310 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Jdu, 1917 



hill of vines. As the disturbed bugs would 

 come swarming out through a small crack at 

 the pan's edge (left for this purpose) the 

 blow-torch is applied; and gets every one. 



When the striped bugs first appear I go over 

 the squash and other vines every morning for a 

 week, even' third day is sufficient for their con- 

 trol during the next two weeks; after which the 

 plants are safe. I have also used this torch 

 to good purpose in killing these striped bugs in 

 the fall, when they sometimes swarm on to un- 

 gathered squash in the field. And also on other 

 garden and orchard insects, including the de- 

 stroying of the nests of the tent caterpillar 

 on small trees or low- 

 down limbs. — N. Olds, 

 Maryland. 



Edgings for Rocker- 

 ies. — The article on 

 "Rockery Edges" in 

 your May number re- 

 minds me that a cor- 

 respondent in March 

 asked if any one had 

 tried rock plants for 



bordering perennial beds. The photograph be- 

 low showing an Ins border edged with alpines 

 was taken last year in June. The second photo- 

 graph is of a well surrounded with a rock gar- 

 den, the mossy stones in this case being sunk 

 more or less flush with the grass. Mrs. Wilder 

 whose delightful book "My Garden" I have 

 just been enjoying, gives a list of rock plants in- 

 cluding a number of species of Dianthus. As I 

 gather from her book that she has not yet 

 succeeded with D. alpinus I am including a 

 photograph showing it in full bloom, I shall be 

 glad to know from Mrs. Wilder where she ob- 

 tains her seed as she lists a number of plants 

 which I would be glad to add to my collection. 

 Perhaps this autumn, you would care to hear 

 something further of my experience with a 

 rock garden which I can illustrate from snaps 

 taken on the spot. — F. Cleveland Morgan, 

 Montreal. [Certainly, let's hear more. — Ed] 



An Italian View of our Rose Craft. — 

 The Garden Magazine for February has 

 reached me, and I see various requests from 

 readers, so may I make bold to ask for more 

 articles about Roses? It always seems as if 

 they were somewhat neglected in American 

 garden papers, and yet they are perhaps the 

 most reliable flowers for a garden. Where I 

 live — some ten miles outside of Rome toward 

 the Alban Hills — they are almost the only 

 flowers which successfully resist four months 

 of scorching summer wind, with sometimes no 

 rain from May till the end of September, and 

 yet bloom long and well, and I am sure would 

 suit may dry parts of the United States. 



Again, why do the American writers almost 

 invariably confine themselves to the Wichur- 

 aiana Hybrids and Multiflora Ramblers for 



climbers, and to 

 and phlegmatic 

 Caroline Test 

 Laing, etc., for 

 er does one see 

 beautiful new 

 Laurette Messi 

 rarely a n y of 

 as (unless Mine. 

 riot), and a 

 nating Single 

 Irish Fireflame, 

 of the ne 

 brilliantly 



a few stout 

 Roses like 

 out, Mrs. John 

 dwarfs? Nev- 

 mentionedthe 

 Chinas (Mme. 

 ney, etc.) and 

 thePernetian- 

 Edouard Her- 

 those fasci- 

 R os es like 

 not to speak 

 wer and 

 colored 





Iris border edged with alpines 



A rock garden surrounding a well. The stones are moss-covered and sunk almost to the grass level 



Teas and H. T's. I think many people unduly 

 fear tenderness in summer. I live in the moun- 

 tains, a climate like central Vermont, where 

 snow often begins in October, and lasts until 

 April — yet I have all these Roses there, and 

 Bardou Job on a wall, and three yellow Bank- 

 sias prospered and grew since they were put in 

 four years ago. The usual American article 

 would give one little idea of the variety and 

 beauty of the Rose world. And, lest certain 

 objections be raised, may I hasten to say that 

 they require less trouble. My gardener is fight- 

 ing, and I know whereof I speak. 



Once I subscribed to five American garden- 

 ing papers, but have deserted all but yours 

 One wants to know about plants — as you 

 admirable articles by Mr. Wilson, which one 

 hopes will be published separately, and not 

 merely how to make Japanese tea gardens! — 

 An Italian Reader. 



[There are in fact several "climates "in 

 America and one cannot generalize for the 

 entire country. The Wichuraiana Hybrids 

 and other Ramblers find most congenial 

 conditions in those parts of the country where 

 gardening is mostly popular — that is the 

 older, more thickly populated sections. True, 

 much more might be done for Roses, and 

 indeed more is being accomplished in fact than 

 just at present appears on the surface. The 

 American Rose Society has a great field be- 

 fore it, and the official test and demonstration 

 gardens now established in the larger centres 

 of interest will be effective centres from which 

 interest must spread. Until lately we have 

 been entirely dependent on European types 

 of Rose, only some of which are ideally fitted 

 to our climate; but we are now developing our 

 own varieties that fit. Part of the American 

 Rose gardening trouble lies in the trying late 

 winter conditions, when we get clear, bright, 

 dry days with no moisture in the air. The 

 Single Roses do not last long enough for most 

 people, and what color they have bleaches 

 out badly. The Pernetiana varieties have a 

 decided tendency to drop their foliage (as well 

 as bleach) except on pure clay soils, which are 

 not universal in America. The series of articles 

 by Mr. E. H. Wilson has been quite recently 

 republished in book form under the title of 

 "Aristocrats of the Garden," price, $$ net. — 

 L. £.} 



Double Glass and Other Things — I think 

 everybody is pleased with the new de- 



partment, "Garden Neighbors," and the prom- 

 inent place it is given. Since I began to 

 contribute to it I have increased my flower 

 acquaintance considerably. One letter re- 

 ceived asked for more information, another 

 offered some, a third invited me to join a 

 flower society, etc. Let the good work go on ! 

 I am too far from Garden City for the pro- 

 posed lawn party, but shall be interested just 

 the same and might join a club if one grows out 

 of the situation. 



My recent experience with double glass is in- 

 spiring. A little bedof Bellis Daisies was bright 

 at the close of last season, so I put a wooden 

 frame and glass around 

 it. Then I gathered 

 a bank of leaves and 

 dead plant stems, 

 brought it up a few 

 inches above the edge 

 of the glass and then 

 laid another glass over 

 it. I his left a good air 

 space and all I had to 

 do after that was to 

 raise the bank a little 

 higher and then put on a few pieces of brush to 

 keep everything in place. Deep snow covered 

 the bed most of the winter and when it was 

 gone the plants were as bright as when the 

 glasses were put on and one plant was in blos- 

 som. I think I shall in summer try to improve 

 on this primitive protection by setting the 

 glasses in a bottomless box, the upper one prob- 

 ably tilted a few inches, like a hot-bed glass. 

 Then if the weather turns too sunny I can turn 

 the box north to south and shade the plants by 

 the high back of the box during the middle of 

 the day. In winter the banking of leaves could 

 be put on so that quite tender plants could be 

 wintered safely. They tell us that tender 

 plants will freeze through a single glass at a 

 temperature of about 29 degrees, so the double 

 pane will be valuable in summer as in winter. 

 By its help I hope to winter Snapdragons and 

 make sure of Pansies. — John W. Chamberlin, 

 Buffalo, N. Y. 



Sowing for Second Crop.— I am, with 



many others of your large family of readers, 

 a garden enthusiast. With much interest 

 I read, from time to time, about sowing for 

 second crop. But my first attempts were dire 

 failures. Each time I acquired fresh knowledge 

 until, the last season, I was successful. About 

 July 20th, after the early peas were cleared 

 away, I sowed two kinds of lettuce — Big Bos- 

 ton and Mignonette, both head varieties. 

 The seed was sown near the last of a pro- 

 longed drouth and therefore laid in the ground 

 before growing, about four weeks — until rain 

 fell. I returned from my vacation near 



The Alpme Pink (Dianthus alpinus) plant, \ inches high; 

 flowers dark rose with darker ring at eye 



