122 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



May, 1912 



ed out ill the flower Ix'ds until the first 

 or second week in jiint' ;it the earliest, to 

 be quite safe from a set hack. 



The following table showing the prin- 

 cipal kinds of tender bedding plants, 

 with approximate height of same and dis- 

 tance apart to set the plants, will be a 

 guide in setting them out : 



Geraniums — Twelve to fifteen inches 

 high; ten to twelve inches apart. 



Coleus — Twelve to eighteen inches 

 high ; ten to twelve inches apart. 



Iresine (Tall)— Ten to twelve inches 

 high ; eight to ten inches apart. 



Ageratum — Six to ten inches high ; 

 eight to ten inches apart. 



Salvia — Fifteen to eighteen inches 

 high ; twelve to fourteen inches apart. 



Canna — Three to four feet high ; four- 

 teen to sixteen inches apart. 



Caladium esculentum (Elephant Ear) — 

 Two to three feet high ; eighteen 10 

 twenty inches apart. 



Alternanthera — Six to eight inches 

 high ; four to six inches apart. 



GLADIOLI 



The following corms of these can he 

 planted at any time from early in May 

 until the second week in June. As a 

 rule, the best results are secured by 

 planting about the second or third week 

 in May. Plant flowering corms four 

 inches under the surface of the soil a.'ij 

 from four to six inches of space between 

 the corms whether planted in rows or m 

 groups. The old dry corm of last year 

 should be removed before planting ttie 

 fresh corms, also all of the small cormels. 

 The small cormels should be planted as 

 early in May as possible. A shallow 

 drill about two inches in depth is deep 

 enough to plant or sow these in. They 

 can be sown thickly, about an inch apart 

 in the drills, very similar to the way 

 sweet peas are sown. 



The hardening of tender plants grad- 

 ually to outdoor conditions is one of ihe 

 very important features of successful 

 spring and summer planting. To expose 

 plants at once from indoor to outdoor 

 conditions without this "hardening off" 

 process often results in serious injury 

 tiom the hot sun, as well as from coi'', 

 chilly weather. Stand the plants out of 

 doors in a cold frame or where they can 

 be temporarily protected from hot sun in 

 the daytime, or from cold at night, for 

 a week or ten days before planting them 

 out. Plants treated in this way make a 

 much better start when planted out than 

 when planted directly from the window 

 or greenhouse into the flower border. 



Dig and rake the ground well before 

 planting. Any fertilizer dug in now 

 should be yvell rotted, almost the nature 

 of soil itself. 



Plant when the ground is moist, not 

 when it is very wet or soddened. Just 

 before rain and in dull warm weather is 

 the best time for planting. 



Set all the plants out — especially pot 



plants — -in the exact position they are to 

 occupy, before starting to plant, if pos- 

 sible. It is easier to do this first than 

 to dig them up and replant them, as is 

 often done if not in their proper position. 



Do not disturb the roots of potted 

 plants too much when planting, except 

 to remove the old drainage material 

 Avoid tramping the soil down any more 

 than really necessary, especially soils t f 

 a heavy nature. 



Pack the soil fairly firm around tiie 

 roots. Do not leave the surface of the 



soil too fine, after planting; it packv 

 down too hard if raked very fine on the 

 surface. 



Water plants well once if soil is very 

 dry. Keep surface of soil stirred occa- 

 sionally with a small hoe. Never use a 

 large rake for this purpose ; it is da.i- 

 gerous. Many a good plant has been 

 snapped off by using a rake for surface 

 stirring the soil. 



A small hoe and a garden trowel dre 

 indispensable implements for planting 

 purposes. 



Vegetables in Young Orchard* 



A. H. MacLennan, O. A, C, Guelph, Ont. 



When growing vegetables in the 

 young orchard the welfare of the young 

 trees must be borne in mind and the 

 crops not allowed to encroach upon them. 

 The next thing to consider is the mar- 

 ket for the vegetables and the facilities 

 to reach that market. When that is '-l"-- 

 cided, one may plant what suits his con- 

 ditions the best. 



For early potatoes the seed should ne 

 selected the year before and only those 

 hills chosen that are still green and 

 vigorous at the time of digging. This 

 should then be stored in a light cellar, 

 so that the potatoes may get green, and 

 the temperature be maintained at thirt}'- 

 eight degrees Fahrenheit, or as near to 

 it as possible. About six weeks before 

 planting, the temperature should be rais- 

 ed to seventy degrees Fahrenheit, and 

 the tubers set upright with the eye and 

 up, .so that the best and strongest shoot 

 may grow — the others should be rubbed 

 off. The system of allowing only one 

 shoot to grow will produce fewer pota- 

 toes, but all of them will be of market- 

 able size. 



THE SOIL 



The ground should be thoroughly pa- 

 nared. Three or four days before plant- 

 ing, the furrows should be run twenty 

 eight inches apar* and four inches deep 

 This will permit the soil to warm up more 

 quickly and deeper. If one is using com- 

 mercial fertilizer, it should be placed in 

 this furrow and covered one-half inch 

 with soil. The sets are then carefully 

 placed in the furrow nine inches apart, 

 sprouts up, and then covered with a 

 hand rake or single horse cultivator. 

 Care must be taken not to break off the 

 shoots or one will lose more than the 

 time gained. 



The Early Ohio is the earliest variety, 

 but it is not a very heavy cropper. Early 

 Eureka is a week later and a heavy 

 cropper. The Empire State, Green 

 Mountain, and Davy's Warrior are main 

 crop potatoes. 



LATE CABBAGE 



For late cabbage, the young plants 



•An address deliTered at the Guelph College 

 dnring the short course in fruit growing. 



must be started in a seed bed that (..t-.n 

 be covered because of the cabbage fly 

 that appears in late May and early June. 

 .\ plot eight feet by twelve feet will hold 

 enough plants to set an acre. The large 

 headed types should be planted about 

 thirty-six inches by twenty-four inches, 

 and the smaller early types twenty-four 

 inches by eighteen inches. When trans- 

 planting to a field, about half of the lar- 

 ger leaf surface should be pruned off to 

 reduce transpiration, and a batter of clay 

 and cow manure should be made in which 

 the roots of the young plants are immers- 

 ed and carried to the field. They should 

 be taken from this and planted direct. 

 This treatment will give the plants a 

 start in the ground because they have 

 both moisture and fertilizer at hand in 

 the shape of a film of this batter adhering 

 to their roots. 



ONIONS 



The soil for onions should be worked 

 down very fine and level and rolled he- 

 cause the onion grows on the surface of 

 the ground and the seed requires to be 

 barely covered. First of all the seed 

 should be tested for germination power. 



There are two methods of getting the 

 crop into the ground — One, the seed may 

 be sown with a drill in rows twelve inches 

 to fourteen inches apart, which will re- 

 quire four to five pounds per acre. The 

 seed drill should be tested and the sow- 

 ing done acordingly, so as to be sure of 

 sowing enough and not too much. This 

 will save much tedious work of thinning 

 later on. • This system is suitable for iil 

 of the medium sized onions. If the sow- 

 ing is done properly, no thinning will '.e 

 necessary, as the small percentage of 

 smaller onions may be used for pickling. 

 Two, the seed is started in a hot-bed or 

 greenhouse in February and later trans- 

 planted into the field. This will give a 

 large onion and is suitable for the onions 

 of the Gibraltar type. 



Trim out and burn the old raspberry 

 and blackberry canes. Currant and 

 gooseberry bushes should also be thin- 

 ned. The fruit is improved both in 

 quality and size. 



