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.
Another flower, which is very attractive, is the larkspur Belladonna, turquoise blue. It shows from a great distance as its heavenly blue meets the eye. When arranged in a vase with white flowers it makes the most beautiful, choice and refined bouquet we know of. The Formosum is a lovely dark blue and very striking. Give them plenty of water and some wood ashes to keep off the slugs. Cut off the stalks after blooming, about August first, and they will bloom again in autumn. We had this year a large clump of Madonna lilies and next to them a large bunch of larkspur. The effect was stunning. Just before the larkspur came the whole north end of the garden was aflame with Oriental poppies, hundreds of them. No other flower produces the effect upon one that this great proud, wonderful flower does. It is the queen of the show. We transplant this in September in ordinary soil. Or we sow the seeds in August and transplant the seedlings as soon as up. They need no protection, but we protect everything with straw and branches. The branches to keep the straw from packing too hard and keeping the air out. Protection of roses is necessary, of course. We had a great collection this season. Our plan is to cut them back to within a foot of the ground then fill a box with leaves and turn over them. We never lose a rose thus protected. Neither sun nor mice injure them.
Another grand flower is Digitalis, or foxglove. These gladden your heart as the medicine made from them strengthens it. Get the mixed plants or seed, Gloxinia flora. When in bloom, look into their little gloves and note the wonder of nature's coloring. With us they grow six feet tall in black, heavy soil. They self-sow, and the plants of the present year bloom the next. A bed of these make a most gorgeous, dignified group in your garden. They are hardy with a very slight covering. Many with us self-sow and live through the winter without any protection. We made up a bed of these self-sowed in fall of 1915. They were a glory this summer. A few years ago every one said, don't waste your time on Japanese Iris. They thrive with us and bear blooms fully as large as a tea plate and of most exquisite beauty. We divide them every third year and in the spring cover them with old fertilizer and water them well. They grow in a heavy soil with some sand worked in. Our best varieties are Oriole, Distinction, Alice Kiernga, Beauty of Japan and Blue Flag.
The Gladiolus is another bright and interesting addition to our floral family. The best we have are Marie de Ruyter, a pretty blue; Badenia, lavender; Golden King, a magnificent yellow; Florence, lilac blotched; Mazie, corn color; and Dawn, shell pink. Plant these bulbs in succession, three weeks apart, from April first, six inches deep, so they will stand up, and eighteen inches between rows. In this way you will have them until frost. For the house cut them when first bud comes out, and they will all blossom in water.
A flower which attracts much attention with us is the Canterbury Bell, cup and saucer variety, in different colors. Very showy. This is not a perennial but a biennial. We plant our seeds in July and transplant in September or October. The Persicifolia in white and blue is a hardy perennial and grows on stalks two to three feet high, a great favorite among white flowers. In some soils they do not do well, but with us grow rampant. We prefer the white. We cut over two thousand stalks this summer from one hundred fifty plants.
Of Tulips, which are so welcome in early spring, the Darwin leads all. We love them as we do the Stars of Bethlehem, the Hyacinths, Narcissi and the darling little blue flowers, Scilla Siberica, that come with the Snowdrops and Crocuses before the snow is gone. We thus have bloom from snow to snow. Always something bright, and that is another strong reason for a perennial garden.
We have many calls from persons wishing to buy plants or seeds. We do not sell either, but gladly give away our surplus. We have furnished many gardens in this way all about us and thus added to the beauty of the surrounding country and made ourselves and others happy. Our collection of Lilies, Auratums, Speciosums, Tigers, Madonnas, are all planted six to eight inches deep and, after spreading manure are covered with straw, after frost. We cover all bulb beds with manure in the fall. Among lilies all but the Auratums last years, but these lose their vitality in two or three seasons. Plant all lilies in fall except Madonnas, which should be put in in August. Two fine flowers we would recommend to flower lovers: the Amaryllis Hallii, or, as we call it, the wonder flower, which grows a large bunch of leaves in spring and in June they all die down. In August there springs up a single stalk from the apparently dead plant, bearing a lily-like bunch of flowers of charming colors. It is as hardy as an oak. The other is the Dictamnus, or gas plant. Most beautiful and very hardy. Get one white and one pink and plant near each other. They are fine. Of course we have named but a small part of our collection, but will be glad to give any further information to our Horticulturist readers and will be glad to welcome them at our grounds any time.
Canning Fruits Without Sirup.—Can the product the same day it is picked. Cull, stem, or seed, and clean the fruit by placing it in a strainer and pouring water over it until it is clean. Pack the product thoroughly in glass jars or tin cans until they are full; use the handle of a tablespoon, wooden ladle, or table knife for packing purposes. Pour over the fruit boiling water from a kettle, place rubbers and caps in position, partially seal if using glass jars, seal completely if using tin cans. Place the containers in a sterilizing vat, such as a wash boiler with false bottom, or other receptacle improvised for the purpose. If using a hot-water bath outfit, process for 30 minutes; count time after the water has reached the boiling point; the water must cover the highest jar in container. After sterilizing seal glass jars, wrap in paper to prevent bleaching, and store in a dry, cool place.