For June, 1921 



613 



and plowed that under. What we could not manure in 

 the Fall we manured in the Winter, and plowed in early 

 Spring. We used for top dressing ground bones, nitrate 

 of soda, kainite acid phosphate and sulphate of ammonia. 

 When lime was required we used clam shell dust, three 

 tons to the acre. 



If your soil is clay you can use much coarser manure 

 and you need more lime, as the soil is cold and more 

 retentive and water does not pass away quickly enough. 

 Too much water is as bad as too little because it drowns 

 the plants. It is not necessary to have plants covered 

 with water to drown them. — if the soil is so wet for any 

 length of time that it stops the air passages, the plants die 

 from lack of air at the roots. 



If your soil is peat, it is mostly composed of organic 

 matter. You have very little lime, potash, phosphoric 

 acid or magnesia, and therefore, if you are to be success- 

 ful, you must add these things. I have seen a peat-bog in 

 Massachusetts covered over with about twelve inches 

 of sandy ground from a hillside and it yielded some of the 

 best crops I have ever seen in my life. Of course there 

 is peat and peat. The muck land that you grow celery in 

 is very different peat from the peat you grow orchids in. 

 A good test for acid soil is a piece of blue litmus paper. 

 Put it in the soil for half an hour and if it comes out red, 

 3'ou need lime. You can get litmus paper from a drug 

 store. Lime is not a manure in the true sense of the 

 word, but you must have it as it liberates other minerals 

 that are useful, and acts as a cleanser. The same may be 

 said of common salt or iron sulphate. 



Aly points are that no matter w^hat your soil is to begin 

 with, you can make it produce a good crop if you go 

 abopt it the right way. Special manures can be bought 

 from a good seedsman. But those of you who do not 

 know anything about manures, stick to farm-yard 

 manure, bone meal, blood manure and guano. There is a 

 tremendous amount of good manure lost every year by 

 not taking care of the sweepings of the street. I do not 

 think it is a good thing at any time to let a garden grow 

 up to weeds, but if you do have weeds, turn them under 

 before they go to seed, and you are that far ahead. Peo- 

 ple who grow early potatoes every year on the same land 

 usually have the crop off by the first week of August — 

 they follow the diggers with a two-way plow, roll the 

 land and sow rye or rape and pasture that off in the late 

 FalLand plow under in the Spring, which gives them 

 fresh soil by Spring. There is nothing better for land 

 than to have it in g-rass once in a while, as it always helps 

 it to recuperate. W'ith the right kind of manure, good 

 seeds, and a fair amount of hard work, the garden is 

 almost assured of a crop. 



Remove all seed pods from rhododendrons, and keep 

 a sharp lookout for red spider, and spray early. Many 

 plants in the herbaceous border are subject to attacks of 

 black Aphis at this time. Tobacco dust is a very good 

 remedv. 



WORK FOR THE MONTH IN THE GARDEN 



(Continued from page 611) 



Lose no time in sowing stocks of biennials. Propagate 

 the early flowering phloxes, Aiibretia. Abris, etc. Many 

 of these are most attractive when used in bedding as a 

 groundwork to tulips, for instance, the early yellow tulip 

 with a ground work of Myosotis; scarlet or red shades, 

 with groundwork of Arabis alpina; and later, the Cottage 

 tulip, Inglescombe yellow, or Primrose Beauty with 

 Phlox divarkata canadensis. 



The cuttings of this phlox should be taken as soon 

 as they are large enough, and should be wintered in a 

 cold frame. Naturally they commence their growth 

 earlier than those left out during Winter, and blooi.n 

 from one or two weeks in advance, coming in right for 

 associating with late tulips. 



.After the peonies have passed out of flower, give gen- 

 erous treatment throughout the Summer. 



CHINA THE GARDEN OF THE EAST 



CELDO^I has so appropriate a descriptive title been 

 given a countrj' as this which is applied to China. 

 X'ot only are flowers cultivated universally by rich and 

 poor, but they grow wild in never-ending profusion. 



Among these wild plants are twelve species of rhodo- 

 dendron. In some sections of the country, notably in 

 Szechuan, and extending north even as far as the region 

 where famine is now ranging, are rhododendron forests 

 growing at altitudes ranging from 2,000 to 12,000 feet. 

 \\'hen these forests are in bloom the sight is said to be 

 beautiful beyond description. 



Azaleas are another striking family in the flower popu- 

 lation of China. The plants are large and vigorous, the 

 blossoms many-hued. Then there are the chrysanthe- 

 mums, almost as numerous as in Japan. In numbers 

 they are rivalled by the peonies. The poetic Camellia 

 is widely cultivated, as are also orchids. Nowhere will 

 one find more beautiful gardenias, or a greater varietv 

 of roses. And the lotus ponds enhance the beauty of 

 many a private garden. 



Then there are the trees. For centuries the blossom 

 of the plum tree has been to the Chinese the sxnibol of 

 all that is highest in man's nature and the best in life. 

 The greatest painters have immortalized this blossom in 

 their pictures, and so have the poets in their verses. 



In the Spring may be seen in bloom orchards of apples, 

 apricots, cherries, pears, peaches, and practically every 

 other known fruit, though, not always are these fniits 

 as luscious as those grown in this countr}-. In North 

 China they are apt to be somewhat tasteless, but in the 

 South many a perfect variety is grown. 



The varying climates in the huge expanse of China 

 make possible the growing of tropical as well as hardy 

 plants and trees. Among the former may be found 

 pomegranates, oranges, lemons, bananas, dates and figs. 

 Limited transportation facilities alone prevent the dis- 

 tribution of these fruits throughout the country-. Each 

 locality is mainly dependent on the fruits raised in that 

 region. 



Appreciation of flowers and of blossoming trees is 

 even more general in China than appreciation of a per- 

 fect fruit. Indeed, it is hardly going too far to say that 

 a Chinese would rather eat a bowl of rice under a flowen,' 

 shrub than an elaborate repast embellished with fruits 

 and served in a treeless or flowerless garden. 



^iiiiaiimiiimifflwm]mmiiriiii«i«niiiimiiiiiiiiiiwiiimiiiiuimiiiniiiiii;iMifflmiiimiiiiiuiiimniiin^^^^^^^ 



I Of Interest to Country Estate Owners | 



i The National Association of Gardeners takes this opportunity = 



1 to riace its Service Bureau at the disposal of owners of country 1 



1 estates when requiring competent gardeners, in the capacities of 1 



= superintendents, head gardeners or assistant gardeners — thor- § 



= oughly qualified in every particular to assiunc the responsibilities E 



1 the positions call for — gardeners truly efficient in their profession. i 



i The Bureau i» maintained entirely at the expense of the i 



i association and makes no charge to the employer it may serve § 

 1 01 to the member it may benefit. i 



I NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF GARDENERS | 



I M. C. EBEL, Secretary f 



i 286 Fifth Ave. New York i 



