502 
THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA 
for the failure or falling short on the firm that sold the 
seeds (or plants). 
Every page of the seed catalog must pay for itself. 
Every page costs a certain stated and known sum. This 
sum is the average of what it costs in men's wages, cleri- 
cal help, illustrations and cuts, printer's bill, paper, bind- 
ing, addressing and mailing. Think of the paper account 
alone. It would stagger some of you — you who perhaps 
lightly toss the catalog into the waste paper basket. 
White paper used in catalogs is costing somewhere round 
12 cents a pound at this moment. Few catalogs weigh 
less than half a pound, yet if the catalog runs over 8 
ounces, even ever so little, it is charged at pound rates 
for mailing. This is where some scheming is necessary 
if the half-pound weight is to be adhered to. Some day 
the houses may have the sensible privilege of mailing in 
bulk at pound rates. An edition of a seed or nursery 
catalog may run to one hundred thousand, which is not 
unusual, or up to half a million and over, which is the 
number printed and disseminated by a few of the firms. 
It is these that have to be most careful to make every 
page pay for itself. So there we have a few particulars 
of the catalog or seed list and its preparation before it 
reaches us. Think of the spelling of the names, the veri- 
fying, checking off, the close estimating of the cost of 
ounces, half ounces, packets : how much the packets 
should contain, and so on, and then marvel that so few 
mistakes are made. 
So much for these indispensables. They are among 
the most important of the "literature" of gardening. 
Give them a good reception. 
* * * 
It is at this earlv winter season that we appreciate so 
much the little greenhouse or attached conservatory. 
Just as there are few fruit trees in any of the smaller 
gardens ( as we mentioned last month ) because it simply 
has never occurred to the owners to plant them, so there 
are comparatively few greenhouses in any of the suburbs 
of our larger cities. Sun parlors are not uncommon, 
and some plants can be grown here. We would not want 
to crowd the place with plants and indeed the selection 
of kinds that would succeed is very limited, but recently 
I saw a verv neat span-roofed greenhouse into which the 
sun parlor led by way of two or three steps down. The 
greenhouse was in keeping with the rest of the house and 
a similar one at small cost could be made part of the 
general plan of many properties. The greenhouse 
builders would be willing to advise on such a matter, and 
indeed they would or should be called in anyway. Think 
of the bright selection of flowers you could have here 
through the autumn and winter, and good and early 
tomatoes in the summer, followed bv first-class melons, if 
that were desired. We would, however, vote for keep- 
ing such a greenhouse purely for ornamental plants. 
* * * 
The common bay, or English broad-leaved laurel, is 
so handsome an evergreen that it well deserves being 
taken care of in the winter so that its large, glossy, bright 
green, oval-oblong leaves may be enjoyed in the summer. 
Near the sea in the vicinity of New York it comes 
through the winter without shelter, and it is used some- 
times for the filling of window-boxes. It will grow into 
a small branching tree 1 5 feet high under the best condi- 
tions and also makes a fine hedge. 
At Christmas we will he seeing quantities of little 
ericas — heathers, as they are called bv the florists. 
These little plants in 3-inch and 4-inch pots are from 
tiny cuttings put into the sand just one year ago. Erica 
melanthera is easy to handle, roots readilv and grows 
freely. The bushy plants reach 6 inches to 9 inches in 
height, being grown in frames or out of doors in 
the summer. It requires a little forcing along to get 
them in flower now, and they object to a warm house. 
Of course it takes a year or two to get large plants. 
What a fine fern Pteris argyrea is for decorative uses. 
In the florists' made-up pans at Christmas it is one of 
the most distinctive and graceful. These pans contain 
such plants as Dracaenas (terminalis type in bright col- 
ors), Croton punctata, Cocos Weddelliana, Kentia palms, 
Marantas, Abutilons vexillarium, A. Savitzii, Pteris ser- 
rulata, Cyrtomium falcatum, Asparagus plumosus and 
such plants as dracaenas (terminalis type in bright col- 
with small ferns and tradescantia go well. 
Poinsettias — these glorious scarlet floral subjects are 
the kings of the spurge family — are seen everywhere at 
Christmas either as pot plants or in a cut state. When 
cut the ends of the stems should be put immediately in 
scalding water until the milky juice becomes coagulated. 
After that, don't cut the stem again. Some of the florists 
plug the hole in the stem with a piece of stick. Others 
cauterize the end. If bleeding is prevented the plants 
or flowers last three times as long and do not wilt. 
* * * 
How are your pansies, English daisies, forget-me- 
nots, candytuft and phlox amoena getting along? A 
very cool house or even a cold frame is all that they 
want. Some of the most forward of the pansies are now 
blooming. Mats and hay or straw should be readv for 
their protection. If some heated stable manure is at hand 
it may be lined along the sides of the pits or frames 
during the hard weather, or rather before the weather 
becomes severe. Of course where low span houses with 
raised benches can be afforded, the pansies, at all events, 
will respond the better. 
* * * 
Another operation that has demanded attention re- 
cently and is still part of our work is getting flowering 
trees, shrubs, roses and such like lifted from the open 
and brought into storage before severe frosts arrive. 
Any frost-proof shed answers. Deep frames are excel- 
lent for protecting doubtfully hardv shrubs such as rho- 
dodendron, pink pearl, English ivy, variegated Japanese 
euonymus, E. radicans variegata, etc. Put leaves and 
hay around the pots and over the plants very lightly, 
enough to shade them and prevent thawing and freezing 
but avoid suffocating them. No shrub can stand that. 
* * * 
In view of the fact that evergreens (conifers and 
pines ) are so scarce in many sections, why not begin 
to remedy this by propagating a stock? If you have a 
propagating bench filled with sand in a house with a 
temperature of 50 degrees, you can insert small cuttings 
now. These may be parts of tips of side branches or of 
lateral growths wherever they can be obtained. Trim 
them to A T / 2 inches long at the most and insert 'quite 
half this depth in the sand, make firm and keep damp. 
Among the plants that can be taken and rooted now 
are Retinispora squarrosa, R. pisifera and its golden 
form, Cupressus plicata and Tiiota orientalis. The much 
prized golden privet is also in the sand at this time just 
striking root. Large plants of the evergreen tribe can 
be lifted and transplanted almost any time, even when 
frozen, so long as it is practicable to lift with a ball of 
soil attached. Indeed the cutting around can be done 
now, and the transplanting may be done later when the 
ground is hard and clean. It is a common practice, by 
the way, to cut a circle or take a trench out around trees 
or large shrubs a year in advance of the time when they 
