152 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
The hotbed, after all the plants have been moved out- 
doors, is a very useful place for raising radishes, cress 
and pepper grass throughout the stimmer, and in Sep- 
tember it can be partly filled with lettuce so as to keep 
up a supply until the middle of December. 
September is a good month to begin harvesting the 
crops. Squash and pumpkins are the first two crops 
that should be lifted and stored. Next come onions, 
beets, carrots, cauliflower, endive and celery, also po- 
tatoes and rutabagas. Endive, cauliflower and leeks 
are best transplanted in the frame, a part of which has 
been emptied of the manure admitting air on all favor- 
able weather conditions. Celery should be transplanted 
in the root-cellar with boards separating each row of 
plants, watering carefully and only when the plants re- 
quire it. Onions, after they have been well ripened, 
should be tied up in bunches and suspended from the 
roof of the root-cellar ; cabbage should also be sus- 
pended singly from the roof, head down. Potatoes, 
squash and pumpkins keep well when spread out on 
shelves in the root-cellar covering the potatoes with 
a layer of marsh hay or other similar material. Beets, 
carrots, salsify, rutabagas and parsnips should be buried 
in sand in the root-cellar, as sand keeps the roots in a 
fresh plump condition and prevents shriveling. 
During the winter months look over the vegetables 
at least once every two weeks and remove any that 
show signs of decaying, but if the cellar is well ven- 
tilated and the frost kept out there should be very little 
loss through decay. 
*As interest in vegetable growing has become universal, tiiis timely 
article which deals so lucidly with the subject, is reprinted from a 
former edition of the Gardeners' Chronicle. — Editor. 
Dipladenias 
By George F. Stewart, Massachusetts 
OF late years there has been a tendency among 
gardeners to eliminate many of the beautiful 
tropical flowering plants that used to be a test 
of cultural ability. In their place greenhouses are largely 
devoted to the forcing of hardy annuals, perennials, and 
shrubs. Of course the tendency of the age is quick re- 
sults, and the above mentioned subjects are a great temp- 
tation to the modern gardener. One rarely meets a 
young gardener today who is familiar with many of the 
A fine spcciiiu'ii plant uf Dipladenias grown 
Geo. F. Stewart. 
bx 
oldtime favorites. Among the plants that should have 
a place in all collections of flowering plants are the genus 
Dipladenia. I question if there is a more beautiful class 
•of plants in cultivation, or any that can be used with more 
■efifect in grouping of plants, and other decorations. For 
■instance, where pot plants are used for a mantel decora- 
tion sma:ll plants of Dipladenia can be used with telling 
effect, and for specimen plants trained on a trellis the 
illustrations speak for themselves. Dipladenias are not 
at all difficult to grow, failure can very often be attributed 
to a high temperature, and too heavy a shade. In winter 
fifty degrees during the night and seventy by day is 
high enough, and in summer all the air that can be given 
night and day, with a very light shade when the sun is 
hottest. Where we grow them, we use no shade what- 
ever, the house being old style 12 by 14 glass with rather 
heavy woodwork running north and south. Cuttings may 
be rooted any time during the year, in a temperature 
around seventy-five degrees. We generally root them in 
February, as at that time the plants get a general over- 
hauling, such as repotting, if they require it, trimming 
back all the weak wood, and tying them into shape. Take 
the strongest wood of the prunings, with two leaves at- 
tached, and about an inch of a stem under the leaves. Pot 
them singly in two inch pots in equal parts of the siftings 
of orchid peat, charcoal, and silver sand plunge in bottom 
heat, of the above mentioned temperature, keep slightly 
shaded from the sun, and water freely. In a month they 
will be rooted well, and may be shifted into a larger pot, 
and get them accustomed to the lower temperature men- 
tioned above. We use the following compost for all 
future pottings. Equal parts of fibre of loam, Osmunda 
fern root, sphagnum moss lumpy charcoal, and about a 
fifth of sand. The whole compost, being used in as rough 
a state, as can be convenientl}- worked around the plants 
in potting. 
I find that Dipladenias do not like to be disturbed 
at the roots often. After they have attained say the size 
of an eight-inch pot, we frequently have left them three 
years in the same receptacle, the illustrations are an ex- 
ample ; they are eighteen years old from a cutting. When 
well established we water with manure water, and give 
occasional applications of the various commercial fer- 
tilizers, taking care to give three waterings of clean 
water between applications. Insect pests are got rid of 
in the usual manner. We find Hydrocyanic gas the 
most effective. Large plants of Dipladenias seed quite 
freely, and to raise plants from seed is quite interesting. 
We have raised a great many from the variety Splendens 
profusa, and never found two alike. Some will flower 
at the third new leaf, and some will not flower until they 
have made fourteen pairs of leaves. Some have leathery 
smooth evergreen leaves, and others are of a rough furry 
nature and are deciduous. The colors range from pure 
white to a deep crimson. Some of the flowers are all 
one color, others have a yellow throat, but among all 
the seedlings I have raised, I have never found one with 
all the good qualities of Splendens profusa. 
