192 THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
APRIL, 1916 
Easter Sunday Falls on April 23 
Thousands of homes have been cheered, the weary days 
of thousands of invalids and shutins have been brightened 
by watching the wonderful budding and blooming of our 
MAGIC 
Lily of the Valley 
which flower in 15—18 days 
from time of planting in our 
SPECIALLY PREPARED 
MOSSFIBER. 
Pure white, deliciously fra- 
grant, the lovely bells ring out 
a Joyous Easter Greeting to your 
friends. 
We send POSTPAID, with 
fiber to plant and directions 
how to grow successfully: 
6 pips 
12 pips 
20 pips 
5° Pips 
Send orders FARI-Y. Stock is limited. Our Spzing 1916 Garden 
Book, full of GOOD things is at your command. Send for it. 
H. H. BERGER & CO. 
(Established 1877) 
7O Warren Street, New York 
PREPARE FOR INSECTS 
Spring is coming, and with it insects and pests of all 
kinds. e have ready for you 
ORMOCIDE 
the most efficient and deadly of all insecticides. It is easy and 
clean to use, leaves no stain, and is non-poisonous. 
You can spray fruits and vegetables until the day they are 
gathered. 
Besides, it isvery economical, 1gallon making from 25 to 100 
gallons of spray. 
Do you not think it would pay you to send us ro cents so 
we can mail you our literature and trial bottle holding enough 
for you to give it a thorough test? 
Write NOW to 
B. ORMONT, 104 John St., New York City 
-flower — pansy, geranium, 
WIZAk] 
mor BRAN 
MANURE 
Die ang sterilized apectecace W R 
and pulverized—makes nature’s 
best fertilizer for lawns and gar- TRADE BRAND... 
dens—trees—shrubs — vegetables 
—fruit and grain crops. Ask for 
booklet with prices and freight 
rates on a bag or carload. 
CONCENTRATED PULVERIZED 
MANURE 
Purverizeo MANURE Co., x = 
29 UNION STOCK YARDS, CHICAGO, p 
Write the Readers’ Service 
regarding 
for information 
Live Stock. 
height, and its large flowers of beautiful deep blue. 
Donna Semiplenum. 
Semiplenum blooms all through the summer. 
address for $1. This is a rare bargain. 
complete list of hardy perennials. 
will bring a copy—write today. 
Twin Larches Nursery 
Frank M. Thomas 
West Chester, 
The Larkspur’s Beauty 
Lies in its straight stalk growing from two to six feet in 
Of the larkspurs, perhaps the most valuable is the Bella 
This is a widely open, loosely formed 
flower of clear soft blue. A light penciling of pinkish lilac 
on each petal gives it a charming effect. The Bella Donna 
I will send you three of these fine plants, postpaid to any 
I have just printed an illustrated catalogue showing a 
Your name and address 
Pennsylvania 
Gardening for Young Folks 
Conducted by Ellen Eddy Shaw 
The Botanical Merry-Go-Round 
Nas plant a garden and your mind is thrown 
forward to the time when blossoms appear 
or fruit is formed. That is the result we are 
after. Ask any child this question, “For what 
purpose does a plant have blossoms?” And the 
child usually replies that the flower is for 
beauty. Now there is no deep-seated desire on 
the part of Nature to make this world beautiful 
for you and for me to live in. The only reason 
at all for the existence of flowers is so that a 
plant may reproduce itself. life moves in a 
circle, not a vicious one; an adult form, an 
embryonic form, again an adult. 
In plant life there is blossom, seed, 
plant, blossom, and again seed. So 
is the round completed, a botanical 
merry-go-round. 
Beyond the mere botanical an- 
alysis of a flower is a realm of 
what might be called fairy tale 
lore. I suppose it is better to start 
off knowing the parts of a flower, 
those skeletons upon which the life 
story of the plant is hung. A 
flower is complete when it contains 
all its parts. Take any common 
nasturtium; it is made up 
first of an outer envelope, 
which may be tubular as 
in the nasturtium. This 
envelope is called the 
calyx, its separate parts, 
sepals. Often this envelope 
is green—that is, it con- 
tains chlorophyll. The sec- 
ond envelope is called the 
corolla, made up of sep- 
arate parts, the petals. 
These parts are often col- 
ored and represent that 
portion which impresses 
most of us with the beauty 
of the plant. Now these 
envelopes are not essential 
to the great life process of 
reproduction. When a flower has neither of 
these flower envelopes it is said to be naked. 
When only one set of the floral envelopes is 
present we call the flower apetalous. To illus- 
trate this point force out the buds of an elm 
twig. These flowers are apetalous. 
Now we come to those parts of the blossom 
which have directly to do with the formation 
of seed. There are two sets of these organs— 
the stamens and the pistil. The stamens ap- 
pear next 
the floral 
envelopes 
and sur- 
round the 
pistil. The 
expanded 
head of the 
stamen is 
called the 
anther. In 
this the pol- 
len is pro- 
duced; and 
the anther is 
borne on a 
stalk called 
the filament. 
The pistil is 
the central 
organ, the 
most impor- 
tant in the 
plant. It is 
composed of 
three parts: 
the upper 
portion or 
stigma; the 
Shows ripe 
stamens ready 
for pollen to 
be taken. Pis- 
til has been 
removed 
Twig of Red Maple showing staminate 
and pistillate flowers. 
pistils are borne on separate flowers 
stalk, or style; and the expanded lower por- 
tion or ovary. Within the ovary are ovules, 
which are immature seeds awaiting fertiliza- 
tion from the pollen. So it is the pollen, the 
quickening power, which, falling upon the stig- 
ma and passing down the style, fertilizes the 
ovules. : 
Why are flowers in a head? Accident? Oh, 
no! Such an arrangement is conspicuous; the 
honey is not, as in tubular flowers, at the bot- 
tom of long tubes, but lies exposed so that 
many little insects play into the act of fertili- 
zation. And usually, in 
these flowers, stamens and 
pistils ripen at different 
times. For the most part 
insects and flowers dwell 
together in unity and to 
mutual advantage. Of 
course, there are some 
plant forms—like sundews, 
pitcher plants, ete—which 
are insect traps and devour 
insects. 
It may be held in mind 
for a sort of general rule 
that wind-fertilized plants 
bloom early in the season 
when wind is high, produce 
a great deal of Bollea be- 
cause of the amount they 
lose, and that the flowers 
open before the leaves 
appear. Otherwise much 
pe len would drop on the 
eaves and be sidetracked. 
Crossing of Plants 
F BEES, insects and the 
wind can do the work 
of cross-fertilization, why 
is it not possible for a boy 
or girl with brains to do 
the same? Of course, we 
have to remember always 
that these other assistants of Nature are not 
setting out deliberately to do this work; it is 
incidental, even accidental. But if you really 
wish to experiment a little for yourself, remem- 
ber that it is better to cross flowers of the 
same family. If you choose sweet peas, then 
cross the blossoms on one plant with those of 
another. Do not cross a sweet pea and a nas- 
turtium; cross nasturtiums with nasturtiums, 
and sweet : 
peas with 
sweet peas. 
Let us sup- 
pose, then, 
we are work- 
ing with 
sweet peas. 
First, you 
understand, 
the pollen 
from the 
stamens of 
one perro 
shoul e Z 
put upon the ee paidepen 
pistil of an- o show pistil ; 
other; the stamens are 
pistils and removed in 
stamens are crossing 
the only 
floral parts involved in 
this operation. Select 
a bud, open the petals 
and take out all the 
stamens. Now tie a 
pave bag over this 
ud, and leave it for 
three days in order that 
(Continued on p. 194) 
The stamens and 
