62 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Septembee,'1910 



impossibility of get- 

 ting the roots in their 

 proper position at 

 the start; but with 

 care it may be accom- 

 plished safely. . 



Sowing seed is 

 safer for old walls 

 and is an excellent 

 way of supplement- 

 ing the planting of 

 the specially made 

 perpendicular gar- 

 den. Don't sow it 

 thick, as much thin- 

 ning out is danger- 

 ous. For larger holes 

 a mixture of loam, 

 sphagnum moss and 

 seeds may be used; 

 for crevices a paste 

 of old cow manure, 

 loam, seeds and 

 water, and for the 

 smallest holes a 

 "pill" of seeds, loam 

 and moss. Seed may 

 also be sown in 

 boxes and trans- 

 planted. Whether Ampelopsis, one of the 



plants or seeds are 



used, keep the "wall 



garden" moist at the outset, unless kindly 



showers are doing this for you. 



Generally speaking, the wall garden 

 brings a breath of the mountains to the 

 home grounds with less risk than the rock 

 garden, as the condition of cool roots is 

 better met. In truth some alpine plants 

 will winter in a wall that would perish on 

 level ground or even in a frame. Moreover, 

 they live longer; surviving for years if 

 properly established, and this without any 

 attention to speak of. With our hotter 



best of -wall covers but too luxuriant to permit of any crevice planting : tliougli, on 

 as liere sliown, nasturtiums may be used below it 



primulas — does not 

 that look beautiful 

 in the mind's eye? 

 For the mind's eye 

 first must figure it 

 all out; a rough 

 sketch with the 

 plants filled in with 

 colors will help 

 materially. 



By careful calcula- 

 tion, it is not difi&cult 

 to have something 

 in bloom the season 

 through. The 

 " Johnny-jump-up " 

 (Viola tricolor) and 

 Kenilworth ivy (Lin- 

 aria cymbalaria) 

 alone would accom- 

 plish that, the former 

 persisting even in 

 cold weather. Then 

 there are the wall 

 pepper (Sedum acre) , 

 and other stone 

 crops; wallflower 

 (Cheiranthus cheiri), 

 which has been tested 

 an American 



and dryer July and August, there is not 

 the wide range of alpine plants to draw on 

 here that the English wall garden can com- 

 mand; but there is enough and to spare. If 

 there were only three plants of early spring, 

 ' — the white rock cress (Arabis albida), the 

 purple rock cress (Aubrietia deltoidea) and 

 gold dust (Alyssum saxatile) — an experiment 

 in "wall gardening" would well repay one 

 for all the pains taken. These three on 

 the wall and at the base of it a patch of the 

 early blue forget-me-not and some hardy 



wall ; creeping thyme 

 (Thymus serpillum), 

 hardy candytuft (Iberis Gibraltarica) , 

 maiden pink (Dianthus deltoides), Carpa- 

 thian harebell (Campanula Carpatica), the ^m 

 native harebell (Campanula rotundifolia), ^H 

 the native columbine (Aquilegia Cana- 

 densis), white columbine (A. vulgaris), 

 woolly chickweed (Cerastium tomentosum) 

 pheasant's eye pink (Dianthus plumarius) 

 hen-and-chickens (Sempervivum globiferum), 

 Saponaria ocymoides, Veronica repens and 

 spicata and the Marguerite carnation, to 

 mention only a few of the absolutely reliables. 



4( 



Sours and Dillies"— By John Gifford, F.ond 



THE REAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THESE TWO FAMOUS CROPS OF THE TROPICS, AND THE PLACES THEY 

 FILL IN THE EVERY DAY WORLD — A SUGGESTION FOR THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF THE TRADE 



[Editor's Note. — This is the second article in a series on the important tropical fruits that flourish in Florida, etc., and which yield profitable crops.^ 



"\ 7"ISIT a conch farmer on the Florida 

 ^ Keys and the conversation will soon 

 drift to the condition of his "sours and 

 diUies." 



The "sours" or limes were planted long 

 ago mainly for their acid juice which was 

 cherished by seafaring folk to combat 

 scurvy, while "dillies," the short for sapo- 

 dillas, were grown because they have always 

 been held in high esteem by the natives 

 both black and white, of the Florida Keys 

 and the Bahama Islands. 



The buccaneerish taint in my blood got 

 the upper hand when I bought a farm on the 

 Keys, well stocked with Umes, sapodillas, 

 and cocoanuts, and a sloop which I named 

 Tite Dilly. Since then my interest in 

 sours and diUies has grown, in spite of de- 



vastating storms, tricky commission men, 

 and long droughts. 



These two fruits . grow together on the 

 Keys among lime rocks of coral origin, 

 where soil is often so scarce that on some 

 acres, which one could easily select without 

 wandering far, a man would have to scrape 

 with a spoon for a whole day to get a barrow 

 load. The rocks stick up as though the 

 bones of mother earth were dry and bare, 

 without skin or flesh of any kind. 



In the crevices of the rock there is some 

 soil, and from the porous rock itself the plant 

 must derive nourishment. At any rate, the 

 lime tree produces sour Umes, and the 

 sapodilla tree sweet sapodillas, in great 

 abundance. 



If one plows this soil he must use, dyna- 



mite, and all weeding is done with a machete 

 or a sailor's bowie knife. 



In a moist season the little lime, hardly 

 more than a seedling, is planted in a rock 

 crevice or pot-hole. If the ocean keeps its 

 place and the weeds are kept in check, the 

 lime tree will thrive and in three years will 

 blossom and fruit — a fruit with a delicious 

 refreshing aroma which puts the lemon to 

 shame. The lemon is a coarse, thick- 

 skinned, rough, raggy and acrid product 

 compared with the lime. School children 

 in Boston eat limes pickled in salt-water, at 

 recess. The lime is a naturaUy refined and 

 deKcate acid fruit. 



The lime is a spiny, semi-wild crop, al- 

 though a spineless variety from Trinidad 

 is being tried. It stands no frost and will 



