18 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
or peculiar in color. Let the choice 
be also a plant of rather upright habit 
instead of spreading; then it may be 
used in place of either form, whereas 
if you choose a wide spreading kind 
it cannot be introduced into the space 
made vacant by the illness of a holly¬ 
hock or a foxglove or other tall and 
narrow growing specimen. And of 
course, choose an annual. 
The giant snapdragon ( Antirrhi¬ 
num ), which grows about 3' high, may 
be had in the pure colors — white, 
scarlet, yellow, garnet, pink and rose 
as well as in a mixed packet—is one 
of the most satisfactory things the 
gardener can grow, whether for itself 
in the flower garden or for its merits 
as a substitute plant to be cultivated 
in the “nursery.” Sown out-of-doors 
early in May it comes into bloom in 
July; that is, in about ten weeks, 
under good weather conditions. Sown 
in a flat cigar box now, and kept in 
a bright window until the first pair 
of true leaves are formed, then trans¬ 
planted to thumb pots or to a roomy 
flat, to be moved thence to 2" pots as 
it outgrows this, it will be within a 
fortnight of bloom when put outdoors 
into the nursery early in May and 
blooming freely by the time you need 
it in June or July. 
How to Transplant 
Transplanting at such a time has 
never been to me the dangerous opera¬ 
tion some declare it. I have moved 
perennial larkspur in full bud, and 
they have never dropped their heads; 
and phlox in blossom and other things 
too numerous to mention which peo¬ 
ple say will die if you touch ’em. I contend that if it is 
properly done, there need be no fear of consequences. But 
be sure you do it properly. Which means doing it so carefully 
that the plant really does not know it has been shifted. The 
secret of it is a huge earth ball, of course, embracing all of 
the roots and watering in after resetting. 
Have a square of burlap to lay down beside the plant you 
are to move, and insist that it be taken up with a pointed 
nosed shovel, not with a square spade. Have your gardener 
set this deep into the earth and dig 
vertically all the way around the plant, 
describing a circle a little larger than 
the spread of the plant’s leaves, before 
he undertakes to do any lifting whatso¬ 
ever. If it has not rained within 
thirty-six hours, water the plant in 
this narrow cut or channel, pouring 
in gently as much as a pailful, and go 
away until the next day. Then begin 
again, plunging the shovel in verti¬ 
cally to avoid cutting off the ends of 
the rootlets, and gradually work 
around and under the earth ball thus 
set apart until it will lift intact. As 
it is lifted free of the ground, slip the 
burlap under it quickly and then let 
the shovel be withdrawn carefully, not 
to shake or jar it. Draw the burlap 
up around the plant’s trunk and secure 
its corners, then set the whole lightly 
on to a barrow or flat board or some 
such thing, for transportation, remem¬ 
bering always to avoid jars. 
Dig a hole to receive it a little 
larger than the hole it has left; pour a 
pailful of water into this; sift some 
earth lightly over the saturated 
ground as soon as this water has 
been absorbed; set your earth ball 
down into this hole, loosening the bur¬ 
lap after it is in the ground and then 
raising it gently far enough to allow 
this to slip out; settle it in place, fill in 
around it, tamping lightly if it is a 
light soil, pour gently another pailful 
of water into the little depression 
which should be left at the circum¬ 
ference of the earth ball, and when 
this has settled, level on the rest of 
the earth. Shelter the plant from the 
sun for the rest of that day if it is 
shining brightly and is hot, and pick 
off a few of its leaves from the inside 
branches where they will not be 
missed. Also if it is in full bloom, 
cut away a third of the flower stalks. 
Varieties for the Nursery 
Quite as choice a plant for use in 
this way is the stock gilliflower—or 
“stocks” as they are commonly known. 
These have the advantage of being de¬ 
lightfully fragrant, too. They also 
may be had in the pure colors—red, 
blue, pink, purple, yellow and white, 
or in mixture, and should be sown 
now and handled exactly as the Antir¬ 
rhinum. The strain known as “im¬ 
proved large - flowering ten - week 
stocks” blooms a little sooner from 
the seed than any other, being literal¬ 
ly a ten weeks’ plant, if properly 
tended. I mention this condition be¬ 
cause I once had a legion of these 
little plants which were neglected, and 
so far from being ten weeks’ stocks, 
they lingered along and persevered 
and grew in spite of shameful treat¬ 
ment until at the end of perhaps four 
months they were rescued after hard 
frost from the oblivion of a forgotten 
overgrown patch of ground outdoors, brought into the house 
and given a chance, and made so much of their opportunity 
that in three months more they were in bloom and continued 
so for weeks until spring once more had arrived. 
A larger and more imposing form than the strain recom¬ 
mended is that known as the winter or Brompton strain. 
These grow to be about 2’ high, and from seed sown now in¬ 
doors will furnish blossoming plants by midsummer. This 
strain is the one especially grown for indoor winter flowers, 
and if you care to save seeds from it 
during the summer and start them in 
August or September, lifting and pot¬ 
ting the seedlings in the fall, you will 
have flowers in abundance practically 
all winter. 
In addition to these two species do 
not overlook the possibilities of the 
white zinnia as a substitute plant. It 
is not of the form most desired for 
this purpose, but the garden nursery 
that harbors a few will be making no 
mistake, for if they are not wanted in 
the flower garden they will provide 
no end of cut flowers for the house. 
So, too, will all these nursery plants. 
The flower garden proper cannot be 
relied upon for cut flowers if many 
of these are required, for cutting here 
must be limited to passe flower heads 
which are taken off only to induce 
further bud and blossom. A cutting 
garden is, therefore, as much of a 
necessity as the nursery, but the two 
may perfectly well be combined. 
The Crowded Garden 
Crowding is often as much in evi¬ 
dence in the garden as the bare spots — 
(Continued on page 68) 
There is no excuse for a naked patch in 
the garden, even though it be in a shady 
place, as under trees or under an arbor 
The rock wall garden is always interesting. 
It gives a touch of color to the grey stones 
and needs little attention from the gardener 
