16 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
February. 1917 
five to six inches at the base. 1 he stems are 
strong, but graceful. The bells are more 
nearly cup-shaped than those of the older 
type, so that a plant in flower, except for the 
distinct character of the foliage, does strikingly 
resemble a gigantic Lily-of-the-Valley, thereby 
justifying its name. On one of my plants I 
counted last spring thirty-four flowering 
sprays at one time. With me, the white 
form proves the better bloomer, as well as 
the stronger grower. As a foreground plant- 
ing for Delphinium Barlowi, or the improved 
D. formosum, nothing is more satisfactory 
than this new Heuchera. As it comes into 
bloom early and retains its flowers into July, 
an exceedingly pretty efFect may be obtained 
by interplanting the Delphiniums above men- 
tioned with Siberian Irises, Polemomums, and 
blue and white Campanulas, preferably of 
the “peach leaf” varieties. The feathery 
beauty of the Heuchera sprays almost com- 
pletely hide the basal foliage of the back- 
ground plants, imparting an indescribable 
grace and lightness to the bed. I count this 
arrangement one of my happiest garden 
effects. 
These Heucheras may be easily raised from 
seed, which germinates readily. From two 
small foreign packets — and they were very 
small — I obtained forty plants. I he seed- 
lings appear stronger than H. sanguinea seed- 
lings and make more rapid growth. They do 
not, however, bloom from seed until the sec- 
ond year, and it is not until their third spring 
that their full effect is produced. In this 
part of New England they seem entirely hardy, 
the only plants that I have lost being those 
removed in the night, root and branch, along 
with some valuable “type” and named 
Larkspurs. But such losses are not, of course, 
attributable to climatic conditions. — E. Her- 
rick , Springfield, Mass. 
Another Large Silver Bell. — I noticed 
in the December issue the note on the Silver- 
bell tree which Mr. L. C. Buss of New Jersey 
has in his garden, and which measures 5 feet 
in circumference, 4 feet from the ground base, 
and has a height of about 55 feet. Perhaps it 
will be of interest to Mr. Buss to know that 
in the forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains 
in North Carolina, near my estate at High- 
lands, at an elevation of 4,000 feet, I meas- 
ured last spring an Halesia Carolina monti- 
cola (which is the arborescent form of the 
Halesia Carolina as now recognized by the 
Arnold Arboretum) which measured 7 feet 
5 inches in circumference, 4 feet from the 
ground, and had a height of approximately 
80 feet. 1 his Halesia is cut as a timber tree 
in some sections of these mountains. If Mr. 
Buss would like to see a photograph of the 
tree, I have one which I would be glad to 
show him. — II. II. Richardson, Brookline, 
M as sack usetts. 
To Hasten. Young Peach Trees. — I have 
for eight years raised peach trees for my garden 
from pits and grown them unbudded. I was 
forced to this unorthodox course because the 
“clearwinged wasp-like fly,” which lays 
peach-border-eggs days, nights and Sundays 
in this neighborhood, has an epicure’s delight 
in the sappy thickened bark of budded trees 
at the point of union— I have raised some 
good fruits, first and last, when all the budded 
trees of the vicinity died. 
Generally, the fourth summer after ger- 
mination sees two or three fruits on a seedling 
peach tree and shows whether the tree is a 
good one or not. Some trees bear their third 
summer if never transplanted. Crawfords 
in particular give a high average tree from 
seed and bear young. I have a row raised 
from pits of the best fruits of a basket of 
Georgia early peaches which are tender and 
freeze back badly. Two of the same lot in 
sheltered situations are large young trees and 
full of fruit buds last spring. 
The trees in favored positions l had to 
cut back because in the rainy weather we had 
in 1911, they bent over a path and showered 
passers by unduly. The side of those trees 
toward the path in 1912 was full of fruit buds 
and the undipped side had few or none. 
I had no more than noticed this oddity 
when I received a Penna. State Bulletin on 
orchard work in which Prof. H. G. Surface, 
the State Entomologist, well known as a prac- 
tical authority on fruit growing, announces 
as a certainty that young stone fruits can be 
put into bearing young by end-pruning of 
twigs in August and September. — E. S. John- 
son, Pennsylvania. 
The Sweet Bough Apple. — When I was a 
little boy my mother used to tell me not to 
eat any green apples when I went to visit my 
little playmates. She said sour and green 
apples would make me sick. On at least one 
occasion I was disobedient to the extent that 
when I returned Mother after poking my 
abdomen with her forefinger exclaimed, “Oh! 
tight as a drum!” I don’t remember whether 
or not I was spanked but I do remember that 
I have not yet felt the ill effects of those Sweet 
Bough apples. It is my belief that if more 
of this old time favorite apple were planted 
in home orchards anxious mothers would 
find it a boon in the way I have suggested. 
1 he variety is one of the most luscious, deli- 
cious “scrumptious,” “ spluschious” of all 
our early apples. No sweet variety with 
which I am acquainted compares with it. 
After you have eaten one in its prime condi- 
tion you will not wonder at my mother’s ex- 
clamation! — M. G. Kains, New York. 
THE MONTH’S REMINDER 
GETTING SEEDS STARTED FOR AN EARLY GARDEN THIS YEAR 
T HOUGH the outdoors may look 
still far from inviting it is in reality 
only a few days before all the outside 
work will be coming along with a 
rush. March will be here before you know 
it. Wherever there are fruits and shrubs 
there should be work enough to keep the 
gardener busy for every hour of pleasant 
weather he can get out-doors between now 
and digging time. If you still have planning 
to do, — and there is no danger of doing it too 
carefully and thoroughly — save it for evenings 
and stormy days. 
Make a list of the things to be done, other- 
wise you are likely to find yourself using as 
much time in looking about for work and 
trying to decide what to do next, when you do 
get a chance, as in actually doing the work. 
DO SPRING CLEANING NOW 
A GENERAL shakeup of the greenhouse 
plants can be undertaken now, taking 
stock, and discarding poor plants. 1 he real 
rush season is still a few weeks away, hut it is 
high . time to get everything in readiness. 
Make all the spare room you can for trans- 
planting, repotting and potting up. Don’t 
bother with poor looking weak plants. 1 hey 
may be of some value, but probably not as 
much as the other things you can grow in the 
space they occupy. 
Clean out the space in which you intend 
to start your cuttings and seedlings. It is 
best to remove every bit of soil, sand and 
anything moveable. Then give a thorough 
spraying with extra strong bordeaux mixture 
and nicotine sulphate combined, and after 
that has dried, white-wash the wood before 
putting in the new soil and sand. These 
precautions will take very little time if you 
once get at them in earnest, and may save 
dozens of seedlings. It will pay well to steril- 
ize the soil to be used in starting seeds. 
Killing the weed seeds alone will pay for the 
trouble. If you need but a small amount 
of soil it may be easily “baked” on the top of 
the furnace or heater when you have a good 
hot fire going, or turn a jet of live steam into 
a covered box half full of loose soil. 
SOIL FOR SEEDLINGS 
A/IIX up now the soil for your “flats” 
and pots for spring work. Sift it — add 
a little bone flour — and if it is dry, water it 
thoroughly, and put it away in a barrel or a 
bin. It will then be in ideal condition when 
you are ready to use it, giving quicker results 
than soil prepared at the time of using. 
Get ready “flats” and pots. Saw up all 
the flats you will want — and then some more 
for one always needs more than at first esti- 
mated. Old pots should be allowed to soak a 
day or two in water; and then scrubbed inside 
and out with sand and an old stiff brush. 
Before the end of this month finish all 
needed repairs on old sash, and the glazing 
and painting of new ones which may be 
wanted for this spring. This annual job is 
a messy one at the best. Get at it and finish 
it up as soon as possible. If you have not 
used it before, this spring try some of the 
“liquid putty” for repairing — easier to put 
on and stays plastic under the hard skin 
forming on the surface. 
HAVE YOU ENOUGH FRAMES? 
'T'HREE out of five gardeners struggle - 
-*■ along with fewer sash than they could 
advantageously use. With the new style 
double glazed sash you get many of the ad- 
vantages of a hotbed without the trouble and 
