5o6 



H> 1 N DFA LLS. 



rightly treated, it will send up a stalk of bloom two 

 feet or more in height, which will be topped with as many 

 as twenty heads of beautiful flowers, which will come 

 into bloom one after the other and will form a grand ob- 

 ject. The agapanthus will bloom sooner, and when not 

 very large, if it is not shifted so often, nor into such large 

 pots. It requires an abundance of water when growing. 

 — Joyce. 



Sweet Peas Set to IVI usic. — In thecorner of my fence 

 the sweet peas sing a merry song through the summer 

 months. The strings are fastened from post to post, and 

 the vines clamber and cling to the very top, and have a 

 way of blossoming on the lines and spaces, as if they 

 were writing a musical poem for my daily inspection and 

 delight. The butterflies understand it, and come every 

 day to hover over the "notes "and drink in the sweet 

 melody. I plant my seeds in April. Manure covers the 

 ground all winter and in the spring it is dug into the soil- 

 The best quality these lovely flowers have is, that the more 

 they arepicked the more they come ; in fact, one must not 

 let them go to seed if she wants blossoms, so they are 



freely given away. The young ladies want them for cor- 

 sage bouquets, and the young men beg a few for their coat 

 button-holes. I make a great use of strings in my gar- 

 den, and some rainy day I gather the stray bits that 

 collect so fast around the house, and tie them together, 

 then wind the whole on a stick. Going along the path, 

 I see a morning glory swaying around, asking for some- 

 thing to climb on ; out comes my stick from my pocket, 

 and the vine is soon twisting away towards the top. Or 

 a dahlia needs fastening, or the gladiolas need tying in. 

 In fact, strings are " must-haves " in the garden, and 

 ought lo be handy. — Sister Gracious. 



Campanula persicifolia. — Although this plant has 

 been grown in gardens about 200 years, it is still very 

 highly esteemed. There are very few plants in the her- 

 baceous border that are more striking than this species. 

 It has erect stems and lanceolate leaves. The flower 

 spike is from iS inches to 2 feet high ; the flowers are 

 blue and all intermediate shades to white. There are 



numerous varieties of it in gardens, and the following 

 are well worth growing, not only as garden decorations, 

 but for cut-flowers : C. persicifolia alba, C. persicifolia 

 alba fi.pl., C. persicifolia cxrulea fi.pl. All the above 

 forms will grow in any garden soil, but they well repay 

 to give them good culture. They are easily propagated 

 by dividing the roots or by seeds. — R. Cameron. 



Jerusalem Artichokes from Seed. — For forty years 

 the seed of the Jerusalem artichoke has been an unknown 

 quantity. Recently, however, it has been obtained and 

 caused to germinate, in Corsica. The seedlings are said 

 to be more prolific than plants raised in the usual way. — 

 Le far din. 



Success with Tea Roses. — A writer discourages 

 the growth of tea roses because of the difiiculty of win- 

 tering them. I have tea roses which I have wintered in 

 my garden three to six years without difficulty, in a 

 climate much colder than Ohio. Many things which are 

 hardy there, need protection here (Muscatine Co., Iowa). 

 I have never had the least trouble in keeping roses, pro- 

 viding I kept them dry. I have them pegged down be- 

 fore very cold weather, but do not cover till the last of 

 November or first of December. Then I put a few 

 inches of dry manure on the bed, and over this a foot of 

 dry leaves. Over this I put a tight board cover 2j4 feet 

 high in the center and sloping to the ground on each 

 side. The ends are left open so that the air may circu- 

 late, but extend far enough over the edge of the bed to 

 keep the moisture out. Where the leaves were wet I 

 have always found that the plants rotted in the spring. 



I have about 200 roses, and have fought the slug with 

 London purple for several years. I have never had to 

 make a second application. I use '4 teaspoonful to one 

 gallon water, dissolving it first in hot water. I put it on 

 with a common watering pot. — Iowa Sister. 



Marchal Niel Roses on their own Roots. — Some 

 of us have been taught that they don't do well, but, as I 

 have some experience to the contrary, it may be well to 

 report that two bushes, set last October, have up to this 

 date given us, by actual count, 256 buds and flowers. 



These bushes were grown from cuttings on our own 

 grounds, the spring previous. — J. F. Wilson, Piney Park, 

 Lower Ga., Jitne gih, iSgi . 



A Beautiful Tree. — In the lawn of my neighbor is 

 growing quite a large tree — probably thirty feet in height, 

 of the yellow-wood or Cladrastis tinctoria, which at this 

 writing, June ist, is a most beautiful sight. The whole 

 top is a mass of bloom ; the drooping panicles of white 

 blossoms are from ten to twelve inches in length and are 

 double-shouldered. The perfume is delicate, and it is 

 evidently appreciated by the bees, whose humming is 

 distinctly audible when standing near the tree. It is 

 such a lovely sight that passers-by all stop for a second 

 glance at it. I call attention to it because it is worthy 

 of a much more general planting than has hitherto been 

 accorded it. The trunk has a smooth bark, somewhat 

 resembling beech, and the top is symmetrical, being 

 equally useful as a shade or ornamental tree. It seems 



