BUDS, BLOSSOMS, FRUITS. 



751 



light place where the sun did not shine, sprinkled with 

 warm water, and left a week or two undisturbed, except 

 for a daily sprinkling to keep the earth from getting dry. 

 At the end of two weeks young plants began to appear, 

 and the box was set in a sunny window. When the seed- 

 lings were about an inch tall, half of them were trans- 

 planted into the other box filled with earth, similarly pre- 

 pared and of the same temperature as that in which 

 the seeds had been planted. The other plants were 

 transplanted in their own box, using the room left by their 

 departed sisters. Another generous sprinkling, shading 

 from too hot sun for a day or two, not even a leaf wilt- 

 ing, and the plants resumed the business of growing, 

 making stout little bunches of leaves before the time 

 came to put them in the open ground. A warm after- 



noon was selected, when the soil felt warm to the hands, 

 and after a good watering and a night's rest, each plant 

 was covered with a thumb-pot until afternoon, this being 

 repeated two or three days. The pots were then carried 

 into the house, and the plants left to take care of them- 

 selves. In a few weeks the branches were long enough 

 to peg down, an old bunch of rusty wire hairpins, bought 

 for almost nothing, being just the thing to keep the 

 runners in shape. That bed was a mass of bloom from 

 June until October, some of the colors seeming to mix 

 before fall, so that it was not unusual to find a bunch of 

 flowers half white and half crimson, or purple, with spots 

 or flakes of white on the colored corollas. An occasional 

 watering with liquid manure did the plants much good. 

 — Dora Lawrence, Maine. 



COMMENTS BY READERS. 



[Readers are invited la contribute to this department. If y 

 that recorded i}i any recent article in this magazine , or if yon can 

 the Editor will welcome your contributions.] 



Begonia Evansiana. — (Page 561.) I have often 

 written favorably of the old Begonia Evansiana . In 

 Maryland I used to grow it in beds with tulips. The be- 

 gonias did not appear between the rows of tulips until 

 the latter were out bloom, and then the large begonia- 

 leaves soon hid the dying tops of the tulips and allowed 

 them to ripen fully without being an eyesore. This be- 

 gonia is hardy almost anywhere. — W. F. Massey. 



Amaryllis Johnsonii. — (Page 560 ) I can hardly 

 agree with Mr. Falconer in his estimate of this amaryllis. 

 With me it ranks about as high as any variety. If he 

 could see the great masses of it blooming on one lawn 

 here, he would have a better opinion of it. We lift 

 some of the bulbs for early flowering under glass, but 

 the finest blooms are from bulbs left in the open ground 

 until they form a mass of flower-stems ; there they make 

 a superb show. I have now a bed of various colored 

 sorts, from which I expect a fine show next spring. — W. 

 F. M., N. C. 



Chinese Sacred Lily. — Some one writing of Chinese 

 lilies blooming in water says they can be brought into 

 bloom in from four to six weeks. I grew a great number 

 of these lilies last winter, and had them in full bloom 

 in just three weeks from the time they were placed in 

 water. I put them in water and set the dishes in a dark 

 closet for three or four days, then brought them to the 

 light and heat in a south window. I also filled the 

 dishes to overflowing with pure very warm water three 

 times a week. On stems from only two bulbs I counted 

 one morning forty fragrant flowers. — Fern Leaf. 



Watering Evergreens.— (Page 492.) I have a method 

 of watering evergreens similiar to Mr. Estes', but cheaper. 

 I simply bore a hole about a foot deep near the tree, 

 with an ordinary post auger. I till this hole to within 

 about an inch of the top with old weeds or any kind of 

 mulch, and fill in soil to make it even with the surround- 

 ing surface. It is easy to fill the mulch with water from 



our experience, observation or welt-founded opinion differs fr^ 

 add anything of special interest to the statements of other write. 



a pail, and moisture is retained for a long time. While 

 watering well-set evergreens is not absolutely essential 

 here, I find good results follow my practice. The newly 

 set trees I screen from the hot summer sun by bunches 

 of wild grass tacked on laths which are set in the ground 

 on the south side of the trees, — John E. Mohler, John- 

 son Co., Mo. 



Strawberries in Wisconsin. — (Page 389.) Although 

 we are fruiting 60 varieties of strawberries, we have not 

 yet found the variety that will give the very best results. 

 Nothing yet takes the place the old Wilson filled in its 

 best days. In some places it is still planted, for pollen, 

 with Crescent, but we have many other perfect-flowering 

 kinds which do better on most soils. At our state meet- 

 ing in June we gave the following list of fine perfect- 

 flowering kinds; Earle, Wood, Enhance, Jessie and Craw- 

 ford ; and as the best five pistillate varieties, Warfield, 

 Haverland, Eureka, Crescent and Bubach. Location, 

 soil and climate have much to do with the success of 

 varieties. Michel Early is claimed to be a profitable 

 early kind in the south. With us after three years' fruit- 

 ing it is good for nothing but to grow worthless plants 

 by the million. If any one wants to try the berry we 

 will furnish plants free for cost of postage and packing. 

 Another error made and commended is replanting old 

 beds for many years with strawberries. In small gar- 

 dens, where there is no chance to rotate, there is no alter- 

 native, but, when ground is plenty, we would never do 

 it. Last season we plowed up two acres of strawberries, 

 and the ground seemed so good we did venture to replant 

 it, but the white grub has ruined the plantation. The only 

 safe way is to enrich the ground thoroughly, grow hoed 

 crops upon it for two years, and follow then with straw- 

 berries for one or two years. Fresh stable-manure made 

 during the winter and spring will do to use on new beds, 

 if plowed in before the May beetle has time to deposit 

 her eggs. Any manure kept over summer is liable to be 



