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YOUR PLANTS.
PLAIN AND PRACTICAL DIRECTIONS
FOR THE TREATMENT OF
TENDER AND HARDY PLANTS
IN THE
HOUSE AND IN THE GARDEN.
BY
JAMES SHEEHAN.
NEW YORK:
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
1919
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1884, by the
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
PAGE.
CHAPTER I.
How to Make a Lawn 7
CHAPTER II.
Soil for Potting--Artificial Fertilizers 10
CHAPTER III.
Selecting and Sowing Seeds 12
CHAPTER IV.
Making and Planting Flower Beds 14
CHAPTER V.
Watering Plants--Is Cold Water Injurious? 16
CHAPTER VI.
Atmosphere and Temperature.--Insects 19
CHAPTER VII.
Wintering Plants in Cellars 21
CHAPTER VIII.
The Law of Color in Flowers 22
CHAPTER IX.
The Relation of Plants to Health 23
CHAPTER X.
Layering 25
CHAPTER XI.
Propagation of Plants from Cuttings 26
CHAPTER XII.
Grafting 29
CHAPTER XIII.
Hanging Baskets, Wardian Cases and Jardinieres 31
CHAPTER XIV.
Aquatics--Water Lilies 35
CHAPTER XV.
Hardy Climbing Vines.--Ivies 37
CHAPTER XVI.
Annual Flowering Plants--Pansy Culture 39
CHAPTER XVII.
Fall or Holland Bulbs 42
CHAPTER XVIII.
Tropical Bulbs.--Tuberoses 44
CHAPTER XIX.
Roses, Cultivation, and Propagating 46
CHAPTER XX.
Japan and other Lilies.--Calla Lilies 50
CHAPTER XXI.
Geraniums, the Best Twelve Sorts 53
CHAPTER XXII.
Azaleas; How to Cultivate Them 53
CHAPTER XXIII.
Camellias.--Orange and Lemon Trees 55
CHAPTER XXIV.
Fuchsias, Training and Management 57
CHAPTER XXV.
Cactuses--Night Blooming Cereus.--Rex Begonias 59
CHAPTER XXVI.
Rockeries--How to Make Them 62
CHAPTER XXVII.
Budding 64
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Pruning 68
CHAPTER XXIX.
Miscellaneous Notes 72
CHAPTER XXX.
Sentiment and Language of Flowers 76
INTRODUCTION.
In the winter of the year 1880, while the author was in attendance upon
a large horticultural meeting in a neighboring city, which was attended
by nearly all the leading florists and nurserymen in Western New York,
the idea of writing this work was first suggested to him.
An intelligent lady, present at that meeting, widely known for her skill
and success as an amateur florist, in conversation with the writer made
the following remarks: "I have in my library at least a dozen different
works on floriculture, some of them costly, all of which I have read
over and over again, often having to pore over a large volume of almost
useless matter, in order to find information on some points I was
looking for.
"It has occurred to me that some one ought to write a work on flowers,
for the use of amateurs, that would contain in a brief space all the
requisite information ordinarily needed by those who cultivate flowers
in and about their homes. I predict that such a work could not fail to
meet and merit a general demand."
In writing this little volume, I have earnestly endeavored to carry out,
as near as I could, the above suggestions. How far I have succeeded in
accomplishing this end, my readers must judge.
I trust that "Your Plants" will be useful and instructive in the field
it was designed to occupy--that of a help to amateurs in the successful
cultivation of plants and flowers in the house and garden.
JAMES SHEEHAN.
_Geneva, N. Y., October, 1884._
YOUR PLANTS.
CHAPTER I.
HOW TO MAKE A LAWN.
A smooth lawn is a great attraction of itself, even if there is not a
tree or shrub upon it. When it is once made, a lawn is easily kept in
order, yet we seldom see a good one. There are three things to be taken
into consideration in securing a fine lawn. First, location; Second,
quality of the soil; Third, the kinds of seed to be sown.
LOCATION.
This is the most important matter relating to a good lawn. In selecting
a site upon which to build, not the least consideration should be the
possibility of having a fine lawn, one that will cost as little as
possible to keep in a nice and attractive condition. The nearer level
the land is, the better. If a house is built on an elevation back from
the road, a sloping lawn has a good effect. Where the land is rolling
and hilly, it should be graded into successive terraces, which, though
rather expensive, will look well. Low lands should be avoided as much as
possible in selecting a site on which it is intended to make a good
lawn. Low land can be improved by thorough under-drainage. If the land
is wet on which we design making a lawn, we should first thoroughly
underdrain it by laying tiles two rods apart, and two feet below the
surface. Large-growing trees should never be planted on the lawn, grass
will not thrive under them. Fruit trees, like the apple, cherry, and
peach, are exceedingly out of place on a fine lawn. The finest yard we
ever saw had not a tree on it that exceeded ten feet in hight. Flowering
shrubs, low-growing evergreens, a few weeping and deciduous trees of
moderate size, with flower-beds neatly planted, make an attractive
door-yard.
SOIL.
This is the mother of all vegetation. Nothing, not even grass, will
flourish on a poor soil. The quality of the soil varies in different
localities. We often find a fine sward on a stiff clay soil, and also on
a light gravelly one. The soil best adapted to the growth of a good
sward, is a sandy loam with a gravelly bottom. In making new lawns,
there is sometimes more or less grading to be done, and often where a
knoll has been cut off the sub-soil is exposed, and it will not do to
sow the seed upon these patches until the spots have been thoroughly
covered with manure which is to be worked in. If a new lawn of any
extent is to be made, it should first be plowed deep, and if uneven and
hilly, grade it to a level surface. The surface should have a heavy
dressing of manure, which should be lightly plowed under, and then the
surface should be dragged several times until fine, and then rolled with
a heavy roller. The seed may now be sown, after which it should be
rolled again. The spring is the best time to do this work, although if
the fall be dry, it will answer nearly as well to do it at that time.
The dryer the ground in preparing it for the seed, and for the sowing of
the same, the better. In preparing a small plot of ground for a lawn,
the spade, hand-rake, and small roller may be used in place of the
larger implements.
SEED.
Much difficulty is often experienced in obtaining a good mixture of
grass seed for the lawn, and different mixtures are recommended and sold
for sowing lawns, some of which are entirely worthless. Great pains
should be taken to have nothing but first-class seeds, which should be
obtained direct of some responsible dealer. The finest sward we ever saw
was made from the following mixture:
10 quarts Rhode Island Bent-grass.
4 " White Clover.
8 " Kentucky Blue-grass.
6 " Red-top Grass.
Sow at the rate of six bushels to the acre. Grass seed can be sown in
the fall any time from the first of October to the first of December. If
the seed be sound, a good sward may be expected the following summer,
and a good turf may be expected from spring sown seeds if the season is
not too dry. The dryer the ground is when the seeds are sown, the
better. To keep the lawn in a flourishing condition, fresh and green all
summer, it will need a top-dressing of well-rotted manure applied in the
fall, at least once every two years. Grass roots derive their
nourishment close to the surface, hence the great advantage of
top-dressing. In some localities where the frost "heaves" the sod to any
extent during the winter, it will be advantageous to roll it down in the
spring with a heavy roller, doing it just after a heavy rain. When the
ground is soft and pliable, this will make the surface smooth, and in
proper condition for the lawn-mower to pass over it.
Frequent mowing will thicken the sward. It is not necessary to sow oats,
as some do, to shade the ground until the seeds have started, that is an
"old fogy" notion, and is now obsolete.