September, 1912 
ANY garden beginners 
have already planted 
perennial seed in boxes. The 
seedlings should be set out 
by the middle of the month 
in the places where they are 
to come into bloom in next 
year’s garden. Of course 
these will require protection 
throughout the Winter by a 
mulching of straw or a light 
covering of manure. 
F you are going to do any 
potting, it will be well for 
you to prepare a supply of 
soil for the purpose, making 
it of a mixture of garden 
soil, leaf mold, compost 
manure, etc. Do not neglect 
attending to this matter, for 
proper potting soil is not always easily obtained at the 
moment it is wanted unless one collects a sufficient store of 
it in advance. 
UR great-grandmothers never let the month of Sep- 
€) tember in the garden slip by without being on the alert 
for falling seeds from pods of annuals and perennials. 
The garden-maker of to-day usually bothers little about 
such things, and yet it is a pity, for there is a certain fasci- 
nation in bringing to perfection a garden from seeds one 
has grown himself. At least, it would be interesting to 
mark the more interesting plants, season after season, and 
gather their seed before they are lost to us by being scat- 
tered from the pods. 
OU had best plant bulbs of the Madonna Lily and of 
» pore Lilies this month early, and lift and divide 
and reset those Lilies which have already multiplied 
in your gardens. Crocuses, Daffodils and other very 
early flowering bulbs can go into the ground this month, 
though Tulips and Hyacinths can very well safely wait 
until October comes around, before being covered over. 
NIGHT-BLOOMING CEREUS 
READER of AMERICAN 
Homes AND GARDENS has cour- 
teously sent us the interesting pho- 
tograph here reproduced of the fra- 
grant Night-blooming Cereus, 
Cereus grandiflorus. This extraor- 
dinary and beautiful specimen shows 
six blossoms, an unusual number on 
a plant of its size. The Night- 
blooming Cereus has very white 
blossoms from six to eight inches in 
diameter, and is native to the West 
Indies and Mexico, though long cul- 
tivated in our gardens, indoors and 
out. This species of the genus 
Cereus of the Cacti family is but 
one of about one hundred other spe- 
cies. It is a luxurious grower when 
placed where it may receive an 
abundance of light and good air. 
An open compost, porus in nature, 
is best for it, but the drainage must 
be perfect or the plant will not 
thrive. The potting soil for indoor 
growth can be made up of one part 
of fibrous loam and one part com- 
posed of lime rubbish, sand and 
crushed brick. The flowers of the 
Night-blooming Cereus open but 
AMERICAN HOMES 
An arch of this sort, overgrown with Wistaria, changes the whole 
aspect of the service yard 
The fragrant Night-blooming Cereus, Cereus grandiflorus 
AND GARDENS 333 
once, wilting when sunlight 
strikes them, hence the 
special interest from the 
point of view of the plants 
being a curiosity of veget- 
able life. 
EVERGREENS FOR BEDDING 
SUBSCRIBER of 
AMERICAN HOMES AND 
GARDENS asks the Editor 
for a list of Evergreens suit- 
able for various places, and 
as this is a subject of genera] 
interest a short list is givenas 
follows: Windbreaks: Nor- 
way Spruce and the Pines; 
Bedding: Retinispora, Blue 
Spruce, Juniper, Mugho 
Pine, Box, Arborvite (Chin- 
ese variety also). Rhodo- 
dendron, and Dwarf White Pine; Hedges: Spruce, Arbor- 
vite, Retinispora, Box and Cedar; Screens: Spruce, Retinis- 
pora, American Arborvite. In selecting Evergreens one 
should bear in mind the fact that some species are espe- 
cially short-lived. Among these are the following: White 
Spruce, Balm of Gilead Fir, Juniper, Cypress, Scotch Pine, 
and also the Austrian Pine. 
HE same correspondent asks what Evergreens are 
good for forest-lot planting. If one wishes to have a 
grove of Evergreens, the following are good species for 
the purpose: White Pine, Red Pine, Hemlock, and Nor- 
way Spruce. In planting Evergreens, one must always con- 
sider ultimate proportions, that is to say, the relationship 
between the Evergreens and their surroundings in the years 
to come, when they will have reached their maturity. It 
often happens that a tree planted to-day looks very well 
for two or three years, but quite outgrows the area alloted 
to it and becomes sort of an intruder and seems out of 
place by the time five or ten more years have passed those 
of its earlier growth. Choose carefully, plant them well. 
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THE PEONY 
(Continued from page 326) 
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Among the single and Japanese 
varieties one may recommend the 
following: Japan Single White, a 
fine white variety with showy yel- 
low stamens, and the Tenuifolia 
variety, having large flowers of a 
rich crimson, a very early Peony, 
with exquisite, finely cut foliage. 
It was Pliny who cited the Peony 
in his old-time natural history as 
being the earliest medicinal plant 
known to the ancients. He even 
tells us that the woodpecker is so 
fond of it that if he catches anyone 
in the act of plucking one of the 
flowers he will fly at him and pluck 
out his eyes! But we are hardly less 
bound by superstition and strange 
beliefs in our own day, for we are 
told that even in this age the peas- 
ants of Sussex place great faith in 
the “‘healing’’ qualities of strings 
of beads carved from Peony roots, 
which beads they place around the 
necks of their children to charm 
away various forms of harmfulness. 
x 
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