200 



The Garden Magazine, May, 1922 



the same way but overlapping the first a little. Liking the effect, she 

 took the pruning knife and cut a quantity of the cuttings to the right 

 length and encircled the bed with what looked, when finished, like the 

 edge of a rustic wicker basket. After a number of rains it was observed 

 that the beautiful, tender, pink and green early leaves of the Grape 

 were unfolding at every bud of the unearthed cuttings. They had 

 rooted and were growing so naturally that in time small bunches of 

 fruit appeared here and there. When leaves grew too large for the 

 best effect they were pinched off and small leaves started in their 

 place, and by the time the Petunias bloomed the bed looked like a large, 

 shallow, vine-wreathed wicker basket of brilliant flowers — a novel and 

 beautiful effect. — Mrs. M. Evans, Leavenworth, Kansas. 



But a "Mess" Was Meant 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



COULD you not persuade your correspondents to give up the use of 

 that horrible word "mess" as applied to food. Surely "a dish of 

 beans" sounds and looks infinitely better than "a mess of beans" 

 which conjures up visions of "beans writhing with maggots." No 

 doubt there was a "mess of pottage" but language has changed during 

 the last two or three centuries. — H. I., Canada. 



— Many people rebel from the use of certain perfectly good words for 

 personal reasons, but the dictionaries authorize "mess" as signifying 

 "a quantity of one kind of food sufficient for one meal," which is something 

 more precise than a "dish" which conceivably may be too much for 

 one meal. We fancy that mess was deliberately employed on page 

 327 of the February issue, for instance, in referring to the harvest of 

 beans. — Ed. 



Flourishing Flowers in Indiana 



The Editors of the Garden Magazine: 



THE behavior of the Greek Mullein (Verbascum olympicum) Jias 

 been discussed in these columns as now biennial, now triennial. I 

 planted seed June 23, 1920. Late in August the seedlings were trans- 

 planted. Most of them began to bloom the first week of June, 1921, a 

 few only waiting over. They were from four to eight feet tall, and were 

 very beautiful for more than a month. The stalks were cut back as 

 they began to go to seed, and the bloom continued for the rest of the 

 summer, from lateral stalks. 



1 should like to add a word to the praise of the Platycodon, or Chinese 

 Bellflower, expressed some months ago. It is remarkably permanent. 

 I know plants still living and thriving in the grass in an old garden, 

 where no attention has been paid them for fifteen or twenty years. No 

 one knows when they were first planted. I have raised my own from 

 seed. They improve from year to year, and the pure white variety is 

 particularly beautiful. 



Why is not the graceful Gaura more generally grown? It comes 

 easily from seed, and though listed as an annual has been perennial with 

 us even without mulching, coming through trying winters when sup- 

 posedly hardy things vanished. The plants are larger and bloom more 

 abundantly each year, and late this last summer the masses of delicate 

 bloom were a fresh delight every morning. 



Our common wild Rose (Rosa setigera) is excellent grown as a climber. 

 The shoots run high if given any support, and the bloom comes when 

 most of the climbing Roses are over. — M. Johnston, Bloomington, 

 Indiana. 



Making Colors "Come True" in Concrete 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



EXPERIENCES given in The Garden Magazine at various times 

 *-' by experimenters in concrete garden furniture have interested 

 me so greatly that I was finally lured to try my hand at it with more or 

 less success. My last effort being a garden vase which I wanted 

 to color, I added some Venetian red (dry color), to the mixture and had 

 a good terra-cotta color when it left the mould, but alas! as it dried out, 

 it began to exude a chalky, whitish substance which covers most of 

 the surface and spoils the appearance of the jar. I have concluded that 

 this came from the cement. Is there anything that could be added to 

 the mixture to counteract this tendency and cause the color to dry out 

 true, or anything that could be applied to the finished product that 

 would neutralize such an effect? I have tried the latter method to 

 some extent without results, and I will very much appreciate any light 

 on the subject. — A. M. Rinaman, Mountain View, Cat. 

 — Possibly the trouble experienced was caused by the use of a coloring 

 pigment which was not of mineral composition. For use with Port- 

 land cement it is necessary that a coloring pigment be of such nature 



that it is not acted upon by the alkalies in the cement, so that it is es- 

 sential that it be of mineral composition. Oxide of iron is usually em- 

 ployed for securing the red shades. In purchasing coloring pigments 

 it is well always to mention to the manufacturer that they are to be 

 used in concrete as sometimes manufacturers have different grades for 

 various uses. 



The chalky, whitish substance which appeared on the surface of the 

 jar also may be due to efflorescence which is a soluble salt brought to the 

 surface by moisture and deposited there when the mixture evaporates. 

 This can be removed by a wash of muriatic acid and water mixed one 

 part of acid and five parts of water and probably it will not recur. 

 Sometimes the soluble salt is contained in the sand. 



An application of sodium silicate (waterglass) or magnesium fluo- 

 cilicate applied to the surface probably would help matters. These 

 fluids are on the market under various names as hardeners for concrete. 

 — The Atlas Portland Cement Company. 



Where Christmas Roses May Be Had 



To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 



IN The Open Column of the March issue I note Mr. V. E. Harrison's 

 inquiry for Christmas Roses. Last fall I procured the Christmas 

 Rose (Helleborus niger) from the Chautauqua Flowerfield Company 

 at Bemus Point, N. Y. — Robert R. Lewis, Coudersport, Pa. 

 — Having noticed inquiries about Helleborus niger I am writing to say 

 that I obtained healthy looking plants from Wayside Gardens, Mentor, 

 Ohio, shortly before Christmas. — Mrs. Wm. S. Werts, Albany, N. Y. 



Ice Damage in Illinois 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



R. T. D. HATFIELD'S account (in your February, 1922, issue, 



M 1 



page 293) of the ice storm which swept the coast of New England 

 in November was read with interest, for a similar storm swept Bunker 

 Hill, 111., this winter. From December 23d to December 27th the 

 town was ice-bound, to the sorrow of its inhabitants, as nearly all their 



r-75 7- — 



• 



Slid .'• " \ 



lwa>»" 



CHRISTMAS MORNING, 1921 



The ice storm which hit Bunker Hill, 111., so hard (see accom- 

 panying text,) did not stop there; the Cedar here shown bowed 

 over in a complete arch by the ice was at St. Louis, Mo. 



beautiful trees were ruined; branches 6 inches in diameter being broken 

 as easily as twigs, while trees close to houses menaced life and property, 

 and one person was actually killed by a falling branch. How often in 

 the past have I admired those interlocking trees arching over the streets ! 

 — G. Dreyer, St. Louis, Mo. 



Our First Gladiolus Garden 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



WE LIVE in a typical New York eyrie, high up in the air. My hus- 

 band and I are both away all day working. One spring we felt 

 justified in renting a little frame cottage for the summer within com- 

 muting distance of New York. It was a simple, old-fashioned affair on 

 the banks of a wooded stream. We went out in early May to look at it 

 and suddenly the possibility of a real flower garden leaped to mind — 

 white Phlox against a blue sea, Lilies in the woods, Lilacs at the garden 

 gate, and Roses in the dusk. For awhile we revelled in our dreams. 



