The Garden Magazine, May, 1921 
201 
THE OPET(^C olum ^C 
Readers’ Interchange of Experience and Comment 
Who Has Syringa Wolfii 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
W ILL someone please tell me where I can obtain Syringa Wolfii? 
1 have tried three or four places without success. — C. V. J effery, 
Molsons Bank, London, Canada. 
War With the Meadow Mouse 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
C AN you tell me, either personally, or through the columns of 
The Garden Magazine, what kind of warfare to wage against 
the meadow mouse (Microtus pennsylvanicus)? Last year they began 
burrowing in our bulb beds, and destroyed hundreds of Tulip and Lily 
bulbs. They also did much damage in the Iris border, eating off the 
roots and hollowing out the crowns, so that some of our rare kinds were 
killed off. This spring the perennial garden is riddled with their 
runways; one large bed of second year Canterbury Bells is ruined, as the 
crowns are eaten off. It is too early to estimate how much other 
damage they have done, but if you can advise us how to exterminate 
meadow mice, we will surely bless you to the end of our days. — 
Florence Boyce Davis, JVaitsfield, Vermont. 
— Poisoned bait, such as grain or nuts with strychnine on them, 
placed in the runways is about the only remedy. — Ed. 
Where To Get Tigridias 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
A FTER reading the note on page 50 of the March number regarding 
Tigridia bulbs I came across an advertisement of Joseph A. 
Eibel, P. O. Box 268, Lancaster, Pa. who offers them in any quantity 
up to thousand lots. Thinking this may be of some interest to 
the readers of the Open Column 1 am handing it on. Now I would 
like to know where I can secure Snowdrop bulbs? Can any one 
suggest a place? — Mrs. Margaret R. Semple, 280 High St., Peters- 
burg, Va. 
— In the Open Column of the March Garden Magazine the announce- 
ment was made that Tigridias may not be had at present. Perhaps it 
may interest people who have inquired that they are offered in this 
season’s catalogues by the following seedsmen: Thomas J. Grey, 
Market St. 2 Boston, Mass., and John Lewis Childs, Floral Park, N. Y. 
I have never grown Tigridias and know nothing more about them 
than this — but 1 know that many people would like very much to find 
some of the old plants which are barred by the present Quarantine No. 
37. I wonder if it would not be of interest in this connection to know 
that Azalea indica is also offered by J. Lewis Childs and Scilla bulbs 
were offered by F. FI. Horsford, Charlotte, Vt., last autumn — Mrs. 
Philip B. Howard, South Lincoln, Mass. 
Vines For Your Pergola-Two Beauties 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
A MONG vines suitable for the columns of a pergola, Clematis 
crispa and Clematis coccinea should be ranked very high. Their 
foliage effect is exquisite, and they surpass the Grape, often re- 
commended for its leaf-tracery, both by their long blooming season 
and the beauty of their flowers. 
They are slender growers and do not give a mass of foliage to obscure 
beauty of line in the architecture. Catalogues usually state that 
they grow only five or six feet high. If they do no better, it is the 
fault of the gardener! I have had a Clematis crispa which covered 
with delicate drapery from twenty to twenty-five feet of trellis annually, 
and bloomed from the last week in June till severe frost. 
My treatment was simple: when the first shoot appeared, very early 
in the spring, and reached its second joint, 1 pinched it off to induce 
branching. The resulting two shoots from the leaf axils, I also pinched; 
this course was continued with all the shoots as they came up until I 
had enough stems started to cover the trellis properly. Then 1 gave 
the plant bone meal or pulverized sheep manure and let it alone to 
ramble at will. The blossom is not showy, but quite perfect in shape 
and fragrance. The flower is a bell, very heavy in texture as if carved 
out of wax; in color a dull, deep blue; the inside, lavender. It never 
wilts when cut, even if out of water all day; the petals will drop as the 
flower ages, but seem too firm to wilt. It could be used for a hat 
flower and if worn two days would be as perfect as ever. 
Clematis coccinea has, as its name intimates, a vivid color, most 
effective on a white column. It has not proved as strong a grower with 
me as crispa, but its situation was unfavorable. 1 mean to try it in a 
better place and with greater attention, I believe I can secure satis- 
factory growth. Both have decorative seed pods of the typical 
Clematis shape, but if the flowering season is not to be shortened no 
seed should be allowed to form. — A. H. Botsford, Edgemoor, Del. 
Madonna Lilies Indoors 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
T IME was when Lilium candidum was the only white Lily grown 
in pots. Now it is largely — almost wholly in America — sup- 
planted by L. longiflorum and L. Harrisii. There is a good enough 
reason for this change so far as the flower trade is concerned, but there 
is none why it should affect the private greenhouse so seriously as to 
deprive it of a flower that can never be spared. For no Lily can take 
the place of L. candidum in sheer beauty of form and whiteness, let 
alone its appealing association with poetry, ecclesiastical art and old- 
time gardens. 
1 think that I have never seen a more beautiful effect — certainly 
not a more refreshing one — than was produced with these Lilies in a 
greenhouse in mid-June, only a little ahead of the outdoor blooming 
season. Where the greenhouse paths made a crossroads, so to speak, 
the potted Lilies were placed on the ground behind low-growing green 
plants and against a good backing of green. Each of the four groups 
consisted of about two dozen pots, containing a bulb apiece. This is 
what might be called a large greenhouse effect but it is suggestive of 
indoor delights on a smaller scale that may be had from late winter to 
early summer. Even three stalks of bloom, properly placed, would pro- 
duce an indoor picture well worth while. — H. S. Adams, New York. 
Birds Our Allies 
To the Editor of The Garden Magazine: 
I N the February Garden Magazine, page 335, there appears an arti- 
cle on birds in which their economic status is questioned. While 
this article would probably be of little weight, especially with those who 
know something of the food habits of our birds, I feel that the truth 
should be more generally known and that, with few exceptions, birds 
are man’s best friends. 
The average individual is a poor observer and many times does not 
see that which he conscientiously believes he sees. Naturally his con- 
clusions may be wrong. 
The only sure way to weigh the harmful and beneficial qualities 
of birds, and thus to determine their true economic value is the method 
practised by the Bureau of Biological Survey (U. S. Department of 
Agriculture). This is by examination of stomach contents of a large 
number of specimens taken over a wide range and covering the entire 
year. Of course, this will not reveal the grape puncturing habit, of 
which several of the warbler species are guilty although very largely 
insectivorous in their food requirements. On the other hand, many soft 
bodied insects are eaten of which no -trace remains. Furthermore, 
harmful tendencies are usually limited to individuals of a species 
rather than to the species as a whole, or a species may develop such 
tendencies in certain restricted portions of its range. 
Of our native species only a very few are detrimental to a degree 
which would justify extermination of the species. The crow and 
the several species of blackbirds, while harmful, are not. so black 
as they have been painted, for, on the whole, their beneficial qualities 
balance the harm they do. 
Crops should be protected as much as possible without destroy- 
ing the birds. It is far better to let the birds take a portion which, 
by their industry in destroying harmful insects, they have rightfully 
earned, than to engage in their indiscriminate slaughter. The gard- 
ener or orchardist thinks but little about the cost of spraying, but is 
loath to give the birds credit where credit is due. The man who gar- 
dens for profit is keen on seeing their faults, but views their good 
traits through leather spectacles. 
The man who does not appreciate the beautiful in nature, who 
looks at the economic and has no regard for the esthetic, is missing 
much of the pleasure of this life. Birds add immeasurably to the en- 
joyment of all who, in every walk of life, have cultivated their ac- 
quaintance. It is to be hoped the time will never come when the 
gardens of America will be no longer frequented by these feathered 
allies. 
