234 



THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE OF AMERICA. 



out in the shape of a long rectangle with a road length- 

 wise through the middle. 



A definite plan should be charted before work begins, 

 in which seed beds and transplant beds are arranged most 

 effectively for s)'stemat!C work and convenience, for beds 

 cannot be shifted until the trees in them are ready for re- 

 moval. 



If it is decided to raise four-year-old transplants, which 

 are to be in seed beds two years, the nursery should have 

 two distinct parts equal in size, each to contain both seed 

 beds and transplant ground. The seed beds in one divi- 

 sion should be large enough to supply seedlings for the 

 transplant area in that division. After the nursery be- 

 comes fully established, there will be first-year seed beds 

 in one division and transplants in their third year ; in the 

 other division second-year seed beds and transplant beds 

 with trees transplanted the year before and now in their 

 fourth year. Hence, when the transplants in one division 

 of the nursery are four years old and ready for forest 

 planting, the seed beds in that division will furnish two- 

 year-old seedlings for transplanting to that portion of the 

 nursery from which the four-year-old stock is sent to the 

 field. Thus, all the new work each year is confined to one 

 division. In a nursery where three-year-old stock is 

 raised, it will not be possible to divide the nursery equally 



in this way, and there may be other differences, since one- 

 year-old seedlings may be transplanted and grown two 

 years as transplants, or seedlings transplanted at two 

 years and held one year as transplants, before they are set 

 out in the permanent plantation. 



SEED BEDS, 



After the ground for the seed beds has been properly 

 enriched it should be spaded thoroughly and cleaned of all 

 debris, such as sods, roots, sticks, and stones, and the 

 earth pulverized. The seed beds should have their long- 

 est direction nearly east and west; this will secure a mov- 

 ing shade from lath frames which are placed over the seed 

 beds. The beds should all be of like size, and preferably 

 4 feet wide and either 6 or 12 feet long. If the nursery is 

 small and is to be cared for by one person, 6-foot-long 

 beds are best, because one person can, without assistance, 

 remove and replace the lath shade-frames, but 12-foot 

 beds are better and more economical for large nurseries 

 where there will be two men at hand to move the frames. 



The seed beds must be in the best drained part of the 

 nursery to prevent "damping off," a fungus disease that 

 attacks the young seedlings when moisture is excessive. 

 The bed should be raised about four inches above the 

 path and its surface rounded off slightly, so that the center 

 will be about one inch higher than the outer edges. 



What Becomes of Left-Over Blossoms and Plants 



By KATHARINE PAUL. 



"What becomes of all the flowers from fashionable 

 weddings and coming out receptions?" asked a woman 

 the other day. She was visiting New York from one of 

 the smaller towns and was impressed by the lavish dis- 

 play of floral decorations at a church wedding. The 

 same query, asked seventeen years ago, led to the foun- 

 dation of a new activity on the part of the National Plant, 

 Flower and Fruit Guild. The Guild has obtained the 



vendor, but they have been wisely and impartially dis- 

 tributed. Their first mission carries out their second 

 mission of bringing hope and cheer to the sick poor of 

 the city steadily increased year by year. 



During the year 1910 not less than 32,000 bunches of 

 flowers, first used as decorations at fashionable weddings 

 or sent to societv favorites when making their first bows, 

 ha\-e I'rrr rnrif-l'- ■■1 and svstematicallv sent out 



privilege of free transpoi uitiuii fur as much as twenty 

 pounds of its fruits and flowers for a distance of 100 

 miles — a privilege which it still holds — but had not then 

 realized the enormous waste of beautiful blossoms in the 

 city itself. 



Since that question was propounded in 1894, the 

 flowers from all the large social affairs in New York and 

 other cities have neither gone to waste nor have they been 

 sold by unscru])ulous servants to the itinerant street 



through the guild to the homes of the poor and sick and 

 the toilers of the "long day," to whom the blossoms al- 

 ways bring a message of encouragement and hope. 



Not very long ago the head worker of one of our set- 

 tlement houses of the upper West Side heard of a pitiful 

 case of illness and death. She telephoned to the guild for 

 "a few flowers to lighten the gloom" of the sordid home 

 where blossoms were a rare treat. That very day the guild 

 had received word that tiie flowers from an afternoon re- 



