198 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS March, 1906 
The Modern 
Wall 
Covering 
Boo 
SANITAS 
q A washable and perfectly sanitary wall cover- 
ing. Cloth foundation finished in oil colors. 
Best wall covering for kitchen, pantry, bath- 
room, closet and other walls where a washable 
surface is desired. Prints, plain colors and tiles 
in dull and glazed effects. Plain colors in oil 
admirably adapted to ceiling and fresco work. 
Hides cracks and plaster stains. 
@ Water-proof, vermin-proof, applied to the wall 
like paper, and inex- 
pensive. 
@ Send for Booklet 5, 
samples and name_ of 
nearest dealer. 
Standard 
Table Oil Cloth 
Company 
NEW YORK CITY 
ixon’s Silica-Graphite Paint 
For the Preservation of all Classes of Metal and Wood 
WRITE FOR ILLUSTRATED FOLDER B-106 
JOSEPH DIXON CRUCIBLE CO. JERSEY CITY, N. J. 
delightful fragrance, are borne on foot-high, 
or taller, stems in clusters, and should be 
grown in large quantities, for I know of no 
bulbous plant that so well repays culture. They 
are a very prolific bulb, and a few bulbs will, 
in one or two years, amount to a fine lot of 
plants, enough for separate bedding. 
Another summer bloomer that should be 
planted in large quantities is the tritomas or 
red-hot poker plant of our grandmother’s gar- 
den, though much improved from the days 
when it hobnobbed with Priscilla Alden and 
Dolly Varden. It is one of the most easily 
wintered and grown of the summer bedders. 
It may be planted out earlier than any of the 
preceding, being quite indifferent to a little 
frost, and may be lifted late in the fall, mak- 
ing its period of hibernation brief—an im- 
portant item in the wintering of bulbs and 
roots. 
It is very effective in masses on the lawn or 
outlined against dark shrubbery. It is espe- 
cially effective against a background of hardy 
grasses and bamboos. It needs less care than 
almost any other summer bedder, and for that 
reason is to be recommended to the busy house- 
wife whose time for caring for the garden is 
limited. My own bed of tritomas, which. 
owing to illness and other cares was left un- 
tended throughout an unusually hot, dry sum- 
mer, was a mass of bloom from early mid- 
summer until long after frost had cut the 
other flowers of the garden low, and the only 
bad effect—if, indeed, it was the effect of ne- 
glect—was that the flower stalks were not 
quite as erect as in former years. 
‘Tigridias are one of the most showy summer 
bedders, and should be started early, in the 
house, potting singly in small pots of leaf mold, 
with a little sharp sand or sphagnum moss sur- 
rounding the bulb. ‘To be effective they should 
be planted in clumps of a dozen or more, and 
in front of some taller plant. “They combine 
well with the snowy ismene or with lilies. 
In the shady, sheltered corner plant the 
tuberous begonias and the gloxinias. These 
should be started in a warm place, in the house, 
in pots, with a little clean sand around the 
bulbs. Plant out when all danger of frost is 
past, in deep leaf mold enriched with a little 
old, well rotted manure. “Thev should be 
planted where they will not be interfered with 
in any way, as the foliage is very tender, and 
the appearance of the plants depends largely 
upon the perfection of the tropical looking 
foliage. 
In a small bed in the corner of the house, 
protected by the shade of a tree, I have grown 
the begonias, gloxinias and fancy leaved cala- 
dium far more successfully than in pots or 
boxes. 
In making out one’s list of summer bloom- 
ing bulbs one should not overlook the merits 
of the dear little summer blooming oxalis. 
This is one of the most dependable summer 
bulbs grown. Its precocity is something re- 
markable. Plant when the ground is warm, 
and it seems hardly more than a few hours 
and the first tender green is peeking above the 
sod, and in a few days the first tender pink 
and white blossoms are courting the sun. They 
are a most valuable bulb for filling gaps left 
by the failure of other border or carpet plants 
to grow, and may be planted at the last minute 
with the certainty that they will be there on 
time. 
We will send 
| 4 MERICAN HOMES ©& 
GARDENS 
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