January, 1915 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



II 



well as in name, by all means prepare a 

 bclbed and grow the varieties which you 

 knov. are the best, and what is more, get 

 better plants. You will also gain about 

 two months' growth with your onions, 

 which will enable you to grow them to 

 an exhibition size. 



For celery, sow seeds of Paris Golden 

 for one row and Rose-ribbed Paris for 

 the other or late variety. Most tomatoes 

 are good, but some are better than others, 

 and I strongly recommend Chalk's Early 

 Jewel, Earliana, and Beauty, the latter a 

 beautiful pink variety. They should be 

 trained up stakes. A description of this 



method, as well as of the proper at- 

 tention to be given celery, and the mak- 

 ing of a hotbed, will appear in these 

 columns a little later. 



You will notice that in the plan of 

 planting here outlined the vegetables are 

 graded according to height. Of course, 

 you will have to be governed by your 

 location, placing the tall-growing either 

 to the west or the north. Cultivate free- 

 ly right through the season. Do not 

 water unless absolutely necessary, as 

 once started it has to be kept up. When 

 you water your plants, choose the even- 

 ing for it. 



Suggestions Coivccriving the Use of Fertilizers 



IN greenhouses or for home gardening 

 purposes the solubility of a fertilizer 

 should be considered ere it is applied ; 

 those of little solubility or those partially 

 soluble may safely be mixed with the 

 potting soil. It would be just as wise, 

 however, to use sugar as to mix nitrate 

 of soda in potting soil and to expect it to 

 be of use to the unestablished plant. 

 Soluble fertilizers as a rule are wasted 

 when applied to plants which are not in 

 a condition to receive them. The solu- 

 tions pass away as drainage. 



Many artificial fertilizers are used in 

 greenhouses, and while to benches or 

 borders a top dressing of the soluble 

 kinds may occasionally be given, it is 

 not wise to afford them to potted plants 

 in a crystalized form. It is a safer and 

 better practice to dissolve them as re- 

 quired in water and. to apply them 

 through this medium. Nitrate of soda 

 is a soluble fertilizer of great value. It 

 acts and stimulates growth quickly ; one- 

 fourth of an ounce to one gallon of water 

 is ample. Guano is more or less soluble, 

 its nitrogen acts quickly, it is much safer 

 to use than nitrate of soda, and may be 

 applied at the rate of two ounces to an 



ordinary two and one-half gallon pail of 

 water. Clay's fertilizer, a most excellent 

 manure for general purposes, may be 

 used in the same proportion as guano. 

 For such stock as geraniums, cinerarias, 

 calceolarias, cyclamen, begonias, prim- 

 ulas, and general florists' stock it is pro- 

 bably unexcelled. Diluted urine and soot 

 water produce splendid results with 

 greenhouse stock. The action of the 

 former is characterized by vigorous 

 growth and the latter by a resultant deep 

 green color of foliage. 



Clay's fertilizer, Thompson's vine and 

 plant manure, guano, bone meal, soot, 

 finely broken charcoal and dried blood, 

 generally give good results when mixed 

 with soil for benches, borders, or for 

 potting purposes. A five inch pot full of 

 any to a barrow load of soil will be suf- 

 ficient. The first three being standard 

 fertilizers of guaranteed analysis, are 

 complete in themselves. The writer has 

 refrained from mentioning other manu- 

 factured manures ; there are undoubtedly 

 many excellent ones on the market, and 

 while not prejudiced in favor of any, he 

 would, however, ask the grower to 

 guard against using any fertilizer the 



analysis of which he does not know, or 

 which cannot be guaranteed by the man- 

 ufacturer. Adulterated fertilizers are too 

 common ; there is, however, one consola- 

 tion they are not sold by reputable firms. 



If the grower is in doubt a slow de- 

 composing fertilizer should be used in 

 preference to one of quick action. A 

 general fertilizer should be well balanced, 

 and should contain nitrogen, phosphor- 

 us, potash and lime. Nitrogen promotes 

 growth, phosphorus aids the production 

 of flowers, fruit and seeds ; potash helps 

 the plant to assimilate the elements of 

 food, or in other words it aids diges- 

 tion, and lime unites with elements in 

 the soil rendering them available for ab- 

 sorption, and also in conjunction with 

 these elements builds up the woody tis- 

 sue of the plant. 



Whatever fertilizer may be applied, we 

 must remember that the degree of its 

 solubility or of its constituents deter- 

 mines the rapidity of its effects, and the 

 period over which they extend. Those 

 of great solubility and, therefore, quick 

 acting, must be sparingly and judicious- 

 ly used. Happy is he who understands 

 the great natural truth that all substances 

 must be or become inorganic, and as 

 such pass into solutions ere they can be 

 absorbed as food by plants. Soluble fer- 

 tilizers when applied in excess not only 

 injure the plants, but often so change 

 the food constituents of the soil as to 

 render them for a time worthless, or act 

 upon them so quickly as to cause a pre- 

 mature state of exhaustion. 



Forced strawberries. 



The soil contained finely 

 applied twice a week.- 



^round bonea. Dilut<'<i liquid cow manure was 

 -Photo by H. J. Moore. 



Floral Experiences 



The Cyclamen requires very much the 

 same treatment as the Gloxinia, except 

 that they are rested during the summer 

 months out of doors, re-potted in Au- 

 gust, and brought into the window to 

 get them in flower in winter or early 

 spring. They are not subject to insect 

 pests if they receive anything like the 

 proper treatment. — Wm. Hunt, O.A.C., 

 Guelph, Ont. 



For small gardens, rather than at- 

 tempt mass effects, I prefer to have 

 many small clumps of plants blooming 

 at the same time scattered through the 

 border, and so placed that they will 

 make good contrast or blend with the 

 foliage of other plants not yet in bloom, 

 and also among themselves give a var- 

 iety and pleasing contrast or blending 

 of color.— W. T. Macoun, Ottawa, Ont. 



The paeony differs materially from 

 many perennials in that it will continue 

 to grow, yielding indeed the very best 

 vssults each year, without replanting, 

 for many years, while the foliage lasts 

 from the day the leaf buds show above 

 the soil in .spring, until the plant is cut 

 down in preparation for wintering, with 

 an undimmed and unchanging beauty of 

 color. — J. H. Bennett, Barrie, Ont. 



