October 18, 1913 



HORTICULTURE 



531 



Nephrolepis Tuberosa Plumosa 



A very useful aud dis- 

 tinct dwarf-growing fern is 

 shown in the accompanying 

 illustration. It is one of 

 the recent introductions of 

 W. A. Alanda, in whose 

 place at South Orange, N. 

 J., the variety first appeared. 

 jSephrolepis tuberosa is 

 naturally a tougher aud 

 hardier species than N. ex- 

 altata from which most of 

 our well known forms of 

 Nephrolepis have sprung. 

 It is a native of Japan. The 

 form plumosa is very beauti- 

 ful on account of the light 

 moss-green color of the 

 crests at the tip of the pin- 

 nae as contrasted with the 

 very dark green of the rest 

 of the frond. One other 

 good quality is that however 

 dense the plant may grow 

 there is never any mildew 



or rot at the centre and it __ 



may be wet with im])unity, 

 without the danger of damping off at the centre as some of the close growing exaltata forms are liable to 



do. 



the wash, dissolve one pound of caustic soda in three 

 gallons of water, then add three-fourths lb. of pearlash 

 (crude carbonate of soda) and to this add three-fourths 

 lb. of dissolved soap. Dilute with water to make ten 

 gallons. Exercise care in handling this as it is liable to 

 burn hands or face. Use rubber gloves and spray only 

 on a still day. I have used this wash for painting the 

 dormant wood of grapevines in treating for mealy-bug 

 and found it very efficacious, killing the bug and its eggs 

 and not harming the vines. 



Trenching 



In British gardens this is a time-honored winter job in 

 the vegetable garden and it is very desirable that more 

 of it should be done in our American gardens as by 

 this method the growing soil is deepened, its fertility is 

 increased and its drouth-resisting qualities are greatly 

 improved. By trenching more of the soil is exposed to 

 the alternate action of thawing and freezing and is there- 

 fore disintegrated at a more rapid rate than would be 

 the case if left to lie in its oi'dinary position. This, in 

 addition to the deepening, is among the most important 

 benefits gained by trenching. Owing to the severity of 

 the winters here this operation has usually to be done 

 during the months of October or November, so now is 

 the time to get busy. Do not undertake too much, but 

 lay out a piece that you might reasonably expect to finish 

 before liard frost and then proceed with due caution. 



This caution is necessaiy owing to the fact that (un- 

 fortunately) there is only six to ten or at the most 

 twelve inches of good soil in the majority of gardens. 

 and care must "fie taken not to attempt to go too deep 

 at first and bring up too much of the barren subsoil. 

 About eighteen inches will be enough for the first season 

 of drenching, then when you get around to this patch 

 again (in the course of a year or two) you might venture 

 two feet and then two feet six inches, and so on till the 



desired three feet of good soil is ultimately obtained 

 but this of course is the work of years of patient labor 

 and perseverance. 



The operation of trenching is so well known to most 

 gardeners that it seems almost superfluous to describe it^ 

 but there may be some beginners who would like a little 

 light on this method of improving garden soils. Com- 

 iiience at one side or end of the plot to be trenched and 

 lay it out in straight lines by placing stakes at either end, 

 3 feet apart; the second stake from either outside can 

 be set 18 inches from the first one. Then dig out every 

 other three-foot space and lay it on either side in such 

 manner as will best expose it to the action of the weather, 

 digging to such depths as suggested above. Obviously 

 this only does one-half of the plot each year so that it 

 takes two years to trench each plot. 



The foregoing is the old-fashioned method in its es- 

 sential features, but if it is desirable to do the entire 

 piece at once then I would lay it off in three-foot spaces 

 as before and take the entire soil from the first space 

 and wheel or cart it alongside outside of the last three 

 foot space, then shovel the second lot of soil on to space 

 one and set it up in an inverted V-shaped ridge. Next 

 empty space three onto space two and so on till the last 

 space is empty and on this is ridged up the soil taken 

 from the first space. This means the handling of every 

 bit of the soil on the plot. But it is the only way that a 

 piece of ground can be treated so as to deepen its culti- 

 vated soil in one year. Doubtless double-digging ac- 

 complishes something of the same object but does not ex- 

 pose the soil so thoroughly as this process of ridging. 



Lenox, Mass. 



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