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Canadian Gardens— The Garden of a Workingnvan 



IN a German county it is only natural 

 to expect beautiful gardens. The 

 thrifty, careful Teuton has received 

 from his forebears a great heritage in his 

 love of the beautiful, and in his habits 

 of tidiness and orderliness. Hence it 

 was no easy task to select a garden to 

 illustrate in this series of articles from 

 amongst the many well kept gardens in 

 this little thriving town, where there arie 



George^W. Tebbs,.Hespeler, Ont. 



his Nicotina. He makes really good use 

 of it, keeping it for spraying purposes, 

 and using it also as a preventative of in- 

 sect life in the nests of his poultry. 



Mr. Birken has had marked success 

 with his tomato plants. The way in 

 which he grows tomatoes is as follows : 

 He raises his own plants from seed, us- 

 ually of the Plentiful or Earliana Varie- 

 ties. He pricks them off into flower pots 



and very clean. He has a particularly 

 fine crop of Irish Cobbler potatoes which 

 are growing on the sod of an old poul- 

 try run. There is practically not a weed 

 of any size anywhere in his garden, and 

 the arrangement of his plots cannot well 

 be improved upon. 



Great credit is surely due to men who 

 under such difficult circumstances pro- 

 duce such fine work ; who after a hard 

 day's work in the mill, find time not only 

 to beautify and enhance their own sur- 

 roundings, but take pleasure in so doing 

 and thereby give an incentive to the 

 neighbors around them to go and do 

 likewise, thus affording the cause of hor- 

 ticulture a real and valuable service. 



Mr. Birken in Hise Garden. Some of the Fruit Tree* May^be Seen 



so many connected with the "Fader- 

 land." One well kept, typical garden, 

 however, has been selected. It is that 

 of Mr. E. J. Birken, the secretary of the 

 Hespeler Horticultural Society, a posi- 

 tion that he has held for the past three 

 years, previous to which he was one of 

 the directors. 



Mr. Birken holds a position in the 

 woollen mills of the town and works ten 

 hours each day. His gardening, therefore, 

 has to Ije done either early in the morn- 

 ing, or late in the evening. Only a real 

 love of gardening, therefore, can pro- 

 duce such an excellent example as is 

 shown in our illustrations. 



Nine years ago when Mr. Birken pur- 

 chased his home, the garden was a bare, 

 vacant lot. His fruit trees, now in full 

 bearing, were all planted by himself, and 

 the garden has been gradually brought to 

 its present pleasing appearance by his 

 own unaided labors since that time. 



HAS WON PEIZB8 



Three years ago the Hespeler Society 

 instituted prize awards for the best kept 

 gardens and for cleanliness, variety and 

 quality of vegetables and fruits, Mr. 

 Birken was well up in the awards made 

 by the judges. In the garden he has al- 

 most everything from tobacco to cab- 

 bage. He is justly proud this year of 



as soon as they are large enough, and 

 places them in a cold frame. He never 

 transfers them to the garden until about 

 the fifteenth of June. In the garden there 

 are all kinds of fruits. Mr. Birken is a 

 great believer in spraying, and his trees 

 are very clean and healthy. His cherry 

 trees are full of fruit of excellent quality, 



Pall Planting Recommended 



J. McPherson Ross, Toronto, Ont. 



In the fall all that is necessary is to 

 shorten the rose tops, say about one- 

 third of the growth, when planting. 

 Deep planting is still necessary. The 

 tops assist in holding the mulching of 

 strawy manure which must be provided, 

 and also allow air to circulate. The 

 stems are also sure to be killed back an 

 inch or so by winter, and this dead wood 

 when removed in the spring makes the 

 plant properly shortened. 



WINTEK PROTECTION 



All shrubs do better when planted in 

 the fall than in the spring . The fall also 

 is just the season for hardy perennials. 

 In small fruits of all kinds, including 

 strawberries, currants, gooseberries, and 

 raspberries, you will have quite a yield 

 in fruit next summer by planting in the 

 fall. This is not the case with spring 

 planting. Thus you gain a season by 

 fall planting. 



Where the Vegetable* Grow. Another View in Mr. Birken'* Garden 



259 



