20 
THE (GARDEN MAGAZINE 
August, 1916 
of more failures than improper soil. They are 
lovely, and we speak of them as “Gardenia 
Narcissus,” for they are much alike in odor, 
as well as looks. 
Tennessee. Thomas Blandson. 
Dahlias are not Inconsistent 
T W.ANT to protest against Mr. Lewis C. 
Richards’s article, “The Inconsistent 
Dahlia,” which appeared in the June Garden 
M.agazine. I do not raise Dahlias for show 
or profit, but for pleasure, and I disagree 
with Mr. Richards. 
Fifteen years ago I set eight Dahlias. This 
year I have 250 besides my Cactus seedlings. 
I have never failed to have blooms from the 
last week in June until frost. I know that 
seed taken from plants grown in a mixed 
garden will not come true to color or kind. 
I he pleasure of growing from seed is the un- 
expected results. Last season I bought a 
package of Collarette Dahlia seeds from a 
reliable seedsman who guaranteed 60 per 
cent, to come true Collarette. I transplanted 
thirty plants. Cutworms killed one; one 
got broken so that it didn’t bloom; one pro- 
duced a very large, single blossom, dark red, 
with petals at base shaded to cream at tips; 
the other twenty-seven were true Collarette. 
The smallest flower was about three inches, 
across, the outer petals' being a black red, 
with a collar of pure white. One of the 
largest was about six inches across, the outer 
petals a bright pink. 
For the time and care given them I do not 
know of another flower that will give more 
beauty or more pleasure than the Dahlia. As 
for being inconsistent, they are not — in any 
event, not in Southern Rhode Island. 
Bradford, R. I. Mrs. P. H. Pendleton. 
Sweet Scented Chrysanthemums 
A RE there supposed to be any sweet 
scented Chrysanthemums.^ I have had 
outdoors for two years a variety with a dis- 
tinct sweet, honey-like fragrance. It came 
to me labelled Adonis, but I am inclined to 
think that was an error, as the blossom is of 
incurving form, while the catalogue descrip- 
tion of .Adonis places it in the reflexed class. 
I have grown outdoors about twenty 
varieties and have had success with ten or 
twelve kinds, the others blooming too late 
to fully develop. I also find that by taking 
the terminal buds instead of the crown buds 
they develop much better and surer here, 
due to the difference in time it takes for them 
to open. By leaving but two or three blooms 
to a plant, I have some blossoms seven inches 
in diameter. 
Umatilla, Oregon. W. E. Pound. 
Fall Planting of Gladiolus Bulblets 
PAGE 245, of The Garden Magazine 
for May, 1916, is an article on the fall 
planting of Gladiolus bulblets. My opinion 
is that a Gladiolus bulb or bulblet that freezes 
is dead. If the ground surrounding it freeze, 
it will also freeze. ' Of a bulb partly frozen, 
the unfrozen part may or may not grow the 
following season, according to whether or 
not it has a bud and a portion of the base 
uninjured. 
If there is no danger from freezing, or they 
can be safely planted below the frost line, 
bulblets and young bulbs are as well (bulblets 
better) planted in the fall, or left in the 
ground without digging, as they get the 
advantage of earlier growth in the spring 
than would be possible from spring planting. 
A bulb old enough to have a large dead bulb 
at Its base will not grow well when left with- 
out digging, but should do well if dug, cleared 
of the dead bulb at its base, and replanted. 
1 he dead bulb at the base gives neither root- 
hold nor nourishment to the living bulb when 
it tries to start growth in the spring. 
Gladiolus bulblets can lie dormant in the 
ground for a season and grow the next, and can 
be kept more than a year in cellar. I believe 
they may lie dormant in the soil for more 
than one season, and grow when conditions 
are favorable. 
Carthage, Mo. Benjamin C. Auten. 
A Cry for New Roses 
TS THERE a Rose grower in the world 
that has not gone “rambler mad”.? 
When I read the catalogues, it seems to me 
they are like the students — “ramble all 
around.” I do so long for two new Roses 
to appear in the Rose world. I want a good 
bush and climber, too. I want them white, 
fragrant, double, hardy, large Roses on long, 
thornless stems, one Rose to a stem, good cut 
Roses, good bloomers, that will bloom more 
than once in a season. In fact, I want all 
the good qualities I can get in each one. I 
have several good white Rose bushes, but I 
want another better one. 
I have a fine climbing red Rose, almost the 
shade of Ulrich Brunner, and as thornless, 
much hardier, that blooms more than once 
in a season. Every one loves it. Now I 
long for a climbing white to plant beside it, 
and the Climbing American Beauty. 
Can you tell me where I can buy a pot- 
grown Rose true to name on its own roots? 
West Virginia. Georgia C. Price. 
A Drain Pipe Sundial 
npHE increasing interest in the small, in- 
-*■ expensive garden is a pleasant thing to 
contemplate; and I suspect publications 
like The Garden Magazine have had a good 
deal to do with bringing it to pass. Going 
about the country I have noticed many 
attempts at home-made sundial pedestals, 
some of them remarkably pretty and in- 
genious. Therefore it may be of possible 
interest if I tell how I made a pedestal at 
small cost. 
I bought one section of round clay drain 
pipe, eight inches in diameter (a larger dia- 
meter may be desired by some, but my dial 
was small), and I placed this on bricks till 
I had raised it to just the height I desired. 
Then, noting the necessary height of base, I 
made a foundation of coal cinders, and with 
a wide barrel hoop for a frame, built a con- 
crete base, with brick ends alternating with 
the concrete on the edge to give it a touch of 
color. When this had hardened, I lined the 
drain pipe carefully with lard, stood it over 
the exact centre of the base, with the flaring 
joint end up to make the capital to my column, 
leveled it, and, mixing a considerable quantity 
of concrete (keeping it fairly liquid), I poured 
it into the drain pipe, letting it fill up to 
within half an inch of the top. I then waited 
till a few moments before noon, filled the 
rest of way, and at noon to the dot set my 
dial into the liquid concrete and leveled it 
carefully. (I’m not sure this last proceeding 
is strictly scientific!) [No! The dial time is 
correct only twice in a year. — Ed.] 
I then allowed the pipe to stand for three 
days till the concrete had hardened, and then 
broke the pipe away by hitting it sharply, 
but not heavily, on the upper rim, striking 
directly down and not sideways. Owing 
to the lining of lard, the broken pieces fell off 
without trouble. Now, in the second year, 
with its covering of Ivy, my dial looks re- 
spectably classic. Such a pedestal could 
also be made of white cement and marble 
dust, and look more classic still. It is sur- 
prising to find how much better shaped the 
inside of a drain pipe is than the outside. It 
is really quite Doric. 
Mass. Walter Prichard Eaton. 
Formula for Delphinium “Blacks” 
N The Garden Magazine for ... . 
was a forrnula containing lime and tobacco 
dust for eradication of black spot in Delphin- 
iums. I used it on plants blooming for the first 
time last year and they have done wonderfully 
well — no trouble from soil insects at all an^ 
plants strong and healthy. Is there any 
reason against using it freely in soil of Asters, 
Chrysanthemums, Phlox, Roses and such 
perennials? The ingredients are, of course, 
used as fertilizers and insecticides in many 
cases. Would you advise its use as a soil 
purifier and exterminator of worms, etc., 
with any and all plants not injured by the 
lime? [Try it; and find out. — Ed.] 
Portland, Oregon. J. C. Monteith. 
Weather and the English Bluebell 
T HAVE the English Wood Hyacinth (Squill) 
planted in a partly shady border. Neither 
blue nor white forms succeeded until the 
spring of 1916. Last summer was extra- 
ordinarily cool and rainy in this district, 
to the utter destruction of some kinds of 
plants which usually thrive. The winter had 
some heavy freezing, but most of the time a 
thick snow blanket on the ground to equalize 
temperatures under the surface. To some 
extent, English climatic conditions were 
provided these Squill bulbs during their 
maturing and root-producing seasons; and 
certainly for the first time since they were 
imported, five years ago. From being small, 
weak-stemmed, pale in color, and generally 
a half-failure, they were this spring a .real 
flower and something to take pleasure in, 
cut or in the border. They appear to have 
multiplied three times over, as well. Has 
any one else ha’d a parallel miracle of adapta- 
tion of weather to plants? And are the 
Squills put permanently in good humor with 
things American? Or will they turn disloyal 
and disgruntled again next year? 
Pittston, Penna. E. S. Johnson. 
[Soil condition, as modified by rainfall, is 
the controlling factor with many a plant. 
In Mr. T. A. Havemeyer’s garden, near Glen 
Head, L. L, this English Squill or Bluebell 
(Scilla hispanica) thrives abundantly in a 
half boglike dell sparsely shaded by tall trees. 
Accompanying it are Skunk Cabbage, Poet’s 
Narcissus, Wakerobin, etc. Perhaps our 
correspondent’s site is too dry in normal 
years. — Ed.] 
Hot Water for Cut Poppies 
\/IANY admirers of the Shirley Poppy 
will not give it space in the garden 
because after it is cut it immediately droops. 
I have found that if I pick the freshly opened 
flowers, take them at once to the house and 
put the stems in vases filled with water too 
hot for the finger to bear, that they will 
not droop and will remain upright till the 
petals drop from maturity. 
Pittsford, Vt. Henry F. Walker. 
