THE OPE^C OLUM:J Vi 



Readers' Interchange of Experience and Comment 



What They 



Think 



Abroad 



THE Garden Magazine has come 

 and I was very glad to have it re- 

 mind me as it does that your side is mov- 

 ing on with the garden — which some of us 

 think is the finest toy given to man in this world. The gardens as 

 given in the pictures seem to lean rather much on the architectural 

 leg, and not enough on the beauty of the living thing." — J. C. 

 Williams, Caerhays Castle, Cornwall, Eng. "This is absolutely 

 tip-top." — W. J. Bean, Kew Gardens, Eng. [From letters in re- 

 ference to Mr. Wilson's series on the Romance of Our Trees.] 



• p . [ AM still rather "sore" from this head-on 



■i-. j. ttt-xi. 1 collision between our hearts' desires for 



Encounter With , , ... „ , 



_. ,. ,„ garden gems and those in power, since 1 



have been hard hit. Early last June after 

 much correspondence with my true and tried importer and the 

 Federal Horticultural Board I received permission to import a few 

 thousand Muscari and Scillas. The order was placed and spring gar- 

 den planting schemes planned with the clear porcelain blue of the 

 bulbs in mind. They finally reached New York, as I was informed by 

 the brokers, who asked for a payment of $12 as duty, carriage 

 charges, storage charges, etc. The cheque was dispatched and still the 

 bulbs did not arrive and, as the planting season drew to a close, an 

 interchange of letters — and opinions — brought the news that they 

 had been sent to Washington for examination. The days passed, the 

 winds grew chill, the skies gray and all proper bulbs were safely 

 bedded for the winter night, but still my poor bare brown little 

 Scillas and Muscari were roaming around Washington begging to be 

 examined and sent home. Now, practically at the gates of winter, 

 I was informed by the New York brokers "that the case seems to 

 be lost and their agents cannot locate it." Woe is me! Lost is 

 the spring vision of "heavenly blue" Muscari and creamy-golden 

 Munstead Primroses; of nodding Wood Hyacinths, and Alyssum 

 "Basket of Gold." Sic semper tyrannus ! — Helen M. Sharpe, 

 Penna. 



T ,p, . \A/k READ with great interest in the 



Jj j , V V December Garden Magazine Mrs. 



T , ? Streeter's sympathetic article, "A Cen- 



" " tury-and-a-half Old Garden," now owned 



by the New Hampshire Society of Colonial Dames, upon whom 

 falls the pleasing task of preserving and restoring, where neces- 

 sary, this lovely garden. We note that in trying to replace the Lark- 

 spurs, the originals of which have run out, the Garden Committee 

 "have never been able to find the lovely pale flower of his daughter's 

 recollection, that blossomed in spraying 'clouds of delicate blue!'" 

 Was not this older Larkspur for which she seeks Delphinium Chin- 

 ensis — a lowly brother which the tall hybrid Delphiniums seem to 

 have pushed out of most gardens, but which has a dainty charm of its 

 own? Each crown sends up many slender flower stalks, which grow 

 about two feet high, much branched and covered with delicate 

 blossoms. There is a white variety, and a pale blue which we feel sure 

 must be the "delicate blue" which Mrs. Streeter is looking for; also 

 a deeper blue — a vivid sapphire, shot with metallic glints. Either 

 variety is beautiful; the plant as a whole is extremely graceful and 

 should be more universally planted. Its foliage is quite distinct from 

 the hybrid Delphinium — a brighter, glossier green, with finely divided 

 leaves. The catalogues give its blooming season from June to 

 October, but in the writer's garden it rarely lasts after July. -It is 

 very hardy and seems free from disease, but if there be a single cut- 

 worm or slug in the border he will find his way to the tender young 

 stalks of our Chinese Delphinium and lay them low. — Anna M. 

 Burke, Mass. 



CATALOGUES and magazines fre- 

 '•* quently publish lists of shade-loving 

 for Shade plants, but 1 have never noticed the 



Flag Iris included, yet our experience 

 and that of a friend has been that it thrives about equally as well 

 in shade as in sunshine. I have seen Irises growing under trees 

 blossom and multiply freely. Some of ours are planted at 

 the base of the house on the east where they get only the morning 

 sun; some are in the garden in full sun; and others at the west base 

 of a barn so they get no morning sun, and fruit trees to the west of 

 them almost exclude the afternoon sun, so they get only about an 

 hour of sunshine at noon. Three varieties (the name of but one, 

 Madame Chereau, .is known to me) are the same in all three situa- 

 tions, and the plants, seem to bloom equally well. I had always 

 been told, too, that Iris requires considerable moisture, but that at 

 the barn is on the dryest part of the lot, while the others are fre- 

 quently watered, so that apparently does not make much difference, 

 either. — Mary Rutner, Traverse City, Mich. 



Hastening 

 Germination 



IT IS not sufficient that one have good 

 seed and good intentions. Seed slowly 

 or improperly germinated means plants 

 handicapped in the beginning of their 

 growth. What, then, are the conditions for ideal germination for 

 such plants as the average man handles in his garden — for tomatoes, 

 peppers, eggplants, and the like? A shallow box with rough gravel in 

 the bottom to insure good drainage is the first essential. Over the 

 drainage material put good soil composed of equal parts of wood's 

 earth, sharp sand, and garden loam, the three ingredients being sifted 

 together through a fine wire screen. As a fertilizer a small quantity 

 of pulverized sheep manure will be found satisfactory. Soak the soil 

 with warm water. Place the seed on top of the damp soil. Cover with 

 afinesprinklingof sand; donotletthiscoveringexceed^of an inch for 

 tomatoes or peppers. Over the box place window-glass so that there 

 will be a space of warm air immediately above the seeds. It is well to 

 lay a piece of paper over this glass for the first two days. As soon as 

 the seeds have been covered, place the box where it will get a temper- 

 ature of about 70 all the time. Sudden chilling is especially to be 

 avoided. It is not necessary for the box to be in the sun before the 

 seeds start; but immediately upon their cracking the ground, the box 

 should be so placed that the sun will shine upon it for the greater part 

 of the day: both the paper covering and the glass being removed. 

 This note is merely to urge the necessity, the vital importance of 

 swift and perfect germination. A neighbor and I planted Earliana to- 

 mato seeds (my stock) the same day, February 20th — I had ripe 

 fruits July 10th by the method described — he was 15 days later on 

 the old way of handling! — A. Rutledge, Penna. 



A Californian 

 in Rebuttal 



SOMEONE "cannot help wondering how 

 people who live out in California 

 manage to make plans at all. For if they 

 can be actively digging and planting, trans- 

 planting and pruning any day in the year, when do they sit down, 

 quietly? etc., etc. — " (from a February Garden Magazine.) 

 Please may a faithful garden-planning and soil-tilling California 

 reader righten some queer ideas held by "back there" folks about 

 out here? While our winters may not be as noisy as in some 

 sections, this is not a land of steady sunshine — glory be! We have 

 rains in November, and at long or short intervals on through to 

 April showers, and occasionally April deluge. So, though our gar- 

 dens are not snow-bound we are quite as effectually barred from 

 outside activities. It is dawning on wise gardeners that very early 

 fall should see the start of most strenuous effort — that winter rains 



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