JNVITATION TO READERS.— We want shoH, practical 

 notes on cultural methods and devices, atid sketches and photo- 

 graphs of choice plants, fruits, flowers, vegetables, garden-scenes, 

 implements, etc. Therefore, for any available article occupying 

 a half-column or so of space, or for any sketch or photograph from 

 which an acceptable engraving can be made, a yearns subscription 

 to this magazine will be given. Please always so specify when 

 contributions are sent in under this offer. 



I, LITTLE TWIGS. 

 Tree-fruits are scarce in our fruit-belt this season. 

 Keep the sprayer going ; this seems to be a fungous 

 year. 



Reports about tree-fruits in the adjoining states 

 are most unfavorable. 



Violet-scented cyclamens are promised the public 

 by an English plantsman. 



Sprouts from fruit and lawn-trees deserve the same 

 attention you would give to weeds 



Groweus whose roses are starved and choked with 

 weeds complain most about insects. 



Daphne Mezereum grows wild in profusion in the 

 Queen Victoria Park at Niagara Falls. 



Electrified earth is the latest device for attempting 

 to hasten germination and growth from seeds. 



Plant Something. — Keep the garden busy growing 

 useful crops, else it will busily produce useless weeds. 



We have tried bagging grapes and tomatoes, and 

 recommend the process as worthy of trial by everyone 



Garden Pinks have glaucous green foliage much like 

 that of evergreens, and give a fine effect when planted 

 among them. 



To start hard seeds like those of the dracsena, scratch 

 a tiny hole in each one with a sharp knife. When they 

 are so treated they sprout in less than two weeks. 

 — Agnes Gregoire, Ca. 



A HEAVY MULCH of coarse manure is a good substitute 

 for cultivation with quince trees. But if the wood- 

 growth is too rapid omit the mulch for a season, and 

 keep the ground clean. — H 



The common dandelion appears so beautiful to a 

 New Jersey florist that he devotes one lawn-bed to its 

 culture. The bed is beautiful when in bloom, for care 

 and culture improve the flowers ; but how about the 

 seeds ? 



Cabbage Premiums. — The managers of t h e Hills- 

 dale (Michigan) fair announce probably the largest 

 premiums ever offered for best cabbages. First prem- 

 ium, $ioo ; second premium, $50. The fair is to be held 

 October 3, 



The middle bench of one of Eugene Davis's 100-foot 

 houses was race-track for a monster Newfoundland dog 

 and a cat the other day. Mr. Davis is the veteran let- 

 tuce-grower of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He says the 

 diversion cost him $75, but was well worth it. — Thomas 

 L. Brown. 



Small Pots for Bloom. — Storm King and Perle von 

 Brunn fuchsias kept growing through the winter in small 

 pots in a sunny window never bloomed so freely before. 

 They had rich soil, plenty of liquid manure and only 

 5-inch pots. We had a similar experience with ivy-geran- 

 iums. — Mira Hershey. 



Crandall Black Currant. — It seems from conflicting 

 reports of this fruit, that more than one variety is 

 abroad under this name. Mine, procured from a re- 

 putable nurseryman, cannot be distinguished in leaf, 

 flower, fruit and habit of growth from the ordinary or- 

 namental flowering currant. It is not productive. — 

 E. F. M. 



Differences in exposure make differences in the 

 flowering season of plants. A Pruniis Pissardii grow- 

 ing in an exposed position on the trial grounds of D. M. 

 Ferry & Co., in Detroit, this year began flowering April 

 27. An equally good shrub of this variety surrounded 

 by houses and only a mile away was two weeks later in 

 blooming. — W. Brotherton, Mich. 



A Showy Garden Plant. — The fire-pink, Silcne 

 I'irginica, begins to bloom on our grounds about June 1, 

 and it continues to flower profusely throughout the 

 month, with a scattering of blossoms later. The star- 

 like flowers are a clear scarlet color and i>< inches 

 across. A hundred flowers are often out at one time on 

 a single plant, so that a group of this perennial silene is 

 very brilliant. It is easily grown from seed. 



Tree-planting North of Us. — In 1S91, in Canada, 

 175,000 Rocky Mountain and European conifers were 

 raised from seed and nursery-grown for distribution to 

 branch farms and private experimenters. The Govern- 

 ment also distributed 100,000 forest-tree seedlings, with 

 instructions for planting and subsequent treatment, 

 among 1,000 applicants in the northwest. Twenty-five 

 fine gardens along the line of the Canadian Pacific Rail- 

 road have also been supplied from the experiment-farms. 



