December, 19 11 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



215 



Chestnuts in a Backyard 



By Frank C. Dowd, Conn. 



I HAVE a Paragon chestnut tree growing 

 in my backyard. This tree was 

 planted six or seven years ago and has 

 not failed to bear some fruit since the 

 second year. Last season we picked about 

 ten quarts of fine large nuts, a good pro- 

 portion of the burrs containing three 

 perfect specimens. Very few weevils were 

 found. I have several seedlings two years 

 old from this tree and next spring expect 

 to plant about half this season's crop. 



Amateur Rose Propagation 



By Chester Wiederich, Ontario, Canada 



LAST spring, when pruning my climb- 

 ing roses, I thought I would try 

 to use some of the prunings. I always 

 hate to throw away anything that I can 

 use in the garden. I had read that Rosa 

 Wichuraiana is propagated by cuttings of 

 year-old wood, out-of-doors; why not the 

 hybrids? Therefore, all the last year's 

 branches that were pruned off were cut 

 in five- or six-inch lengths. They were 

 then inserted in rows in moist, fertile loam, 

 about two thirds their length. About 

 75 per cent, of them grew. At the time 

 of planting, I had a number of two-year-old 

 canes trimmed out, too. These had 

 bloomed the year previous, but were 

 superfluous. I cut off the branches close 

 to the canes and planted each one. They 

 varied in length from six to eighteen or 

 twenty inches. All these were planted 

 by the others, and nearly all grew. In 

 one season these cuttings have grown fully 

 as large as the average two-year-old 

 climbing rose when purchased. The plants 

 were mulched with well-rotted manure 

 as soon as dry weather commenced; this 

 was to keep the ground moist. By fall 

 the plants had produced canes three to 

 four feet long. Dorothy Perkins, Far- 

 quhar, Sweetheart and Lady Gay, etc., 

 did well, but almost all the roses other 

 than the Wichuraiana hybrids, started 

 in this way, failed to grow. I have now a 

 hundred plants of the hybrids to set out 

 in the spring ; they will be put in a row and 

 trained as a hedge. 



Clematis on Telephone Poles 



By Viola McColm, Kansas 



ONCE in early fall we admired the 

 effect of Clematis paniculata cover- 

 ing a row of telephone poles near a depot 

 in a Kansas town. The bare telephone 

 poles had always detracted from the beauty 

 of our grounds, so we purchased, for fifteen 

 cents, a one-year-old plant of clematis, 

 and planted it by the pole nearest the house. 

 After the first year this has been an attrac- 

 tive feature of our little flower garden. 

 The foliage itself is a pleasing covering for 

 the pole; and for several weeks in August 

 and September its mass of delicate white 

 flowers makes it exceedingly attractive. 



No more satisfactory vine than the 

 Clematis paniculata can be selected for 



Yv'hy not grow some nuts? This tree bore ten quarts six years after planting 



planting in our prairie country. With little 

 care this vine can be made to cover any sort 

 of unsightly pole, and even rows of poles. 



Self-sown Foxglove 



By C E. J., California 



WE ALLOW our foxgloves to self-sow 

 freely and where the young plants 

 spring up in a suitable location, let them 

 stay. The foxgloves do not deteriorate at 

 all and in some cases give fine variations. 

 Of course they do not blossom until their 

 second year. In a clump of the pink- 

 blossomed ones last spring one plant appar- 



ently as strong and healthy as the rest 

 flowered without any corolla, merely the 

 long yellow stamens and the pistil protrud- 

 ing from the short open calyx. As the 

 corolla is the prominent part of this flower 

 it gave a very peculiar effect. Not a single 

 corolla appeared on the whole plant, but 

 it did not appear to affect its fertility. 

 The foxglove is peculiar, in that it has 

 apparently two kinds of flowers often on 

 the same stalk. Those up and down the 

 stem are funnel or trumpet-shaped, while 

 the one at the top is a huge bowl -shaped 

 blossom often so extremely large that it 

 plits all the way around. 



This clematis. rambUng over the pole. 



makes the whole corner picturesaue. 

 ugly corner 



Vines can redeem many an 



