462 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
they only need some light litter thrown over them and 
nothing more. 
* # % 
A friend in Virginia wants to grow violets, but doesn't 
know where or when to start. In that latitude violets 
will doubtless succeed in the open air, but, of course, it 
is better to have cold frames. The plants are set out in 
rich soil in September at the latest, and earlier if possible, 
and must be within six inches of the glass. Princess of 
Wales and Marie Louise are recommended. If the frame 
is filled with two feet of well packed tree leaves and fer- 
mented stable manure and has nine inches of soil or loam 
placed over this and the whole allowed to settle before 
planting, the violets will grow apace and ought to begin 
to yield an abundant crop this month (November). 
They will continue throwing up dozens of blooms all 
winter. Keep them watered, but don't close the frames 
at any time when the foliage is wet. A skillful waterer 
will irrigate between the rows of plants, these being one 
foot apart each way, unless they were small when set out, 
then they could be put closer. Soak well. Don't water 
merely on the surface or in driblets. When sharp frost 
occurs, the sashes should go on, but till then, back on all 
fine days and give ventilation whenever the open air tem- 
perature is above 40 degrees Fahr., less when its cold, 
more as the temperature rises. Manure water will 
scarcely be required, since the roots will go down to the 
substantial fare below. Bast mats, or straw mats, should 
be placed over the frames when the temperature gets to 
16 or 18 degrees above zero. 
* * * 
This is the season of the year when we love to pore 
over seed and nursery catalogues. There is much other 
literature, books that are interesting as well as instructive. 
Many of these are English, but we have several good 
ones that are true American. This readable class of 
garden book is increasing in number, and a good thing- 
it is. Among those I have in mind of this type are: 
Mrs. Helena Rutherford Ely's "Hardy Garden" book ; 
Charles Skinner's "Little Gardens"; Wilhelm Miller's 
"What England Can Teach About Gardening" ; Mr. 
Horace McFarland's and Mrs. Francis King's recent 
books, as well as a heap of others that could be named. 
Together with these we want, of course, more serious 
works, or rather, I should say, reference works, like 
Bailey's Rule Book, Johnson's Dictionary (of which a 
new edition is now on the market), and other handy 
volumes. To the making of horticultural books there is 
no end. At a guess I should say that a man, if he were 
wealthy enough, could purchase twenty-five thousand 
different books on horticulture and closely allied subjects 
and then leave some over. 
* * * 
A class of winter flowering Begonia that is almost new 
to our American gardens, but which they have seen and 
grown in the gardens of England for nearly twenty 
years past, is that with large trusses of big double and 
single flowers. These were first raised by John Heal, one 
of the foremen in the world's famous nursery establishment 
of James Veitch & Sons, of Chelsea, London. He crossed 
the beautiful pink single flowered Begonia Socotrana, 
which Prof. Isaac Bayley Balfour, of Edinburgh, found 
on the Island of Socotra, and which is fibrous rooted, 
with a summer-flowering tuberous rooted Begonia. I 
think the first two he exhibited were named Winter 
Cheer and Mrs. Ileal. Both were fine crimson scarlet 
varieties with pyramids of flowers, very gracefully dis- 
posed, each bloom two and a half to three inches across. 
The first double one, at least the first pink double one, 
was named Julino. Since then there have been Saffron, 
orange-red and russet colored forms, but none of these 
appear to be grown here yet. These Begonias are now 
appearing in some of the gardens of New England and 
the Atlantic States. One grower at Boston offers them 
for sale at retail. They last well and are undoubtedly 
gorgeous and meritorious. John Scheepers, in New 
York, has exhibited them, also William Tricker, of Ar- 
lington, N. J., possibly others as well. In most respects 
they can be treated the same as the tuberous Begonias ; 
the one great point of difficulty that many growers find 
is in keeping them safely over the period between the 
passing of the flowers until they are to be started into 
new growth the next summer. As the bulbs or tubers are 
small, they perish if dried off wholly like the true 
tuberous Begonias. Remember, that these we are speak- 
ing of are semi-tuberous, a cross between a non-tuberous 
Begonia and one that did make a tuber. Therefore they 
should not be wholly dried ; they should be rested by being 
kept quiescent, the soil dampish, yet not by any means 
moist. No amount of writing can tell exactly the condi- 
tions that are best ; only experience can discover. It 
should be said that there are few cultivators who finish 
these plants to perfection, but when they are well grown 
they are worth going a long way to see. 
How about your supply of rhubarb? Until this year 
my stock has been all located in a position facing north- 
west, consequently the warming influence of the sun in 
spring was missed. To remedy this, a new plantation 
has been made, one-half the crop being in the sunniest, 
driest part of the garden, the other remaining as before. 
With the aid of a frame and some hot bed material, we 
look forward to having a dish or two of rhubarb a 
couple or three weeks earlier than usual in the coming 
year. Rhubarb is so excellent a diuretic and so palatable 
that its season is never found to be too long in our case. 
* * * 
A few years ago, indeed, one might say two years ago, 
advertisements of apple fruits were unknown. The 
orange growers led the advertising campaign in the daily, 
weekly and monthly papers and magazines, but the apple 
growers, through their societies, quickly followed. We 
all know "Sunkist" oranges now ; so do we know Hood 
River and Skookum apples. Good for the apple man ! 
"An apple a day keeps the doctor awav" quite a good bit. 
Every night yours truly eats an apple before bedtime. 
Some of the growers of choice vegetables under glass 
are also putting these up in attractive packages and are 
advertising them under copyright names. It used to be 
said, "Sweet are the uses of advertisements" (itself a 
parody), but now we can well say, "Sweet are these 
subjects of advertisement." 
* * * 
A plant for blooming in late winter, one this writer 
has mentioned before, is Pelargonium Clorinda, one of 
Totty's introductions. It grows with the utmost freedom, 
has scented leaves and flowers that are bright rose pink, 
in good size clusters, plentifully produced. You can get 
young plants now to grow and have in bloom in March 
and onward. 
* * * 
An everblooming Scarlet Sage should find favor. 
There is such a variety. It is named America, and hailed 
from Washington, D. C, but some of the plant firms may 
have it. Even in the cutting bench it blooms, but I don't 
say that is a merit there. A white "Scarlet Sage" (sounds 
like a white blackbird, and there is such a bird), is also 
an achievement of recent times. We may hear more of 
it. 
