THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 
425 
by the beginning of August at the latest. Everybody 
seems to be raising seedling Dablias, and a fine habit it is. 
* * * 
Recently I made a fine batch of cuttings of Golden 
Privet from young growth, taken five inches long. These 
were inserted in sandy soil in the shade or semi-shade of 
some currant bushes out-of-doors and kept watered. 
They are now looking sturdy and well. This is a favorite 
shrub of mine, as it is so bright and cheerful, keeps its 
color and is as hardy as the common oval-leaved Privet. 
In northern states it gets killed back, but if protected 
with dry straw it comes through and breaks out afresh 
in the spring. In the spring I stuck in, yes, simply stuck 
in, a large number of cuttings (primings) of California 
Privet along the side of a fence. Some of the pieces 
were a quarter of an inch thick and were branching. 
About 20 per cent, of the large ones rooted and fully 40 
per cent, of the ordinary single shoots. So it is easy to 
raise a stock of Privet. 
* * * 
Do you want to know how to cut down the cost of 
living and to increase your health? John Willy, editor 
The Hotel Monthly, told the delegates to the vegetable 
growers' convention how the hotels and restaurants 
throughout the country are succeeding in their campaign 
to popularize the humbler and cheaper vegetables by the 
preparation of more appetizing and tasty dishes, and as- 
serted that the housewife who would try could succeed 
equally well. Caterers and chefs no longer entrust the 
preparation of vegetables to inexperienced help, and em- 
ploy their skilled cooks to devote their attention to the 
meats. Vegetables are being prepared separately so that 
the peculiar flavor of each is maintained. In Chicago 
nearly every public dining room now lists on its bill of 
fare "vegetable dinner." The popularity of the baked 
potato has been due to proper preparation. There is an 
equal opportunity with squashes of different kinds, car- 
rots, parsnips, peas, beans, lettuce, onions and the other 
vegetables. The greater popularity of vegetables does 
not mean that more persons are becoming vegetarians, 
but that the travelling public is finding that an excess of 
meat is unhealthy, and that vegetables properly prepared 
increase the health and decrease the cost of living. 
* * * 
There is one vegetable that all small gardeners, or own- 
ers of small gardens to be more correct, would do well 
to have. This is Swiss Chard, which also goes by the 
name of Silver Beet or Spinach fleet. The tender young 
leaves are used, although the fleshy stems are also cooked 
and served like Asparagus, with a dressing. At its larg- 
est the plant is the same size as the ordinary beet, but 
when large like this it loses its mild flavor. Its great 
recommendation is that it lasts right through the summer, 
always remaining fresh, giving and producing leaves that 
can be gathered all the time, and one row of eight or ten 
feet will suffice for a family of three or four. It is of the 
easiest possible culture. Sow the seeds an inch deep in 
the open air in good rich soil in a sunny position. The 
row should be eighteen inches apart and the young plants 
may be thinned to nine inches in the row. Keep the soil 
clean and cultivated between and all is well. Chard seems 
to come through heat, cold, rain, drought and all insect 
and other ills without harm or hindrance. The root is 
of no use in cookery, but as a vegetable for the smallest 
of small gardens this can be very favorably commended. 
* * * 
Another vegetable not much used with us is the Vege- 
table Marrow. It is a great favorite in English gardens 
where our Squashes and Pumpkins are seldom seen ex- 
cept occasionally as ornaments on a pergola or trellis. 
The Vegetable Marrow is treated just as the Pumpkins 
are. Sow the seeds in a mild hot bed in March or April 
and plant out the young plants when they are half a foot 
high. A light rich soil in a sunny position is the place 
for them. The fruit differs according to the variety. 
Moore's Cream, Pen-y-byd, and the Long White are 
chiefly grown. The first is a dainty fruit, six inches or 
eight inches long, smooth, oval and cream colored. These 
are pared and put in boiling salted water for half an hour 
or less and Served with a white sauce. A borer attacks 
the vines as it does Squash vines and may cause the plants 
to collapse and die. There is no way of getting rid of it. 
Some growers try to open the stems with a pen knife 
and so get the grub out, but this is not always a satisfac- 
tory proceeding. The life of the vines may be saved 
if they have begun to root, as they often do, at a point 
a few feet away from their base, by placing leafmold or 
rotted manure over the joints where these roots are 
being: emitted. 
FALL PLANTING OF EVERGREENS. 
E 
VERGREENS, like all other plants, begin to grow 
in the spring, make their growth during the sum- 
mer, and take a rest or become dormant during the 
winter. The main difference is that they do not lose their 
leaves before going to rest, but retain them until the new 
ones come, dropping them unostentatiously in late spring. 
Some retain them the one year, but others two, three or 
even more, according to the species. 
Experience has taught us that the best time to move 
any kind of a plant is at a time when the top will not 
suffer and when it will most quickly make new roots to 
anchor it down and secure the needed supply of nourish- 
ment from the ground. 
With evergreens this is after they have made the 
growth in summer, and they have hardened up nicely, so 
as not to wilt ; and when the ground is still warm and 
moist to encourage the plant to make root hairs or feed- 
ers to supply those lost by transplanting. 
It is not wise to say this should be done in August, 
September or any other given time, unless the plants, 
conditions of soil, locality and weather be taken into con- 
sideration. 
The essentials to success are : 
The plants should be moved with a ball of earth at- 
tached to the roots. 
The ground should be moist from recent rains (not 
wet, so that it will puddle when it is tramped on), so it 
is wrong to plant at any time during dry, hot weather. 
The plants should be of those kinds that are not natu- 
rally tender or subject to winter killing in the winter, as 
the planting will surely weaken them and add to the risk. 
The location should not be wind-swept or draughty. 
If these points are covered there is no better time in all 
the year for moving evergreens than early fall, say from 
August to October. Of course, in the South planting 
may be carried on much later than in the North, where 
the winters begin earlier and are more severe. 
The kinds of evergreens that should not be planted in 
the fall north of Washington, D. C, unless the position 
be very sheltered and favorable are : Retinispora squar- 
rosa, Box, Lawson's Cypress, Deodar Cedar, Nordmann's 
Fir, English and Irish Yews, Rhododendrons, English 
and American Holly, Japanese Privet, Evergreen Azaleas 
and Andromedas. It will be noticed that these are nearly 
all what are known as the broad-leaved evergreens, and 
they are always liable to suffer from cutting, frosty winds 
and the winter sun. 
The ideal plant is one which has been regularly trans- 
planted so as to form a good root system, and the top 
properly pruned and trained to form a good foundation 
for future development. — The National Nurseryman. 
