The Garden Magazine 



Irises as Soil Binders — We have read with a 

 great deal of interest, in the June number of 

 The Garden Magazine, the article by Miss 

 Sturtevant, giving some of her experiences in 

 raising Irises from seed. It is to be hoped that 

 her suggestion in regard to the formation of an 

 Iris Society may be acted upon at no distant 

 date. Is there not a partial answer at least, 

 to the question: "What shall I do with the 

 ones I do not want to keep?" in the use men- 

 tioned for this type of Iris by Miss Tomlinson 

 of Tennessee, in the same issue? In describing 

 "a hillside garden," she tells us she planted 

 German Iris to bind the soil. We know of an- 

 other admirer of the Iris in California, who 

 had a lot of Iris sent from an Eastern home, 

 to plant on the terraces of her garden in her 

 California home, for she said she had found 

 they were the best plant to use for the loca- 

 tion, to prevent washing of the soil. We are 

 also told that in a certain locality in France 

 they grow in millions, being used to hold to- 

 gether the sand banks that surround the vine- 

 vards. Surplus stock, particularly of the 

 cheaper varieties and these new seedlings 

 which are too good to throw on the dump heap 

 — some better than many now being culti- 

 vated — could be utilized for this purpose at 

 slight expense provided one is not fortunate 

 enough to have the stock. — Mrs. J. Dean, 

 Moneta, California. 



The Hardy Yellow Rose. — In connec- 

 tion with the hardy yellow Roses mentioned 

 by A. E. Thatcher in The Garden Magazine 

 for April and R. S. Sturtevant in the July 

 issue, it may be of interest that the Copper 

 Austrian was wintered successfully here, for 

 several years, where the temperature will be as 

 low as 40 degrees below zero every winter, at 

 some time. It was not killed back at all until 

 last winter when chere was severe frost and no 

 snow until Christmas. The Scotch Yellow was 

 not injured in the least. They have no pro- 

 tection of any kind, being on the open prairie, 

 but ordinarily the snow covers them from four 

 to eight feet deep. The Wichuraiana Hybrid, 

 Klondyk, has survived our winter as has the 

 Soliel d'Or ("earthed up ' twelve inches or so). 

 The Persian Yellow and Hanson's are hardy 

 here. This year I am trying Yellow Austrian, 

 single and double; Gottfried Keller, an Aus- 

 trian Hybrid; and Daniel Lusneur, the only 

 yellow Rugosa I have met, although Dolly 

 Varden is described as ar ricot, and sometimes 



as pink. There is no lack of hardy Roses of 

 other shades, but yellow is rare here. — A. W. 

 Mackay, Canada. 



A Few Facts. — I bought my first copy of 

 The Garden Magazine, February 1905, at 

 the newsstand and, strange to say, have been 

 buying a copy there each month since that 

 time. Not very good economy, but I have 

 always considered that The Garden Maga- 

 zine was cheap at any price. This is the season 

 for fish stories, so a seed story may add variety. 

 Last March I concluded I would sow some seed 

 of the Cardinal Climber indoors, to get an early 

 start. After filing the seeds as per directions, 

 I planted them in a bulb pan, watered them 

 and placed a pane of glass over the top, after 

 which I set the pan on the radiator (vapor 

 system heat). This was at 3 p. m. At 10 

 o'clock that night one seed had sprouted, and 

 the next morning the young plants w T ere all up 

 with their heads against the glass. Can you 

 " beat" it? My friends all look sad when I re- 

 late this story. I wonder why? — A. A. 

 Knock, York, Pennsylvania. 



Is the Fireless Cooker Used in Canning? — 

 The article on "'Doing Up' the Surplus From 

 the Garden" which appeared in The Garden 

 Magazine for June was accompanied by a 

 photograph showing a fireless cooker, but I 

 have never seen rules for its use in canning — 

 "fool proof" rules, I mean. — /. H. Cary, Mass. 

 — -The fireless cooker may be used in canning. 

 Prepare the vegetables in the morning. When 

 the fire is started in the range to get dinner the 

 vessel containing the cans is put on the range, 

 also a soapstone disc. By the time the water 

 in the container boils the disc is hot, and both 

 are placed in the fireless cooker for one hour. 

 A demonstrator from the College of Agricul- 

 ture at Ithaca claims that the same results 

 may be obtained by blanching the vegetables 

 and leaving them in the fireless cooker for four 

 hours. I have had such splendid results with 

 the three days' method that I have never tried 

 the other way. — E. E. Trumbull, New York. 



Why Does the Beetle Attack this Aster? — 

 Every book on gardening and countless impas- 

 sioned articles impress upon one the value and 

 beauty of Hardy Asters. So far I have failed to 

 notice even one mention of any difficulties inci- 

 dent to their cultivation. In my own garden, 

 however, in Loudoun County ,Virginia, they are 



117 



useless, as the aster beetle attacks them as fe- 

 rociously as it does the Annual Asters. I have 

 tried all the best known varieties and one 

 only, Mrs. Raynor, is immune. It is only these 

 garden forms that are touched; the native spe- 

 cies in our woods and along our lanes are abso- 

 lutely untouched. It seems very strange that 

 this trouble should be experienced only in my 

 own garden — I doubt very much if it is so con- 

 fined. And I think that the warning should be 

 given to gardeners in our latitude (having 

 about the same conditions as Philadelphia) 

 that one's final garden effect should not come 

 to naught. Do you know whether spraying 

 would be helpful? — Mrs. Floyd W. Harris, 

 Washington, D. C. 



NewBuddleia or Summer Lilac, from Seeds. — 

 Did it ever occur to you, who is an admirer of 

 this new summer flowering shrub, that you can 

 raise it from seed and obtain a plant different 

 in growth, shape of leaf, shape of blossom stalk 

 and even size of individual blossoms? Two 

 years ago we sowed a lot of seed from a faded 

 blossom spike and hundreds of plants came 

 up — amongst them were several entirely differ- 

 ent from the parent plant. The flower spikes, 

 instead of being tapering or pointing and 

 gradually blooming out, are rather solid in 

 appearance and round, not at all tapering and 

 more blossoms are out at one time, and the in- 

 dividual blossoms are larger giving the whole 

 bush a much handsomer appearance; these 

 new hybrids are very vigorous, rapid in growth 

 and all together are a great improvement over 

 the type. — The Pudor Farms, Washington. 



Buddleia Davidii, to which the numerous 

 forms known as Veitchii, variabilis, magnifica, 

 Wilsoni, etc., are referred, is extremely variable 

 and our correspondent's form is undoubtedly 

 merely another seedling variation and not a 

 hybrid at all. Indeed a similarly compact 

 form was seen at an exhibition of the Horti- 

 cultural Society of New York in August. — Ed.] 



Flowers in February. — In the September 

 number of The Garden Magazine a lady 

 makes mention of some of the flowers that 

 give her a successiomof bloom through every 

 month of the year, but states that she does not 

 always get outdoor bloom during January and 

 February. She ought to add to her collection 

 The Christmas Rose, Helleborus niger, which 

 blooms profusely under the snow in midwinter. 

 — H. G. R., Pa. 



