186 



THE AMERICAN GARDEN. 



[October, 



OCTOBER MUSINGS, 



Now, what has entered my loved woods, 

 And touched their green with sudden change? 



What is this last of Nature's moods 

 That makes the road-side look so strange? 



What blanched my Thistle's blushing face, 

 Aud gave the winds her silver hair; 



Set Golden-Rod within her place, 

 And scattered Asters everywhere ? 



Who splashed with red the Sumach hedge, 

 The Sassafras with purple stain; 



Gave Ivy leaves a ruby edge, 

 And painted all their stems again ? 



Lo ! the change reaches high and wide, 

 Hath toned the sky to softer blue ; 



Has crept along the river-side, 

 And trod the valleys through and through. 



Discolored every Hazel copse, 

 And stricken all the pasture-lands ; 



Flung veils across the mountain-tops, 

 And bound their feet with yellow bands. 



Is, then, October come so soon ? 



Full time doth summer ne'er abide? 

 While yet it seems but summer's noon, 



We're floating down the autumn tide. 



— Gardening Illustrated. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



Gladiolus have to be lifted before the 

 ground freezes hard. If they were planted 

 a proper depth, — four to five inches, — light 

 frosts will not injure the bulbs, or corms, 

 correctly speaking. A convenient way to 

 dry them is to dig the corms with their 

 stalks and leaves attached, tie in small bun- 

 dles, and hang them up in a dry place, secure 

 from frost. After the stalks have become 

 entirely dry, cut them off about an inch from 

 the corm, twist off the old shriveled bulb 

 and roots, and store in a dry, cool place. 

 Named varieties or different shades may 

 readily be kept separate in paper bags. A 

 cellar suitable for Potatoes is well adapted 

 for wintering these and similar bulbs. 



Hard)/ Gladiolus may be taken up and kept 

 i*i the same manner, or be left in the ground. 

 But although the hardy varieties will survive 

 ordinary winters safely, it is advisable to 

 give them sufficient protection, to prevent 

 the frost from entering the ground deeply, 

 especially where drainage is imperfect. 



Coloeasias, or Tanyahs, are among the 

 bulbs most difficult to keep through winter 

 in good condition, as our summers are not 

 long enough to mature them perfectly before 

 cold weather sets in. They should be taken 

 up as soon as their leaf-stalks become 

 frosted, the soil shaken off, the leaves cut 

 away, and the bulbs placed in a very warm, 

 dry place; in fa.ct, they can hardly be kept 

 too warm, except one should put them on 

 the top of the kitchen stove or in the baking 

 oven. 



Pansies planted outdoors in borders have 

 to be well covered in winter with leaves or 

 some other protecting material, and the 

 plants will bear quite heavy mulching with- 

 out injury. A lady correspondent writes 

 that, in covering a bed of Tulips last fall, a 

 few Pansies were also covered heavily with 

 leaves, and earth on the top, and that these 

 w ere the only plants which survived. 



CHRYSANTHEMUMS AND THEIR CULTURE, 



Chrysanthemums, or Artemisia*, as they 

 are sometimes called, have been so much 

 improved in the few past years by importa- 

 tions from Japan and China, and by hybrid- 

 ization, that they have become a fashionable 

 flower, and take high rank among the latest 



i autumnal bedding-out plants in the garden. 

 In China and Japan, "Chrysanthemum 

 shows " are held, and high prizes are offered 

 for the largest and most perfectly shaped 

 flowers, and for new varieties in color and 

 shape which are yearly produced by their 



I florists. Some of their latest novelties are 

 very beautiful in hue, and their peculiarities 

 in the shape of petals and flowers are very 

 curious. Some of them are so deeply serrated, 

 or fringed, that they resemble tassels of col- 



; ored threads or of cut tissue-paper, while 

 others look like long-legged spiders. Some 

 of them are very small like the Pompone or 

 Daisy flowered varieties, while others are at 

 least six inches in diameter, and are as 

 closely quilled as Asters. Many are party- 

 colored, and a few are blotched or spot- 

 ted like Carnations of every hue. A large 

 collection 'of these beautiful plants makes a 

 fine show of flowers, from purest white to 

 richest pink, purple, crimson, orange, lemon- 



[ colored, and almost every color under the 

 sun, excepting the blue shades, which are 

 rarely if ever seen ; while purple, yellow, red, 

 and pink predominate. 



They are divided into five classes, viz : 



I The Precoce, or Early Bloomers, the Large- 



' flowered, the Anemone-flowered, the Pompone, 

 or Lilliputian, and the Anemone-flowered, and 



! all of them can be most highly recommended 

 for the window-garden as well as for the 

 parterre. 



The Precoce varieties make very fine plants 

 for autumn flowers, as they will bloom in 

 September, or even earlier, and their colors 

 are very bright and pleasing, while their 

 petals are as closely placed as those of the 

 Calendula officinalis meteor. They are per- 

 fectly hardy plants, and will live out all 

 winter in almost any section of the country 

 J if they are covered with boughs of spruce 

 j and leaves to prevent the ground from freez- 

 j ing and thawing alternately, and thus dis- 

 turbing their roots. 



The Large-flowered varieties are the kinds 

 most generally cultivated, especially those 

 j with incurved petals. Their flowers are very 

 ! large and of beautiful shades, from purest 

 white to darkest maroon, from lightest yel- 

 low to the deepest orange, and they are as 

 double as Dahlias. 



The Anemone-flowered have quilled petals 

 in the center, with strap-leaved outer petals, 

 and they decidedly resemble the quilled 

 China- Asters in both form and coloring, and 

 some of the varieties will produce very large 

 flowers if due attention is given to their 

 needs, with waterings of liquid manure, or by 

 digging soluble Pacific guano about their 

 roots frequently. 



The Pompone varieties are remarkable for 

 their small Daisy-shaped flowers, and their 

 habit is dwarf and stocky. They are partie- 

 i ularly adapted to house culture, and for 

 i window-gardening they are most desirable, 

 j I would recommend Pride, pure white ; Alex 

 | Pele, shaded rose and crimson ; Bob, crim- 

 son ; Bouquet Blanc, snowy-white ; Circle, 

 lemon color, shaded to pink ; Model, of Per- 

 fection, white, shaded to pink; Montgolfier, 

 ■ richest crimson; Gen. Canrobert, lemon-yel- 



low; Sanguineus, a deep blood-red. With 

 these eight varieties, the conservatory or win- 

 dow-garden can be kept bright and gay with 

 beautiful flowers for a month or six weeks. 



The Japanese varieties are entirely differ- 

 ent from others, and are also dissimilar to 

 other flowers in cultivation, possessing a 

 charm all their own. La Chinoise has large 

 flowers of gold color, mingled with maroon ; 

 Magnum Bonum is of a bright pink; Golden 

 Dragon has tassel-flowers of a rich golden 

 yellow ; Bras Rouge has a deep velvety red, 

 shading to bronze at the tip of petals ; M. Cas- 

 tel has long twisted petals of deepest yellow 

 and cardinal ; Elaine blooms early, with flow- 

 ers of lilac and white mingled together; M. 

 Planchenau, blush, tipped with rose-color; 

 Parasol, very large flowers, of a bright cha- 

 mois color. 



Chrysanthemums in flower, in the border, 

 can be easily potted, and after two or three 

 days' rest in the shade they will continue to 

 flower indoors for some time. If desired for 

 Christmas decorations, pinch off all the buds 

 as they appear until late in November. 



Chrysanthemums are, like Roses, gross 

 feeders, and will well repay all your kind 

 care for them. They also require as much 

 pruning as Roses, to be kept in a fine shape, 

 aud if the shoots are all pinched out in early 

 summer, and again late in August, they will 

 form two or three new ones for every one 

 cut off, and make large heads of brilliant 

 flowers late in the season when flowers are 

 not as plentiful as in September. 



Judicious pruning will change a straggling 

 specimen into as handsome a plant as a 

 flower lover could desire to possess. I have 

 been carefully tending a Model of Perfection, 

 Pompone variety, the past two months, feed- 

 ing it with a tea-spoonful of soluble guano 

 every two or three weeks (it grows in a large 

 pot), and pinching in its stalks two or three 

 times ; and now it is a model of form, and 

 soon it will be a model of perfection in flow- 

 ers. But I shall pinch off its buds until later 

 in the season, when frost and snow will cover 

 all my fair flowers, and I must depend upon 

 my windows for my pleasure in gardening. 

 After flowering, I shall keep the plant in the 

 cellar. 



Chrysanthemums will grow in any soil but 

 clear sand, but they will also repay good 

 cultivation with far more beautiful flowers. 

 If their tastes are consulted, you will give 

 them rich garden loam two parts, well decom- 

 posed cow-manure one part, and a sprink- 

 ling of sharp sand to keep the soil friable. 

 Liberal supplies of water are needful, but do 

 not let it stand in the saucers. When the 

 flower-buds appear, water once a week with 

 weak liquid manure or soluble guano, a 

 table-spoonful to two quarts of warm water. 

 This will fertilize them well. Short sticks 

 should be used to tie up the branches, and 

 thin out the shoots so that every stalk can 

 have sunlight. If the roots are a little pot- 

 bound they will not be harmed this year, but 

 another year turn them out and divide them. 



Cuttings, will root very quickly in half 

 sand and half soil, and layers will also form 

 roots easily and make nice plants. Chrys- 

 anthemums will not grow luxuriantly in gas- 

 lighted, furnace-heated rooms, unless they 

 \ are shielded from the light at night, and 

 j have plenty of fresh air in the day. They 

 I will thrive best in a temperature of 50° to 

 60° by day, and 45° or 40° at night. 



Daisy Eyebright. 



