August, 1920 
if it means obtaining a fancy price for extra 
long-stemmed flowers, one should not be too 
particular. Do not make the mistake so 
many make and let the plants suffer after you 
are through with the flowers; if you have 
good sorts which furnish both plants to sell 
in Fall and Spring and a good crop of flowers, 
they are well worthy of your best attention 
at all times. Keep the cultivator going every 
week ; and if you have a little manure to 
work into the surface to keep it mellow and 
open, so much the better. It keeps the weeds 
out, and what you cannot reach with the 
horse cultivator can be reached with the hoe. 
It is wonderful what an amount of neglect a 
Peony can stand ; how they will struggle 
along and give good flowers, even when the 
plants are surrounded by Grass or hard pan 
clay; but if you want to get the most out of 
them, they need as much attention as any 
other plant you grow, and the man who gives 
it to them finds them a paying crop. 
Florists' Exchange. 
An experienced Peony grower sug- 
gests that August is the time to secure 
and plant Peony seed. If planted at 
this time it will not dry out and it 
should sprout the next spring, whereas 
if it is allowed to dry' it will take a 
year longer. 
Successful Ways with Pansies. 
By Paul L. Ward (Michigan.) 
[fVritten expressly for The Flower Grower . ] 
It is not perhaps too much to say that 
the Pansy (viola tricolor) is our most 
universally loved flower. I have yet 
to meet the person who loves any 
flower who does not pause before this, 
the flower with a face. 
The writer grows many varieties of 
plants and flowers, but if compelled to 
give up all but one, the Pansy would 
be the chosen one. Its cheery face 
peeps through the last snows of Winter, 
petals at times stained by frost but the 
first flower to greet us nevertheless ; 
and as the dull December days come, 
I can still pick the occasional brave 
Pansy and note the folded buds that 
will remain through the frozen months 
to come forth at the slightest oppor- 
tunity. Again, in blazing July and Au- 
gust, I can go to my Pansy beds and 
fill baskets to overflowing with beauti- 
ful long stemmed flowers. Truly it 
suits all seasons and all people. 
But our Pansy is a whimsical beauty. 
She rewards with overflowing blessings 
those who bestow the needed care; is 
niggardly and pines away on the treat- 
ment that would suffice for many other 
kinds of plants; and it is that I may 
perhaps help some who desire to grow 
this flower in all its abundant beauty, 
I offer a few suggestions. 
Like other flowers, there are strains, 
and strains. Seedsmen one and all pro- 
claim in type both large and small that 
they have the finest, largest flowering 
types inthe world. I have found a few 
that made good. All Pansies are beauti- 
ful, some are beautiful beyond descrip- 
tion. It gives us all colors, but is chary 
of red shades. You may have beds of 
pure yellow, pure white, nearly pure 
self blues, blacks, wine shades, striped, 
variegated, blotched, margined, ruffled 
or smooth. Years ago I obtained a 
strain of Pansies from a house making 
a specialty of giant bloom, and have 
been able to keep them large and even 
Obe Slower (Brower 
improve on the original. I save my 
own seed each year, trying out the new 
introductions as they come and often go. 
To secure the early spring bloom, 
we sow the seed in light, friable soil in 
late August. As soon as the second 
true leaf appears, and the plant can be 
handled, it is transplanted to either a 
shallow box with light rich soil, or a 
cold frame. If to the cold frame and 
it is to winter there, set six inches 
apart each away. Cold frames have a 
bad habit of filling up with weeds when 
you least expect it and you need lots 
of space to work between the rows 
with a narrow hoe. In boxes put one 
and one-half inches each way and as 
soon as they crowd the least bit, trans- 
plant to their blooming quarters. This 
should be in October. Cover but lightly 
with broken straw ; never anything 
that will mat over the tops of the 
plants. Remove covering in March. 
If you would like to see your Pansies 
in bloom a little while before they 
freeze up, plant in late July. The seed 
bed must have abundant air, never dry 
out and be protected from the sun 
from nine to five each day. I have 
raised the strongest seedlings by sow- 
ing broadcast and two feet over the 
bed making a thatch of green maple 
limbs which let just enough sunlight 
filter through to keep them sturdy. 
For summer blooming you must 
start the seed indoors in February and 
handle exactly the same way, trans- 
planting once to flats and later to 
blooming quarters. Plants grown this 
way will commence flowering in late 
May and if kept picked, thoroughly 
cultivated and watered, will bloom 
well all summer. Pansies will not suc- 
ceed in anything but rich soil, or any- 
where but in full sun or nearly so. 
When your seedlings commence to 
bloom, the first plants will have the 
smallest flowers. It seems that the 
last plants to bloom in a given lot will 
be the best. Also plants from seed 
started say in March and April will 
not produce giant flowers before fall. 
During the summer they will bloom, 
of course, extreme heat forcing them 
to that, but the flowers will be small 
to medium in size, no matter how good 
the strain may be ; but if taken care 
of they will make a renewed start in 
September and fall all over themselves 
to make up for lost time. 
Pansy flowers appear one after an- 
other at the end of a branch, which 
branch constantly increases in length. 
To keep your plant in bounds cutback 
half way or more these branches as 
they become too long to look well. To 
do their best Pansies should not be per- 
mitted to bloom until the plant has at 
least twenty leaves. Pull up and throw 
away plants that will not branch but 
insist on growing tree form. If they 
all do it, get your seed somewhere else 
and try again. By all means do not 
be without a bed of Pansies through- 
out the open months. Plant three 
times a year, February, July and Au- 
gust and you need never be without 
them. 
Note— old seed, older than nine 
months, will not come up except very 
sparingly. Insist on new crop seed. 
129 
The Lovely Madonna Lily. 
( IV ritten expressly for The Flower Grower. ] 
Late in August or early in September 
is the ideal time for making plantings 
of the Madonna Lily (Lilium Candi- 
dum), one of the sweetest, loveliest and 
most desirable of garden Lilies. 
The bulbs of this Lily which are 
ready for planting earlier than most 
of the other varieties, should be set 
into the ground immediately upon the 
receipt of the bulbs, as exposure to 
light and air has a tendency to wither 
the fleshy scales composing the bulb 
and so lessen the vitality. 
This fragant, chaste Lily, some- 
times called the Annunciation Lily, is 
readily grown under the proper condi- 
tions. It requires early planting in 
order to have an opportunity to be- 
come well established before freezing 
weather sets in. Injury to the bulbs 
from summer drought and winter forc- 
ing to the surface, may be lessened by 
planting the bulbs from six to eight 
inches deep. Though the well-drained 
soil should be enriched, no fresh ferti- 
lizer should come in direct contact 
with the Candidum bulbs. Setting the 
bulbs in a layer of sharp sand or sur- 
rounding them with Spagnum moss 
will provide against trouble from this 
source. 
The Candidum is perfectly hardy and 
if not frequently disturbed will soon 
form a large clump which will bear in 
June and July, fragrant, waxy flowers 
of purest white. When the clumps 
grow too compact for free blooming, 
they may be successfully separated dur- 
ing the month of August. 
This attractive Lily (known to our 
grandmothers, I believe, as St. Joseph’s 
Lily and Sweet June Garden Lily) was 
much in evidence in old-fashioned gar- 
dens and cemeteries and though the 
Candidum seemed to be especially 
liable to a Lily blight which prevailed 
a number of years ago, most of these 
old time clumps passed through the 
trying ordeal unscathed. On account 
of its susceptibility to the disease, the 
growing of Candidum was for a time 
curtailed, but in late years the blight 
being under control, the Madonna Lily 
has regained its merited popularity 
and every modern garden should pos- 
sess at least one well-grown clump of 
the magnificent Lilium Candidum, the 
sweetest, purest hardy Lily under cul- 
tivation. 
Bertha Berbert-Hammond. 
To those who fully appreciate the garden 
value of the Dahlia, it is a matter of satisfac- 
tion to know that once more the flower ap- 
pears to be attaining the high degree of 
popularity it so well merits. The increased 
appreciation is due to the hybridizers of the 
present day having broken away from the 
traditions of the past and directed their 
energy to the production of varieties spe- 
cially adapted for beautifying the garden. 
The flower is equally suitable for the gardens 
of stately mansions and the smaller plot 
that surrounds the humbler cottages.— Geo. 
Gordon. 
We have never seen a greater grow- 
ing time here than during the six 
weeks ending August 1st. 
