SOME FLOWERS AND VEGETABLES 



IN THE EDITOI 



IT IS a pleasure to invite attention to the beauti- 

 ful variety of China pink, ■■Fire-ball." Seed was 

 sown in April in open ground, and by August there 

 was a clump of plants, several feet across, bearing 

 scores of glowing, velvety red, double flowers. For 

 doubleness, w e 

 confess that our 

 artist has not 

 done the variety 

 fair justice. The 

 bloom shown at 

 the right is only 

 partly open, 

 while that to the 

 left, although it 

 shows a flower 

 at its handsom- 

 est stage per- 

 haps, is far from 

 the full and 

 rounding form which all the 

 flowers reach in time. It is a 

 most useful biennial, bloom- 

 ing quickly after seed-sowing, 

 and valuable either for adorn- 

 ing the border, for pot-culture, 

 or for cut flowers. 



We feel high appreciation 

 of the entire class of Chinese 

 pinks for garden culture. 

 Because of the ease of raising 

 them from seed, the fine form, 

 texture and colors of their 

 bloom, their general neatness, 

 their continuous flowering 

 habit, and their brightness 

 even after frost has destroyed 

 many of their companions, 

 we place them in the front rank 

 of easily grown flowers. The 

 fact that they seed freely — 

 hence that the seeds 

 cheap and that a very small 

 outlay is sufficient to produce 

 a magnificent display of 

 bloom — is also greatly in their 

 favor. When an inexperi- 

 enced amateur asks advice in making a selection of 

 flower-seeds, we never hesitate to recommend the Chi- 

 nese pink, even if the list of kinds is not to go beyond 

 a half dozen It is one of the flowers that a child can 

 raise from the seed. 



Some general facts about this valuable class may 



Improved Chinese Pi 



S GARDENS. 



be of interest. For the original species, Dianthus 

 Sinensis or Chinese pink, we are indebted to Asia. This 

 species has been known to cultivation since 1713. The 

 varieties, both single and double, are now numerous 

 and beautiful. They may be classed under D. S. Hed- 

 ({"zvigiianA D. S. 

 laaniatus. The 

 former is a va- 

 riety of Japanese 

 origin, the habit 



/V iffiSIIWWji^i ° ^ which is 

 ^^^^USSBBBI/ dwarfer than the 

 jSr? ^VtKk^^Os* species. The 

 ^^y^ .''/^^^^KBl^i^m^^^SSi laciniated sec- 

 tions have the 

 petals of the 

 flowers very 

 deeply cut into 

 a fine fringe. 



oth of these 

 strains have sin- 

 and double 

 forms. The col- 

 ors are extremely 

 varied, including 

 striped crimson 

 and white sorts. 

 A form of the 

 species is known 

 a s Diadematus, 

 the flowers of vvhich are remark- 

 ably large and double. There is 

 also a dwarf class, growing 

 scarcely more than six inches 

 high, that is also desirable, al- 

 though less useful for cut flowers. 



The Clethras. — Some shrubs 

 and flowers that would attract lit- 

 tle special attention in flowery 

 June, when our borders are rich 

 with a large variety of bloom, 

 are conspicuous at other seasons. 

 Among such may be classed a 

 hardy native shrub, the alder- 

 leaved clethra [Clethra a/nifolin) 

 and its varieties. The species is 

 a low shrub reaching a height of 

 from three to eight feet and of equal or greater breadth, 

 that is covered in July or later with a mass of sweet 

 white flowers in racemes or spikes, with sometimes a 

 little second bloom in September. The flowers are fol- 

 lowed by seeds that give the shrub an ornamental 

 appearance. It is perfectly hardy, being found in a 



Fire-ball. 



