for January, 1921 



433 



brought into heat. To force seakale properly, requires a 

 brisk, bottom heat, and it must be kept quite dark, other- 

 wise it will not be ijroptrly blanched, and the quality suf- 

 fers accordingly. These remarks also apply to chicory. 



Mushroom growing presents few difficulties where 

 abundance of horse droppings can be obtained. If one 

 does not possess a properly constructed house, they can 

 be grown in a warm cellar or shed. Collect enough 

 material, which should be turned over each da}- to sweeten 

 the mass thoroughly, to make the bed decided upon. 

 This is generally accomplished when the strong ammonia 

 has gone and the violent heat has subsided. (Some 

 growers mix some loam with the droppings at this stage.) 

 It is then ready to be made into beds, and should be 

 beaten down firmly, and watched for a few days before 

 spawning. Sometimes the heat may rise and we must 

 wait until this has subsided to around 70° or 75°. favor- 

 able to the growth of the mycelium. Insert, in spawning, 

 pieces of spawn about the size of a hen's egg, covering 

 the bed with good loamy soil to about three-quarters to 

 one inch in depth. r^Iake it firm. Mushrooms may be 

 expected after a period of six weeks. 



Flower beds that have been bearing and are showing 

 signs that their cropping power is on the wane can be 

 watered with tepid water, in which has been dissolved 



a good handful of common salt in a five-gallon watering 

 can, as it has an invigorating effect on the beds. 



Push on with pruning, and apply Winter spray to fruit 

 trees, for these are two important operations which must 

 be done with care, if we desire first-class fruit. Prun- 

 ing does not consist of indiscriminately cutting and thin- 

 ning, and often as much harm is done by too much knife 

 and saw as when they are neglected entirely. Chie should 

 bear in mind the object in view, with some knowledge 

 of the conditions of the root action, that can be deter- 

 mined by the growth made last Summer. Our main ob- 

 jects are to remove weak and useless wood; to admit 

 light, air and sunshine; to mold the trees into shapyely 

 specimens and to convert gross and strong wood into 

 fruitful growth. Gather and burn all prunings and trini- 

 ings, as these ashes are rich in potash and are an excel- 

 lent fertilizer. 



Evergreens and flowering shrubs suffer from the 

 ravages of scale and other insect pests and should have 

 attention. Care should be taken that evergreens and 

 specimen conifers do not get heavily weighted with snow. 

 It is advisable to take a long pole or rake and give the 

 branches a sharp shake. Trees are often damaged if not 

 attended to in this way, and their value as ornaments 

 impaired or even ruined. 



Wild Flower ''Sanctuaries" Proposed 



HERBERT DURAND 



THE Garden Club of America has inaugurated a prac- 

 tical nation-wide movement to prevent the threat- 

 ened extinction of many of our conspicuously beauti- 

 ful wild flowers. It has appointed a Committee on the 

 Preservation of Native Wild Flowers, of which Mrs. F. C. 

 Farwell, 1520 Astor Street, Chicago, is Chairman, and this 

 committee is sending out appeals to owners of country 

 places, urging them to establish wild flower "Sanctuaries." 



Excellent locations for such sanctuaries are wooded 

 areas, boggy meadows, the banks and pools of streams, 

 rocky hillsides and other neglected spots, particularly 

 those which are unsuitable for cultivation. Such nooks 

 and corners, by the use of the right native plants, may 

 be made the most attractive features of any place, and 

 safe harbors as well for those choicer varieties, which, 

 through carelessness, or ignorance, are rapidly disap- 

 pearing. 



The "Sanctuary" idea is fine and should receive en- 

 thusiastic support from every owner who can provide 

 congenial soil and surroundings for the lovely denizens 

 of our woods, hills and fields. This provision, however. 

 is absolutely essential. For example, a plant whose nat- 

 ural habitat is moi.st, acid leaf mold, in shade, will soon 

 perish in ordinary garden soil and full sun. An intiiuate 

 knowledge of indigenous plants, their habits, require- 

 ments and methods of self-propagation, is necessary to 

 success. Each variety must be jirovided with the kind 

 of soil and given the kind of exposure and associations 

 to which it is accustomed. Yet all this is a simple pro- 

 cedure: it requires only the exercise of comtnon sense 

 and securing and following the cheerfully given advice 

 of those who know. 



Most good nurserymen oft'er a number of attractive 

 nati\-e plants — the indigenotis conifers, Rhododendrons, 

 Azaleas. Kalmias, and other broad-leaved evergreens, the 

 shadbushes, viburnums, dogwoods, ilexes, niyricas, cle- 

 thras. etc., several of the ferns and many herbaceous 

 plants, like Mcrtensla. dodccathcon, trUUum. meadow and 



turk's cap lilies, and hepaticas. The common kinds of both 

 ferns and flowering plants may be transplanted from 

 neighboring wilds, a most agreeable diversion for a day 

 off, or durmg a vacation. It is, therefore, not difficult to 

 secure the planting material for whatever kind of sanct- 

 uary is desired, whether it be along or at the end of a 

 woodland path, a rock garden, a meadow garden, a bog 

 garden, or a water garden. Few lovers of wild flowers 

 know the charm of our native terrestrial orchids, yet even 

 these shy beauties may be obtained and enjoyed and per- 

 petuated by anyone who can comply with their simple but 

 exacting requirements. 



The Garden Club of America is also endeavoring to 

 arouse interest in the preservation of American wild 

 flowers, through the education of American school chil- 

 dren. Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip, at "Beechwood," his 

 estate near Scarboro-on-Hudson, is responding to this ap- 

 peal, by installing an out-of-doors living Botany. An 

 area of hillside, meadow, bog and woodland, through 

 which a brook meanders, and which adjoins the campus 

 of the Scarboro school, has been devoted to this purpose. 

 Here some 6,000 plants were put in last October and more 

 will be added until the school children will have available 

 for their instruction an approximately complete collection 

 of the ferns, flowering shrubs and flowering plants of 

 Northeastern America. The enormous educational ad- 

 vantage of such a living and growing collection, as com- 

 pared with the customary dried herbarium specimens, is 

 readily manifest, and Mr. Vanderlip's example will un- 

 rloubtedly be followed by many other institutions of learn- 

 ing in all parts of the country. 



The "Sanctuary." as applied to birds, has fully proved 

 its worth, as the noticeable increase each year in the 

 nimiber of our feathered friends testifies. That it 

 will be equally efficacious as applied to the wild flow- 

 ers is not to be doubted. It is a certainty, if every- 

 one who can find a safe haven for the wildings will 

 do his part. 



