1897 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
161 
THE GARDEN 
Gloxinias. 
N. P.. Long Island.— Wben Is the proper time to 
plant Gloxinia tubers, and wbat treatment do 
they need as regards temperature and watering? 
Ans. —Gloxinia tubers may be started 
from the middle of February to the 
middle of March. One-year old tubers 
will be best. They should be potted in 
three-inch or four-inch pots, the top of 
the tuber being even with the surface of 
the soil, which is a light loam, mixed 
with leaf mold and sharp sand. Put 
in a house with a night temperature of 
55 to 60 degrees, water at planting, and 
after that give little water until they 
have made some leaves. When the 
leaves have covered the width of pot or 
a little over, shift into the blooming 
pot, a five or six-inch. One-third of the 
pot should be filled with broken char¬ 
coal, which forms the drainage ; over 
this put a piece of green moss, to pre¬ 
vent clogging. Use the same soil as be¬ 
fore ; if genuine leaf mold cannot be 
obtained, use very thoroughly rotted 
manure. Gloxinias require slight shade 
at all times. They must never he 
syringed, and in watering wet the leaves 
as little as possible. When blooming 
never allow them to flig for want of 
water ; they will not recover from this. 
They are excellent plants for the dwell¬ 
ing house. If it be desired to keep 
over the bulbs, they may be rested and 
dried off in some sheltered place outside 
during the summer, like callas ; then 
stored out of the drip under a green¬ 
house bench or some similar place, in a 
temperature between 45 and 55 degrees, 
until it is time to start them again. Pre¬ 
cisely similar treatment may be applied 
to Gesneras, which are closely related to 
Gloxinias. They are beautiful plants 
with velvety maroon and green foliage, 
and showy spikes of foxglove-shaped 
flowers, orange, scarlet, and crimson. 
Sweet Peas. 
H. J. L., New Jersey. —X want to have a tine dis¬ 
play of sweet peas. When and how should I sow 
them ? Can you recommend a dozen good varie¬ 
ties ? What care must I give during the summer ? 
Ans. —The ideal location for sweet 
peas is a sunny place, with a deep, 
rather rich soil, inclining to a clay loam. 
Have the rows running north and south. 
Do not use any rank manure at the time 
of planting. It is wiser to prepare the 
soil in the autumn. When the plants 
begin to bloom, occasional liberal sup¬ 
plies of liquid manure are valuable. A 
deep, rather heavy soil is best, because 
we want coolness at the roots ; similarly, 
we must plant early that a strong, 
deep root-growth be made ; otherwise 
the plants could not withstand our hot, 
dry summers. The time for sowing 
varies somewhat in different localities ; 
briefly, we should select the first warm, 
sunny day that the ground can be 
worked, probably the second or third 
up to the vines, or they may be mulched 
with something to shade the ground. 
It is well to sow the seed quite thickly, 
to offset loss through failure to germin¬ 
ate, or cut-worms, but the plants should 
afterwards be thinned to three inches 
apart. The style of trellis depends on 
the taste of the grower ; chicken wire is 
good. As for summer care, water liber¬ 
ally when drought sets in, but not early 
in the season ; water at the roots only. 
Don’t permit the flowers to go to seed ; 
pluck them freely. 
There is a very long list of meritorious 
sweet peas from which to choose now ; 
but, omitting the very newest, the fol¬ 
lowing list is good: Blanche Burpee, 
Emily Henderson, white ; Mrs. Eckford, 
primrose ; Blanche Ferry, pink and 
white ; Katherine Tracy, carmine pink ; 
Boreatton, rich deep maroon ; Countess 
of ltadnor, pale mauve ; Firefly, bright 
crimson ; Monarch, bronze, maroon and 
dark blue ; Lady Beaconsfield, pale sal¬ 
mon and primrose ; Captain of the 
Blues, blue and mauve ; Indigo King, 
deep indigo. A number of novelties are 
advertised this year, both English and 
American seedlings, which are likely to 
supersede some of the older sorts ; H. «T. 
L. would do well to try a set of them. 
Personally, we don’t care for the 
“double” sweet peas; they lack the in¬ 
dividuality of the original form. 
Spider Li//. 
S. D. W., North Livermore , Me.— Five or six 
years ago, a friend gave me wbat he called a 
Mexican Spider Lily bulb. I put it into a pot of 
earth, and it soon began to throw out leaves. I 
repotted it several times, but after two or three 
years, gave up repotting, and have since done 
nothing but give it water, but it has always 
looked green and thrifty, shedding its leaves and 
throwing out new ones, but never has shown any 
signs of blooming till this winter. It now has 
six very fine blooms. How should it be treated 
now, or how should it have been managed ? Will 
it, probably, bloom again, or is it now worthless? 
Is the above the right name of the plant ? 
Ans.—T he plant described is, prob¬ 
ably, Hymenocallis caribaea, also called 
Pancratium caribaeum. It is a member 
of the Amaryllis family, first introduced 
from the West Indies in 1730, but though 
familiar, is not very common in general 
cultivation. But this is not the only 
plant known by this name, as some of 
the Crinums are called “Spider lilies,” 
and in one of this season’s lists, a variety 
of the Guernsey lily (Nerine) is called 
the “ Hardy Spider lily.” 
Without doubt, the delay in blooming 
of which S. D. W. complains, is due to 
over-potting and want of rest. These 
bulbs all need a period of rest in the 
latter part of the summer and fall, the 
resting period lasting about three 
months. The bulb is not removed from 
the pot, but is put in a shady place and 
very sparingly watered. The bulb does 
not lose all its leaves, as a rule. After 
the bulb is of fair size, repotting is not 
needed oftener than once in two or three 
years, but a top-dressing each season is 
beneficial. Good loam with a sprinkling 
of bone dust is suitable soil for them. 
The general treatment is the same as 
for Amaryllis ; they should be grown on 
freely during spring and early sum¬ 
mer to get a good bulb growth, then 
ripened by giving less water and kept as 
cool as possible. When the resting sea¬ 
son is over, they should be encouragec 
to grow, which will start the flower 
spikes. Do not repot, when necessary, 
until after flowering, then repeat the 
same process as before. When resting, 
the plant should have just enough water 
to keep it from shriveling. 
week in March. If cold come after the 
seed is sown, it will not be hurt. The 
plants need to grow slowly at first; we 
want good roots before the tops are 
formed. 
A good many growers have recom¬ 
mended the trench system of sowing, 
but there is now quite a revulsion 
against it, it being thought that this 
culture is often responsible for a species 
of blight which attacks the plants. The 
trench system was used to give the 
benefit of deep planting. With shallow 
planting, if the ground is light, it may 
either be stiffened by the addition of 
clay, or made very firm all around the 
seed. A plan adopted by Mr. Hutchins, 
the sweet pea specialist, is to firm the 
ground, and then hollow it out about 
two inches the entire length of the row, 
the hollow being about two feet wide. 
In this depression, two furrows about 
one inch deep and 10 inches apart re¬ 
ceive the seed. The seed is covered 
with one inch of soil, and well firmed. 
No more covering is added for about six 
weeks, when some earth may be brought 
MOTHERS .—Be sure to use “ Mrs. Wins¬ 
low’s Soothing Syrup ” for your children 
while Teething. It is the Best —Adv 
“Mend it 
or End it,” 
has been the rallying cry of 
reform, directed against abuses 
municipal or social. 
For the man who lets him¬ 
self be abused by a cough the 
cry should be modified to: 
Meud it, or it’ll end you. You 
can meud any cough with 
Ayer’s 
Cherry Pectoral. 
TREES AND PLANTS. 
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NEW CANAAN , CONN. 
For Many Years 
> 
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SHADY HILL NURSERY CO., 
102 State St., Boston, Mass. 
HUH I HHIIHH H 
EVERGREENS. 
Largeststock In Amer¬ 
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and Douglas Spruce 
* of Colorado. 
Also Ornamental, 
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B. DOUGLAS*SONS, 
Waukegan. Ill. 
1840 
Old Colony Nurseries. 
1897 
HARDY SHRUBS, TREES, VINES, 
EVERGREENS and PERENNIALS. 
A large and fine stock of well-rooted plants grown 
In a sandy loam. Good plants, best sizes for i> anting, 
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FREE TO ALL 
Our ns Page Illustrated Cat¬ 
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Trees ai d Shrubbery of all 
descriptions, also containing 
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produc s. World’s Fair medal 
awarded on Roses Address 
NANZ & NEUNER. 
LOUISVILLE, KY 
THE 
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1 lovk u RARE FLOWERS 
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READER 
For Sale 
—Fruit Farm of 12 acres, and a fine 
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Also, 24 acres with the above. If desired. 
N. S. PLATT, Cheshire, Conn. 
CHEAP FARM. 
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1). H. LYNCH. Richmond, Virginia. 
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SHORT 
WINTER 
VACATIONS 
If you cannot enjoy the luxury of a 
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Old Point Comfort 
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They are reached by a daily service 
of the 
Old Dominion Line 
Tickets, include one and one-quarter day’s stay 
at Old Point Comfort or Virginia Beach, with 
accommodations at leading hotels, $17.00. 
For full information, apply to 
OLD DOMINION STEAMSHIP CO., 
Pier 26, North River, New York. 
W. L. GUILLAUDEU, Vice-Pres. & Traffic Mgr. 
