270 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
SCHIZANTHUS CULTURE 
r\URING the time the flower gardens and borders 
*-^^ are gay with plants I consider it necessar}' to 
make the indoor department as attractive as pos- 
sible, without employing many plants similar to 
those bedded out. The Schizanthus is very usefiil 
through the early parts of Summer for the purpose 
until they bloom in the borders ; their service indoors 
can then be dispensed with for a time, until frost cuts 
the border plants off, when a batch will again do good 
service. This beautiful annual is very easy to culti- 
vate in pots, and to have plants in full bloom through 
April and May the seed should be sown in August, or 
not later than the first week in September in pots or 
pans in a porous compost of loam, leaf mould and 
sand: a piece of glass to be placed over the receptacle 
to keep the soil moist and encourage germination. As 
soon as the seedlings appear remove the glass to give 
air and prevent damping. Pick out the plants as soon 
as they are large enough to handle and place them in 
a cool frame, close to the glass to ensure sturdy 
growth without damage to the foliage, and where 
frosts can be excluded. In due course they must go 
into small pots, and as progress is made repotting is 
done until they reach the flowering size which will 
be 7 inch or 8 inch, according to the plants. Care 
should be taken if large specimens are required that 
the plants never suffer by want of pot room. As soon 
as the roots reach the sides of the pot the plants 
should be at once transferred into larger pots. Use 
a rough, open compost consisting of rich fibrous loam, 
leaf soil and a little sand. Do not pinch the jilants at 
any period of grow-th. Stake as required by carefully 
looping each branch to a slender central support. 
Early in the Spring, they need to be placed in the 
lightest and best ventilated position at command, yet 
they must be secure from severe frosts, which at that 
period of the year are often prevalent. After the 
blooming pots become filled with roots clear weak 
liquid manure given twice or thrice a week is highly 
beneficial ; copious supplies of water are imperative. 
If the plants are neglected in this respect the foliage 
assumes a sickly hue, and not only mars the beauty 
of the plants, but impairs the size and color and short- 
ens the duration of the flowers. Given the treatment 
required, few plants will be more attractive in May 
and June than these gay annuals. — James A. Paice. 
POLLINATING TOMATOES 
'"pHE spring greenhouse crop of tomatoes is constantly 
gaining in importance. A season, cool and cloudy, 
is especially unfavorable to best fruit development. For 
success, we need in the first place, an ample supply of 
virile pollen, and second, its proper distribution. It will 
be found in practice that tomato blossoms will be de- 
fective if moisture conditions are not right. If the soil is 
over charged with moisture, and the plants making soft 
growth, success is uncertain ; on the other hand, if we 
have grown lettuce and tomatoes together at the same 
time, and the lettuce has extracted all the subsoil moisture, 
the blossoms come lifeless and failure is certain. We must 
therefore be sure there is an ample supply of moisture in 
the soil : we should conserve this by hoeing the ground 
the same as outdoors ; we should not sprinkle or syringe 
the house or foliage, for what we want is the dry house 
and dry atmosphere. Then if everything is all right, we 
should allow the houses a sharp rise in temperature from 
9 a. m. to noon ; this will prepare the pollen in the blos- 
som and a sudden jar will distribute the pollen. \'arieties 
differ in their requirements ; Bonny Best is easily pol- 
linated by the slightest jar. For such kinds we merely 
use a small stick and hit the strings or stakes a sharp tap 
to liberate the pollen; however, some varieties are more 
obstinate. For such we resort to snapping the blossom 
with the finger directly, aiming to hit the blossoms as 
hard as we can without knocking them off. A little ob- 
servation will show how much effort is needed. Bear in 
mind, no pollen no fruit, lack of pollen deformed fruit. — 
American Florist. 
KEEPING THE HOE GOING 
"LJAVING brought teh soil to a good and thorough 
state of cultivation and having secured a fine 
and well-tilled seed-bed, the next step after the seeds 
are sown is to maintain a fine state of cultivation 
during the growing period of the crop. The benefits 
secured to the soil by thorough and continuous surface 
tillage is well enough known to all experienced gardeners, 
but the why and wherefore of the matter is not generally 
understood. 
Perhaps the most important benefit from hoeing is 
that of increasing the water-holding capacity of the soil 
by preventing water evaporating from the surface. Of 
course, there is always a certain amoiuit of evaporation 
going on, and in dry seasons considerable damage is 
done to crops by loss of moisture. The effect of constant 
hoeing in this case is to form a surface mulch of 2 inches 
or 3 inches of fine soil, which by being kept stirred reduces 
the loss of moisture to a minimum. The work must be 
done well so as to disintegrate the soil particles to such a 
degree as to form a dust nnilch. This dust on the sur- 
face will practically stop the capillary flow of moisture 
from the soil underneath it. It is impossible to conserve 
moisture in a soil that has a rough surface. If a plot 
has become hard by being allowed to remain for a long 
time without stirring, or by becoming baked and dried 
after heavy rain, the hoes should be set to work imme- 
diately. 
The eft'ectiveness of surface cultivation in conserving 
moisture for the use of crops cannot be better illustrated 
than by the dry farming of the arid and semi-arid regions 
of the western part of the United States, where the annual 
rainfall does not exceed 10 inches, and where the maxi- 
mum of moisture must be saved by thorough tillage. 
The effects of sunshine on the soil and the need for 
aeration are matters the importance of which is not fully 
recognized. Sunshine has an invaluable sweetening ef- 
fect upon the soil by drying it out and by reducing acidity, 
and many insects are killed by the hot sun in summer- 
time. The drying of wet soil makes more space for the 
entrance of air among the soil particles. In this con- 
nection it is well to remember that without sufficient air 
in the soil seeds cannot sprout or plants grow. Besides, 
there can be no decay of vegetable or animal matter, 
neither can those chemical changes take place which 
render plant food available for the crop. Also dentri- 
fying bacteria live in soil from which air is excluded. 
These harmful bacteria cannot live in soil having a good 
circulation of air. On the other hand, the beneficial bac- 
teria cannot live without it. 
Last, but by no means least, is the question of destroy- 
ing weeds. With the continual stirring of the soil with 
the hoe to form a dust mulch no weeds would be able to 
grow. In all well-cultivated gardens not a single weed 
is allowed to flourish. Weeds use up the plant food 
that should go to the support of the cultivated crop, de- 
prive the soil of a great deal of moisture, and [irevent the 
circulation of air and sunshine among the growing vege- 
table crops. — The Garden (English). 
