U' I N D FA LLS. 



441 



lent in which to keep the bulbs over, but care must be 

 had that the mice cannot have access to them. These 

 bulbs require about the same specific treatment as that 

 given to gladiolus. Planted out from the middle of 

 May to the first of June, in good garden soil moderately 

 enriched, they will commence to bloom in July, and 

 will produce their lovely showy flowers in great abun- 

 dance until October. This is one of the easiest of bulbs 

 to cultivate, it being always sure to flower well in al- 

 most any situation, and attracts a good deal of atten- 

 tion. During the last few years, these, like nearly all 

 of our fine flowers, have been greatly improved, and the 

 most beautiful of all is the Tigridia grandiJJora , alba, or 

 the white-flowered tigridia. 

 This variety has very large 

 petals, of a pure pearly 

 white. At the base of each 

 division it is marked with 

 large spots of a reddish- 

 brown color, which makes a 

 striking contrast against the 

 white ground of the petals. 



Tigridia conchijlora is a 

 very showy, handsome varie- 

 ty, the petals being of a love- 

 ly shade of yellow, with large 

 spots of a crimson shade. 

 While Tigridia grandiflora 

 is like the first named ex- 

 cept in color (which is of a 

 very bright crimson color, 

 spotted at the base with yel- 

 low, reversing the coloring 

 of that of conchiflora), these 

 bulbs are so excellent in 

 their general habits and give 

 such fine results for so little 

 care, labor and expense, that 

 every one who can do so, 

 should not let another sum- 

 mer pass by without trying 

 at least a few of them. — 

 Greta Beverly. 



Mrs. Tarryer's Tools. — 

 Mr. Tarryer sends us, in 

 great haste, a photograph of 

 Mrs. T's. weeding thimbles, 

 et cetera, for immediate pub- 

 lication, as Mrs. T. means to push things. Our readers 

 have followed Mrs. Tarryer's experiments so closely that 

 we do not need lo explain the uses of these implements. 



Deep Planting for the Gladiolus.— To advise 

 about the cultivation of such a " stand by " as the gladi- 

 olus may seem unnecessary, but as its varieties are now 

 numbered by hundreds, and it has come to be a popular 

 specialty which can be effectively grown in a separate 

 bed, a suggestion on the subject may not be unwelcome. 



The first planting of gladiolus should be done as soon 

 as the frost is out of the ground, thus furnishing em- 



Mrs. T.^RRYER's Tools 



ployment for those delusive early spring days when one 

 feels full of enthusiasm about gardening. The earth 

 should be rich and mellowed to a good depth. In a 

 trench twelve inches deep, measured roughly by the 

 length of an ordinary garden trowel, place a row of bulbs 

 about three inches apart. Plant a parallel row once in 

 two weeks until July. This will give a succession and 

 provide for fall blooming. Bulbs planted at this depth 

 always come up and the experience of several years has 

 proved that the plants are stronger, the blossoms finer 

 and on longer spikes, and the new bulbs which form are 

 much larger than by the method of shallow three-inch 

 planting. This may be accounted for by the fact that 

 the lower soil is moist, ex- 

 cept in a long drought. The 

 plant, bulb and all, was lia- 

 ble in the old way to be up- 

 rooted by the wind unless 

 staked, but deep planting 

 avoids the necessity for stak- 

 ing, except temporarily for 

 very aspiring blossom stems. 

 This saves much labor. To 

 keep the bed free from weeds 

 is the only attention needful, 

 as there are no insect ene- 

 mies to contend with, owing 

 probably to the tough, fib- 

 rous nature of the leaves. 

 But if the plant cannot be 

 eaten it often serves as a safe 

 harbor for spiders and ants; 

 not that they are ever very 

 numerous, but one often 

 shakes out from the flower 

 cup a fat white spider or a 

 few garden ants. The black 

 and yellow garden spider, 

 a large species of argiope, 

 likes to spin its web between 

 the stiff stalks. Its bite is 

 not poisonous, as commonly 

 supposed, and it is rather an 

 il! interesting insect to watch, 

 especially if one can catch 

 it in the act of weaving 

 the great brown silk ball 

 which covers the eggs. 

 When the bulbs are dug, this is sometimes found hang- 

 ing below the web. 



Dig the bulbs in dry weather before the ground freezes 

 and, cutting off the tops, spread them to dry. In two 

 weeks they will be ready to store in paper bags and 

 hang in the cellar. Bulbs which have been left in the 

 ground under twelve inches of earth have come up the 

 next season but never made a very thrifty growth. The 

 plant is a native of southern Africa. — Amy Wightman, 

 Conn . 



Leucothce Catesbaei. — " Leaves ovate-lanceolate. 



