CONFERENCE CORNER. 



Where to Obtain Aquatics. — Mrs. B. C. — Almost 

 anything in the line of aquatic plants may be obtained 

 of E. D. Sturtevant, Bordentown, N. J., whose adver- 

 tisement appears in The American Garden. 



Prices of Nitrate of Soda. — C. E. I. — The article 

 quoted by you at $3.75 a hundred pounds at St. Louis 

 is the regular commercial nitrate of soda, 96 per cent, 

 pure. The quotation to which you refer, of 15c. per 

 pound, was for a chemically pure article. 



Quantity of Nitrate of Soda to Apply. — C. E, / — 



A liberal dressing for a vegetable garden, as black loam 

 with clay subsoil, would be an ounce. to the square yard, 

 equal to about 300 lbs. per acre. 



Pruning Blackberry Bushes. — M. II. P. — We have 

 seen the device to which you refer as a blackberry bush 

 pruner, but we find a pair of hedge-shears, or the Stand- 

 ard tree pruner on short handles, better for that work 



When to Apply Nitrate of Soda. — C. E. I. — For 



the vegetable garden this should be applied in the spring 

 and be raked in ; spading would place it too deep. 



Household Ammonia. — C. E. 1 — This is an excel- 

 lent fertilizer for house plants. For those in pots, 

 sprinkle with a solution made by adding a tablespoon- 

 ful of household ammonia to three or four quarts of 

 water. It may be made as strong as a tablespoonful to 

 a quart of water if plants are large ones. F"or hyacinths 

 in glasses, a teaspoonful added to the water once a 

 month would be sufficient. 



Care of Canna Roots in Winter. — C. E. I. — The 



best plan is to take up the roots, remove the heavier 

 soil, and store away in sand in cool cellar (not freezing) 

 until time for planting in spring 



Books on Small Fruit Culture. — /. H. T. — We 



refer you to "Fuller's Small Fruit Culturist," "Barry's 

 Fruit Garden," and "Thomas' American Fruit Cultur- 

 ist," all of which may be obtained of The Garden Pub- 

 lishing Company, Limited. 



Parker Earle Strawberry. — C. A. IV. — No ; the 



Parker Earle Strawberry now being introduced is not 

 the same one which was talked of four or five years ago, 

 though it bore the same name. That variety showed 

 evidences of value during its first two seasons, but de- 

 teriorated so rapidly afterward that the stock, so far as 

 known, was wholly destroyed. Of the variety now being 

 introduced as Parker Earle better things are expected. 



Shipping Cut-Flowers to New York. — Mrs. R. A. S. 

 — We would advise you to write the dealers whose names 

 we have given you, and ascertain what sorts and quanti- 

 ties of each they can handle. This will prevent confu- 

 sion later on. 



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Grafting and Budding the Laurel.—^. A. G. — The 



native laurel can be budded on its own stock only, and 

 that is done in the greenhouse in the winter. At best it 

 is a difficult operation. Possibly the best way to pre- 

 serve the specimens of which you speak would be to 

 take them up in the spring with a good sod of earth, and 

 cut off the tops of all that are over one foot down to with- 

 in six inches of the ground. Mulch heavily all summer ; 

 also try them with good ball of earth and with top left 

 on, and shade them from nearly all the sun by a frame 

 piled with brush above them till September i. — F. L. T. 



Lettuce for New York Markets.— 5. /. P. —The let- 

 tuce you sent was nice, but New Yorkers will have to be 

 educated up to its use. At present there is nothing but 

 the well-known varieties which will bring a price here. 

 At your request we saw several of the best commission 

 men and the steward of one of the leading hotels, but 

 they would not handle it. We would suggest that you 

 make arrangements through some reliable commission 

 merchant in this city to supply some one of the large 

 hotels with free sample packages of your lettuce in order 

 to introduce it. It would in all proDability be more ad- 

 vantageous in the end to find a market nearer home. 



License for Peddlers. — Florist. — In this city the 

 authorities require that all peddlers who do their busi- 

 ness in the street from house to house, or by soliciting 

 passers-by, shall have a license. 



Cut- Flowers at Depots. — Florist. — To obtain the 

 privilege of selling cut-flowers at any of the railway 

 depots of the city, you would have to apply to the officer 

 of the road having charge of the depots. The rent 

 would be what might be agreed upon. In some cases 

 the railway people only exact a small service each day 

 in lieu of rent : in others they ask a cash payment. 



Roses as House Plants. — Friend. — Don't; they 

 were not designed for any such purpose ; it is warring 

 against nature, and all such attempts are disastrous. 

 You may occasionally get a poor, sickly flower, and you 

 will get myriads of green-fly as well. The place for 

 roses is the garden or a suitable greenhouse 



Carnations as House Plants. — Friend. — Again we 

 say Don't The temperature suited to the carnation 

 is the one just above the freezing point, with all the 

 light possible ; that of the dwelling-house is both too 

 warm and too dry. 



Kenilworth Ivy. — M. II. — No ; this is not any ivy, 

 neither is it in anyway related to the ivies. Its botani- 

 cal name is linaria Cymbalaria ; it is also known as the 

 mother of thousands. It is a most desirable perennial 

 climber or creeper, and for hanging baskets it has no 

 superior among trailing plants. There are several sports 

 from this species with variegated foliage ; whether they 

 will grow as vigorously, or whether they can be propa- 

 gated from seed, which is produced freely, has not yet 

 been tested. From what we have seen we are inclined 

 to think the sports lack vitality. 

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