685 



BLDS, BLOSSOMS, BRLITS. 



it. In their greed for immediate gain, they are ruining 

 some of their best customers, and jeopardizing their own 

 chances. The fruit growers will not stand the high 

 prices for poor service forever. 



Flowers for the Winter Window Garden. — No 

 need of doing without flowers m winter, no matter how 

 cold or dreary. It is only necessary to select among 

 those perpetual bloomers that are the foundation of any 

 good collection, the plants which thrive under the pecu- 

 liar conditions of soil and temperature that you can 

 offer them, afterwards giving minute attention to proper 

 potting, fertilizing, drainage and cleanliness. Mrs. 

 Lora S. LaMance gives the following list of steady win- 

 ter bloomers : Abutilons in variety, Achania malvavis- 

 cus, ageratums in variety, Anthemis coronaria Jl. pi., 

 Agalhiea cceUstis (blue daisy), balsams, cuphea (cigar- 

 plant); Begonia rubra, B. Sander sonii,aji.A B .semperjlorens ; 

 Clerodendroii Balfonri ; geraniums, winter-blooming 

 sorts ; heliotropes, daisies, Jasminum grandijioriiin, Iin- 

 patieiis Sullaiii, Euphorbia splendens , Lopezia rosea, 

 oxalis (winter sorts), Nicotiana ajfiiiis, Rivina humilis, 

 petunias, single and double. Primula Sinensis and P. ob- 

 conica ; marigold, double ; roses, winter-blooming teas ; 

 sweet alyssum, ten-weeks-stocks, vinca. Some of these, 

 as the clerodendron and petunia, will bloom only in 

 warm rooms ; stocks, primulas, and daisies in rooms 

 moderately cool. Again, geraniums and roses must 

 have full sun to bloom, while primulas and oxalis need 

 slight shade. Abutilon, achania, begonia and nicoti- 

 ana bloom equally well in sun and shade, but require 

 size to give profusion in blooms, and the first two sorts 

 need a preliminary course of " pinching back" at least 

 six months to promote a bushy, dwarf growth, as ' ' leggy " 

 plants give few blooms. On the other hand young plants 

 of alyssum, marigold, daisies, balsams and primulas give 

 the best satisfaction, but they should invariably be 

 stocky plants, or they will not bloom the winter through. 

 Comparatively few roses or geraniums bloom well in 

 winter. Among these are : Jas. Vick, Master Christine, 

 Mad. Thibaut and Bishop Simpson geraniums, and 

 Niphetos, Perle des Jardins, Safrano and Bon Silene 

 roses. Roses are difficult for a beginner to manage, and 

 are so liable to be infested with aphis or plant-lice, that 

 many amateurs will not admit them into their collection, 

 as when once introduced the pests spread rapidly from 

 one plant to another. It will thus be seen that there is 

 room for wide choice between the various ever-bloomers. 

 If restricted to a half dczen sorts, choose a Begonia rubra, 

 a good geranium, an abutilon, an achania and a single 

 and a double primula. If the room is to be kept very 

 warm, omit the primulas and substitute a heliotrope and 

 single petunia. 



Personal between Editor and Readers. — This de- 

 partment of the consolidated journal is to be made up from 

 the departments formerly known as "Buds" in Popu- 

 lar Gardening and " First Fruits " and " Windfalls " in 

 The American Garden. It is designed, as in the past, to 

 be a common meeting-ground of readers and editors, to 

 familiarly talk over all sorts of matters helpful to in- 



crease the interest in horticulture. The motto applying 

 to the department, as it often has been quoted in a 

 Buffalo journal, is this : " Everybody knows more than 

 anybody." Perhaps we ought to ask our artists to work 

 this into the new head that is to be engraved for this de- 

 partment in the full-fledged journal. We'll see ! That 

 excellent motto means simply that the wisest horti- 

 cultural writer, or the most skillful experimenter, 

 though he have acres upon acres devoted to tests in 

 popular gardening, or these jointly or a score of them 

 together, know but precious little of gardening as com- 

 pared with the sum of practical knowledge possessed by 

 a family of a hundred thousand gardeners, amateur and 

 professional, whose "experiment" plots are scattered 

 in town and county throughout this land. But the dif- 

 ference in knowledge is just here ; In one case it may 

 represent the greatest possible acquirement of single in- 

 dividuals, and ready to flow from their pens at will. In 

 the other, it is scattered information, of but little use be- 

 yond its possessors except as it shall be revealed through 

 a suitable medium. This magazine, through its special 

 departments and this general department, aspires to be 

 just that collecting and distributing medium for the gen- 

 eral good. 



While its managers will by no means overlook the 

 value of all expert information, and now desire even 

 more of it than ever, yet increased effort will also be 

 made to enlist the great mass of amateurs and other 

 gardeners as contributors to these columns. What is 

 desired is, that every reader contribute some informa- 

 tion bearing upon his experience in useful or orna- 

 mental horticulture. You certainly have reached 

 some results, made some discoveries, however sim- 

 ple, that will be useful to others. Here is the place 

 where they may be made of the greatest possible 

 value. You may possess some implement or device, 

 or some fine plant, tree or other garden object that 

 would, if illustrated, be of interest to others. These 

 columns and our artists are at your service, for the good 

 of the cause. You have a suggestion to make or some 

 new idea to add to what some one else has said in the 

 paper. The "Comments by Readers " section of this 

 department is open. 



Thousands have questions to ask ; other thousands 

 can answer questions that have been asked ; a suitable 

 department is at the command of both. 



In short, this journal, as the exponent of popular 

 American horticulture, asks all who are interested in the 

 fascinating art to assist in working out by its means the 

 greatest possible good for the greatest number. 



Gardening is a popular art ; the price of the magazine 

 will be popular (one dollar a year), its matter shall be 

 popular at the same time that it is practical and suited 

 to various tastes; and altogether, with the support and 

 assistance which we are determined it shall deserve, it 

 now is and shall continue to be not merely the greatest 

 journal of its kind in America, but easily the leader of 

 all other horticultural journals in the world. May we 

 have the earnest support of all friends of horticulture ? 



