February, 1919 
Z3I)£ Slower (Brower 
15 
saved. Of course there may have been other 
causes that were overlooked, but previous 
wet seasons had suggested dampness as the 
chief cause of failure. 
BAGGING THE CROSSED FLOWERS. 
In directions for hybridizing you will find 
statements showing the necessity of keeping 
the crossed'flowers in paper bags. They are 
an awful nuisance with Iris and with this 
no better. Purple King looks like a Kocliii 
hybrid, but as it has lost the deep tint, it has 
been cast out of my garden. We need a 
tall growing large flowered Iris, the color of 
Kochii ; another with the upright segments 
white and the falls like Kochii ; and another 
with the colors reversed. Who will breed it 
for us? 
(7o be continued.) 
Storming the Iris 
Foe’s Trenches. 
Early in 1917 our Iris ger- 
manica began to show yel- 
low stalks, to decay at the 
crowns of the bulbs. Pulling 
away a yellowed stalk, we 
found clinging to its butt a 
bier, yellowish, dirty, but very 
efficient appearing grub. 
Examination of an infected 
stalk showed that a moth 
had incised it, depositing be- 
tween the green layers, well 
protected, her eggs, about g 
inch in length. The larvae 
from these, hatching, had 
bored straight down the 
stalks, growing as they 
gnawed, on the bulb crowns, 
there to chew and chew. One 
bulb hollowed out, they went 
to the next. And so on. 
Clearly poisons were of no 
avail, as the pest was covered 
all its life. What was to be 
done? We solved it by cut- 
ting out each gnawed bulb, 
exactly as one cuts out apple 
tree borers. By being ruth- 
less in pulling yellowed 
stalks and by using the 
knife freely on gnawed bulbs, 
we routed the foe. Clean 
tilth helped. Air-slaked lime 
made the cuts heal and wood 
ashes and soot helped to 
make it unpleasant for the 
routed pests that we missed 
when they crawled out to 
seek new pastures. We won. 
Now for something better 
than cure — prevention: (1) 
Plant Iris only in soil that 
has been cultivated at least 
two years. None of ours on 
old soil were attacked. (2) 
Inspect stalks each day and 
on the first sign of an 
attack, cut, intelligently, but 
thoroughly. (3) In fall see 
that each flower stem is off 
the bulb crowns and burned 
before October 15th. These 
hollow tubes are handy 
flower not absolutely necessary. Better 
cross so many flowers, the cases of acci- 
dental contamination will not seriously af- 
fect the records. 
WHAT PROPORTION OF POLLINATIONS WILL 
SUCCEED ? 
This question could only be answered by a 
I dreary lot of statistics, as uninteresting as 
Homer’s catalogue of ships or Whitman’s 
list of occupations in Leaves of Grass. More- 
over, the results of one man’s work might 
differ widely from another with climate and 
other factors. What may well be written is 
that some crosses are more successful in my 
locality than others. As an example, Kochii 
is named. Desiring to get its magnificent 
color in a tall, large flowering plant, it was 
crossed several times with some of the finest 
strong growing kinds, including some very 
vigorous hybrids raised here. One year fifty 
fine seed pods formed, but they were later 
found to be hollow shams, coptaining notone 
good seed. In other years the results were 
lurking places for these pests. (4) Lime 
the base of the germanica Irises. (5) We 
found the Spanish, English, Persian, Siber- 
ian, Japanese and native Iris (blue flag) im- 
mune. (6) The pest, forcing us to fight it, 
so made us put our Iris clumps in a thorough 
condition of defense. Fighting one pest, we 
fought all. The few germanicas we lost 
have been offset by the betterment in all the 
other kinds, due to finer defensive culture. — 
—Estelle M. Gilbert, in Garden Magazine. 
Trees and Shrubs for Screens. 
Winter is a good time to plan for Spring 
planting, because it is a season of bareness, 
and a need for trees and shrubs highly ac- 
centuated. It is the season when the ques- 
tion of suitable screenings to shut out views 
of inharmonious objects may well be consid- 
ered, for the object ugly then approaches the 
gruesome stage. 
The selection of trees and shrubs for 
screens is, naturally, governed by the cir- 
cumstances requiring their use. We'will 
suppose that a newly erected water tower is 
to be screened. In such a case we need 
something which is rapid in its growth, and 
the Poplars, or the Silver Maple suggest 
themselves as particularly suitable. If space 
will permit, the use of these is easily decided 
upon, with evergreens for a front planting. 
The evergreens should be planted at some 
distance from the Poplars or Maples, as they 
are to form the permanent screen ; a few 
large shrubs, such as Mock Orange, Honey- 
suckle, Golden Bell and the like, are splendid 
as fillers. 
Where laundry yards, or low buildings are 
to be screened, the choice of trees would de- 
pend to a great extent upon the season of 
the year during which the residence is occu- 
pied. If it is an all-year-round occupancy, 
evergreens are most desirable. 
Of the Poplars, the Lombardy variety, per- 
haps, is most useful for screening, but in 
some localities it does not thrive well, and 
in such cases it might be well to use the 
White Poplar, the true P. alba, as its com- 
mon variety, nivea, while useful for foliage 
effects in large plantings, is rather objection- 
able for use near streets, on account of its 
soot and dirt collecting proclivities. 
The Paper, or Canoe Birch, soon covers 
wide spaces, and when allied with Pines or 
Hemlocks is especially attractive. 
The Willows are capital for screens, and 
the range of types and habits makes them 
both effective and attractive. It is not essential 
that they be planted near water, although 
the growth is more rapid in moist ground. 
The Kilmarnock Weeping Willow forms a 
splendid contrast when planted with the red- 
branched Dogwood, Cornus alba. To obtain 
the height of color in the Dogwood, the pre- 
vious year’s growth should be cut back quite 
hard in Spring; it is the young wood that 
forms the bright color. 
The common Elderberry is useful for 
screens, and when planted near the Purple 
Plum, Primus Pissardi, the white, lace-like 
flowers of the Elder are seen to great ad- 
vantage in contrast with the purple foliage 
of the Plum. 
The Planes may be used to advantage 
where a great width of screen space must 
be covered The varieties Occidentalis and 
Orientalis are best. 
The Catalpa, speciosa variety, will grow 
into quite a large tree in a few years, but 
requires shrub plantings at its base to get a 
close screen effect. 
Spring is the best time to plant deciduous 
trees such as those mentioned in this article. 
While some planters prefer the Fall, a ma- 
jority favor Spring, for then a tree is in a 
dormant state and establishment is easy. 
Those favoring Fall planting do so under 
the theory that the earth has stored up suf- 
ficient warmth to allow of establishment of 
roots before hard freezing sets in. — Floral 
Magazine. 
Bound Volumes as 
a Reference Library. 
The four bound volumes of The Modern Gladi- 
olus Grower (1914 to 1917 inclusive) contain more 
useful information regarding the Gladiolus, its cul- 
ture, history and improvement than can be had from 
any other source. These four bound volumes also 
contain much useful information about other sum- 
mer-flowering plants, but the Gladiolus is especially 
well covered. These volumes contain the W. W. 
Wilmore. Jr., articles entitled, “The Gladiolus 
Manual.” All information is quickly available by 
means of an index in each volume, and those who are 
interested in studying the subject cannot afford to be 
without these bound volumes. There has been no 
advance in the price. We are still furnishing the 
four volumes, postage prepaid, for 55 00. Furnished 
separately at the same rate, $1.25 each. Those who 
are interested in studying the practical and scientific 
features in connection with growing Gladioli should 
surely have a complete file. 
Exact information based on practical experience is 
what The Modern Gladiolus Grower and The 
Flower Grower specialize in. Literature covering 
the practical points of flower growing and especially 
of Gladiolus growing is not at all plentiful and the 
bound volumes are, therefore, especially valuable. 
