150 



GARDENERS' CHRONICLE 



Flicker 7 by 7 16 to 18 16 2% 6 to 2n 



Redheaded woodpeeker 6 to 6 12 to 13 12 2 12 to 20 



Golden-fronted woodpecker 6 by 6 12 to 15 12 2 12 to 20 



Hairy woodpecker 6 by 6 12 to 15 12 IM 12 to 20 



Downv woodpecker 4 by 4 S to 10 8 IVi 6 to 20 



Screech owl S by 8 12 to 15 12 3 10 to .10 



Sparrow hawk 8 by 8 12 to 15 12 3 10 to :W 



Saw-whet owl 6 by 6 10 to 12 10 21,4 12 to 20 



Bam owl 10 by IS 15 to 18 4 6 12 to 18 



Wood duck 10 by IS 10 to 15 3 6 4 to 20 



il) One or more sides open. f2) All sides open. 



By applying the fundamental principles of construc- 

 tion, as outlined above, one cannot go wrong in provid- 

 ing a simple, practical home for his bird friends. The 

 size of the wren house, as given above, is somewhat 

 large ; a box 4x6 will be found more than sufficient. It 

 matters little if the box is made vertical or horizontal, 

 the bird's nest will always be found farthest from the 

 enti'ance. 



Any one who has watched the tiny bird in its endless, 

 tedious task carrying in the material for the nest founda- 

 tion, only to be confronted with the alternative of seek- 

 ing a new home or cleaning out the old for its second 

 brood, will gladly remember to build large enough, but 

 not too large. 



As much depends upon proper placing of a bird 

 house as upon proper construction, the greatest error is 

 made in placing too many boxes for a given area, which 

 always sets the bird to quarreling, excepting the com- 

 panionable swallows and martins. Boxes for a certain 

 species are best placed at least one hundred feet apart. 

 Dense woods and trees are generally to be avoided. A 

 tree trunk is a highway of travel for flying squirrels, 

 chipmunks, squirrels and cats. However, boxes sus- 

 pended from a limb by a wire overcomes this objection 

 and homes for wrens, nuthatches, chickadees and wood- 

 peckers may be placed about shade trees and orchards. 

 Extensive experiments have clearly demonstrated that 

 nesting boxes placed on poles are preferred by the birds. 

 These poles may be cat and squirrel-proofed by a two- 

 foot strip of galvanized tin, six feet above the ground. 

 Pergolas, porch pillars and buildings often offer desir- 

 able and safe location for bird boxes. 



The entrance of the box should be placed opposite to 

 that of the prevailing winds, which in Illinois are mostly 

 from the southwest. 



Equal in importance to proper construction, dimen- 

 sion and placing of a bird house is the strictest vigilance 

 over its occupant. Close observations and bi-monthly 

 examinations will often reveal such tenants as mice, chip- 

 munk, flying squirrel, squirrel or English sparrow. These 

 bird enemies are responsible for the greatest part of all 

 failures in successfully attracting" birds. The success at- 

 tained by individuals will be measured by the amount 

 of intensive protection accorded. Cats also must be 

 dealt with relentlessly. No sensible person will expect 

 to reform this animal instantly by an unkind word, cuft' 

 or severer punishment after considering that its impulses 

 are those of countless ages and its diet of birds date back 

 almost to the beginning of time. 



Nesting boxes with openings of one and one-half 

 inches and upward will ever remain the legitimate prey 

 of the house sparrow. I have found it expedient to 

 place many of these boxes in low down and convenient 

 places for the sparrow's own use. A little observation 

 soon records the home life of each and when the female 

 bird has been brooding her eggs for two days, no dis- 

 turbance will induce her to leave. This is the logical 

 time to act ; the male usually nonchalantly taking the 

 place of the defunct female within half an hour im- 

 mediately meeting the same fate. The box is then 

 cleaned out ready for the next victim. At one time 1 

 took six males before the wily female fell a victim. 

 The house sparrow is persistent, adopting ab.nrdoned 



eggs or young with frequence and mating alternately 

 time and again as one or the other falls a victim. This 

 method of duping them has helped to relieve the martin 

 colony from their unwelcome attentions and never more 

 than one or two birds a season have preferred the dis- 

 ]juted martin house to an undisputed home of their own. 



HINTS ON THE CARE OF YOUNG PLANTS 



IT is not all in growing young plants to sow them in 

 flats, pots or other receptacles. That is just the be- 

 ginning of your work, and the least interesting side 

 of it. The real pleasure to the garden lover comes when 

 they are of a size to require handling, by which is meant 

 thinning, transplanting and watching to prevent their 

 growing unsightly and out of proportion. ]\Ieans must 

 be taken to prevent the young plants becoming too 

 "leggy," as it is a desideratum in plant growing, of all 

 but the vining kinds, to keep them short and stocky. To 

 do this they must be kept at the proper temperature so 

 that the stalks are not unduly forced ahead of their age, 

 and just the right amount of moisture given or withheld. 

 In addition to this they must be thinned out at the right 

 time or they will try to overreach one another and get 

 tall and spindling. 



One of the reasons that individual treatment makes 

 the finest plants is because a plant is no better than its 

 roots, and to get a good root system should be your aim 

 in handling them if you expect to get the extra fine re- 

 sults which alone are worth working for. When a plant 

 is forced to grow short and stocky it at the same time 

 develops its root-mass, which is the life of the plant. 

 The theory in this is that a certain root-mass can pro- 

 vide for just so much plant after it has reached maturity 

 or while producing that for which you are growing it — 

 edible seeds, roots or tubers or top, as the case may be. 

 With a large root-mass you should be able to get the 

 maximum of finished product, while with a small one 

 you may get little or none. 



Root-hairs on plants are the fine feeding roots by 

 which the plant absorbs moisture and its content of plant 

 food. For it must be understood that a plant feeds by 

 absorbing all its food in solution. It cannot take into 

 its economy any plant food in a dry state. All must 

 be dissolved in water in the soil and be absorbed through 

 these fine root-hairs. 



There is also a mechanical reason for transplanting 

 voung plants of those kinds which we desire to grow 

 short and stocky. In the act of transplanting we break 

 off a large number of the young root-hairs already pro- 

 duced which remain behind, and these in the new location 

 branch, just as does the limb of a tree, making a vastly 

 larger number and increasing the size of the mass in 

 this manner. Much of the lack of success with this class 

 of plants is due to the fact that they are not thinned out 

 early enough. The tendency to spindle, once started, is 

 hard to counteract, and on this account the best garden- 

 ers transplant early, before this tendency has gotten 

 under way. Keep them just ahead of the tendency to 

 spindle and you will have no trouble on this account. 



When transplanting keep in mind that the roots of 

 the young plants are growing umbrella-wise, and do 

 not set them in their new locations with the root-mass 

 all bunched, but try to set them spread out as they were 

 before, so that the soil will pack around all of them, as 

 contact with the soil is necessary for each rootlet, or it 

 cannot feed or drink. When potting it is best to hold 

 the young plant in the pot. and sift dry soil in around 

 the roots until the pot is full, press gently down, and 

 water to settle the soil. — The Countrvman. 



