The Garden Magazine, July, 1924 
367 
fefas, 
REDEEMING THE MEDIOCRE HOUSE BY PLANTING 
Just the ordinary things—Lilacs, climbing Roses, Hollyhocks, and Honeysuckle have been used to clothe and 
screen the dwelling and the light, silvery foliage of Poplar trees adds a pleasant note too. It does not take much 
imagination to see how unattractive this square, box-like house would be without some such friendly planting 
can tell me by wav of the magazine, where Cordyalis seeds or plants 
may be purchased? Perhaps there may be others that would like to 
know. Have been searching catalogs for two or three years but so 
far, all 1 have been able to get are plants of Corydalis glauca.—A. 
Reader of G. M. 
—I know of noway other than to raise them from seed. One or 
two nurseries have from time to time listed a few but I have found none 
that could produce them upon order. Correvon of the Floraire Nurs¬ 
eries, Geneva, Switzerland, offers ten or twelve kinds (seeds). These 
plants save the bulbous forms—bulbosa, cava alba, and one or two 
others, are not difficult to raise from seed though some, notably nobilis 
and densiflora, are slow to germinate. C. lutea comes verv quickly, and 
afterwards sows its own seed. I regard this and C. cheilanthifolia as 
the best for general use. C. thalictrioides and C. Wilsoni have not 
proved hardy with me, but would be perfectly sound farther south.— 
Louise B. Wilder, N. Y. 
The Flicker as a Friendly Ally Against Ants 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
N REGARD to the question of abolishing the persistent black ant, 
1 offer the suggestion that one make use of nature’s own provision, 
namely the flicker. This bird is equipped with a long tongue which is 
a most efficient ant-gatherer, and ants make up more than half of the 
flicker’s diet. A properly constructed flicker nesting-box should bring 
a pair to the garden, and a family of hungry young birds supply the 
incentive for the doing away with more than one colony of pestering 
ants. Such boxes, perferably on the type of the Berlepsch boxes, 
may easily be obtained, or constructed, and one must not neglect to 
put in the box a handful of sawdust mixed with earth. Moreover, 
according to Prof. John H. Comstock, the noted entomologist, ants not 
only protect plant lice by driving away from them their natural 
enemies but the ants also carry the lice to their homes in winter, protect 
the eggs, and in the spring place the young lice on plants. So, even 
if an inquisitive, over-active flicker does occasionally drill holes in the 
cedar trim of our house during his playtime in autumn and winter, these 
valuable birds are very welcome in our garden.— Frances S. Twining, 
Glenmorrie, Oswego, Oregon. 
A Query from California—Rhode Island, Please Answer! 
To the Editors of The Garden Magazine: 
N THE January number I noticed some remarks from M. E. Main, 
Westerley, Rhode Island, anent a yellow flowering perennial, Buph- 
thalmum salicifolium. Since reading about it 1 have tried to get seeds, 
but so far have not been successful and should esteem it a favor if your 
correspondent (or any one else for that matter) could tell me where 
to obtain it. 
I am, as far as the Moonflower is concerned, of the same opinion as 
Anna E. Hill, writing in a recent issue, and think it should come un¬ 
der the category of “noxious weeds.” 
In conclusion may 1 say that the magazine is as much a bracer to the 
garden lover as a good dinner is to a hungry man.— Chas. Garrity, 
San Francisco, Cal. 
