248 



THEY SAY. 



native American shrub is used in immense quantities, 

 they do not generally use all named sorts in making a 

 plantation of this evergreen, but use R. ponticnm, a 

 rapid growing and cheap sort for the bulk of the mass, 

 with a smaller number of the higher colored and costlier 

 sorts around the edges. We can not use R. ponticinn 

 as it is quite tender here, but we can use our own R. 

 calawhiense for the same purpose, and this sort can be 

 bought for half the cost of named kinds. In making a 

 bed of these superb plants of, say 100, use 75 R. catiTu'- 

 bicnse hybrid seedlings and 25 named sorts. 



A few of the best named kinds are, hardiness and 

 color being the desired qualities ; Album Elegans, 

 Roseum Elegans, Everestianum, Grandiflorum. 



A neat low evergreen plant to form an edging about 

 such groups is Einpetriini nigrum, or" Crow Berry, " 

 one of our hardiest native plants. It forms a close car- 

 pet of fine leaves, which are of a very dark green color_ 

 Daphne Cncorum and the Callima, or heath are also 

 used for this purpose, and all three form charming 

 finishing touches to a good bed of rhododendrons. — 

 F. L. Temple, Cambi-idge, Mass. 



Cannas. — Get some seeds of the new dwarf varieties, 

 soak them in boiling water over night, sow singly in 

 small pots as soon as convenient and grow as rapidly as 

 possible, and they will flower the first season. Thig 

 advice is not for the owner of a greenhouse, but for 

 every one who has a window for plants. The little pots 

 will not require much room, and the plants will make 

 the garden or border a mass of beauty. And while 

 growing the dwarf cannas, do not neglect the tall ones, 

 equally beautiful and more majestic. 



Single Dahlias. — Yes, single dahlias surpass by far 

 the double forms, and grow splendidly when treated as 

 annuals. Get a paper of choice seeds, sow in the hot- 

 bed or in pots, plant out when warm weather has come 

 to stay, and a more varied or beautiful flower border 

 than will be produced cannot be imagined. 



Gaillardia picta var. Lorenziana has had its day 



as a novelty, and is now on the list of necessities among 

 hardy annuals. If the seed is sown early in pots in the 

 house, or in a hot-bed, the plants will come into flower 

 in June, and increase in beauty until cold weather cuts 

 short their existence. A light frost does not discourage 

 them in the least ; it only stimulates them to greater 

 effort in the way of producing flowers, that, by the way, 

 make charming bouquets. 



Amaryllis from Seed. — The growing of amaryllis 

 from seed is a very interesting and profitable branch of 

 floriculture. Save seeds from the best varieties and 

 sow them as soon as ripe, in pots, pans or shallow boxes 

 filled with very light sandy soil, mixed with very fine, 

 well-rotted manure. As soon as the plants have made 

 three leaves, prick them out into thumb-pots, filled with 

 a little heavier soil — a good lively loam — and grow them 

 in a moderate temperature, shifting them into pots a 

 size larger as required. They will, when well-grown, 

 flower the second year. We have just seen a magnifi- 



cent plant in flower, the seed of which was sown but 

 two years ago, a cross between Bayard and Mon. 

 Souchet. This seedling is in possession of Julius Scharff, 

 of Floral Park, L. I., who not only grew it, but also 

 cross-fertilized the parents. The flower is of good 

 shape and intensely crimson in color, with slight traces 

 of green, which shows the aulica blood. The amaryllis 

 will rarely, if ever, produce seeds unless it is artifically 

 fertilized, and if cross-fertilization can be effected the 

 results will be more pleasing. 



Thinning Out Plants. — Many of our readers are 

 actively engaged in gardening operations. To such we 

 would say that there is no more important work than the 

 thinning out of plants in the seed-bed, from which they 

 are to be transplanted, or in permanent beds in the gar- 

 den. This work is often seriously neglected, or too long 

 deferred. The proper time is as soon as the plants are 

 fairly up. Then the work can be done without injury to 

 those that remain. When the plants first show them- 

 selves, they have no fibrous roots ; consequently when 

 they are removed, they do not disturb the soil about 

 those that remain. But if the work is deferred until the 

 root is a bunch of fibers, their removal breaks off many 

 from the other plants, besides loosening the ground about 

 the young plants remaining so that they wilt down and 

 get a check from which they do not recover. Many a 

 crop of beets, carrots, parsnips and turnips has been 

 materially injured, if not ruined, in this way. "Fin- 

 gered " carrots and coarse-rooted beets are, in the main, 

 caused by deferring thinning too long. Many gardeners 

 leave the young beets until they are large enough for 

 " greens " before thinning. This is all wrong. Beets fit 

 for table use can be obtained two weeks earlier if the 

 surplus plants are pulled out as soon as they appear. If 

 greens are wanted, seed should be sown expressly for 

 that purpose. 



Does Market Gardening Pay? — With some men it 

 does ; with others it does not. The man who has a taste 

 for the business ; who strives to master all its details and 

 obstacles ; who has the proper soil, a good market and is 

 honest in his dealings, and who has plenty of brains, 

 manure and gumption, even though he has but a small 

 capital and a limited experience, is bound to make it 

 pa}'. On the other hand, the man who depends wholly 

 on his hired help to do the work and furnish the experi- 

 ence, and who plants more ground than he has manure 

 for, or than he can take care of properly ; who markets 

 his produce in a slovenly manner from a rickety wagon 

 that carries the spring mud until fall ; whose measures 

 are not up to the standard ; who spends more time in 

 patching up his old tomato crates and barrels than on the 

 land ; who will bet $10 on a horse trot, but would think 

 it extravagance to invest $5 in an improved garden im- 

 plement ; who buys his seeds from the man who sells 

 the cheapest and then blames the season if his crops are 

 a failure, stays at the business as long as his capital lasts, 

 growls at everybody and everything, and then cries that 

 gardening doesn't pay. — John Jeannin, Jr., Rensselaer 

 Co., N. V. 



