536 



SEASONABLE OBSERVATIONS AT WOODBANKS. 



As soon as the cuttings have grown three or four 

 inches, they should have all save the best shoot removed. 

 When they have grown six inches, hill up an inch or two 

 of earth around the plants. This will cause additional 

 roots to start from the young wood, and increase the 

 growth of the vines greatly. I have had cuttings make 

 a growth of five feet of strong wood the first season, 

 and in the fall when taking them up found them to have 

 a tangled mass of roots that required some work to dress 

 out. "When one has only a few cuttings, brush or stakes 

 such as we use for peas, will make a nice support for the 

 vines to cling to. Trained in this way the ground can 

 be worked more easily and the vines will grow faster. 



A good strong layer from the previous year's wood 

 makes a good vine, but vines grown from green wood are 

 of little value. To plant vines from single eyes, such 

 as are usually sent out, is about the poorest plan of all. 

 When the Empire State grape first came out I paid $5 

 for three vines. Now, after a number of years. I have 

 never gathered five pounds of grapes from them I 

 procured eight grafts from a friend the year after these 

 three vines were planted, set them in strong stocks, and 

 soon had strong vines and plenty of fruit. 



The following method of propagation has done well 

 where I had a new variety that I wished to multiply 

 rapidly : In taking up vines in the fall, when clipping 



back the roots, I save bits of them about a quarter of 

 an inch in diameter, and keep them in damp sand until 

 needed. In February or March I cut these roots in pieces 

 two inches long, using a piece to each graft, as in apple 

 root grafting, but instead of that method cut the upper 

 end of the piece of root wedge-shaped and insert it in 

 the lower part of the graft, as shown in the illustration 

 on preceding page. If the wood is long-jointed, I use 

 one eye to the graft, if short, two eyes. Tie the grafts 

 firmly with waxed thread. The root gives the graft-eye 

 a start, and by fall I have h?.d a row of them averaging 

 three feet in growth. 



These grafts can be laid upright in boxes of sandy 

 soil, and left there until they have started to grow. I 

 have set them out when they had grown two inches, with 

 but little loss. If you can give th^m a little bottom- 

 heat it will be a great help. I usually set my grafts in 

 the hotbed when the heat is pretty well spent. Accus- 

 tom them to plenty of air and sunshine before setting 

 them out in the open ground, plant them late in the 

 afternoon, and shade them for a few days. The grafts 

 soon callous at the lower ends and emit roots of their 

 own freely. I have taken them up in the fall and found 

 good, strong-rooted plants, but the piece of root inserted 

 was no larger than when planted. 



Missouri. S. Miller. 



SEASONABLE OBSERVATIONS AT WOODBANKS. 



VOTES FRO.M THE EDITORS GROUNDS. 



UR GARDEN TULIPS.— Whether the 

 Dutch gardeners of the sixteenth and 

 seventeeth centuries were at all justi- 

 fy fied in carrymg the tulip mania to the 

 extent they did, is a question not in our 

 province here to discuss. Americans do 

 ^1 not seem likely to suffer from such a 



-■' craze. The tulip deserves more general 



culture among us — not the poorer, but 

 the liner kinds. Let us sum up the merits of this class 

 of flowers as they occur to us — merits noted among 

 scores of varieties that have been cultivated in our 

 grounds for years past. 



First, The bulbs of superior named varieties are inex- 

 pensive, our best dealers selling them at from 25 to 50 

 cents a dozen. A few sorts that are especially difficult 

 to prop^gite sometimes sell as high as 60 or 80 cents a 

 dozen. This is where one makes his own selection of 

 named varieties ; if he can be content to buy the bulbs 

 in mixtures, without names, they need not cost above 25 

 or 30 cents a dozen — about two cents apiece. Some 

 dealers hold out special inducements to buyers of named 



varieties, offering collections of 50 or more varieties of 

 named single tulips, one bnlb of a sort, for $2.25 ; or 

 three bulbs of each sort for $5. Collections of double 

 varieties are sold at about the same price. Thus you can 

 procure a fine assortment of flowers for a trifling outlay. 



Second. Tulips are perennial, and when bulbs are 

 once bought they grow and increase in numbers perpet- 

 ually. Thus, if one invests in 50 sorts, plants them out 

 in good garden soil and resets them occasionally, they 

 may be depended upon to grow and bloom for a lifetime 

 — a great advantage over coleus, geraniums, etc, which 

 cost much more than tulips, and must be reset every 

 year, and annuals, troublesome because of the yearly 

 propagation they require. 



Third. The season of tulips is in their favor. They 

 come and go before tender bedding-plants are set out, 

 and long before flowers from seed-grown annuals appear. 

 They make their growth, flower, ripen and die down so 

 early in the season that the same ground may be occu- 

 pied later by other plants. 



Fourth. The ease with which tulips are cultivated 

 should commend them for general use. They succeed in 



