CURRENT GARDEN LORE 



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dens is added — one or two plants in a vase. These are 

 very effective, the gloxinia-like flowers always attracting 

 much attention. The vases when first filled require 

 an even moisture, but when the roots of the plants have 

 taken a good hold of the soil, much more water is needed. 

 In July, August and September very large quantities of 

 water are needed to keep the vases in condition. Then 

 the vases are watered thoroughly every other day, and 

 sometimes every day, when drying southwest winds are 

 \>\oy^\ag.—Americayi Florist. 



The Palm Avenue at Heyeres, France. — The illus- 

 tration given on page 568 will convey to the reader a 

 better notion of the climate of that lovely district than 

 many lines of description. The palms are date-palms, 

 hundreds of which have been planted along the boule- 

 vards. One avenue alone, about a mile long, reaching 

 from the railway station to the town, is lined with them, 

 and hence the name, Hy^res-les-Palmiers, finds ample 

 justification. For the rest, the veg-^tation is of the same 

 rich and varied character as that usually seen in the 

 Riviera — a vegetation which, like the visitors, is mostly 

 of exotic origin. — Gardener' s Chronicle. 



Flowers for the Poor. — About the middle of May, 

 ■Secretary Lyon, of the Business Men's Moderation So- 

 ciety of New York City, began his annual work of dis- 

 tributing flowers to the poor children of the city. He 

 took his station in Paradise Park at three o'clock, just 

 when the schools were dismissing their pupils. The 

 ■flowers, which had been brought that morning from New 

 Jersey, included violets, wistarias, honeysuckles, lilacs 

 and dogwood-blossoms, and were tied in bunches of con- 

 venient size. As they were given into the eager little 

 hands, the scene was a noisy as well as a smiling one, 

 and the windows of adjoining tenements were crowded 

 with grown persons, who shared the children's delight. 

 This special charity is not fathered by the society of 

 which Mr. Lyon is secretary, but is personally his own ; 

 and most, if not all, of the flowers which he thus distri- 

 butes from time to time come from his grounds at Short 

 Hills, and are gathered and arranged by his children. 

 More good is done in ways like this than in many of the 

 ways with which charity has been longer familiar ; and 

 the good is to the donors, of course, as well as to the re- 

 cipients. Very few New York business men can be ex- 

 pected to take the time and trouble needed for the actual 

 following of Mr. Lyon's example ; but there are many 

 who, with very little trouble indeed, could regularly send 

 quantities of flowers for distribution to him, to some 

 hospital, or to one of the many charitable societies 

 which would thankfully receive and distribute them. — 

 Garden and Forest. 



Effect of Electric Light on Flowers. — Electricity 

 is to have a new employment in horticulture, says Flcc- 

 Iricity. It has been shown that lettuce is particularly 

 susceptible to the influence of the electric light, by 

 means of which it can be grown for market in two-thirds 

 the usual length of time. Other vegetables respond 

 likewise in varying degrees. But everything depends upon 

 the proper regulating of the light, and how to do that 



can be learned only by the careful study of the re- 

 sults produced under all conditions, The effect of light 

 being to hasten maturity, too much of it causes lettuce 

 to run to seed before the edible leaves are formed. The 

 light is not employed as a substitute for sunlight. It is 

 used merely in a supplementary manner. The green- 

 house that has the sun in the daytime is illuminated at 

 night by arc lamps, towards which the plants incline 

 their leaves and flowers. It was supposed that vegetables 

 required intervals of darkness for their health and de- 

 velopment, just as animals need sleep, but it has been 

 shown that, supplied with the rays of electric light, they 

 will go on growing thriftily between sunset and day- 

 break. Opal globes diminish the intensity of the light. 

 Under the full influence of the light the plants grow pale, 

 run up quickly in sickly stalks, and soon die. It remains 

 to be discovered exactly how much light is beneficial, 

 and during what period of the development of the vege- 

 tables it ought to be applied. The influence of the elec- 

 tric light on the color and productivenes of flowers has 

 been shown to be extraordinary. Tulips exposed to 

 the light have deeper and richer tints, flowering more 

 freely and developing longer stems and bigger leaves. 

 Fuchsias bloom earlier under like conditions. Petunias 

 bloom earlier also, and more profusely, growing taller 

 and more slender. — Journal of Horticulture. 



Frost Problems. — Tomatoes and other vegetables 

 have been killed with frost when the thermometer hang- 

 ing beside the door registered 40 or even more degrees at 

 5 o'clock in the morning. The explanation of this mys- 

 tery lies in the fact that plants may, and sometimes do, 

 have a temperature as much as 15 degrees below that of 

 the surrounding atmosphere. During the day plants and 

 other bodies absorb a certain amount of heat from the 

 sun, and in the night they radiate more or less of that 

 heat back into the air. Thus the plants, both in summer 

 and winter, become colder than the air which touches 

 them. At the same time it must be remembered that 

 there is at all times a quantity of invisible steam, or 

 vapor, floating in the air. Now, in summer, when both 

 the air and the plants are above the freezing-point, the 

 coolness of the leaves turns this vapor into dew, just as 

 the cool window-pane makes dew when a child breathes 

 on it ; but some morning in the fall, when the air is 

 at 40° and the leaves at 30°, or perhaps lower, the cool- 

 ness of the leaves turns the vapor into hoar-frost. With 

 a cloudy sky the earth is covered as with a blanket, and 

 when in the night the earth begin to radiate away its heat, 

 this blanket of clouds reflects the heat back to the earth, 

 and this goes on until there is little or no difference be- 

 tween the heat of the air and that of the plants and 

 other things on the earth, and so no frost can form. On 

 the other hand, when the sky is without clouds, the 

 earth's heat is radiated away into the atmosphere, the 

 plants become cooled below the freezing-point, and show 

 the hoar-frost in the morning. 'When it is windy, the 

 air which touches the plants is removed before the plants 

 have had time to change the vapor of the air into dew or 

 hoar-frost. — Farmer' s Kei'iezv. 



