THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
281 
which are given in such profusion, are splendid for 
home decoration. 
The following list includes plants which are really 
perennial, although they are more usually treated as 
biennials in one of the ways described below. Among 
the most important are Canterbury bells, single and 
double varieties, and calycanthema forms in many 
beautiful colors: Bellis, double daisies; Alyssum saxa- 
tile, for edging purposes; CEnothera Lamarckiana, fox- 
gloves in variety, hollyhocks, good named sorts; 
honesty, purple and white; pansies, single and double; 
rocket, Silene pendula, sweet william, named sorts; 
Scabious, Verbascums in variety, and wallflowers in 
variety. 
As regards the culture, there are two ways of going 
to work, and in cold districts 1 confidently advise 
gardeners to sow during February or March in heat, 
and treat in the same way as half-hardy annuals, plant- 
ing out, however, not in the front borders, but in the 
mixed border. The plants so treated will bloom in the 
autumn of the same year, and will flower very thor- 
oughly during the summer of the succeeding year. 
This, of course, does not apply to such subjects as 
wallflowers and myosotis. 
The method more generally adopted is to prepare 
a fine seed bed in a rough frame any time from May 
to the second week in July. On this sow the seeds 
thinly, covering only lightly with soil. Keep watered, 
and as soon as large enough, prick out the seedlings 
into boxes of loamy soil, and keep in the frame for a 
month or so. Then plant out in a well-prepared site, 
or the reserve plot, keeping the plants well watered 
and hoed. Finally transfer to their flowering quarters 
in the front borders, or in the mixed borders in 
October. 
Many can be sown out of doors, and pricked off 
straight away on to the reserve plot. In cold districts 
it is better to transfer all plants, except those used for 
spring bedding, into a rough frame, planting out in 
February or March. Soot water is useful in the early 
stages of growth, and during the second year plants 
such as Canterbury bells, hollyhocks, sweet williams 
or verbascums are greatly benefited when in bloom 
by an application of weak liquid manure twice a week. 
The Gardeners' Magazine (English). 
AMONG THE DAHLIAS 
T> I. ANTING should be completed by the end of June, 
although excellent results may be had from plants 
set out as late as July 10. 
It frequently happens where green plants have be- 
come pot-bound before being planted that they are 
slow in starting, and usually the growth made is 
heavier at the top while the lower part fails to de- 
velop. In such cases the plant should be cut back to 
the hard wood to induce a fresh break from the base. 
All vacancies that appear at this time should be ex- 
amined and all decayed tubers and those not showing a 
break should be replaced with tubers showing a good 
shoot, or by green plants kept for replacing. 
In July finish all planting by at least the 15th. Go 
over the plantings of May and June and if there are 
losses, replace them. Attend to the staking and tying 
as growth progresses, and see that all labels are 
properly attached for easy identification. We are 
now approaching a season when we are apt to have a 
dry and hot spell, and a sudden check in growth is the 
result, followed by rustv foliage and a quantity of 
twiggy shoots. The Dahlia enthusiast should guard 
agams't such a result and keep the cultivator moving 
regularly a couple of times a week and give an oc- 
casional soaking with the hose. 
Toward the end of the month a number of varieties 
will be showing flower and should have a light dress- 
ing of bonemeal worked in around the plants, and a 
good mulch placed on also. Where half-rotted stable 
manure is employed as a mulch it is not necessary 
to use the bone. As the flowers begin to show color 
be on the lookout for rogues or those wrongly named 
and either throw out or label correctly. It takes some 
courage to throw out a plant when in bloom even if it 
be a poor variety. In such cases mark it "N. G." or 
"Discard." — American Dahlia Society Bulletin. 
INTENSIVE CULTURE OF STRAWBERRIES. 
CTRAWBERRIES do best on a light, gravelly loam. 
^ If too sandy they burn up in a hot, dry spell, and 
a heavy clay will bake too hard. The ground should 
have a good coat of well-rotted stable manure spaded 
under to the depth of at least 10 inches, that the plants 
may take a deeper root the better to withstand extreme 
heat. 
Set young, thrift) plants between July 15 and Septem- 
ber 1, 12 inches apart, in beds of three rows each, allow- 
ing 2 feet between the beds for a path, both for cultiva- 
tion and for picking. 
The beds must be kept entirely free from every kind of 
growth, except the plants from which you are to get your 
fruit. The runners must not be allowed to grow long 
enough to drop down and take root, either before or after 
bearing. 
When hearing for the first time the plants will put 
forth but one cluster of leaves and one of bearing stems. 
If during the first bearing year the plant is kept free 
from runners from spring until fall, thus throwing back 
on itself its surplus strength, it will produce several other 
heads or cluster of eyes, from each of which it will throw 
out a cluster of leaves and bearing stems, and there is 
where you get your great productiveness. If, during the 
second year, the same plan is kept up the plants will push 
out a few more heads, and that is about the limit of the 
plant's usefulness. It is then better to start a new bed, 
changing the location, if possible. 
The first year will produce the largest berries, but not 
the greatest crop. The second year is the banner year, 
when size of berrv and product are both considered, as 
third-year product may be as large, but the berries will 
run smaller. 
Mulch the beds, and the best material for that purpose 
is to cut green grass before it has run up to spear or seed 
and cover the ground thick with it just before the berry 
stems begin to lop over with the weight of the berries, 
which they will do quite early if the crop is heavy. One 
day's sun will wilt the grass so that it will lie close to the 
soil and keep in the moisture. If kept on the mulch will 
prevent weeds from growing the remainder of the season. 
For keeping a bed up to its full bearing capacity, have 
at all times some thrift}' runners ready for transplanting 
to replace any plant that might be injured. If taken with 
the soil attached a thrifty runner can be moved without 
retarding: its growth. — Fruit Grozver. 
The young of most song-birds are fed to a great ex- 
tent on the soft larva? of insects, of which there is usually 
an abundant supply everywhere. Many mother-birds, 
however, like to vary this animal diet with a little fruit- 
iuice now and then: and the ripened pulp of the black- 
berry, strawberry, or mulberry, will cheer the spirits of 
their nestlings. Such fruits are easily grown, and they 
make a pleasant addition to the bird-' menu. 
