May, 1911 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



117 



RThc Care of Lawns 

 J. T. Rote, Braitford 

 In the first place, I will take it for 

 ranted that your ground is in good con- 

 dition in regard to drainage. If you 

 have any low spots be sure and build 

 them up by cutting the sod into strips 

 and then rolling them back to the pro- 

 per level. Your next move is to get 

 some good, rich soil and fill up the open- 

 ing made until it will be a little higher 

 than the surrounding ground, as it will 

 settle. 



For fertilizer, take very rotten horse 

 or cow manure and apply to the depth 

 of an inch or more. Every few days 

 take a rake and stir or spread the man- 

 ure about so that it will not bleach the 

 grass. When you find the grass get- 

 ting long and white remove the most of 

 tHe manure, but do not be afraid of 

 leaving some on, as the grass will soon 

 eat it up. 



Some seasons I only apply rich loam, 

 to which I have added some bone meal 

 and wood ashes. This I scatter over the 

 lawn so that you can just see the grass. 

 Every few days I take an iron rake and 

 work it through the grass. I keeo my 

 lawn cut very close all season, as I find 

 it grows more compact and has a deep 

 green color. Apply plenty of water and 

 use the lawn mower constantly until the 

 frost comes, so that there will be no 

 brown grass in the spring to spoil the 

 appearance of the lawn. 



If you are just starting to fix up your 

 lawn around your new home, by all 

 means secure some good rich top soil, 

 and after spreading it apply some well 

 rotted manure and have it ploughed or 

 dug in — for like everything elsie, you 

 must have a good foundation to start on. 

 Then level off and sow your lawn seed. 

 When it has grown to the length of say 

 two or three inches, I would start and 

 cut It with the lawn mower to make it 

 stool out. 



Fertilizers for the Garden 



G. M. Frederick, Peterbor* 



Fertilizers are being used in increas- 

 ing amounts each year, and have given 

 good results in spite of the large 

 amount of low grade goods sold the 

 gardener and fruit grower. A good 

 standard formula, useful for all vege- 

 tables and flowers, is a 5-7-10 goods, 

 which means five per cent, of nitrogen, 

 seven of phosphoric acid, and ten of 

 potash. 



If it is thought better to mix the ma- 

 terials at home a mixture of five parts 

 acid phosphate, five parts bone meal, 

 three parts sulphate of potash, two parts 

 tankage can be used with good results. 

 This should be applied at the rate of 

 from half a ton to a ton to the acre. 

 Work the fertilizer thoroughly Jnto_ the 

 surface soil at the opening of the sea- 

 son, then make several applications of 



nitrate of soda at intervals of two or 

 three weeks. 



Nitrate of soda can be sown broad- 

 cast at the rate of from seventy-five to 

 an hundred and twenty-five pounds to 

 the acre. There is usually very little 

 danger of burning the foliage ; but as 

 the leaves of some plants are tender it 

 is safer to scatter along the rows or 

 around the plants. 



Where early fruit or vegetables are 

 desired u.se acid phosphate and potash, 

 with no bone meal, tankage, or stable 

 manure. Bone meal is too slow, and the 

 tankage and manure will decay and 

 provide nitrogen later in the season, 

 thus inducing growth of stock and leaf 

 at the time the plant should ripen up. 

 Apply one liberal dressing of the soluble 

 nitrate of soda early in the season to 

 force the srrowth of stnlk and leaf. Af- 



ter this time the mineral fertilizer, po- 

 tash and phosphoric acid in the soil will 

 mature the crop. By this method a gar- 

 dener may place his vegetables on the 

 market a week or two ahead of his 

 competitors. Good judgment is neces- 

 sary to get the best results, as if too 

 much nitrate is applied or an applica- 

 tion is made too fate in the season, the 

 plant will rim too much to stock and 

 leaf and the ripening of the fruit and 

 vegetables will be deferred. 



The above fertilizers can be used with 

 good advantage on flowers, increasing 

 the vigor of the plant and deepening 

 the color of the blossoms. On all 

 foliage plants use nitrate of soda liber- 

 ally. Where wood ashes can be obtain- 

 ed conveniently use from ten to fifteen 

 pounds in place of each pound of potash 

 advised. 



A Beautiful Display of Roses 



In the garden of ^V. J. Smith, Toronto 



What to GroAv and How to Grow It* 



A. G. Woller Dod, Calgary 



AS soon as the cabbage and cauliflow- 

 er plants have grown about four or 

 five inches high, the soil around the 

 roots should be carefully loosened with a 

 kitchen fork', and then they should be pull- 

 ed up and transplanted again in the frame, 

 about four or five inches apart, care being 

 taken, however, to see that the soil is 

 good and damp before doing so, as if too 

 dry it will all fall away from the roots. 

 Make a hole with a blunt stick and press 

 each plant firmly into the soil slightly 

 deeper than it was before, and give a 

 good soaking of water. You may find 

 that all your plants will not be ready to 

 transplant at the same time, as some will 

 be bigger than others, but pull out the 

 biggest all the time so as not to let them 

 get too crowded or they will grow weak 

 and .spindly. Cabbages in this way will 



'Extracc from a paper read betora the Calvary Hor 

 ticultural Society. 



very rarely wilt when finally put out in 

 the garden, if the same care is used in 

 having the soil around the roots good 

 and moist. If the weather is very hot 

 when doing this transplanting it is a good 

 plan to whitewash the glass, so that the 

 sun will not wilt the plants. A handful 

 of lime mixed with a little glue or size in 

 a basin is enough for this, and it is best 

 to whitewash inside the glass, as if done 

 on the outside it will get washed off in 

 heavy rains. 



Your radishes should be fit foj use in 

 about three weeks time but the lettuce 

 will be longer before it is ready to use. If 

 your frame is big enough, sow some more 

 radish seed at intervals of a fortnight, as 

 then you will have a succession for the 

 table. 



When your celery plants are big 

 enough, prick them out in the frame 

 about four or five inches apart, or they 



