecher wrote an account of his success in transplanting at 

 that time, although June is the worst month in the season, 

 as Conifers are then making their most vigorous growth. 

 We bedded out more than fifty thousand Pines, Firs and 

 Spruces, beginning on the 5th of July and ending on the 

 25th of September, during which period we planted every 

 day except Sundays. Each planter had a tin pan in 

 which the trees stood in a puddle while he was making a 

 trench. We placed a few branches with the leaves on 

 around the beds so as to give the young trees a partial 

 shade, but at the end of four days these branches were 

 removed to the new plantings, and we found that the 

 first plantings were throwing out new roots. Of all the trees 

 transplanted we did not lose five per cent, except of the 

 Pines, which were transplanted in September, and not one 

 of the Pines which were planted after the middle of Septem- 

 cer survived the winter. Experience confirms what one 

 would naturally suppose, that planting trees in full foliage 

 late in autumn must be unsafe, for after the ground is cold 

 and the air is cold they will not throw out roots to supply 

 the moisture which evaporates from the leaves. The trees 

 we planted in July and August looked, on the following 

 autumn, like trees which had been transplanted two years. 

 We find little loss in transplanting Conifers of medium size 

 in summer or early autumn, but our experience teaches 

 that it is not advisable to ship Conifers when there is dan- 

 ger of hot or drying weather, with the chances of delay in 

 transit and neglect at their destination. 



I am satisfied by long experience that the safest period 

 for transplanting Conifers is that from the time when the 

 ground is settled in spring until the tree begins to make 

 new growth. ' , 



Wauicegan, in. Robert Douglas. 



It was the prevailing belief some years ago that the 

 only safe time for planting conifers is about the middle 

 of May, or as soon as the buds begin to burst into growth, 

 and I still consider this time the best for all ordinary plant- 

 ing of evergreens, for the reason that they can be shipped 

 in the early spring much more safely than at any other 

 time of the year. They are less liable to heat while in a 

 dormant condition, and no other class of plants will heat 

 and spoil so quickly. Even with the greatest care they 

 often arrive at their destination in bad condition ; espe- 



