The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1879-11-06


The months of November and December are,
as a rule, the most dreary in the calendar of
the amateur florist, and yet they need not be
so, if we take care to increase our stock of
plants during the summer. In the culture of
flowers we must of necessity look q long way
ahead, and even now it is in order to plan our
gardens for the spring, if it has not already
been done. Lose no time in getting bulbs of
all kinds under the ground. IT your Peonies,
Lilies and HerbaceoUs Perennlals have stood
for three years III the same place, they will not
need dividing This should have been done
last month, but better late than never-an the
hardy ANIMALS. such as Larkspur, Candytuft,
Nemophila and Portulacca, may be sown early
III November, and they will be up in the spring
before the ground is ready for working Dig
up fiower-beds and leave them rough. The
frost will do O. great deal in making the ground
mellow. Apply manure wherever needed,
spading it in well s
Scare ely day but i receive letters like the
following: II neglected to slip my plants in the
summer, and have none now. What can do?"
Well, if you desire flowers immediately, there
is probably no other alternative than to send to
some florist But, says some one, "My plants
from the greenhouse never do we'll" [ know
that is true to some extent, and yet the failure
is not the blame of the seller, but rather the
ne conditions of life in which the plant are
put to grow. Just see what difference! Often
taken from moist, warm greenhouse to a
dusty, close, dry room, at one time heated to
suffocation, and, perhaps, the same day water
will freeze in the same room. This is not an
imaginary picture, for have in mind person
who runs her plant room ia just this very man.
ner When sweeping days come, instead of
throwing a newspaper over her plants to FRO
tect them, she makes the dust fly, regardless of
the consequences. Sometimes she comes in to
see my plants, and then wonders why hers do
not do well! My friend there is such q thing
as petting a plant too much just as much so as
giving them too little sunlight. The chief es-
sentials in successful plant culture may be
briefly stated air, light, heat and cleanliness.
Whenever you observe a green fly, or aphis,
that is one too many, and If left will soon pro-
duce more Many remedies are given for this
pest, but have found nothing so effectual as
tobacco smoke. Plants sent a long journey by
mail will, in some cases, and especially with
Geraniums, dropsevery leaf; but this is no in
dication that they are dead, for invariably they
will put forth pew leaves. Heliotropes are
very liable to rust; that is, the leaves will turn
black and drop withouq visible cause The
remedy is to grow them in more damp, warm
place ADDITIONS and Begonias of the Towering
kinds seem to bear removal with impunity. l
am very careful to harden off every plant
send out, 80 that they will grow where any
thing will .+.tE E#-f ItE&
I went down cellar this afternoon to examine
my Holland bnlbs, which | am keeping down
there IN their pots in darkness until the roots
join. They we're potted Sept. Is, and have
been kept moist since then, for a bulb once
started must never be allowed to go dry In
verting the pot, l knock it slightly on the rim
on one of the shelves, and out comes COM
pact ball of earth, we'll filled with roots
scarcely so full as desired, however, so / put
the ball back into the pot and shelve it again
for another week. [ found the Narcissus in
the same condition. They require the same
treatment as the Hyacinths; and here letme adj
wise every reader to delay no longer than this
month in getting every bulb into soil The
Crocus pot was well filed with roots, and the
leaf -growth started, so I removed them to the
light The Snowdrops and Oxalis had COM
menced to grow, but want to stay in the dark
little longer. My Candidum Lily, potted for
forcing, has thrown up a stem four inches
high This put out into the light Longi-
forum has made roots, but no leaf growth yet
l told you in q back number how to make these
bloom in winter.
A gentleman wrote me from Rhode Island as
to whether he could remove Lilies of the VAL
ley from his garden and have them bloom the
coming winter in the house, It can be done,
but the flowers are never so large as the ones
grown from imported pips You may dig up q
strong clump and put it in q box, filling all
around the clump with soil. Leave this out
doors where it will get good freeze,
for these Lilies are perfectly hardy,
and, as you want them for forcing, bring IN
three pips or buds with root attached for each
four-inch pot. Then you will cover with an
inch of soil, putting them away in the dark
after you have watered them. In about three
weeks you may put them in the window, where
they will bloom inIa short time. Mr.. RENNIE.
HINsDALE, Dupage county, Ill. @{ -