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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 
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A BLUE Things out of i lie ordinary, although artistic, seem to 
GARDEN, be much in demand in the way of laying out gardens. 
A garden made up entirely of bine flowers, with a 
white or light colored residence in the center or in the background, 
produces a beautiful aspect. 
The blue garden itself need not remain a hobby of the rich 
only, as the outlay for the bulbs, plants, etc.. is not extremely 
great, but the successful arrangement of such a garden requires 
some exact knowledge of bulbs, roots and plants which will pro- 
dun- blossoms <>f a really blue color. A number of such varieties we 
mention below, and those who would like to lay out a blue garden 
should buy a quantity of bulbs, roots and plants and set them 
out at the right time, so that a good root-growth will be made 
before flower stems begin to shoot up. When freezing weather 
conies on, the planted area should be protected with a cover- 
ing of straw or leaves. Hyacinths and gladioli must be entirely 
protected from frost, while other bulbs or roots only want a 
little protection, to prevent the frost and wind from taking a 
direct hold of the ground. The covering should be taken off 
when the bulbs have thrown up shoots about two inches long, 
or earlier if heavy frosts are over. 
SOME BLUB FLOWERED VARIETIES. 
Hyacinths — There is a wide range of these exquisite blossom- 
ing bulbs, in navy-blue, sky-blue, porcelain, indigo, light and 
dark blue and violet, in both single and double varieties, viz.: 
Grand f.ilas. Grand Maitre, Johan, King of the Blues, Queen 
of the Blues, Regulus, Schotel, Bloksberg, Charles Dickens. Lord 
Raglan and Othello. 
Tulips — In the blue and violet shades, among the best in 
early singles are Couleur Cardinal, La Remarquable, Moliere, 
rotter. President Lincoln. Van der Neer and Wouwerman; in 
doubles. Lac van Haarlem. Blanc Borde. Blue Flag and Rhin- 
oceros. In the Darwin or single late-flowering tulips we can most 
highly recommend in the blue shades Dream. Faust. Kate Green- 
oway, Mrs. Potter Palmer. Nora Ware. Nymph, Rev. Ewbank, 
Violet Queen and William Copeland. 
Crocuses come next, in varieties like Albion. Baron van Brunow, 
Maximilian C. purpurea grandiflora, etc. And do not forget the 
Muscari botryoides. blue (grape hyacinths). Scilla Sibirica, Cam- 
panula ccerulea, ehionodoxas, Babiana purpurea, Camassia es- 
culenta and Erythronium Dens-Canis. You can also use Iris 
Anglica, Hispanica, Germaniea and Kaempferi. in varieties like 
Bleu Mourant. King of the Blues, Prince of Wales. Alexander 
von Humboldt. Darling; I. formosa. australis and neglecta; 
Violet Queen. Uncle Tom. Atlantis. Kleber. Rossini, etc., all in 
the most striking blue and violet colors. 
For later blue shaded flowers such gladioli as Adeline Patti. 
Baron J. Hulot. Blue Jay. Faust. King of the Blues. Master 
Wietze; also the single and double blue anemones, delphiniums, 
phloxes and Aconitum Fischeri will do nicely. 
In this way blue or blue shaded flowers can be found in each 
garden from the time the snow is gone till Jack Frost comes 
again. 
ELECTRICITY It is a fact worth noting that when an arc light 
AND TREES. 
is placed in such way that a tree will be under 
its rays all night, the tree inevitably loses it s 
virility and dies. We do not remember having seen this matter 
discussed, but observation through many years proves it to be true. 
Just what the cause is, we are unable to say. unless it lies in 
the fact that trees, to grow and thrive, must have a certain number 
of hours darkness out of each twenty-four. The laws id' nature 
are exactly and evenly balanced. It has been proven that a human 
being grows only in the daytime, and that trees grow only at night. 
As man goes about his business during the hours of day he breathes 
the oxygen out of the atmosphere and throws the carbonic acid gas 
back into the elements. In growing at night trees absorb this 
carbonic gas out of the atmosphere aud throw off the oxygen. 
From carbonic acid gas the wood and sap of the trees is made. 
So we find that the original adjustment of these mysterious things 
was fashioned by the Almighty just right. Any attempt of man 
to reverse the laws of nature has always met with defeat and dis- 
appointment. 
It is just as reasonable to believe that a healthy tree could be 
produced if it was kept continually in the light, as it is to believe 
that vegetation will thrive if planted or transferred to a dark 
place? We know that a stalk of corn planted where the light of 
the sun tan not fall upon it will bleach and finally pine away and 
die, and it is probable that if the same stalk could be kept con- 
tinually in the light it would likewise dwindle and die. In the 
dispensation of Providence it required day and night to make the 
collect balance for universal creation and that balance can not 
be changed. 
In placing an- lights they should always be set as far as possible 
from trees which the owners desire to preserve. Another argu- 
ment against placing lights near trees is that the lights attract to 
that immediate vicinity every specie of bug and tly. and when 
daylight comes they take refuge ill the branches of the tree to 
deposit their eggs and prey on the vitality of the tree. — South- 
western Electrician. 
A VARIABLE The passage of time has only served to confirm 
PHLOX. the opinions expressed when the silvery lavender 
phlox Phlox argillaceo was described as a new 
species nearly four years ago. It has maintained its specific 
characters in a variety of situations and comes true from seed 
without showing any trace of Phlox pilosa which has been sug- 
gested as its probable ancestor. In general appearance Phlox 
argillaceo does resemble this latter species, but no more so than 
it does another species, Phlox glaberrima, which grows in the 
same general region. It is hairy, like pilosa and tall like glaber- 
rima, but the blossoms are unlike either and the time of flower- 
ing comes between these two species. Possibly the species began 
as a sport from one or the other of its allies, but it has pro- 
gressed along its own lines until it is quite unlike either. That 
it is not a hybrid is shown by its coming true from seed, and by 
its differently colored flowers. There is no other species of 
phlox in the neighborhood with flowers of a similar color. 
due of the interesting things connected with the silvery lav- 
ender phlox, writes Willard X. Clute in The American Botanist, 
is its tendency to vary within certain lines under cultivation. 
The variations in flower color, are of course, most noticeable, but 
it also presents differences in the size and shape of the blossoms, 
in height and in floriferousness. By selective breeding, four prin- 
cipal strains of flowers have been developed. At one extreme 
are found flowers of pure ivory white and at the other, flowers 
of fine, clear violet. Between these then' is one strain of pale 
lavender with deeper lavender nectar guides and another of lav- 
ender with a pink eye. In addition to these there are many forms 
that might be made the basis of further breeding experiments 
with encouraging results. 
A visit was recently made to the type locality of the species in 
search of other interesting variations from the type, and some 
two hundred specimens were brought home for further study. 
There is no doubt but that ill this species we have a series of 
forms quite as extensive and remarkable as those found ill the 
evening primrose which have recently received so much attention. 
In the short space of time during which the plant has been 
under cultivation, it has shown a remarkable capacity for re- 
sponding to good treatment. In the wild, it seldom sends up as 
many as a dozen flowering stems — usually the number is less 
than half a dozen — but in the writer's garden single plants have 
produced more than 125 flowering stems at one time. 
THE MAPLES Reproduced from Japan, a magazine published 
OF JAPAN. in Tokio. the following vivid picture may be found 
the more typical of the Japanese autumn from the 
slight traces of the native idiom in the often excellent English: 
"The sight of this month in Japan is maple, momiji or kovo, 
which literally means 'scarlet leaves.' These foliage turn crimson- 
scarlet, vermilion, carmine-coppery, or lake-red, according to dif- 
ferent varieties, exhibiting a magnificent view. The flushing of 
the maple starts about the middle of October, lasting till the later 
part of November. 
"Tt would be really difficult to appreciate the beauty of the 
sight given by the maple in Japan without visiting one of its 
reputed resorts. No amount of words can adequately depict the 
s. cue displayed by a maple grove. One can. indeed, by a stretch 
of imagination obtain a vague idea of what a maple resort in its 
zenith of splendor ami sumptuousness looks like. Think of a 
tree whose branches and twigs are thickly laden with the little 
palm-like leaves, scarlet-red. gambogue or gold; think further of 
this tree attaining from thirty to fifty feet, in height. This is no 
doubt pretty; and would be an attractive sight in a garden. But 
such a view gives nothing of a kind of the impression that a 
maple resort in Japan is capable of imparting to one. It is not 
a single tree, however large, but an assemblage of hundreds, nay, 
thousands, that is required ill the display of a sight that deserves 
a description by the word 'magnificence.' 
The striking feature of the beauty of the maple in Japan is 
in its vastness and wilderness, in its thick groves or assemblage 
of countless trees, rather than in its individual tree. It is the 
sumptuous, gorgeous foliage growing on the interlocking branches 
