HORTICULTURE 



May 17, 1919 



CHANGES AMONG THE GARDEN- 

 ERS. 



Walter Cann, who has been foreman 

 of Robert Cluett's greenhouses in Dal- 

 ton, Mass., has taken a similar position 

 at Aylen Windew, the estate of Charles 

 Larrier, the New York banker, at 

 Lenox. 



Wm. J. Devery has become head 

 gardner on the estate of H. G. Lap- 

 ham, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 



Ernest Robinson, formerly head 

 gardener at Bronford Farms, Crolon, 

 Conn., is now superintendent on the 

 estate of Mrs. Bradley Martin of West- 

 bury, N. Y. 



Robert Spiers, who has been in 

 charge of the Crane estate at Dalton, 

 Mass., has gone to the Luckenbacher 

 estate at Port Washington, N. Y. 



GROWING ASPARAGUS. 



Andrew K. Rogers Tells of His Suc- 

 cessful Method. 



In the opinion of the writer wher- 

 ever possible the grower should raise 

 his own stock, as by doing so there is 

 less check to the plants. 



In planting a bed a few years ago 

 which has been very satisfactory, I 

 sowed the seed about the middle of 

 December under glass giving them a 

 night temperature of 65 degrees. After 

 they were large enough I potted them 

 into 2y 2 -inch pots, growing them in 

 the same temperature. After they 

 were well rooted shifted them into 4- 

 inch pots about the end of March, leav- 

 ing them in the same house for about 

 10 days until they got a hold of fresh 

 loam, after that moving them to a 

 lower temperature of about night 48 

 degrees until the beginning of May, 

 when they were put in cold frames 

 where I gradually hardened them off, 

 planting them about the 25th of May. 

 These plants never were checked and 

 moved right along. The asparagus by 

 the fall was five feet tall and nice 

 stocky plants. 



The bed was specially prepared, be- 

 ing trenched three feet deep and the 

 gravel subsoil all taken out, its place 

 being taken partly by humus in the 

 shape of decayed vegetable matter and 

 black peat that had been piled for a 

 year, along with a liberal dressing of 

 barnyard manure and bone meal well 



worked together. No drainage was 

 necessary as it was a gravelly subsoil. 

 My aim in using black peat is to hold 

 the moisture. These plants were set 

 three feet between rows 18 inches be- 

 tween plants set in open furrows about 

 six inches below the surface. 



The following year being short of 

 asparagus and having quite a large 

 bed, I marked off about one-third and 

 cut fair asparagus all that season, and 

 from what I can see it never harmed 

 that part of the bed. 



This method, in my estimation, is 

 far better than planting two or three- 

 year-old crowns, and will yield you as- 

 paragus much quicker; that being my 

 experience. Andrew K. Rogers. 



TYING UP PLANTS. 



Some pertinent suggestions about 

 the tying up of plants are made by 

 Montague Free, writing in the New 

 York Sun. Mr. Free says: 



Much credit could be written with 

 reference to the proper way of giving 

 support to plants that need assistance 

 to maintain themselves in a state of 

 uprightness and integrity. In some 

 gardens that are fully exposed to 

 strong winds the taller plants are al- 

 most sure to be toppled over unless 

 they are helped in some way. Far too 

 often the remedy applied instead of 

 improving matters does exactly the 

 opposite. A group of shoots con- 

 stricted in the middle by a string 

 passed around them and fastened to a 

 broomstick stuck in at one side does 

 not present a picture that will satisfy 

 any one having even the rudiments of 

 artistic taste. Better far to let the 

 plants blow over — they will at least 

 look natural. The point to remember 

 when staking and tying plants is that 

 they must always be supported in such 

 a way that the supports are as incon- 

 spicuous as possible and in such a 

 manner that the beholder scarcely real- 

 izes that they are dependent on arti- 

 ficial means for their upstanding 

 condition. Much can be done in this 

 direction by placing iron hoops, sup- 

 ported on three or four legs, over the 

 plants before they are fully grown. 

 The subsequent growth of the plants 

 almost entirely covers their supports. 

 This method is very successful with 

 plants that grow in clumps, such as 

 peonies and delphiniums. 



WHERE YOUR QUESTIONS ARE 

 ANSWERED. 



I have a bank on which daffodills 

 are planted and have much trouble 

 with wire worms. Can you suggest a 

 remedy? I do not want to disturb the 

 bulbs if I can avoid it. 



Probably there is no reason why a 

 well-known English plan should not 

 prove satisfactory here. This is to 

 bury pieces of cut potato tubers at in- 

 tervals in the earth. These moist po- 

 tatoes will attract the wire worms, and 

 if the pieces are dug up about once a 

 week, and the worms attached de- 

 stroyed, the bed will gradually be 

 freed from these pests. 



Every year I have no end of trouble 

 with onion maggots. Has anybody 

 found a real remedy? H. L. P. 



According to the Cumberland, N. J., 

 News Letter, the insect can be con- 

 trolled if a poison bait is used to kill 

 the fly which lays the eggs. The bait 

 recommended is made by using one 

 ounce of sodium arsenate dissolved in 

 one gallon of boiling water, with a 

 quart of molasses and a handful of 

 finely chopped onions. Three methods 

 of application have been tried with 

 good success. One is to go over the 

 field as soon after planting as the 

 fly appears, the material being dis- 

 tributed with a whisk broom in the 

 form of coarse drops over the surface. 

 The work must be repeated every three 

 or four days. The second method is to 

 use stalks of leeks or bunch onions as 

 a container for the poison bait. The 

 stalks are cut in two to four inch 

 lengths and immersed in the liquid. 

 They are then distributed in handfulls 

 a few feet apart over the field, a 

 shingle or a piece of board being used 

 to keep them from drying up. The 

 third method is to use clam shells or 

 tins as containers. You are advised to 

 at least give this plan a trial. 



Have you any recommendations 

 about protecting cherry trees from 

 birds? 



We doubt if we can offer anything 

 very' new in the way of suggestions. 

 Small trees, of course, can be covered 

 with netting. Some growers are ad- 

 vocating training the trees vase-shape 

 so as to make this possible. The 

 planting of white mulberries in the vi- 

 cinity of the cherry trees gives excel- 



