Southern Africa, where they have grown for so long a time that they will
reproduce themselves in a marked degree from seeds.
Some have grown in the moist soils of the valleys for so many
generations that they have become adapted to these conditions and will
not thrive on the elevated plateaus and mountain slopes. Those which are
native in the higher and cooler altitudes will not grow well in the
lower lands.
A species or variety becomes acclimated when it is grown in one locality
for several successive generations, because it is one of nature's laws
that it takes on new characteristics that improve it for existence
there. These characters are changing more or less during each generation
on account of environment.
We can not aid nature in strengthening and improving the desirable
qualities unless we follow nature's laws. By crossing two varieties that
have certain desirable characters in common we may be able to make these
characteristics more dominant.
Much of the crossbreeding of the gladiolus has been done in such an
unscientific manner that it is surprising that so much improvement has
been made. This improvement is mostly the result of extra care and
cultivation, and the selection of the best each generation. In order to
retain the benefit of any extra care and cultivation it has to pass on
as a heritage to the succeeding generation and is there incorporated
among its characteristics. Each generation should be an advance toward
the desired ideal.
There is no doubt in my mind that the ruffling and doubling of the
petals in flowers that have been under cultivation for several
generations is caused by the extra feeding and care that they have
received.
Most species of gladioli in their wild state are small and lacking in
beauty. Abnormal or freak varieties should not be selected as the best
for breeding, because they are usually the result of a violent cross,
and are nearly always weak as propagators and sometimes entirely
sterile.
Princeps has a very large flower, but the spike is short and only two or
three blooms are open at one time. It was originated by Dr. Van Fleet by
crossing Mrs. Beecher and Cruentus. Burbank crossed Princeps and
America, and quite a number of the seedlings show the markings of Mrs.
Beecher, one of their grandparents, but with shorter spikes. In this
cross Princeps transmits the undesirable character of short spikes but
leaves out the abnormal size of flower, and the best characters of
America are lacking. The parentage of America is very much in doubt, as
three prominent gladiolus breeders claim the honor of originating it.
There are many characteristics to be considered when making selections
for breeding besides the color and size of the flower. The bulbs of some
varieties will stand considerable freezing while other varieties will
not. This same characteristic is noticed in the foliage. The severe
frost that killed our corn crop on August 30th so impaired Panama,
Hiawatha and some others that very few blooms of these varieties opened
afterwards. The foliage of some varieties remained green after a
temperature of twelve degrees below freezing.
A representative of a Holland bulb growing firm who called on me a few
days ago says that Niagara is a very weak grower in Holland and Panama
is a very vigorous grower. My experience with these varieties is just
the reverse. This seems to show that sometimes the difference in climate
may cause certain characters in the plant to act differently--if the
Hollander is not mistaken.
A few varieties are sometimes subject to blight and rust. Some are only
slightly affected, and many others are entirely blight proof.
There are so many characteristics to be considered by the scientific
breeder that it is almost impossible to enumerate them all in this
paper.
There is yet a great work to be done in breeding out the undesirable
traits and incorporating the improvements which we desire.
Civic Improvement.
MRS. ALBERTSON, PRES. CIVIC IMPROVEMENT LEAGUE, AUSTIN.
This is a subject so broad and so closely connected with "The City
Beautiful" one can hardly find a starting point, but we might begin with
the one word--civic--which has drawn to itself many minds, much sober
thought and from some much hard work.
The fear was widespread that woman would work havoc if she attempted to
spell the task, but how needless, for the word civic can be spelled with
accuracy from whichever end approached.
What was the beginning of the civic league and the city beautiful? It
began at home, where most women's work begins. To have a beautiful home
one must have the right kind of house. To have the beautiful house to
make the beautiful home the setting must be made to correspond--so after
the house, the lawn; after the lawn, the boulevard. Then the work
spread. Streets needed cleaning, unsightly billboards had to be removed,
perhaps an adjoining vacant lot had a careless owner whose pride needed
pricking. So the need of a civic league grew, and now it has become a
vital spark in many cities all over the Union. Minnesota has over thirty
civic clubs doing specific work. Is it entirely the work for women? No.
Is it entirely the work for men? No. It is a work for both. It is a work
that is very contagious and a contagion that needs no quarantine.
Civic league work envelopes many lines of improvement. Streets and
alleys sometimes need to be reported to the proper committee of the city
council; the disposal of rubbish and garbage has confronted many civic
societies. There is nothing so conducive to unsanitary conditions and so
disfiguring to a beautiful street as glimpses and often broad views of
alleys and back yards that have become dump piles and garbage receivers.
Besides the effect on one's love for cleanliness and beauty, it breeds
disease--and so public sanitation was added to the civic league work.
In some cities the societies are taking up the work of smoke abatement.
I might say that we have a few offending chimneys in our own city
beautiful. Every member of the city council should be a member of the
civic league, for much more could be done by co-operation. There is
great need of the civic improvement league and park board working
together, for their aim is one--to make the city beautiful.
The work that gives the most beauty to the city after the good
foundation of cleanliness, public sanitation and removal of public
nuisances is that done in the parks. I am glad cities are making larger
appropriations for parks, and I hope our city will have more in the
future, for there are great possibilities of making our city not only a
city beautiful, but a most beautiful city. Parks should be well lighted,
playgrounds for children are almost a necessity, the river banks should
be kept clean--but most of all the natural beauties of a place must be
preserved and trees should be planted. Shade is needed as a good
background. There is nothing that will enhance a beautiful statue,
fountain or other park ornament like a setting of good trees.
If possible to have it there is no more attractive spot in a park than a
lily pool. The old idea of laying out parks according to some
geometrical pattern is giving way to the development of walk lines of
practical use, recognizing both traffic requirements and the
desirability of location for numerous park benches. What will lend more
charm to a park than a beautiful drive bordered with noble trees leading
up to some focal point or opening a way to some particular vista that
would otherwise be lost!
The park board should not limit its work to parks alone, but wherever
there is a spot, triangle corner or any other kind of available place,
there should be planted shrubs or flower beds. They soon become a public
pride and cheer many passersby. We have a number of bright spots in our
city, beginning in the spring with a beautiful bed of tulips. May
another year bring us many more! One forgets the mud and the
disagreeable days of spring in watching the bulbs thrust their little
pointed noses through the cold earth and the development of the buds
until they burst open into a blaze of color, flaunting their gorgeous
heads in a farewell to old winter and giving a cheery welcome to the
coming summer.
BEE-KEEPER'S COLUMN.
Conducted by FRANCIS JAGER, Professor of Apiculture, University
Farm, St. Paul.
If not already done the beekeeper should at once make his final
preparations towards a successful wintering of bees. There are several
conditions under which the bees winter well, all of which are more or
less understood. The chief of these are a strong colony of young bees,
sufficient amount of good stores, and the proper place to keep the bees.
Bees that were queenless late in the fall or bees that had an old queen
who stopped laying very early in the season, will have only few and old
bees for wintering and will not have vitality enough to survive. Such
colonies should be united with some other good colony or if too far gone
they should be destroyed. Weak colonies should be united until they are
strong enough to occupy and fill when clustered at least six frames.
The best stores to winter bees on is pure honey capped over. Honey dew
will kill the bees in winter. If you have any black honey in your hives
you had better remove it and replace with white honey. A ten frame hive
ready for winter ought to contain from 35 to 40 pounds of honey. A
complete hive if put on a scale should weigh not less than from 50 to 60
pounds. The best way to supply food to the bees is to remove the dry
combs and insert next to the cluster full combs of honey. Feeding sugar
is a dangerous undertaking, and it should not be resorted to unless
necessity compels one to do it, and then feeding should be done early in
the season to allow the bees to invert the sugar, cap it over and
consume such stores which are not capped over before winter. The hives
that winter best are those which contain no uncapped honey in the
frames.
For the bulk of beekeepers cellar wintering in Minnesota is to be
recommended. The things to be looked after in cellar wintering are:
first, that the temperature of the cellar does not go much below 45
degrees, at least not for any length of time. Second, that the entrances
are kept open and clear of dead bees and are guarded with four to the
inch wire screen against mice. Third, that the moisture generated by the
bees does not accumulate on the walls and covers of the hives. This is
most essential. Moisture absorbing material should be used in place of a
wooden cover, for instance flax board or gunnysacks, or a super filled
with shavings over a queen excluder. The bees must have free passage
over the top of the frames. We wintered the bees at University Farm
without loss by using nothing else but the one inch flax board on top of
the hive, which kept the hive positively dry all winter.
Your cellar should be dark, should have some ventilation, and the bees
should never be disturbed during their winter sleep. By following these
recommendations, you will be delighted to find your bees in the spring
in a most flourishing condition for next summer's work.
GARDEN HELPS
Conducted by Minnesota Garden Flower Society
Edited by MRS. E. W. GOULD, 2644 Humboldt Avenue So.
Minneapolis.
After the frosts have killed the _dahlia_ foliage the tubers should be
dug and stored before the cold becomes so great. They may be injured by
it.
The stems should be cut to about three or four inches of the roots,
using a sharp knife, so as to make a clean cut. To the stems attach the
label firmly. Loosen the earth about each clump before attempting to
lift it, then run the spade or fork as far under it as possible and pry
it gently out. In this way the tubes will not be broken or injured where
they join the stem, which is the only place where they can make the next
season's growth. Most of the soil will drop off as they dry. Lay the
roots so that water will not have a chance to collect in the soft hollow
stems, or crown rot may trouble you.
A cool, dry shed is a good place in which to cure the roots. Lay them on
boards and turn them occasionally so they will dry evenly.
In a week's time they should be ready to store for winter, the best
place being a frost-proof cellar. Unless this is very dry, it is best to
have boards raised a few inches above the floor on which to lay them.
This will allow a current of air to pass under them. If a damp cellar
must be used, air slaked lime sprinkled under the boards will help to
keep them dry. Cover them a little with dry sand. The best temperature
is 40 degrees.
_Cannas_ can be lifted and stored at once. Cut the stems off short,
leaving enough to attach the labels to. They keep best if lifted with as
much soil about them as possible. The clumps can be set close together,
on boards arranged in the same way as for dahlias. They will stand a
slightly warmer temperature than dahlias.
_Tuberous begonias_, unlike dahlias and cannas, should be lifted without
cutting the stems. They should be cured in the sun for at least two
weeks and during that time turned to dry evenly and kept perfectly dry.
A cold frame is a good place in which to do this. When the stems part
readily from the bulbs, the latter can be packed in boxes and stored in
any dry place where the temperature will not fall below 40 degrees.
These are among the tenderest bulbs and should be the first to be
lifted.
_Gladioli_ should be lifted with their stems intact, tied in bundles and
hung in a dry shed to dry. When thoroughly dry, the stems can be cut off
and the bulbs packed in boxes and stored the same as the begonias. They
are especially sensitive to heat, and if the air is too dry the bulbs
will shrivel and lose much of their vitality.
_Montbretias_ should be lifted out and stored in the same way as the
gladioli.
_Tuberoses_ should be lifted with the stems intact and spread out to dry
or hung in a dry place. When thoroughly cured, cut off the stems close
to the bulb and store in the same way as gladioli.
_Caladium, or Elephant's Ears_, should be lifted without disturbing the
stem or leaves. As the leaves dry they can be removed, but the stem
should not be cut near the bulb, as this is the point of growth the
following year. They can be stored with the dahlias and cannas and are
not apt to shrivel, as the bulb is so large and fleshy.
_Zephyrunthes, summer blooming hyacinths, tritomas, and tigridias_
should be lifted, cured, and stored in the same manner as gladioli.
All of these are subject to rot, so it is well to examine them
occasionally. If any rot is found, remove the affected bulbs, and if
those remaining appear damp, dust lightly with air-slaked lime. Flowers
of sulphur can also be used to dust them with to prevent this trouble.
Should the bulbs be getting too dry, cover with sand. In our climate of
extremes, it is necessary to examine them at intervals, and be prompt in
the use of a remedy if any of these adverse conditions are discovered.
* * * * *
NOTICE.
The November meeting of the Garden Flower Society will be held in the
Minneapolis Park Board greenhouses, thirty-eighth street and Bryant
avenue, November 16, 2:30 p.m. Take Monroe and Bryant car. St. Paul
members will transfer from the Selby-Lake at Bryant avenue. This will be
a chrysanthemum show, and a talk on hardy chrysanthemums will be given.
SECRETARY'S CORNER
MINNESOTA CROP IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION.--Will hold its annual
meeting this year at Fairmont on Feb. 21-22-23. The seed growers of
Minnesota would be especially interested in this meeting, at which there
are to be a number of seed contests, particulars in regard to which are
not at hand. They may be secured by addressing the secretary, Prof. C. P.
Bull, University Farm, St. Paul, Minn.
THE VEGETABLE GROWERS CONVENTION.--This convention, which is I
understand an annual gathering of the vegetable growers of America, was
largely attended in Chicago the last week in September. A report
received of the meeting indicates an attendance of eight hundred
vegetable growers, including two hundred fifty from the vicinity of
Chicago. The city entertained them with an inspection trip, throughout
Cook County and later a party of them went to Racine and visited the
experimental gardens operated by Prof. R. L. Jones, of the Wisconsin
University. Perhaps we may have a fuller report of this meeting from
some of our Minnesota growers who were in attendance.
THE SOCIAL ELEMENT AT OUR ANNUAL MEETING.--Making the West
Hotel the headquarters of the society at the same time that the meeting
is held in the building gives an especially good opportunity for
renewing and cultivating acquaintance amongst the members in attendance.
This was particularly noticeable last year, and without doubt one of the
most enjoyable features of the gathering. Placing emphasis upon this, an
additional room has been engaged for the coming meeting on the same
floor and adjoining the rooms occupied last year, which will be fitted
up especially for a reception room where members and their friends may
gather and rest as they visit and talk of the many things of interest
connected with our society and its work. A suitable sign will direct
members to this reception room, and we anticipate that it will be made
use of largely.
THE PRIZE WINNER IN THE GARDEN AND CANNING CONTEST.--The
Horticultural Society is offering $10.00 to pay railroad fare and
traveling expenses to attend the annual meeting of our society by the
boy or girl making the best record in the state in the "garden and
canning contest" carried on by the Minnesota Extension Division. The
successful contestant will tell in his or her way how it was that
success was secured in the contest. Besides this prize of $10.00 each of
the ten boys or girls scoring next highest in this contest will receive
an annual membership for 1917 in the State Horticultural Society. The
name of the successful contestant is not yet announced.
DELEGATES FROM SISTER SOCIETIES.--Several delegates have been
appointed from horticultural societies in adjoining states, notices of
which have reached this office.
Mr. D. E. Bingham, of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., is to represent the Wisconsin
State Horticultural Society. Mr. Bingham has made fruit growing his life
work, a man of large experience, whose services are in demand in that
state also as an institute lecturer. We shall have an opportunity to
profit by his experience at our meeting, as you will note by consulting
the program.
Mr. G. D. Black, of Independence, Ia., is to represent the Northeast Iowa
Society. Mr. Black has been with us before and he will find many who
recall his presence here in previous years. He is to give us on the
program his later experience in connection with the growing of the
gladioli, a work to which he has given large attention for many years.
From South Dakota is coming the president of that society, Rev. S. A.
Hassold, from Kimball, S.D.
Other visitors from Iowa not officially sent to us who have signified an
intention to be present are: Chas. F. Gardner, Osage, Ia.; E. M. Reeves,
Waverly. Prof. S. A. Beach is also to spend the last two days of the
annual meeting with us and his name will be found upon our program on
several topics. No professional horticulturist in America is better or
more favorably known than Prof. Beach, and our membership who are
interested in orcharding should not fail to hear what he has to say on
the subjects he presents.
Mr. N. A. Rasmussen, of Oshkosh, Wis., is also to be with us and will be
found several times on the program. Being an expert in market gardening
we are going to work him to the limit while he is with us. We anticipate
that Secretary Cranefield of the Wisconsin Society, will also spend the
week with us. Prof. C.B. Waldron will be here as representative of the
North Dakota Society, and also Prof. F.W. Broderick of Winnipeg as
representing the Winnipeg Horticultural Society--and of course our Prof.
N.E. Hansen, of South Dakota. All of these friends will be found on the
program.
There may be others, but this will do for a start.
[Illustration: VIEW OVER VEGETABLE TABLE AND ACROSS FRUIT EXHIBIT AT
1916 MINNESOTA STATE FAIR. MR. THOS. REDPATH, SUPT. FRUIT
EXHIBIT.]
While it is not the intention to publish anything in this
magazine that is misleading or unreliable, yet it must be
remembered that the articles published herein recite the
experience and opinions of their writers, and this fact must
always be noted in estimating their practical value.
THE MINNESOTA HORTICULTURIST
Vol. 44 DECEMBER, 1916 No. 12
Perennial Garden at Carmarken, White Bear.
J. W. TAYLOR, ST. PAUL.
We have had so many inquiries about our garden as to how we make things
grow, and as to the best plants to use, that we take pleasure in
answering through the Horticulturist and giving the result of our
experience in making an attractive perennial garden. Our soil is sandy
loam, very quick and warm, except in one place where it is low and there
is a heavy black soil over clay. It has been well enriched with well
rotted manure and cultivated as much as possible every spring, where it
could be done without disturbing plants and bulbs. The arrangement of
flowers as regards the blending and careful selection so that one bloom
does not kill another is the secret of a beautiful garden. Acres of
flowers placed without any regard to color, no matter how expensive
individual plants may be, is not pleasing to the eye. It is like a crowd
of mixed people, and we know crowds are never beautiful. There is
incompatibility among flowers as there is among people, and the
compatible must be associated or there is no harmony.
What do we raise and how do we do it? We will, in the space allowed,
answer this as best we can. It is not necessary to spend a great lot of
money if one uses good judgment and knows where to buy. Take that grand
flower, the peony. One can spend as much money as one pleases on these.
There is just now a fad regarding these flowers, and some rich people
are paying as high as $30.00 a root for certain kinds, but it is not
necessary. The most really lovely gardens I have seen in the East and
West have not been filled with plants bought at fancy prices. We have
some that originally cost us a good deal of money and which are now
cheap, as for instance, the Henryii lily. We bought the first we heard
of at one dollar and one-half each. Now they can be bought for thirty
cents. In peonies, Baroness Schroeder, an ivory white, is selling for
three dollars a root, while the most beautiful of all the whites
according to my taste, Festiva Maxima, can be bought for fifty cents.
The Kelways are all fine. The best cost about one dollar each. In our
garden, among others, the Pallas, Edulis Superba, Golden Harvest, Madame
Crousse and Queen Victoria, all fine, cost us fifty cents each. We have
a row all around our garden of these splendid flowers, many varieties,
some very rare, and nothing could be more gorgeous in color or more
effective than this border. Hundreds of people came to see this peony
show this year and were extravagant in their praise. The perfect harmony
of arrangement was what pleased. We made many friends happy with armfuls
of them to take home. That is the pleasure of your garden, the enjoyment
one gets from making others happy. We especially notice how pleased the
children were, the girls more so than the boys, perhaps, as they
wandered along the paths fondling this or that bloom with loving
fingers. With such an amount of bloom it is easy to send bouquets to the
childrens' hospitals and to sick friends. We plant the peonies with the
crown just under the earth, two feet apart. In the fall we cut off the
old stalks and replace them over the plants after putting a good
dressing of rotted manure on the beds.