556 



BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



sively to strawberries would be a decided advantage, and 

 a succession of crops could be matured during the spring 

 months with the aid of coldframes. I have grown and 

 fruited strawberries successfully for years on hanging 

 shelves in a house devoted to bedding plants, and the 

 berries ripened by March 15. Where strawberries are 

 wanted before March i, a house devoted to their culture 

 will be necessary, and my experience has been that before 

 that date abundant fruiting is very uncertain. My cus- 

 tom has been to layer, in 3-inch pots, the strongest plants 

 procurable as early as they can be had. I prefer the 

 runners from young plants. Use the first plant on the 

 runner and cut the remaining part away, concentrating 

 the vigor of the runner in the potted plant. As soon as 

 the pots are well filled with roots, repot the plants into 

 6-inch pots, using good friable loam and plenty of well- 

 rotted manure. Place the pots on a bed of ashes, and 

 give the plants an abundance of water. When the 

 weather grows cold enough to affect the soil in the pots, 

 remove them to a pit or coldframe where frost is ex- 

 cluded. Air should be given on every possible occasion 

 when the weather is fine. If required to fruit in March, 

 about January i remove the plants from the coldframe 

 to a temperature of 45° to 50°. Avoid a higher temper- 

 ature at the beginning, as therein lies the most frequent 

 source of failure. After the plants begin to bloom the 

 temperature may be raised to 55° or 60°. It is now quite 

 important that each flower be gone over every morning 

 with a camel's-hair brush, to assist in pollination ; other- 

 wise the berries would set imperfectly or not at all. Just 

 before and during the ripening of the fruit, give the house 

 plenty of air. Dampness at this time will cause the fruit 

 to rot, and every effort must be made to maintain a good 

 circulation of air and a dry atmosphere in the house. As 

 to the varieties most suitable for this purpose, I have 

 found Sharpless to be much superior to any of the other 

 varieties tested. It is so amenable to this mode of 

 culture that I can recommend it with confidence. In 

 this simple and inexpensive way delicious strawberries 

 may bj had at a time when they will be thoroughly appre- 

 ciated.— John Dallas, Conn. 



A New Way of Grafting Grapes in France. — A 

 French nurseryman, Mr. Martinand, according to the 

 Garden in ir World, has excellent success in root-grafting 

 the grape by the following method : Stocks and grafts 

 are cut at the usual time of pruning, then grafted at once 

 or preserved in sand by the ordinary methods until thg 

 time for grafting. The stock has two or three eyes, the 

 graft only one; it is then rather short. The workman 

 has cut both the stocks and the grafts, which are placed 

 on a table within reach. When stocks and grafts have 

 been united, the latter are left without ligatures. They 

 keep their position by simple adherence. The grafts are 

 tied together, not too tightly, in bundles of from 12 to 15, 

 with two bands of raffia. Then the bottom of an ordinary 

 box is covered with a layer of damp moss. The sides 

 also are lined with moss according as the bundles are 

 arranged. The bundles are placed lengthwise in the box , 

 separated from each other by some bits of moss. When 



the box is filled, it is covered over with another layer of 

 moss, 8 to 10 centimetres in thickness. When the oper- 

 ation is concluded, the contents of the box will not be 

 touched for at least a month, except to water the moss 

 from time to time. If it is winter, the boxes are put in 

 greenhouses or heated rooms, and the temperature is 

 kept uniformly low. 



If the grafting is done in the cold weather, from March 

 15 to May 15, for example, the boxes are put into cellars, 

 caves or lofts, away from draughts of air. When there 

 is sunshine the boxes may be put outside without un- 

 covering them, putting them back in the evening. At 

 the end of about a month, owing to the heat and humid- 

 ity, the union is complete, the radicles begin to bud, the 

 stem of the graft is already several centimetres in length, 

 but the growths made in darkness are white and tender. 

 They are uncovered in a dark corner, and are gradually 

 brought to a brighter light to give consistency to the 

 young tissues. Then they are planted in the nursery, in 

 warm, damp soil, and the young graft begins to grow 

 vigorously. The development of the leaves takes place 

 rapidly, and within the year the new tissue forming the 

 union ripens perfectly, as also the young branch, and 

 by the planting season the grafts will be well joined and 

 vigorous, and can be placed in position in all security. 



As moss is a bad conductor of heat, there are but very 

 slight variations of temperature in the box ; the grafts 

 have the same amount of heat and moisture throughout, 

 they all unite well, and the unions are not only on one 

 or two points of liber in contact, but along the entire 

 length, therefore they are perfect and solid. 



Tuberous Begonias. — When I read of them I really 

 thought the size of the blossoms was exaggerated, but 

 early this spring I obtained some tubers and set them out 

 in soil composed of leaf-mold, well-rotted manure and 

 sind. Now (June 20) the plants are well advanced, and 

 this evening I measured one flower that was a little more 

 than three inches across — wider than any of the four 

 leaves on the plant. It was scoop-shaped before it .^pened. 

 The color is deeper than pink, but not scarlet. On the 

 same stem are two buds over an inch long. Another 

 plant has very large leaves and upright, cup-shaped flow- 

 ers. I have ten tubers, all of which wi)l soon be in 

 bloom. Some are in pots, but I think the ones in the 

 ground are doing best ; all get sun and rain as it comes. 

 I know of no other class of plants that will give equal 

 satisfaction in so short a time and with so little care as 

 tuberous begonias. — Margaret E. Campbell, La. 



No Excuse for Unattractive Homes. — Nature ]= 

 lavish in her treasures, and where there is no money in 

 the purse to purchase plants for the adornment of home- 

 grounds, field and copse and hedgerow overflow with 

 beautiful things and furnish them to all freely. For 

 neglected corners, where shade is constant and most cul 

 tivated shrubs fail to thrive, I often mingle clematis, the 

 wild virgin's-bower [Clematis Virginiana), with Apios 

 tuberosa, and let them run riot. For arbors or old 

 fences these same climbers are aiso beautiful, and Am-pel- 

 opsis quinquefolia is a sturdy and faithful assistant. In 



