6 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[January, 



Jfe Jenifer (|ifl» 



WHAT THE NEW YEAR BRINGS. 



The snow lies white ou hill and dell, 

 The streams, -with ice are closing fast, 



The wind sweeps through the leafless trees, 

 The good old year has gone at last. 



The fires are kindled on the hearth, 

 The lamps of eve are all alight, 



As the western sky grows dark anew, 

 And the stars come thick, this winter night. 



The sleigh-bells tinkle on the breeze, 

 The coaster speeds him down the hill, 



The skater sweeps in graceful curves, 

 In the sheltered valley by the mill. 



Without the air is cold and keen, 

 Within our home is bright and warm, 



And pleasant pastime rules the hour, 

 What reck we then of cold or storm 1 



New Year, with joy, we welcome you, 

 Although you come with breath so cold ; 



We greet you with our warmest smiles, 

 And meet you as we did the old — 



In rounds of seasons, year by year, 

 A herald each of coining spring, 



Anticipating gladdened hours, 

 In spring-time and its blossoming. 



So as in life the seasons come, 



So as in death the seasons go, 

 So hope will come in winter hours, 



With promise bright of summer's glow. 



Clarl; W. Bryan. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Success in gardening, as in most other 

 pursuits, is mainly a question of utilizing, 

 to the best, advantage, one's means and the 

 conditions at hand, of making the most of 

 one's opportunities. Those who leave every- 

 thing for the last moment, who commence 

 work without proper preparation, those who 

 go to battle without being equipped and pro- 

 visioned, will surely be beaten. As there is 

 a proper season to sow and to reap, so is 

 there a time to plan and prepare. The time 

 to prepare for next summer's garden is now. 



Soil of proper consistency and 'fertility is 

 of first consideration. It should be rich, 

 light, and mellow, yet retentive enough not 

 to dry out too quickly. To attain the best re- 

 sults with flowers, the soil in the beds should 

 be not less than two feet deep, and where 

 the ground is not frozen too hard it is best 

 to deepen it now, so that the frost may 

 loosen and pulverize it during winter. Heavy, 

 clayey soils require an admixture of sand 

 and leaf mold, muck, or any kind of decayed 

 vegetable matter; sandy soils are often 

 materially improved by the addition of some 

 heavy clay or marl ; and a plentiful supply of 

 decomposed stable manure is indispensable 

 in either ease. All these materials may be 

 provided during winter, as well and, x>erhaps, 

 easier than in spring, and to have them 

 ready at hand when wanted will facilitate 

 work wonderfully. 



Seeds of good quality and adapted to one's 

 wants are another indispensable requisite. 

 The hastily rilling out of an order sheet when 

 the season for sowing has arrived, affords 

 little pleasure and rarely gives satisfaction, 

 while the leisurely study of a seed catalogue, 

 during these long winter evenings, and the 

 judicious selecting of such varieties as may 

 seem most desirable for our purpose, affords 

 to the true lover of flowers as much enjoyment 

 almost as the sowing and cultivating itself. 



EVER-BLOOMING CARNATIONS, 



A few years since it would have been con- 

 sidered absurd to speak of Ever-blooming 

 Carnations, yet persevering, patient labor 

 and study have actually accomplished the 

 result. We have now veritable ever-bloom- 

 ing varieties of this deservedly popular 

 flower, so perpetual indeed, that plants 

 which commenced to flower directly after 

 midsummer, 1881, have been in continuous 

 bloom up to this time. 



In this new class, and most strikingly in 

 the collection of nine varieties which are now 

 known as the Shakespearean Ever-blooming 

 Carnations, are found all the colors hitherto 

 known in these flowers. Several of them are 

 of the richest and most beautiful shades 

 imaginable : rich maroon purple, the most 

 intense and dazzling scarlet, quite new 

 shades of pink, lemon yellow, and buff, with 

 various markings ; light flowers, marbled 

 and blotched with salmon, lilac, rose, and 

 other delicate colors. The individual flowers 

 are mostly of good size, perfect shape, and 

 free from that serious — we might almost 

 say fatal — weakness, a burst and split calyx. 



Their prolific flowering character, com- 

 bined with a neat, close, and compact habit 

 of growth, have been the qualities most diffi- 

 cult to secure, but these have now been well 

 established, and constitute undoubtedly one 

 of the most valuable features of this group, 

 differing materially from many of the older 

 varieties, whose shoots would ramble a yard 

 off without showing a flower bud. 



The plants mentioned above as having 

 been in continuous bloom for eighteen 

 months were sown in March, and some 

 as late as April, requiring only about four 

 months from sowing to the time of flower- 

 ing. The seed was sown in pots, in light, 

 sandy soil, and kept in a temperature of 

 sixty-five degrees. As soon as the plants 

 were an inch high, and their first grass-like 

 leaves showed signs of growing, they were 

 transplanted into very small pots, and kept 

 near the light until the first of May, when 

 they were planted out from time to time as 

 opportunity offered, kept free from weeds all 

 summer, and toward the end of September 

 they were carefully dug and potted into suit- 

 able sized pots for the winter. 



Proper soil of light, friable texture, such 

 as may be collected about fence corners 

 where leaves have decayed, is essential for 

 successful culture. It should be sifted 

 through a sieve with half-inch meshes. In 

 sowing the seed the coarser portion of the 

 soil should be placed at the bottom of the 

 box or pot, filling up with the sifted. Press 

 down the soil lightly, sow the seed quite thin, 

 and cover with fine soil to the depth of half 

 an inch, after which soak thoroughly with 

 water and place in a temperature of 60° ; 

 shade from the direct rays of the sun, and 

 when the plants are large enough transplant 

 as described above. 



Carnations for winter flowering must have 

 all the light possible, be kept moderately 

 wet, and in a temperature not higher than 

 fifty or lower than forty degrees during 

 night, allowing a rise of ten to fifteen de- 

 grees in day-time. John Thorpe. 



[A large, beautifuj colored plate of these 

 Shakespearean Carnations will be presented 

 to every subscriber to the American Garden 

 for 1883, and will be mailed separately in a 

 pasteboard case, as the folding up with the 

 paper would damage its line finish. — Ed.] 



DISCOVERIES IN THE GARDEN. 



I am constantly making discoveries in 

 the garden — little things about the habits of 

 the most familiar flowers. I think I have 

 found out something new about the Pansy, 

 and I am trying it now. It is not to winter 

 the plants in the northern border where they 

 bloom, but to shift them to warmer quarters 

 — not to a cold pit or frame, but simply to 

 an open bed in the garden out of the shade 

 of the house. I noticed last spring that they 

 had crept to the very edge of the border 

 among the grass, away from the house, and 

 here they were blooming gayly in defiance of 

 winter weather. Indeed, cold weather just 

 suits them, that is, minus the wind-storms, 

 for they do not like wind. 



I have made a new acquaintance this 

 spring — the Perennial Candytuft — and I am 

 enchanted with it ; it is excellent for cut- 

 ting, and comes into bloom several weeks 

 before the annual variety, which it resembles 

 closely in flower, but not in leaf. The first 

 year it looks like the Ox-eye Daisy, but, when 

 blooming, the foliage changes and grows very 

 fine. It is quite dwarf and I like its behav- 

 ior exceedingly, so far ; try it, everybody. 



Another lovely thing was Morning Glories 

 among my trees. Jenny Dare. 



THE YUCCA. 



This beautiful genus of plants is restricted 

 to the Western Hemisphere, and is found 

 mainly in our Southern States and Mexico. 

 With two or three exceptions, the species are 

 more or less arborescent in growth, some even 

 attaining a height of twenty or thirty feet. 

 In addition to the ornamental character of 

 the plant, the bloom is especially handsome, 

 being of a creamy white tint and shaped like 

 a Lily. The flowers are produced in great 

 abundance on long panicles, rising from the 

 center of a leafy crown. Some of the species 

 are supplied with white thread-like filaments 

 on the margins of the leaves. 



Undoubtedly the most useful Yucca for or- 

 namental gardening is the common "Adam's 

 Needle," or "Bear Grass" of the South, 

 known to botanists as Y. filamentosa. It is 

 perfectly hardy at the North, blooms freely, 

 and soon forms a large sized clump. It is 

 almost stemless, and the somewhat rigid and 

 spreading leaves are freely margined with 

 white threads. Next in value we may place 

 the Y. recurvifolia, an elegant vase-plant, 

 with graceful recurved leaves of a bluish- 

 glaucous color, and almost hardy in the 

 Middle States ; indeed, in protected situa- 

 tions it is very generally satisfactory. With 

 age, the stem will reach a height of three 

 feet, but the younger plants are more orna- 

 mental. 



Y. aloifolia, also known as Y. draconis and 

 Y. semdata, has a stem varying from four to 

 eight feet high, mostly branching, and sur- 

 rounded with numerous very stiff, sharp, 

 spiny leaves. The panicle of flowers is 

 short and compact, and the color white with 

 purplish tint. It is not hardy, but is a fine 

 addition to the formal gardening style. 



Y. gloriosa is a native of the Southern 

 States, and is found growing in the drifting 

 sands along the coast from Florida to North 

 Carolina, etc. It is also too tender for the 

 open air in the Middle States, but forms an 

 elegant large specimen plant for vases, etc. 

 Stem short, not often over two or three feet 

 high. 



