114 
House & Garden 
Irises That Are as 
Lovely as Orchids 
38^ Wouldn't you like to adopt Irises as 
a “hobby”, just as I did many years 
ago? When you know them as com¬ 
panions in June, they reveal all their 
delicate, ethereal loveliness and lead 
you into a wonderland of delight. 
For several years I have been hybridizing and intro¬ 
ducing new varieties and this year I have four splen¬ 
did Irises to present to House and Garden readers. 
Farr’s Wonderful 
1922 Introductions 
Cecil Minturn. Standards, falls and stigmas a soft shade 
of cattleya rose; .large flowers, dome-shaped. Strong grower 
and free bloomer. $5.00. 
The Inca. Improved Pfauenauge; taller and larger. Stand¬ 
ards clear deep saffron-yellow ; falls velvety, dark plum edged 
gold; golden band thru center. Golden reticulations at 
base. $5.00. 
Seagull. Standards white, dome-shaped. Falls pale blue 
and white ground; violet blue lines and reticulations. Dis¬ 
tinct and fine large flower. $3.00. 
Japanesque. Japanese type. Standards lavender, white 
flaked lilac. Falls deep violet lilac, edged pale lavender. 
Copper yellow beard. Standards sometimes same as falls. 
Six falls like Jap. Iris. $3.00. 
One plant each of these $1 C 
four 1922 introductions * ^ 
If you want to know the wonderful Irises, Peonies, Chrys¬ 
anthemums. Poppies, and other perennials grown at Wyomis- 
sing, send $1 for a copy of “Farr’s Hardy Plant Specialties,’’ 
100 pages of text, many illustrations in color and photographic 
reproductions. The price may be deducted from your first 
order amounting to $10. 
BERTRAND H. FARR 
WYOMISSING NURSERIES CO. 
106 Garfield Ave., Wyomissing, Penna. 
Rain When "You Want It f I 
Of Greatest Importance To Your Garden 
During July and August 
J ULY and August are the gam¬ 
ble months for your garden. 
Just as sure as preaching if 
July’s hot pelting sun is not off¬ 
set by frequent soil-soaking show¬ 
ers, your garden will stand still. 
If it stands still or has to strug¬ 
gle along into August, then it’s 
too late to overcome the damage 
done. 
The beans are tough, the beats 
Stringy, the tomatoes too acid. 
Every wise old gardener will 
tell you, that the secret of having 
a fine garden right up to frost 
is water—plenty of water. 
Water before it needs it, not 
after. 
Order at once a Skinner Sys¬ 
tem Portable line and take the 
gamble out of your gardening. 
We make them for even so lit¬ 
tle as $9.75, for a Portable Rain 
Maker 18 feet long, that will 
water 900 square feet at a time. 
The Skinner Irrigation Co. 
231 Water St., Troy, Ohio 
Adiantum hispidum, or hairy adiantum, a finely 
decorative iern, is a native of Australia and New 
Zealand 
Propagating Ferns 
(Continued from page 112) 
therefore do not want the direct rays 
of the sun. The delicate and light 
leaved Adiatum varieties require more 
light than the tougher and darker 
leaved species. Younger plants are also 
more sensitive to an intensely bright 
light than the older plants. 
Fertilizing the soil should be avoided 
although luxuriantly growing ferns can 
be given some cow manure dissolved in 
water. 
He who has little time for the care 
and the cultivation of ferns should turn 
his attention to other plants which do 
not require so much attention, since 
ferns are only healthy and beautiful as 
long as the leaves are daily sprayed. 
For proper culture they should be 
1 placed either in an east or a west win¬ 
dow where they will not receive the 
strong sunlight which is very injurious 
to them. 
The Elkhorn is a typical example of 
an epiphytical fern. These plants, 
which are the most peculiar of the en¬ 
tire fern family, are found growing on 
trunks and limbs of trees, from which 
they receive no nourishment whatso¬ 
ever. For cultivation they are placed 
into a soil consisting of decayed wood 
or leaf mould mixed with sand. They 
require a warm room and must be often 
sprayed. This plant, which is com- 3 
paratively large, has two kinds of leaves,' 
one kind is somewhat rounded and 
heartshaped which later becomes brown, i 
these are the protective leaves pressing! 
closely to their support, shingle fash-! 
ion; the other kind are long, forked, and 
hang downward. In their youth the 
former serve as reservoirs, the water be¬ 
ing held by a network of fibres; in later 
years, when the leaves have decayed, 
these containers serve as collectors of 
humus. Then the decayed leaves are 
completely immeshed with rhizoids 
which take up all available constituents 
which may be left or which may have 
been deposited by wind or rain. The 
protective leaves produce the spores, 
which develop like those of other ferns. 
A few climbing ferns, as the Lygodium 
japonicum, are also known. These vines 
have winding and forked stems which 
do not climb very high. For this rea¬ 
son they are especially adapted for the 
window garden where they make a very 
pleasing appearance. But if this Jap¬ 
anese climbing fern is kept too dry, it 
will suffer from an attack of a tiny 
beetle, the thrips. In this case the vine 
is cut back, and the roots transplanted, 
after which the fern will force new 
shoots. Dr. E. Bade. 
BRACING TREES 
F RUIT trees are pruned and trained 
to produce a strong, sturdy frame 
to resist wind pressure and to sup¬ 
port a load of fruit. 
The correct principle is known to 
every fruit grower, but often one can¬ 
not visualize the result. Accidents will 
happen or a branch will not develop as 
was expected. 
It is an easy matter to correct these 
faults, to make weak branches strong 
or to support branches heavily laden 
with fruit if certain fundamental prin¬ 
ciples are remembered. 
Never put a wire or band around 
the trunk or branch of a tree. The sap 
runs up and down the green inner bark, 
consequently as the tree grows it tight¬ 
ens the wire which chokes the branch 
and cuts through it. 
The proper way to strengthen large 
branches that form the head of the 
tree is to bore a hole through the trunk 
or branch and insert an iron rod, with 
an eye on one end, through the hole. 
Cut away the bark around the bolt 
enough to put on a washer and a nut 
and screw it up tight. In a few years 
new bark will grow over the nut and 
around the eye so that the branch will 
not be injured in the least. 
When the bolt has been put on op¬ 
posite limbs that need bracing, a strong 
chain may be fastened in the eyes and 
the branches are thus held securely in 
place. 
If three or more branches form the 
head they may all be held in this way 
by putting a ring in the center and 
running a chain from each branch to 
the central ring, being careful that the 
weight is evenly distributed. 
The two ways to brace fruit trees hav¬ 
ing long flexible branches that are weak¬ 
ened by the weight of the fruit, are: 
1. A pole is placed in an upright 
position in the center of the tree against 
the main trunk, to which it is fastened. 
A rope is tied to each of the branches 
that need bracing and fastened to the 
central pole, thus drawing them up to 
the proper position. It will look some¬ 
what like a May-pole when finished. 
2. Poles are cut the proper length 
and used as props extending from the 
ground to the branches, which are thus 
raised to the proper position. 
Alfred I. Wilder. 
