268 



The Garden Magazine, June, 1922 



desire to help other people to foster this love and this pride; and 

 then he is able to carry his desires to fulfilment. 



Active work upon the project began almost a year ago. The 

 plants were taken from their homes in the woodland and placed 

 in several glass houses on Mr. Burrage's estate where each one 

 received the special treatment required to bring it to perfection 

 during the first week in May. 



IN THE movement for wild-flower preservation, as in many 

 other things, Massachusetts stands well in the lead and is 

 taking the matter so seriously that legislation for the protection 

 of native plants is projected. A specific bill to protect the May- 

 flower or Trailing Arbutus, however, recently failed of enactment. 



It is a somewhat sad sidelight on our boasted intelligence that 

 the greater offenders in this insatiate vandalism career across 

 the country in comfortably equipped motor-cars which — if ex- 

 ternals mean anything — should certainly indicate a higher type 

 of civic development. Moreover, such people frequently so far 

 forget themselves as to trespass not only on the highways and 

 byways but even on private grounds, parks, and public gardens, 

 robbing them of their floral embellishments and tearing down 

 flower-laden limbs of trees like the Dogwood. 



The main traveled roads of the country bear testimony every 

 summer day to this deplorable lack of social conscience and 

 absence of reverence of irreplaceable beauty which ultimately 

 comes back like a boomerang to smite unworthiness — for if 

 some of us continue to uproot and destroy, some day there will 

 be nothing left for any of us to enjoy ! 



THE OPE^C COLUMN 



Readers' Interchange of Experience and Comment 



Plants that Endure Sixty Below 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



SO MANY people find it difficult to grow vines and shrubbery in 

 northern climates that perhaps a little account of plants which we 

 have had success with here in the Canadian Northwest may interest 

 other gardeners similarly situated. Across the veranda (see accom- 

 panying photograph) are Hop vines of two years' standing. We bought 

 the roots. They grow rapidly, in fact about twenty feet in six weeks, 

 climbing up heavy string which we place where we want them to grow. 

 As the summer goes on they get very bushy and are not only absolutely 

 sun proof, but also serve as a protection from wind and rain. 



They last until the late frosts of fall when the beautiful green foliage 

 dries; we then cut them down at the roots. New shoots appear early 

 in the spring, as soon as the ground thaws and the sun begins to get high 

 and warm. 



Along the base of the porch are mostly pink Columbines from seed, 



IN THE CANADIAN NORTHWEST 

 Hop vines shield the porch and along its base grow wild Columbines and Roses; wild Gooseberry bushes 

 border the driveway, in a climate where the thermometer sometimes drops to 60 below zero these 

 plants can be depended upon from season to season. Home of Mrs. F. A. Nye at Edmonton, Alberta 



blossoming after three seasons of growth into beautiful, delicate pink 

 blooms. There are also a few especially pretty, young wild Rose 

 bushes. Wild Gooseberry bushes, brought in from their marshy native 

 haunts, border the driveway. After transplanting the bushes, we 

 trimmed both young and old to uniform size, and find they make a 

 very hardy and pleasing decoration. 



No matter how severe the winter — the thermometer at times hover- 

 ing at fifty and sixty below zero, and cold weather extending over eight 

 months of the year — the plants here pictured are trustworthy citizens 

 of the chilly North and can always be counted on to reappear. — Har- 

 riet L. Nye, Edmonton, Alberta. 



More Plants Wanted 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



CAN any one suggest where Philadelphus microphyllus and Securi- 

 nega ramiflora can be had? — Clara Hersey, Boston, Mass. 



— Will some lover of olden-time herbs be good enough to tell me where 

 I can get Costmary (Chrysanthemum Balsamita tanacetoides)? — 

 Mrs. Cliff Sterrett, Garden City, N. Y. 



After the Pestiferous Rose Beetle and Green-fly 



To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 



THOUGH I am not quite ready to make a final statement as to my 

 opinion of the value of Melrosine — I want to try it this summer, on 

 a variety of plants, in varying strength, to find out its effect on vege- 

 tation as well as on the insects — I can say this much at present: In 

 addition to removing rose beetles effectively it will kill green-fly 

 (aphids of all kinds) more readily than most preparations, and has 

 not the odor and stain of the concentrated tobacco poisons. At a 

 strength sufficient to clear all aphids from a plant there is no injury 

 to foliage and the slight odor is not unpleasing. I hope that this will 

 prove the general summer insecticide for all uses except those where 

 arsenate of lead, or other stomach poison, is more suitable. I hope 

 that it will prove safe to use on fruits and vegetables approaching 

 maturity. If all this works out, the bug problem in the garden will be 

 in large measure solved. — Stephen F. Hamblin, Cambridge, Mass. 



Picking Sweet-peas from a Stepladder in Alaska 



To the Editors o/The Garden Magazine: 



IN YOUR most enjoyable Open Column for March I have noted the 

 elation of a contributor from Seattle, Wash., in successfully accom- 

 plishing the transplanting of Sweet-peas. This, it appears, was done 

 against the advice of numerous friends, the consensus of whose opinion 

 was that "it can't be did!" The transplanting in this instance was. 

 done by lifting sections of the earth in which the Peas were growing, 

 moving them with as little disturbance as possible, and carefully avoid- 

 ing exposure of roots to the air. 



Now, is the transplanting of Sweet-peas generally looked upon as a 

 difficult task? In our garden in this North-land we have done this, 

 very thing for years, and possibly a brief account of the operations in- 

 volved may interest some of your readers. Two boxes are prepared,, 

 each 12 x 18 inches and 5 inches deep, pro- 

 vided with suitable drainage, and filled to. 

 within an inch of the top with good soil. 

 The seeds are then sown very thickly in the 

 boxes, covered with soil, almost level with top 

 of box, watered thoroughly, and placed in the 

 greenhouse. This is done during the first week 

 in April. Germination is rapid, and in ten days 

 or so the plants are coming up; the boxes are 

 then placed outdoors in coldframes or some 

 other favorable location, in order to promote a 

 hardy growth. By the first week in May they 

 average from three to five inches in height and 

 are ready for transplanting to their permanent 

 home in the Sweet-pea trench. To move the 

 plants easily, one side of the box is removed, and 

 they are then ready to set out in double rows 

 six inches apart, each plant about four inches 

 apart in the row. They are handled absolutely 

 without any coddling or special care other than 

 to see that the roots are not injured; the roots, 

 have no soil on them whatsoever. After the 

 setting-out process is completed the plants. 



