16 
Cypomandia 
betacea 
By D. Todd Gresham 
A small tree up to 12 ft. high; wood pithy. 
Tender, will not stand any frost. Leaves cor- 
date, about 12 inches Jong, slightly hai:y and 
soft. Aphides consider wera a special treat 
The leaves when handled have a sligntly 
disagreeable odor, Dut this is not not:-cable 
unless handled. 
The lowers com2 ta clusters, creamy white 
in color, slightly fragrarmt. about half an inch 
across. The fruit is ezz-shaped except that 
both ends are pointed, about 3 inches long 
deep maroon-red. The flavor is slightly acid 
and not unpleasant, but difficult to describe. 
It makes a fine jelly with a flavor described 
by a friend as a blend of pireapple and wat- 
ermelon. The plant grows easily ficm seed 
or cuttings, but trees grown trom seed mene 
a suaighter trunk tree. It zroas fast and will 
bear fruit the 3rd year. 
Cyphomandia (lump-maie, fo: its hump- 
shaped anthers. Betacea means heet-iike for 
the color of the fruit 
Grow them as you would egg plant. Thev 
grow outdoors at Santa Cruz, Cal., and we 
presume would also be outdoor plants in 
many parts of southern Florida; anyone grow- 
ing there successfully, please advise us. 
GARDEN NEEDS 
MILLED SPHAGNUM MOSS 
A finemilled grade of high class Sphagnum 
especially for the germination of flower seed 
It come in one bushel bags and weighs a3 
much as 12 lbs in some bags. 
PRICE: Per bag, prepaid by parcel post,for 
$2.25 per bag. 
VERMICULITE 
Special for seed beds, for cuttings or for 
mixing in potting soil. It comes in three 
sized paper bags; the small size will take care 
of the germination needs of the small grower. 
PRICES: 4 qt. bags, 55¢; Y2 bushel bags, 
$1.00; 2 bushel bags, $2.45, prepaid by mail. 
FERTO-POTS 
These are organic pots which can be set in 
the ground with plants; they retain the moist- 
ure add plant food to the soil and pushes 
the seedling along for a quick start. 
They come in three sizes,, 2 inch 60¢ per 
doz; 100 for$2.50; box of 500, $6.50, prepaid. 
242 inch size, 65¢ per doz.; 100 for$2.80; 250 
for $3.25; 3 inch size, 80¢ per doz; 250 for 
$3.90. All prepaid by parcel post. 
POT STAKES 
3/8 inches wide, painted white, all prepaid. 
4”, 50¢ per 100; carton of 1,000 for $3.50. 
5”, 55¢ per 100; carton of 1,000 for $3.65. 
6”, 60¢ per 100; carton of 1,000 for $4.00. 
10”, 70¢ per 100; carton of 500 for $3.10. 
SPECIAL GARDEN STAKES: 
7/8” wide painted white; prepaid 
8", $1.15 per 100; carton of 250 for $2.70. 
1 1/8” wide; painted white; prepaid. These 
make a fine and cheap. garden stake. 
12” long; $1.80 per carton of 100. 
COPPER WIRED TREE, SHRUB TAGS: 
344” long, 5/8” wide, for tagging nursery 
stock or for wired labels for trees and 
shrubs; painted white. 
50¢ per 100; $4.00 per carton of 1,000. 
ACTIVO 
212 Ib cans, $1.00; 7 Ib cans $2.25, prepaid. 
Pioneer Seed Company - Dimondale, Mich. 
TULIPS IN BLOOM 
AT OUR 
SEED FARM 
The Tulips growing in these beds were from surplus stock and were planted during the 
last week in January! 
month of January. 
frozen at least3 inches. 
The soil was frozen as could be expected here in Michigan in the 
The soil in these beds is a muck soil and at time of planting was 
The beds were marked off in 5 food widths and the bulbs merely POURED from the 
bags and then thined out with the handle of a hoe. 
For covering a thench about 3 feet 
wide was dug, two feet deep and this soil placed on top of bulbs; this made a soil cover- 
ing of about 3 inches. 
was placed, which was at least 2 feet deep. 
raked off some. 
to start. 
will indicate how successful It was. 
On top of this and also in the trenches, a covering of bean pods 
In the spring when growth started this was 
These pods kept the soil from freezing hard, thus allowing a root growth 
At such a late planting time one would expect a near failure but the floweres 
The Daffodils bloomed in time for Mother’s Day and the Tulips for Decoration Day! 
The old gentleman admiring the flowers is Mr. Ireland, one of our employees. 
years of age and can accomplish more than 3 younger men. 
He is 79 
He is one of the vanishing 
Americans and refuses to accept “old age aid” - more about him again. 
SPRING CARE OF THE LILIES. 
Much can be written on spring care of the 
lilies, especially when one is getting paid by 
the word but practically it is a rather simple 
subject. 
Probably two points will cover the whole 
subject. First DO NOT dig or hoe the bed, 
even a slight raking can do harm, especially 
in plantings several years old. Lily roots are 
close to the surface but more important is 
the liability of damaging flowering shoots that 
are not yet thru the soil. Also in many cases 
seed or bulbels may be germinating. There- 
fore always pull up the weeds as they first 
appear. 
Second, and just as important, is to always 
cover the beds with a mulch, a 2-3 inch 
mulch is not too much. Lilies like their their 
heads in the air but their roots cool and 
shaded. 
A good lily planting is in beds that have 
had the necessary requirements attended to 
before the bulbs were planted. Drainage 
probably being the most important. If the 
bed is at fault in this respect it would be best 
to form a trench around the bed, so as to 
drain off the excess water. 
If you should be so unfortunate as to have 
botrytis blight strike your garden, it will be 
well to go to their aid with the micronized 
copper sprays, but above all, get busy with 
your beds so that your lilies will be healthy 
and more able to resist disease. 
Do not use commercial fertilizers on the 
lily beds. 
STARTING CLEMATIS SEEDS. 
Normally the seed ripens in late summer 
or fall and are dispersed by the wind, when 
they germinate in the spring. 
There is some degree of dormancy in Clem- 
atis seed and thus it will be best to stratify 
the seed during the winter in moist sand or 
peat at about 32-50 degrees for 1-3 months to 
stimulate its germination. 
If seed is then sown in flats inside, kept at 
a good nite temperature of, say, 65-85 during 
the day for 50-60 days. 
Some lime is benefiacl in the seed soil 
Nias well drained light loam is the ideal 
soil. 
FORGOTTEN PEOPLE. 
Stopping in a book store in Cincinnati re- 
cently for books the proprietor called my 
special attention to a collection of books he 
had just purchased, the number running 
into the hundreds. He had just purchased 
them from the widow of the former owner. 
Among the books I purchased from this 
collection was, ‘How to know the Wild 
Flowers’ and written on the inside cover 
these words: ‘Bought with the first money 
ever earned by me in teaching Botany. 
Binghamton, N. Y., Sept. 20, 1895’. 
The writer did not sign his name, other- 
wise I would have enjoyed recording it, 55 
years after! What changes occur in 55 years! 
How easily we are forgotten in the course 
of 55 years! 
