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HOETICULTUKE 



March 29. 1913 



OUTDOOR VEGETABLES AND FRUIT 



CONDUCTED BY 



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Questions by our readers In line with any of the topics presented on this page will be cordially received and promptly answered 

 by Mr. Jenkins. Such communications should Invariably be addressed to the office of HORTICULTDRE. 



Sowing Peas 



Just as soon as the ground is dry enough to work get 

 in a few rows of early peas. The round peas are better 

 for early work than the wrinkled kinds as the latter are 

 more liable to rot in the event of prolonged wet weather. 

 In sowing make allowance for losses, by sowing a little 

 thicker than you would want the plants if they all germi- 

 nated. A quart sows about one hundred feet of drill. 

 Make a sowing of several different ' sorts just now and 

 try to choose such kinds as mature a week or ten days 

 apart. About two inches deep is the right depth and 

 after the seeds are sown and the soil raked over then it 

 is a good plan to lay a board over the drill and walk on 

 it. This will compact the soil to just about the right 

 degree of firmness. Do not expect abundant crops of 

 peas unless you sow on well-manured land. A sprinkling 

 of bone and wood ashes will be very helpful, and lime is 

 a prime requisite on pea land. 



Sow such herbs as thyme, sage, dill, chervil, parsley, 

 etc. 



Beets, carrots, spinach and early turnips should be 

 sown without delay. 



Hot Beds 



The various crops which are being brought along in 

 hot beds will require very careful watching as regards 

 ventilation as some days at this season the sun shines 

 with great force and still there is a very cold wind. The 



careful grower will meet this condition by tilting the 

 sash for ventilation in such a manner that the wind will 

 not blow directly on the plants. Commence to ventilate 

 early, just as soon as the sun strikes the glass and pro- 

 ceed gradually, little by little until the maximum heat 

 of the day is reached. Eeverse this operation during 

 the sun's waning hours and close up early enough to con- 

 serve as much of the sun's heat as possible, covering the 

 glass at night with mats or litter and if possible with 

 shutters. 



The Asparagus Bed 



Try this on the asparagus bed : To every forty square 

 yards, 6 lbs. of superphosphate and 2 to 3 lbs. of high- 

 grade sulphate of potash. Put these two ingredients on 

 at once ; then every week one pound of nitrate of soda 

 to the same area. The nitrate, if at all lumpy, may be 

 powdered and mixed with a pail of sand or fine soil ; this 

 will enable the sower to make a more even distribution 

 than would be possible otherwise. 

 Gladioli 



These are among the finest of all our garden plants 

 for cutting and the season is never too long so if you 

 have bulbs enough start some in pots in the greenhouse 

 (they will start fine under the carnation benches) and 

 if grown along cool until the end of April before plant- 

 ing, they will be in bloom a week or two ahead of bulbs 

 planted outside in the regular way. 



Thymus serpyllum 



Mountain regions of high altitude 

 have a distinct flora of their own. 

 Trees and shrubs assume a dwarfy 

 character and, nearer to the eternal 

 ice of the glacier, they disappear en- 

 tirely. The remaining vegetation, 

 grasses and herbs, cling fiat and 

 close to the ground surface. This 

 creeping growth enables plant life 

 to withstand the long and heavy 

 pressure of the weight of deep snow 

 and ice in winter. The turbulent 

 force of gales and violent storms in 

 spring passes over without injurious 

 effects. During the short summer 

 the vegetation becomes the moisture 

 absorbing and retaining factor and 

 the direct beneficiary of the night 

 conduction of sunheat by the earth. 

 To the more contemplative mind 

 the prostrate growth of Alpine 

 plants as beautiful miniature de- 

 sign work testifies to the supreme 

 wisdom of the Divine architect of 

 the universe. Our ancestors of 

 hardly more than a hundred years ago shunned the lofty 

 solitude of the mountains, believing it to be the haunt 

 of ill-disposed spirits, hurling down death and destruc- 

 tion in rolling avalanches. The majesty of the ice-clad 



Thymus serpyixum splendens 



peaks was awe-inspiring; the silence within their pre- 

 cincts pregnant with evil. The last century, radically 

 revolutionizing views, made mountaineering a favorite 

 sport. It brnuglit about our intimate acquaintance with 



