December, 190 7 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



247 



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MVh, 



A Side Profit from Geraniums 



LAST spring I sold a lot of geraniums for 

 ten cents a piece or one dollar per 

 dozen. These plants were grown from cuttings 

 and were wintered in a hotbed. They were 

 larger than the plants that could be bought 

 from the neighboring greenhouses, were 

 better able to stand cold and could be planted 

 out earlier and were so vigorous that had I 

 cared to, I could have sold the entire stock. 



After saving all I could use in my own 

 garden I sold enough to more than pay for 

 the slight trouble of caring for the slips during 

 the winter. Last winter was mild but even 

 in a cold winter the plants are much safer 

 when growing in the hotbed than in the 

 average house, as houses are built here in 

 Texas, for they are seldom plastered and the 

 use of furnaces is rare. 



Just before the first frost comes I prepare 

 a hotbed in which to grow my geraniums for 

 next summer's flower garden. I make the 

 hotbed 3 x 9 ft. The soil is removed to a 

 depth of eighteen inches, which is deep enough 

 in this climate (Central Texas). 



Equal quantities of fresh horse manure and 

 leaves are mixed together and put in a shed 

 where they will be protected from the weather, 

 and tramped down to allow of fermentation. 

 After three days the pile is thoroughly stirred 

 with a fork and again allowed to remain 

 undisturbed for two or three days when it 

 is ready to be made into a hotbed. 



A depth of twelve inches is filled in and 

 thoroughly tramped down. A wooden frame 

 eighteen inches high in the back and twelve 

 in front, sloping toward the south to catch 

 the sunshine, is placed over the bed. 



A length of old matting is now put over 

 the frame and the bed is allowed to stand 

 two or three days until the manure reaches 

 a temperature of about 90 . Then six inches 

 of light mellow soil is placed over the manure 

 and all geranium plants are taken from the 

 flower garden, made into cuttings and planted 

 in the hotbed as close together as they will 

 stand. I usually get about three hundred 

 in my 3x9 bed. 



I cover the beds with the matting to protect 

 the cuttings from frost at night leaving it on 

 during the day if there is danger of freezing. 

 Of course the weight of the matting must 

 not fall upon the plants and it must be 

 securely fastened all along the edges so no 

 breeze can lift it and allow a draft to blow 

 on the plants. 



When the really cold weather comes the 

 matting is replaced by hotbed sashes and the 

 usual care in regulating hotbeds given. 



The matting is covering enough in this 

 climate for most of the winter and makes 

 the plants less tender. 



Last winter, having need of all sashes on 

 other beds, I used only the matting covering 

 with a rubber blanket on top during hard 

 freezes. In February the weather bureau 

 warned us that there would be three days of 

 intense cold. Taking a barrel of leaves I 

 filled the hotbed until the tops of the plants 

 were well covered, replaced the matting, but 

 not the rubber blanket. At the end of the cold 

 spell the leaves were removed, and although 

 many plants in pits and in houses were 

 frozen my geraniums came through in perfect 

 condition. 



I always have sufficient leaves for such 

 emergencies because a great many, raked 

 up from our lawns in the fall, are put in 

 burlap sacks or barrels and stored in the 

 woodshed for use in hotbeds, covering plants, 

 and putting under melon and cucumber 

 vines in the spring. 



Texas. M. C. Wood. 



Care of Setting Hens 



AT FIRST when I had several hens 

 setting, I had lots of trouble with other 

 hens laying in their nests; to avoid this I 

 had a scheme last spring which worked to 

 perfection. My nests were common wooden 

 boxes of small size ; I tacked small sticks to 

 the sides of these boxes, the tallest near the 

 building, then gradually shorter until I 

 reached the outside of the box; then I 

 tacked a common bran sack to the building 

 just behind the box and brought it over the 

 pen, thus allowing air at the two sides. The 

 sack is caught over two tacks at the bottom 

 of the box, one on each side ; thus the hen 

 could not get off until I allowed her to, and no 

 other hen could get in to bother her. About 

 sundown each night I lifted the sack from 

 each hen's nest and took her off the nest. 

 Three or four nights after that the hens came 

 off themselves. I fed them and in about one- 

 half hour they went back; usually each hen 

 to her own nest, but if not, I changed them 

 carefully. Thus I saved lots of eggs from 

 being spoiled and got many more chicks 

 than I would have had otherwise, so I am 

 convinced anyway. Perhaps this is an old 

 procedure to some farmers and hen-men, but 

 I have never heard of it before. 



When a hen hatched her brood she was 

 placed in a coop of my own making, which I 

 presume is no better than lots of others. 

 It was made like a box with a small half -roof 



extending out far enough in front to protect 

 the opening into the coop. I used some 

 cheap roof-paper for roof which will last 

 one season and costs very little. The coop 

 is set so that the back is a little the highest, 

 thus giving the roof a slant, and preventing 

 the rain from running into the coop. 



The food for the chicks was corn meal 

 mixed up in milk and milk curd, also every 

 three days a warm mash composed of bran 

 and meal, and for dry feed they had a mixture 

 of wheat, oats and barley. They were 

 allowed free range from the coop until they 

 began to scratch a good deal, then they were 

 removed into my chicken yard, where they 

 were fed fruit together with their other 

 rations. 



The yard is large enough so that there is 

 plenty of grass upon it even with all the 

 chicks, and I consider this very important. 

 The fence is six feet high and is made of two 

 strips of wire netting, each three feet high, 

 one above the other. It is much easier to 

 build than if the wire is in a 6 -foot width and 

 you can get it up in better shape. It does 

 not kink and bend like the 6-foot strip. 



Vermont. Harley S. Herrick. 



How to Dispose of the Stumps 



'THE usual method in the South is to 

 -*- girdle the trees, working crops between 

 and burning when they are dead. The 

 stumps rot and burn far enough below the 

 surface so as not to interfere seriously with 

 future cultivation. It is a slow but cheap 

 method. 



Small thicket growth, up to two or three 

 inches in diameter, can be pulled with chain 

 and a strong team. When they average 

 above that size, one of the many forms of 



To burn a stump saturate the wood with saltpetre 

 and set fire to it, and every bit of the slump and large 

 roots wi'l be consumed. 



