i8g6. 



GARDENING. 



283 



matters we gladly reply. Our ; 

 don't you do it. Neither the taxpayers 

 of your state nor the citizens of the 

 United States ever meant to turn their 

 experiment stations into commercial 

 money-making florist establishments. 

 Government aid isn't given for any such 

 a purpose. Of course you will urge that 

 your state experiment station in running 

 a commercial florist business in teaching 

 the students a new, important, and 

 profitable trade. For mercy's sake pipe 

 that little tune to the marines that they 

 may dance, you cannot snare old birds by 

 such empty chaff. To begin with the 

 principle is wrong and contrary to the 

 intern of the Government in supporting 

 experiment stations, were it otherwise 

 the name "experiment" would be a mis- 

 nomer. You cannot insist that it is for 

 experiment's sake you wish to embark in 

 this, because you came to a hard-shell 

 old practical for advice about the most 

 tested and approved kinds of plants to 

 grow. You arc the teacher at the experi- 

 ment station, and you admit that you 

 know nothing at all about the matter 

 you wish to undertake and are willing to 

 accept payment for. How can you con- 

 scientiously pretend to teach our children 

 what vou yourself don't know? 



RHODODENDRONS, W«y DID TflEX DIB? 



A year ago a lady planted a lot of rlio- 

 dodcndrons in her garden, but they all 

 died last winter, and meeting us the other 

 day she asked "Why did they die?" "Be- 

 cause you neglected them" would have 

 been the brief truth, init cmirUsy com- 

 pelled us to put it in this way, "drouth 

 last summer and fall." Nrnv tliis is a 

 pertinent question. Inipurtcd rhododen 

 drons arrive here in spring, say middle of 

 April, each plant having a compacted 

 ball of roots. At that time the ground is 

 mellow and moist and we set out the 

 plants carefully, firmly, and otlierwise 

 properly, then leave them alone to live or 

 die as they may choose, thinking we have 

 done our duty to them, and should any 

 evil overtake them, we seem to feel that 

 we are justified in blaming the nursery- 

 man from whom we bought the plants. 

 But that is unjust, we ourselves are the 

 culprits. In planting have the ground in 

 perfect readiness all deeply dug and leaf 

 soil mixed in with it in the places or holes 

 where you wish to set the rhododendrons. 

 Now take the plants, and if the balls are 

 in the least dry wet them by immersion 

 so as to soak them to the center, let them 

 drip for a while and then plant them. It 

 matters very little whether you mulch 

 them right away or wait for a month, 

 but a mulching over summer will do them 

 good because the covering on the ground 

 will conserve the moisture in the soil and 

 keep it cooler than would be the case in 

 bare earth. In the open field by frequent 

 and loose cultivation the same end is 

 practically attained without mulching, 

 but in the garden it seldom happens that 

 we attend to individual shrubs as closely 

 as we would to a whole row or block of 

 them. About the end of May drouth is 

 apt to set in and by the fourth of Jidy the 

 ground is apt to be quite dry for some 

 inches deep, probably to below the base 

 of the rhododendron roots. As rhodo- 

 dendron roots are exceedingly fine and 

 susceptible to parching treatment they 

 can't help sufifering. But let the drouth 

 continue till the middle or end of August 

 and the soil is very dry a foot or more 

 deep, it is worse and worse with the 

 rhododendrons, and that they die is not 

 to be wondered at; should they survive 

 the drouth of summer, however, it must 



be in an enervated condition. Add these 

 adverse conditions to those of a severe 

 winter in which probably no mulching 

 whatever had been given to the plants 

 and the ground had frozen solid deeper 

 than their roots, and then ask, "Why did 

 mj' rhododendrons die?" "Well, what 

 should I have done?" you may ask. 

 Plant properly, then mulch the ground 

 about the plants with tree leaves, strawy 

 trash, lawn mowings, or the like, to keep 

 it cool and moist during summer, and 

 further add to these favorable conditions 

 by thorough soakings of water several 

 times during the dry periods of summer, 

 and again add to the mulching in winter. 

 Take care of the plants in summer and 

 fall by never letting them taste of the 

 oangs of thirst, and no doubt your rho- 

 dodendrons will survive the winter with 

 you all right. 



The Vegetable Garden. 



T«E VEGETABLE GARDEN. 



Now that the summer is fairly upon us 

 and danger from frost is ])ast, the most 

 tender of vegetables may be sown or 

 planted. But don't sow in wet weather 

 nor plant in soaking wet land. 



Globe Artichokes are regarded as a 

 fancy vegetable, still many people are 

 very fond of them, and not only are they 

 now grown in most pretentious gardens, 

 but they are largely imported into our 

 markets, being in constant demand for 

 hotel and aristocratic tables. They arc 

 of the easiest cultivation and may be 

 raised from seed, the seedlings bearing 

 the second year, or they may be increased 

 by division. The plants are not very 

 hardy, but by mulching them well in win- 

 ter we never had any difficulty in keeping 

 them. Good ground, lots of room and 

 clean culture are all they need, and as 

 soon as thej' begin to bloom keep the 

 flower heads cut for use. The French 

 Globe is the commonest, and a very good 

 variety. 



Jerusalem Artichokes — .\11 they now 

 need is to restrict the plants to their 

 respective hills; any stepping outside of 

 such bounds should be at once cut down, 

 If you want to get big tubers restrict 

 your hills to one or two sprouts. 



Asparagus should be cutting nicely 

 now. About New York it is grown 

 white, that is by deep planting and 

 moulding up the grass is bleached white, 

 all except the tip; this is because the mar- 

 ket demands this kind of grass, and there 

 is no call for any other. The famous 

 Oyster Bay asparagus is also of this 

 kind. It is very good too, for if the 

 weather be warm it is young and brittle. 

 Here, however, both market and home 

 gardeners grow green grass, that is they 

 have their beds on the level ground, and 

 they don't practice deep planting. Of 

 course this gives us a very finely flavored 



and brittle grass, and withal it is the 

 better way for private families to grow 

 asparagus. We prefer cutting asparagus 

 clean, that is cutting every spear of grass 

 big and little as soon as it is big enough, 

 and at or soon after the middle of the 

 month stop cutting altogether; this gives 

 the stronger eyes the opportunity of 

 shooting up cjuickly and smothering the 

 weaker ones, and in this way only big 

 buds are formed for next year's crop, and 

 not a lot of little ones that would pro- 

 duce many spindly shoots. 



Broad Windsor Beans are liked by 

 many, beans and bacon being a favorite 

 dish. Gather the pods while the beans 

 are young and before they make a black 

 eye. Most people prefer Windsor to 

 Long-pod Mazagan beans. They require 

 good or somewhat heavy ground, and to 

 be sown early, for our hot summers are 

 too trying for late sowings. 



Snap Beans.— Keep up a succession of 

 your favorite sorts once a week if you 

 want fresh green snaps but once in ten 

 days may do the wax varieties if the 

 groimd is rich and somewhat moist. Hot 

 weather and dry ground are trying on 

 beans and hurry them past quick. Sow 

 in rows 2' 2 to 3 feet apart. 



Lima Beans. — We treat the dwarf vari- 

 eties about the same as wedodwarf snap 

 beans, that is sow them in rows three feet 

 apart, but we thin out the plants in the 

 row to 4 or 6 inches asunder. They 

 come into bearing a little earlier than do 

 the pole beans. Henderson's variety 

 (which is a small Sieva) is a fortnight or 

 more ahead of the others; in fact it is 

 hardier and we sow it earlier than we do 

 the true Limas. The spotted bean, Jack- 

 son's Wonder, is very early too, and a 

 bean of good quality, but it cooks dark 

 colored, a serious drawback to its popu- 

 larity. If you have not already sown 

 j'our pole Limas, better get them in now. 

 insertthepolcsintheirplacesfirst, then dig 

 the ground round about them loose and 

 mellow; now plant the beans, say Ct or 7 

 around each pole and eves down; plant- 

 ing so many gives you an opportunity of 

 thinning out the weakest later on, and 

 eye down is to lessen the tendency to 

 rot which is sometimes the case when 

 the beans lie flat in the ground. As soon 

 as the vines begin to run tie them in to 

 the poles — after a tack or two inthisway 

 they are likely to take hold and twine 

 around the pole very well of their own 

 accord. 



Beets if young and succulent are an 

 excellent vegetable, but if hard or foggy 

 in the heart they are not very palatable. 

 For pickling we slice them, but for boiling 

 to serve as a fresh vegetable we like them 

 about the size of a hen's egg and boiled 

 and served whole. It likes good ground. 

 Sow now to succeed earlier sowings, but 

 don't sow enough for a main crop, it is 

 too soon, the "bulbs" would get foggy 

 too quick. Sow in rows about 18 inches 

 or 2 feet apart. Look out for cut worms. 

 Poison them with a little bran mixed 

 with some Paris green laid here and there 



Burpee's Seeds 



ARE THE BEST THAT GROW 



W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO., Philadelphia. 



H 



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