iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinyiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiin^ 
I GARDENERS' CHRONICLE I 
I OF AMERICA | 
I Devoted to the Science of Floriculture and Horticulture I 
I Vol. XXI. 
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 
JUNE, 1917 
No. 6. ■ 
iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittiiiiiiiiiiiittiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiy^^ 
Things and Thoughts of the Garden 
By the Onlooker 
THOSE who raised early vegetables, as Cauliflower, 
Cabbage, Tomatoes and such like, and set them 
out early in May, hoping to have well established 
plants by the end of the month and to be enjoying the 
products of these plants at this time or very soon, have 
been disappointed. Little by little the plants went back, 
and in man}' cases collapsed entirely, owing to the cold, 
chilly, cheerless weather. I have never seen planting in 
cold soil a success, especially if the weather was unfavor- 
able afterwards. It is all a chance. What I have seen, 
however, is that plants put out three weeks later than 
the first batch have grown straight away, and have 
easily beaten the earliest planted ones. The only crop 
possibly that does benefit by early sowing or planting is 
Peas, as thev make a deep root even in cool weather, but 
they too would go back unless the soil were of a sandy 
character. 
The lawn, upon which so many of us pride ourselves, 
requires considerable attention to keep it in the best con- 
dition. Too many owners of places neglect to give a light 
surface dressing of rich soil in the early Spring", with the 
result that blank spaces occur, and the grass looks poor, 
thin, and yellowish for quite a long time, and also goes 
brown readily in a dry spell. Even if soil is not brushed 
into the lawn, a light dusting of bone flour, or at this sea- 
son nitrate of soda, will help the growth wonderfully. 
M'eeding, of course, ought not to be neglected ; by going- 
over the lawn regularh- the weeds can be well kept under. 
The Lilacs are among the finest of the hardy shrubs 
that we can have for our .\merican gardens, and are now 
to be had in a wide variety of colors, from purest white 
in single and double, to rich red, almost a crimson, while 
in Mme. Buchner we have the nearest approach to a 
good pink. At its best this is a delightful variety. There 
are frequent complaints of Lilacs not flowering, most like- 
ly that occurs where the plants have been starved, for 
they like a certain amount of feeding, and also where 
the wood has in no way been trimmed back, and there is 
a scarcity of young growth. For the best results one 
must have strong new shoots brought up every year. 
They are easily propagated from suckers, which are 
better than budded or grafted stock. 
* * * 
Two of the finest Roses of more recent introduction, 
not in the class of large double flowered Roses, but deco- 
rative garden Roses, are Rosa hugonis, with sulphur-yel- 
low flowers, perfectly hardy, which blooms very early, 
say the end of May or June, and which forms a large 
round spreading bush; and Rosa Moyesii, which makes 
growth up to lU ft. in length, and is notable for the large 
dark red single flowers, but especially for the broad 
prickles on the stem, which are of a claret color and very 
handsome, especially when seen through the sunlight. 
Both of these are likely to become favorite plants in our 
gardens. 
^ ^ ^ 
We are now in the full season of the alpines, when 
great masses of such subjects as Gypsophila repens, Dian- 
thus deltoides, Viola cornuta, Achillea ageratifolia, 
Saponaria ocymoides, Mazus rugosus, Alyssum sa.xabile. 
Phlox divaricata, etc., are everywhere. There is a charm 
about these Alpine plants that is not easy to describe ; 
they are so lowly, so bright, and in many ways so inter- 
esting because of their characteristics and brilliant flow- 
ers. One likes also to feel that one is succeeding with 
plants that are not in all cases the easiest to cultivate. 
They have so many individual likes and dislikes that they 
form 2 close study in themselves. 
* * * 
We hear much of tillage and of the dust mulch. This 
latter, it has often occurred to the writer, was not heard 
or spoken much of until within recent years, but every- 
one who would have themselves thought good gardeners 
with a knowledge or cultivation at once speaks of the 
Dust Mulch. Both in theory and practice we know it 
to be all right. Recently I saw a garden set high on dry, 
sandy, gravelly soil, where no water or irrigation system 
is applied, yet here the plants are kept in a growing con- 
dition and look healthy and robust, simply because the 
cultivator and scarifier are kept going all the while, par- 
ticularly in the driest weather. 
* * * 
There can be no doubt that, speaking generally, the 
better German or Bearded Irises are not planted in such 
varieties as garden lovers have at their command, for 
wherever we go the old specific blue form, Germanica, is 
seen in great quantities, while the more delicate colors 
and those of a yellow and orange shade are in great mi- 
nority. Squalens, ne.glecta, flavescens, florentina, Queen 
of May, Mrs. H. Darwin, Mme. Chereau, and the im- 
perial and inimitable pallida dalmatica might all be seen 
more plentifully. There arc also named varieties of the 
squalens and neglecta or varigata type, like Prince of 
Orange, that are intensely rich and bold. The Japanese 
Irises are also most accommodating. Thev do well in 
229 
