632 



THE V SA V. 



oped blooms on each plant. The foliage is also quite 

 different from the white-flowered dogwood, as it is much 

 darker in color, and has somewhat of a velvety appear- 

 ance. One can readily select a red-flowered one from 

 among a number of the parent plants, simply by the 

 difference in the foliafe. 



Like all dogwoods, it is easily transplanted, as it 

 makes plenty of fibrous roots, even when a good sized 

 tree. It is destined to be one of the most popular orna- 

 mental flowering trees within a very few years. 



Work of the Season. — Now has begun the season 

 when the plants are potted, ready for their winter 

 quarters. Everything that is to be kept in a growing 

 condition should be properly prepared early in Septem- 

 ber. Then there are the tender summer bulbs, such as 

 gloxinias, tydeas, achimenes, and others — all these 

 should be left in the pot of earth in which they have 

 bloomed, and when winter has fully set in and they 

 have dried nicely, they may be safely kept in a warm 

 closet. If no closet is convenient, prepare a box by 

 papering the inside and covering the outside with cre- 

 tonne, making a cushion on the lid. This may be 

 placed in the sitting room and closely packed with pots, 

 one placed on top of the other. They will keep well 

 until time to bring them forth in spring. Examine 

 them once in a while to see that they have not become 

 too dry. Be careful not to let frost catch the tuberoses. 

 I like to dig these on a dry day, and after removing the 

 tops, I allow them to dry thoroughly, then pack ihem in 

 paper bags and keep them in this handy box. I always 

 keep tigridias in this same way. We may leave the 

 gladiolus in the ground as late as the last of October, if 

 pleasant, especially if we have planted them late for 

 display at fairs. Time must be given them for ripening 

 well, or they will not keep. I have dug them after the 

 ground was frozen a little, and have placed them on 

 wire sieves to dry, carrying them indoors at night. 

 These sieves, or trays with a wire screen in the bottom, 

 were the remains of a corn-drying establishment which 

 had its day in this vicinity, and in the course of time 

 the sieves fell to me, and I find them the most conve- 

 nient thing for drying gladiolus I have ever yet seen. 

 I just put the label in, and then dig the row of that 

 name, place them on the sieve and have no more 

 trouble until they are ready to be put in bags, labeled 

 and hung overhead in a dry frost proof cellar. I have 

 tried every place, I guess, for keeping gladiolus, and 

 have never found a better place than a dry cellar. If 

 kept in a room where there is fire, they will dry out and 

 be utterly worthless. This self-same cellar is filled to 

 overflowing in winter with all sorts of tender shrubs. 

 Tea roses and vines clamber over the wall ; chrys- 

 anthemums bloom until Christmas. The windows 

 admit plenty of light. Box after box of fuschias and 

 geraniums are carefully packed away on the shelves, 

 and come out in fine condition in the spring. The 

 geraniums are dug and packed in boxes of earth the 

 first week in September, and allowed to stand oui 

 doors until cold weather sets in. Don't allow them to 



be too wet when set away, and be just as careful not to 

 let them become dust-dry during the winter. You will 

 • find this a better plan for keeping geraniums than hang- 

 ing the poor things up by the feet. Early in spring 

 they may be brought up and started into growth in a 

 cool room. Do not water much until growth has com- 

 menced. — M. R. W. 



Cosmos. — Any word of praise spoken for the lovely 

 cosmos is fully merited, and its late period of bloom 

 only adds to its value in my estimation. Late in the 

 spring I get my stock of cuttings rooted, and as early as 

 possible plant them out in ordinarv soil, having found 

 that rich soil causes a too rank growth. During the 

 summer close attention is given to keeping the plants 

 closely cut back to induce a compact growth, otherwise 

 it forms a long-legged and ungainly plant. Each time 

 that five or six inches of growth is made, it is cut back 

 to the first joint above the previous cut, two shoots 

 being nearly always thrown out from each joint on 

 plants so treated. Along in September the plants are 

 lifted and put in good-sized pots. With a little care, 

 they scarcely wilt, and a month or so later they begin 

 to bloom, lasting for a long time, I have had many 

 plants two feet high and nearly the same in diameter, 

 covered with the pink or white blossoms, and this at a 

 time when bloom was very scarce. — E. E. Summey, 

 /Ve^c York. 



Neighborhood Civilities. — I had a nicotiana that 

 would not bloom, spite of all the coaxing and manure I 

 lavished upon it. My neighbor had a solanum that, 

 after two years anxious watching, never showed' a bud, 

 "Let's change," said I. "Agreed," said she. So my 

 nicotiana was soon on her piazza and her solanum was 

 on my back porch. And the change agreed with the 

 plants, for in a few days the nicotiana was full of buds, 

 and my solanum was soon covered with small white 

 blossoms, preparatory to turning into bright red cher- 

 ries. Neighbors will not quarrel that have gardens and 

 exchange their seeds and cuttings over the back fence. 

 Uncle Sam is a good friend to plant lovers in all his 

 broad domain. I have a small wooden box that has 

 gone in the mails from Maine to Kentucky. I wrap the 

 slips in damp moss, pack tightly in the box, and 

 exchange, the box coming back and bringing perhaps 

 exactly the cutting I wanted, and often with a pleasant 

 and profitable letter from a sister plant-lover far away. 

 — Sister Gracious. 



A Mild Winter the last one certainly was, as we are 

 reminded by the fact of having carnations ready to 

 bloom in the garden early in spring, having been left 

 out, entirely unprotected, last fall for want of space 

 during the winter. They were uninjured and gave a 

 large crop of bloom. Chrysanthemums also came up 

 from the roots of old plants left outside all winter. 

 During more than ten years of gardening experience, I 

 never before have known these plants to survive in this 

 section and amount to anything the following spring. I 

 have nothing to complain of ; it is a pleasant surprise. — 

 E. E. Summey, N. V. 



