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The Garden Magazine, March, 1923 
across, covered the outside with the bark taken from the part of the 
post that went in the ground, tacked on a piece of tin across each corner 
inside to make a pocket for small vines to grow in soil, put some pebbles 
in the bottom of the box and set an old enameled six quart pan on 
them, filled with water. 
1 had been gathering a lot of pretty pebbles and put them in the 
water for the birds to stand on. 1 confess that all the time 1 was 
making my bird bath, 1 was feeling very much like a child playing with 
dolls, and 1 really wondered if the birds would ever find what it was for 
or ever care for it. Well, I got the surprise of my life and thereby 
learned something! 
The next morning 1 was on the side porch quite a distance from that 
bird bath, but in sight of it and for two solid hours the small birds kept 
the water rising in a spray from that pan. They did not have to 
learn to bathe, and an old enameled pan was as acceptable a bath-tub 
to them as a marble basin would have been. Quantities of small birds 
have stayed around all summer, many more, I am sure, than ever 
stayed through dry July and August before, and it seems to me they 
must spend their forenoons bathing; 1 can seldom look out, but the 
water is flying. I fill the bath every evening when watering my flow¬ 
ers, which is little work for the enjoyment it gives. About once a week I 
empty and clean the pan. Incidentally, I never have to spray the Ivy 
Geranium in the corners of the box and it was never so healthy in the 
house. 
Now I feel that every garden should have a bird bath, however 
simple. The birds need a place of their own with shallow water, and 
on top of a post that the family cat cannot climb too easily. Deep 
water in a tank or tub is as dangerous to them as to chickens, several 
times 1 have found birds drowned in a tub at the well. My bird bath 
is quite in keeping with the rustic seats and trellises in my garden. 
One of the illustrations I specially admired in the G. M., was of a bird 
bath of plain elegant lines and with Iris growing around its foot, so 1 
have planted Iris around mine and by another year 1 am sure it will be 
a thing of beauty as well as use. In some parts of our country the 
birds can bathe in the pools by the roadsides following rains, but I 
am writing from a part where there are seldom any pools by the way- 
side in summer.— -“Alar” of Oregon. 
As Roses Climb in Delaware 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
HE article on “A Long Season of Climbing Roses” in the Sep¬ 
tember magazine treats of one of mv hobbies, so perhaps a few 
notes from my own garden may be of interest. 
My earliest bloomer among the climbers was sold me as Dawson, 
but it does not answer the description of that Rose. In size and form 
the flower resembles Christine Wright, but is a paler pink, dainty in 
color. It is not as strong in growth as the ramblers, and it has winter- 
killed to the ground in a very severe season. It is, however, the very 
earliest Rose to bloom, coming before any of the bush varieties. Can 
any one give its name? [Is it Wm. C. Egan?] 
And I do not know the name of my latest bloomer. It comes into 
bloom after Dorothy Perkins (I haven’t Elizabeth Ziegler), well along 
in July when one isn’t expecting much of the climbers. A friend gave 
me the plant which he called the Magnolia Rose, the name giving an 
idea of the color and odor. It is a lovely thing. In growth it does 
not climb extremely high, and is rather bushy than tall. I have known 
this to winter-kill, once at least, in the memorably severe winter a few 
years ago. [Madame Plantier?] 
I have a hardy everblooming climber in the new Rose Vondel. This 
is ironclad and a free bloomer, giving several crops of flowers, but the 
blooms taken separately are not particularly pretty; they are small, 
semi-double, pale pink and white, a large cluster giving an apple blossom 
effect. 
As an everbloomer I prefer Birdie Blye. This is listed as a climber 
but at its best it can hardly claim to be more than a pillar Rose. I 
haven’t coaxed it to more than six feet in height. It is, however, a 
constant bloomer, flowering into November. Birdie Blye and the 
white Rugosa Sir Thomas Lipton, usually give me the last Roses of 
the season. Birdie has a medium-sized crimson flower, resembling a 
Bengal and has been entirely hardy with me. 
Mr. Farrington only alludes to Tausendschoen which I value highly! 
It seems to me the ideal porch Rose; not only for the beautiful effect 
of the clusters of bloom, each a bouquet in itself, showing all tints from 
white to carmine, but also because it is practically destitute of thorns. 
It is the greatest possible contrast to Silver Moon in this respect. 
For Climbing American Beauty I prefer to substitute Bess Lovett. 
The color is a trifle deeper, and it does not fade so badly as does Amer¬ 
ican Beauty. The white Rose of the Lovett sisters, Mary Lovett, is 
highly praised, but I have never succeeded in obtaining it true to 
name. I have made three trials, but the nursery sends something else. 
Alida Lovett, I have. It is called an improved Dr. Van Fleet. It has 
the same general appearance, but a deeper color. 
I wonder if my Aviateur Bleriot is an unusual specimen? It is a 
marvellous thing. The buds are yellow and peach-blossom pink, in 
the manner of some of the new Tea Roses. In the buds and half¬ 
open flowers the blending of color is exquisite, but the open flowers are 
nearly white. I think a vine grown in shade might keep the color 
better. I have another yellow Rose, Prof. Sargent, but was unfor¬ 
tunately away from home when it bloomed for the first time this sum- 
er. I doubt if it can be better than the Aviateur. If Aviateur 
Bleriot had a longer bud, and would keep its color in the open flower, 
it would seem perfect. The perfume is like a true Tea Rose.— Amelia 
H. Botsford, Edgemoor, Delaware. 
The Rocky Mountain Rock-Rose in a Massachusetts Garden 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
■yOUR January number invites discussion of the California rock-plant 
I Lewisia. In my rock garden near Boston I have some twelve or 
thirteen varieties planted in November, 1921, strictly according to the 
directions of Mr. Carl Purdy, for whom I hope to prove them hardy in 
the East. The unavoidable late planting, however, in spite of pro¬ 
tection, retarded their establishment, and only one variety, i. e. re- 
diviva, blossomed last spring. I am waiting in expectation for flowers 
of the other varieties, including half a dozen unnamed, and gave them 
no covering whatsoever this fall. The little rediviva might well have 
been set more closely together, since they do disappear in summer, and 
the scattered blades of the new growths in the autumn are easily up¬ 
rooted. I have found it necessary to firm down the plants, since the 
soil is rather porous.— Mrs. C. S. Houghton, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 
Golden Bantam Com Ahead of the Customary Calendar 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
WAS much interested to read in your February issue your recom¬ 
mendation of paper bands and pots. We used paper pots with 
great success last year for starting Watermelons, Canteloupes and, 
best of all, Golden Bantam Corn, in the hotbeds. The Corn was much 
earlier than anything planted out of doors in this latitude.— Isabella 
R. Maxwell, Geneva, N. Y. 
What’s Wrong With Paper Pots? 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
R. HARRIS’S article, “Getting the Early Seeds Started,” is a 
very interesting one. Last year 1 bought four hundred paper 
pots, of various sizes, and transplanted at least twenty different kinds 
of seedlings into them. Among them were Tomatoes, Eggplants, 
Peppers, Balsams, Snapdragons, Stock, Marguerite Carnations, Spice 
Pinks, and Watermelons, to mention only a few. Of these, none but 
the Watermelons did well. They grew lustily. 
At the end of two weeks all the other seedlings started to turn yellow. 
At first 1 thought it due to aphis. I sprayed. This did no good. My 
stock which had made a wonderful growth and was a beautiful green 
in the boxes, turned yellow and died in less than two weeks. In short, 
not a single one of my seedlings, left in these pots more than two weeks 
lived, except the Watermelons. A large percentage died before I could 
imagine what the trouble was. But when my husky Tomatoes turned 
yellow and stopped growing, I knew there must be some real reason, 
since they will stand almost any amount of abuse, in my experience. I 
took them out of the paper pots and found the roots had come in con¬ 
tact with and, in the majority of instances, rootlets had penetrated the 
pulp. I took them out and put them into ordinary containers and 
wooden boxes, and in a few weeks they showed signs of returning ani¬ 
mation. In every instance in which I transplanted some of the same 
age into boxes or earthen pots, and gave them exactly the same care 
as these in paper pots, the ones not in paper pots grew and acted nor¬ 
mally. It could not have been because I was unfortunate in my 
choice of boxes. My boxes came from three different dealers, so I was 
forced to conclude all paper boxes were alike. At any rate, I have had 
no such experience before or since, and I have proven to my satisfaction 
that I can’t use paper pots, whether other people can or not.—I. J. 
Godshalk, Plattsburgh, N. Y. 
—We imagine, all your troubles were due to lack of drainage—you 
gave too much water. See the article on page 40 of this issue— Ed. 
