48 
The Garden Magazine, March, 1921 
winter evening goes swiftly while I read and plan for the time when they 
are to come true — for come true they will if given a chance. Three 
years ago 1 sent for a package of Delphinium seed, “mixed,” from a 
well known seed store, and the result far surpassed my dreams. I 
planted the seeds the middle of March in a box which I stood before a 
sunnv window; early in May transplanted them into a bed twelve by 
forty feet, then edged the bed with Forget-me-nots, self-sown from a 
plant allowed to go to seed the year before, and Sweet Alyssum. 
1 n a couple of weeks the Forget-me-nots were abloom, and by the middle 
of June the border looked like a blue and white ribbon; by August 
there were some wonderful stalks of Larkspur, varied and very lovely, 
which continued valiantly to flower until frost. Then I cut all the 
stalks off and covered the bed with a thick layer of wood ashes and 
very fine coal ashes mixed. 
The following spring the ground was raked loose between the rows 
and by mid May the Forget-me-nots were a solid band of blue; they 
lasted until long after the Delphiniums began to bloom so that the bed 
LARKSPURS IN A NEW YORK GARDEN 
looked like a piece of azure sky fallen to earth. The self-sown Alyssum 
was a mass of sweet white flowers by the time the Forget-me-nots had 
faded. 
The Delphiniums seemed every possible shade of blue; many were of 
the bee variety; also of the white-centred, some with pink veining, 
beside a great number of D. belladonna, such a glorious blue, and 
most graceful in their delicate branching and fine leafage. 
As soon as they had finished their second season of bloom 1 again 
cut off the stalks and by the middle of August they were blooming 
again, though not as profusely as in June. Every one said that of 
course this second year was their best; but when frost came 1 gave 
them the same treatment as the autumn before, and I just wish every 
one could have seen them this season in June! Words cannot describe 
them. The enclosed photograph was taken July ist; the preceding 
day I had cut more than two hundred stalks for a wedding but, as 
you can see, they were not missed. The photograph also shows the 
Forget-me-not and Alyssum border, somewhat dwarfed, it is true, by 
their gigantic neighbors, but holding their own bv reason of their 
marvellously lovely color. Is it not a veritable fairy tale — and more? 
All that beauty from a ten penny package of tiny black seeds! — 
Jeannie S. Salisbury, Nyack, New York. 
Wants the Old-fashioned Flowers 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
\ A/ ILL some kind reader of this magazine tell me where I can 
’ ' obtain roots of the old-fashioned Roses, the Damask, Provence, 
Musk Cluster, Stanwell Perpetual, Mme. Hardy, George the Fourth, 
and a tiny red Rose, the name of which I do not know. It grew in my 
grandmother’s garden in southern Indiana forty years ago. We called 
it “the Button Rose.” I have searched and re-searched the cata- 
logues for these Roses but have not been able to find them. Surely 
some old New England Nursery must carry them in stock. I very 
much want them; also the old Spice or Clove Pink. I have bought 
several plants under that name, but they have not been the Clove Pink 
of old gardens. I am very fond of Chrysanthemums and have bought 
a great many plants, but have failed to find one early enough for this 
altitude, almost eight thousand feet. 
Will Mrs. Clarke, Mass., tell me the name of the nurseryman who 
took cuttings from her early Chrysanthemums. 1 would certainly 
like to try it. — Mrs. M. Layton, Aspen, Colo. 
Pruning from the Other End 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
IN THE orchard there is a Pear tree which up to last year produced 
* very little fruit. Yet the tree was an exceedingly healthy specimen. 
Its growth was wonderful. Indeed, we decided the tree could no 
longer remain in its present location for it was robbing other productive 
trees of sunlight. Then, too, we wanted fruit, not merely shade trees 
in the orchard. Some people advised that the tree be cut down; but 
after having waited so long for it to mature, it seemed a shame to do 
this. So 'another method was tried. In the early winter a trench 
was dug about four feet from the tree. This trench completely en- 
circled the tree. All roots met with were cut. Next we placed two 
stout posts under the frozen ball of roots and using these posts as 
levers, raised the whole until it was level with the ground. Then 
Nelly, the gray mare, was hitched to a sled. She dragged the tree to a 
hole previously prepared. 
In the spring the tree came out in leaf but there were few flowers. 
However, the following spring the tree was a mass of bloom and in the 
fall the limbs were fairly bowed down with fruit. Root pruning had 
solved the problem. It had checked the over-luxuriant top-growth, 
induced the formation of fibrous roots and consequently caused the 
tree to bear fruit in abundance. Of course, I should make it clear that 
it would not have been necessary to move the tree if it hadn’t been 
crowding out its neighbors. The mere digging of a trench and the cutting 
of all the roots found would have caused the tree to fruit equally well. 
— James J. Deehan, Bryn Mawr, Pa. 
Securing White Violets 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
S OME months ago a lady wondered where plants of White Violets 
could be obtained for edging, and voiced her perplexity in The 
Carden Magazine. She may be interested to learn how, some years 
ago, I secured a good stock of the same plant. Mine were sent to me 
by a school-girl from Bedford County, Pa. The plant grows wild j 
in many parts of New York and Pennsylvania. Any boy or girl in the | 
rural districts could easily take up and mail a large quantity of them 
as they are easy to transplant and not difficult to ship. There is no 
danger of exterminating the White Violet as it grows in great abun- 
dance. If one has no acquaintances in the country, a brief “ad.” in any 
of the Philadelphia Sunday papers would reach the eyes of persons 
all over the state; or, better still, a few lines in some county paper 
would go direct to the country home. Addresses of rural papers can 
be found in advertising manuals, such as Ayer’s, accessible in any 
public library, or names of farm papers can be copied from magazine 
subscription lists. When one has secured the name of a person who 
wishes to supply the plants it would be well to give some directions 
about packing, for the young person who wishes thus to earn a little 
pocket money would probably be inexperienced in wrapping plants for 
parcel post shipment. — A. H. Botsford, Del. 
