Illl'; (lARDEN AND FIELD. i.Oi 



September, 191:5 



The Wistarias. 



\\ istaria hlossoiiis of purple and 

 white 



111 sprinj:;-timc are tiulv a boaiili- 



ful si.nht. 

 The Vine is ainlMtious, and sproads 



far and wide, 

 But in it is nothinj;- expressive of 



I)ride. 



Just note how it hangs down its 



beautiful head, 

 Thus teachinj;- humility's lessons 



instead. 



Japanese ;Poet. 



Among the stronger growing 

 climbers none excel the best mem- 

 bers of this genus in the gorgeous- 

 ness of their (lower beauty. The 

 old Wistaria chinensis is, of course, 

 the best known of thetn all, but, 

 beautiful as it is, it has a rival 

 in W. multijuga. 



The name perpetuates the mem- 

 ory of Caspar Wistar, an Ameri- 

 can scientist who lived about the 

 the end of the eighteenth century. 

 It is often wrongly spelt Wisteria, 

 in which form it is fairly popular, 

 as a name for a " cottage ' or 

 " villa,," where, as a rule, no 

 other evidence of its presence ex 

 ists. 



Whilst Wistarias are not particu- 

 lar in their requirements, a few 

 conditions are requisite if thev are 

 to be seen at their best. They like 

 a rich soil, plenty of miodsture, 

 and abundant sunlight. Wistaria 

 chinensis is usualh' grown 

 on the side of a house or 

 wall ; and in no other position c,\n 

 it be seen to better advantage. 

 It is, however, very) attractive 

 trained in other ways, as, for in- 

 stance, on a perg^ola. 



Wistaria multijuga is the fine 

 Wistaria that is so popular ■i;n the 

 Japanese tea gardens. Many pic- 

 tures of remarkable specimens in 

 Japan have been published, but 

 often they are described afs W. 

 chinensis, in spite of the racemes 

 streaming down 3 feet or more in 

 length. This length of raceme is 

 the chief distinction between this 

 species and W. chinensis, but the 

 flowers, instead of being closely set 

 together, -are arranged more 

 sparsel}'. What they lose in .num- 

 ber they gain in elegance. 



It requires the same conditions 

 and mav be trained in the same 

 way, except that an arrangement 

 which allows of the racemes hang- 

 ing clear is to be preferred. The 

 favourite Japanese way appears 

 to l>e to train it on an overhead 

 trellis. 



Feeding Roses. 



The giving of liquid n.anure is 

 the best of all ways of building up 

 the fine flowers one desires to ob- 

 tain. When the soil has been well 

 saturated with rain, liciuid man- 

 ure finds its way to the roots 

 more effectually. If rain, as it 

 often is, is conspicuous only by 

 its absence, then watering with 

 tap water must be done. A good 

 plan to apply liquid manure is to 

 draw drills between the rows, then 

 fill these with liquid two or three 

 times before filling in the soil. 

 To old established roses 1 have 

 never found liquid manure too 

 strong even if used almost undi- 

 luted. A good plan is to have 

 one or two casks of liquid near at 

 hand 'or a barrel mounted on 

 wheels is even better. Into these 

 house • slops, cow manure, and 

 soot may be put and then filled 

 with water. Where poultry is kept 

 the manure will make an excellent 

 liquid food for Roses. — E.J. 



♦ 



Nothing But Roses. 



" Just for that reason you 

 should rather grow nothing but 

 roses " was a rose lover's reply 

 to a friend, who complained that 

 he could not grow roses "because 

 his garden was too small." There 

 is a lot of sound garden sense in 

 that reply, for from what other 

 class of plants can be obtained, in 

 any similar degree, the bewilder- 

 ing variety, the grace and beauty 

 of form and colour, the decorative- 

 ness of the mass or the perfection 

 of the individual bloom, the' 

 adaptability to varied positions, 

 and withal the lenj^th of the flow- 

 ering season that is covered by 

 th^ different types of the rose. 



The house-wall, the verandah, the 

 fences and the sidewalk in many 

 small gardens, are simply calling 

 out for covering and what can be 

 better or more profitably and 

 beautifully used than the rose. 

 There is one position in the small 

 garden and above everylrhing to be 

 avoided is the placing of stand- 

 a'rds, sentinal like, round or on a 

 small 1 awn. In fact, standards, 

 when kept to a 'small head, as 

 they must be in such gardens, are 

 usually most satisfactorj' when 

 planted in a border against a 

 background which lends invisibility 

 to the tall stem ahd its necessary 

 support. 



Though the pergola is a some- 

 what ambitious proposition for 



the small garden, since in its 

 strictest .sense it implies a certain 

 massiveness which would not be 

 appropriate in such a situation, it 

 may in a modified form l)e used 

 with good results and iilauted with 

 anv of our -rampant growing ro.scs 

 (which can still be safely jdanted) 

 would soon become a delightfully 

 shady walk. P'or such a construc- 

 tion the tim1)er employed should 

 not be too heavy, pine poles in the 

 rol'igh not more than four or five 

 inches in diameter, withi cross 

 pieces of con.stiderably less dimen- 

 .sions would he suitable. The width 

 .should not be less than six feet 

 and the uprights .should be about 

 that di.stance apart. In height, 7 

 feet or a little over would give a 

 well proportioned appearance to 

 the whole. 



♦ ■ 



Weeds and Their Utilisation. 



How very pleasant it would be 

 if someone would tell us how 

 to exterminate weeds, once for all. 

 This is, however, an impossibility, 

 and consequently let us make what 

 use of them we can. And, first, 

 what is a weed ? " Well, a weed 

 is a noxious plant," says one. 

 But all weeds are not noxious, 

 many of them are useful to man- 

 kind in one form' or other. No ! 

 it is only the fact that they are in 

 the wrong place, when growing m 

 a garden, which makes many of 

 them noxious. For we all agree 

 that in a garden the legitimate 

 occupiers of the soil ought to 

 enjoy all the benefit's of possession, 

 while if these other occupants are 

 crowding in like the camel in the 

 old story, they will in time starve 

 out the lavirful residents. Many of 

 these weeds are most beautiful 

 flowers when in their proper habi- 

 tat, and all have their own pecu- 

 liar beauty ; but the fact remains 

 that they are not in place in our 

 gardens. There they are, however, 

 and we must do the best we can 

 under the circumstances and make 

 the robbers disgorge something for 

 the good of the cultivated plants 

 if we possibly can. 



— What to do. — 



Never allow a weed to seed in 

 the garden. An old saw says, 

 " One year's seeding, seven years' 

 weeding." Therefore, remove all 

 weeds before the shedding of seed 

 has taken place. Annual weeds 

 should be collected off the ground 

 in which they have been growing, 

 and . from which they have been 

 temoved by pulling or hoeing. 

 Place them together in a heap in 



