180 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



November, 1905 



Latxnia Borbonica began housekeeping with 

 me twenty-five years ago and is not shown 

 in the illustrations — dracaeneas, screw pines 

 {Pandanus utilis and the handsomely varie- 

 gated Pandanus Veitchii) and rex begonias, 

 besides other things. 



NURSING A SCREW PINE 



I had a pleasant experience in feeding 

 back to health one screw pine. In early 

 spring the new leaves were turning very 

 pale — each new one paler than its predecessor. 

 Fertilizer was given, and soon after the first 

 watering results began to show. I had 

 hoped to save the new leaves only, but to my 

 great surprise not only the inside cluster 

 came up a dark healthy green, but the same 

 deep color, starting at the base, began to 

 creep up the full-grown leaves; and it was 

 gratifying indeed to see the pale, sickly 

 color gradually changing to the rich green of 

 full vitality. This plant, taken from the 

 centre of a fern dish four years ago, has 

 made rapid growth and is a truly beautiful 

 specimen. The symmetry of any plant 

 depends on the care taken in turning different 

 sides toward the light, and in doing it often 

 enough. 



RUBBER PLANTS NINE FEET HIGH 



The often maligned rubber plants grow 

 most successfully. One in my palm garden 

 stands on the floor and grew perfectly 

 straight to the ceiling without losing a leaf. 

 It is now eleven feet tall and has recently 

 put out a branch a yard long, closely clothed 

 with leaves. Until this plant was checked 

 by the ceiling it had never put out a 

 shoot, but grew its nine feet, absolutely 

 erect and without any support, leaved from 

 pot to top. I grew it from a tiny plant 

 of three leaves and it is still in a seven- 

 inch pot. 



Another had several short branches when 

 I bought it — -a stunted, miserable-looking 

 plant, with a few small or broken leaves. 

 I bathed it and put it in a partially sunny 

 corner, where it promptly began putting out 

 large healthy leaves that soon covered the 

 bare limbs. It now extends the entire 

 length of the room — sixteen feet. Of course 

 it is topheavy, for it is still growing in an 

 eight-inch pot. The pot is tied to the 

 saucer and the plant held erect by strings 

 in various places. 



Small pots are necessary for these plants, 

 and they must be kept in the light to their 

 very top. Do not wash the leaves — a careful 

 rubbing on both sides of the leaf with a soft 

 cloth keeps dust and insects off. 



THE INSECTS OVERCOME 



The only insects that have ever come on 

 these plants were a few thrips. I rubbed 

 them off promptly but lost an araucaria by 

 them. They are most difficult to dislodge. 

 The best preventive for any kind of insect is 

 a warm welcome for the first arrivals — just 

 pick them right off. Sprinkle tobacco dust 

 on the soil occasionally, but do not let it 

 pack and shut out the air. Poke around in 

 the soil now and then — you do that to all 

 plants if you love them. 



[We propose to make a radical change in this Department. 

 Nearly all suggestions received from readers heretofore can 

 be classified as follows: 



(i) Ideas for someone else to work out; (2) Rainbow 

 painting. 



There is no lack of subjects. Ideas in the germ are cheap. 

 It is the working out of them that counts. 



By rainbow painting we mean letters enthusiastically 

 describing some feat of gardening, but without a photograph 

 to prove it; or any figures.) 



Things We Want to Know 



W/E offer $5 for the best answers to any 

 * ^ of these questions. For conditions 

 see "Personal Experiences". 



1. Who can prove whether it is cheaper to 

 buy potatoes or to raise a winter supply 

 for the family on a lot 50 x 150, or larger? 

 Does it pay to rent a vacant lot for the 

 purpose ? 



2. Who has proved by actual trials what 

 are the best fruits (varieties) for canning? 



3. Who has grown fifty or more plants of 

 cardinal flower from seed to blossom ? 



4. Who can get a picture of the Christmas 

 rose or any other flower that blossoms out- 

 doors at Christmas time in the North ? 

 (Please write us now.) 



5. Who can tell the most satisfactory 

 experience in picking nasturtium pods? 



6. Who has used cover crops, like crimson 

 clover, to enrich the soil of the home garden 

 and prevent the soil from washing? 



7. Who has raised four or five different 

 kinds of fruit on the same tree in a city 

 yard with satisfaction ? 



8. Who has saved his garden for two 

 weeks or a month while others in the neigh- 

 borhood were spoiled by frost? 



9. Who can show a good colony of Galax 

 or Leucothoe in the North ? 



10. Who can give photographic proof of 

 the truth or falsity of gardener's traditions, 

 such as planting with reference to the moon; 

 whether a potato should be cut to one eye, 

 two eyes or planted whole, etc. ? 



11. Who can prove that any desirable 

 plant from any point south of Mason and 

 Dixon's line is hardy north of Philadelphia ? 



12. Who has photographic proof of the 

 advantages gained by inoculating the soil 

 for garden peas and beans ? 



13. Who has succeeded more than once in 

 growing ixias outdoors north of Philadelphia 

 without glass protection ? 



14. WTio has produced any new variety 

 of fruit, vegetable or flower? (Amateurs 

 only.) 



15. Who has established any useful or at- 

 tractive plant colony, outside his ga'den, for 

 the public benefit ? 



16. Who has made money "on the side" 

 by any novel or unusual kind of gardening? 



17. Who has established a large colony of 

 trailing arbutus that is increasing by self- 

 sown seed ? 



18. Who has grown more than a dozen 

 plants of the climbing fern (Lygodium scan- 

 dens) for several years ? 



19. Who knows how to suppress the 

 chicken nuisance with entire satisfaction, 

 and without neighborhood rows or ugly 

 fences ? 



20. Who will confess any gardening mis- 

 take he has made and corrected, and show 

 "before" and "after" pictures? 



The Best Trellis for Tomatoes 



\ TRELLIS designed and made by 

 -*"* ourselves has been so useful that we 

 offer it as a suggestion to others. It is a 

 framework of wood strips, with a crosspiece 

 every foot and an upright every six feet, the 

 whole frame being six feet high and twelve 

 feet long. The strips are two inches wide 

 and one inch thick. The end of each 

 upright is sharpened and driven firmly into 

 the ground. If it is necessary to make it 

 very firm it can be braced or fastened to posts. 

 We have found this trellis especially service- 

 able for tomatoes, squash and cucumbers. 

 Tie the vines as they grow, using half-inch 

 strips of rag, as string cuts the stem. For 

 heavy fruited vines this is much better than 

 a wire trellis, because they do not become 

 wedged as they do in the meshes of the 

 netting. We put a row of staples, six inches 

 apart, along the strips, so that when it is 

 desirable to make a change of crop we can 

 run garden twine up and down, thus making 

 a very good bean or pea trellis. 



The cost of this trellis was nothing, being 

 made from material that had been in use 

 for several seasons. New strips would cost 

 about thirty cents and garden twine five 

 cents. The expense in a small garden 

 is not enough to be a drawback, as the 

 trellis saves, in time, work and space, more 

 than it costs. If painted, the frame ought 

 to last many years. Picking and cultivation 

 are remarkably easy, and the ground room 

 it takes is hardly enough to compute. W 7 hen 

 raising squash and cucumbers on this kind 

 of a trellis, allowance must be made for 

 covering the first two or three joints of the 

 vines, to resist the borer, before tying them 

 to the trellis. Albert R. Mason. 



New York. 



