September, 1918 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



41 



Guerin, Triomphe de l'Exposition de Lille, 

 Adolphe Rosseau, Mons. Martin Cahuzac, and 

 other well-known varieties. Following the hot 

 spell came a very cool, cloudy week which held 

 in check the late varieties, and gave them an 

 opportunity to develop slowly and fully, so that 

 the most perfect blooms of some of my pet late 

 varieties have exceeded all former displays. 

 Couronne d'Or has been a real crown of gold, 

 each flower a bouquet, and the long rows a mass 

 of bloom. Baroness Schroeder with more pink 

 than usual in the buds each opened into one 

 grand ball of snow. Maire, her fragrant flowers 

 on tall, strong stems, nodding a good morning 

 to her royal neighbor, Albert Crousse, always 

 attractive in form, fragrance, and color, makes a 

 most attractive bouquet in artificial light, rival- 

 ling that wonder of color, Milton Hill, said by 

 Secretary Saunders to be "beyond the power of 

 words to describe." Americans should be proud 

 of this variety, for it rivals many of the best 

 foreign productions in size, habit, and color. 

 Mme. de Falhau, always wonderful in display, 

 has this year extended the season beyond most 

 other varieties, disseminating her spicy fragrance 

 from tall, erect stems, rivalling in all good 

 qualities the last Peony to bloom, viz. Grandi- 

 flora, another Peony of American origin and a 

 great favorite wherever known. As with several 

 others of Richardson's productions, the compact, 

 hard bud must be allowed to open on the plant. 

 Gloire de Gombault is one of the most distinct 

 and beautiful varieties, because of its extra full 

 globular flowers, mounted on long strong stems, 

 with scarcely any side buds; delicate coloring, 

 salmon-flesh, shaded with apricot; centre flesh- 

 pink, striped with carmine. — S. G. Harris. 



"Flowers for Dessert." — I am a regular 

 subscriber of your very valuable publication 

 and am especially interested in hardy flowers. 

 I appreciate the fact that a garden should include 

 vegetables as well as flowers, and mine does. But 

 since the war started the importance of vege- 

 tables has largely overshadowed that of flowers 

 in the columns of the Garden Magazine. I 

 suppose few have complained but I have no 

 doubt that a great many of your readers would 

 like a change of diet. Most of them have known 

 all along how to raise potatoes, tomatoes, etc., 

 yet new ideas that are helpful keep coming out 

 all will admit. Vegetables may be the main 

 course but flowers are the dessert and a meal 

 without a good dessert is mighty flat to me. 

 Please let's have a square deal in the future 

 and devote at least half of your columns to the 

 subject of flowers. — E. J. Eisenhart, la. 



Young or Old Beets- — I note two statements 

 in the June number advocating the canning of 

 small beets in preference to the full grown, be- 

 cause of the coal saving in their preparation. I 

 have found the fireless cooker of great value 

 when cooking beets and beans. It is a saver 

 of coal and food values; for the larger beets will, 

 of course, go farther. If the heated soapstones are 

 used, the beets after being brought to a boil in salted 

 water, boil 15 minutes; they can then be put into 

 the fireless cooker and continue to boil for three 

 or four hours longer. After peeling and dipping 

 in cold water, if placed in jars and covered with 

 boiling salted water, and sealed up and plunged 

 into boiler of boiling water and boiling con- 

 tinued for 5 minutes — as in cold-pack canning 

 method — they keep perfectly. Instead of pour- 

 ing over the salted water, one can pickle them by 

 adding a vinegar solution seasoned to taste and 

 proceed as before. In my opinion the small 

 beets should be used only as it is desirable to thin 

 the rows for the better development of the others. 

 — Mrs. H. F. Ward, Newton Centre, Mass. 



Score Card for Garden Plants. — In your 

 April issue we notice a suggested Score Card 

 for Garden Plants, by Mr. Sturtevant. The 

 scores suggested would not meet the require- 



ments for Iris grown in Southern California. 

 Pogoniris with us begins to bloom the latter part 

 of February, but as yet, aside from the dwarf, 

 Germanica and intermediate varieties, we have 

 few that bloom before the first of April, so that 

 we consider those that bloom in March-April, 

 other points being equal, should score much 

 higher than those that bloom in April-May, 

 when there is a greater abundance of flowers 

 of all kinds. All those that bloom more than 

 once in the year — some in the fall and winter — ■ 

 are more valuable and should score higher than 

 an annual bloomer, other points being equal' 

 There is no question about the Asia Minor 

 varieties, and some of their hybrids, being much 



better adapted to our 

 conditions, than to 

 other locations in the 

 States, therefore a 

 score card of such 

 varieties, based on 

 their value as grown 

 in the Eastern States 

 would not be a just 

 score for their value 

 to this Coast, partic- 

 ularly Southern Cali- 

 fornia.— Mrs. J. Dean, 

 Moneta, California. 



A Fine Lily.— An 

 unusually fine plant 

 of Lilium canadense 

 was found growing in 

 the yard of the Olm- 

 sted office at Brook- 

 line and was photo- 

 graphed and meas- 

 ured because of its 

 great size and beauty. 

 It is well known as 

 the common yellow 

 Lily which appears 

 at the end of June 

 knee-high among the 

 low Ferns of the road- 

 side, often not much 

 higher than the Ferns 

 themselves. This 

 plant has grown to a 

 height of exactly six feet and it carries sixteen 

 blooms while it is ordinarily described as growing 

 from two to five feet high and bearing about two to 



See what the common yellow 

 lily will do if given a chance — 

 plant 6 ft. high 



ten flowers. Because it is usually found growing 

 so low down in the grass few people realize the 

 full beauty of a well-developed specimen. Its 

 flower cluster is the inspiration for the cande- 

 labra design so well known in art and its form 

 and habit stand out among most of the flowers 

 we grow as an example of grace and fine bearing. 

 To be able to look at Lilium canadense against 

 the sky is an uncommon pleasure. — Stanley White, 

 Mass. 



A Roof War-Garden. — Thinking that others 

 might benefit by my experience I enclose a 

 photo of my roof war garden. Having no 

 yard except a iox 16 ft. area closed in with an 

 eight foot high solid board fence, I was com- 

 pelled to work my war garden on the roof of the 

 second story back building where the plants 

 would get the necessary sunlight. Soap boxes 

 holding more than a bushel each filled with good 

 soil and cow manure, were each planted on May 

 IO with three good sized tomato plants from 

 pots. The variety was Early Stone. These 

 took hold at once opening their first flowers three 

 weeks later, the first and second series of blos- 

 soms did not set owing to the cold weather but 

 later every cluster carried one or two fruits. 

 The first picking of six ripe tomatoes was on 

 July 20th. The vines, trained to single stems, 

 were supported by a lath trellis and cane stakes. 

 Straw was laid over the surface to shade the 

 soil and prevent baking. The photo shows 

 but four boxes, these are fine, placed on the outer 

 wall which takes the weight from the roof. They 

 were given two buckets of water every evening 

 after the second week. When photographed 

 July 23 rd 73 good sized fruits were counted with 

 quite a few clusters setting. With a strong 

 skeleton frame work to support the weight from 

 the walls, the entire roof space could be covered 

 with boxes in which might be grown almost all 

 garden Vegetables. — R. K., Phila. 



Oak Twig Pruner. — Several complaints of 

 injury by this insect have been received during 

 July from the vicinity of New York City. The 

 presence of this rather common borer is indi- 

 cated by the falling of small, cleanly cut twigs 

 and small branches of Oak, Maple and other trees 

 in the fall, spring and early summer and by 

 lopping tips and wilting foliage in late summer 

 and early fall. The borer is a legless grub about 

 an inch long when full grown. It tunnels the 



Profitable vegetable gardening on the roof of a city dwelling 



