THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
FEBRUARY, 1916 
Dreer’s Dahlias 
WE offer and fully describe in our 
Garden Book this season four 
hundred and forty-seven of the choic- 
est New and Standard varieties, which 
include all types and colors of this 
favorite Fall flower, every one having 
been carefully tested and found desir- 
able. If you have never grown 
Dahlias you should begin by getting a 
free copy of 
mm ies s Garden Book for 1916 
Write for it today and please mention this magazine 
714-716 Chestnut Street 
HENRY je DREER Philadelphia, Pa. 
DAHLIA SPECIALISTS 
Cactus Dahlia 
Fertilizer Quality 
When you buy fertilizer remem- 
ber you are buying what is in the 
goods and not merely a weight of 
two thousand pounds. 
It gives detailed directions 
as to plant and Hower cul- 
ture, showing how the best re« 
sults willbe obtainedin different 
localities. Buist’s seeds have 
been famous among vegetable 
and flower wardeaces since 1828— 
ey cee his year, we make 
lowing stunning offers: 
or st. Forevery dollarpurchasein 
packets and ounces we will give you an additional 
twenty-five cents worth in packets and ounces. 
nd. In addition tothe eee wewill include Erecs 
Five Packets of our finest fl oe beced, all of easy 
culture, flowering profusely 
ROBERT BUIST CO., Dept. se Philadelphia, Pa. 
When a smelter buys gold ore 
he buys not merely two thousand 
pounds but he insists on knowing 
how much gold is in the ore, and 
you should know the amount of 
active nitrogen, which is the gold 
of the fertilizer. 
SCHOOL OF HORTICULTURE FOR WOMEN 
Ambler, Pennsylvania (18 Miles from Philadelphia) 
Spring Term of regular two year course 
begins Feb.14th. Practicaland theoret- 
ical training in the growing of fruits, 
vegetablesand flowers. Simple carpen- 
try. Bees. Poultry. Preserving. School 
Gardening and elementary Landscape 
Gardening. The demand for trained 
women to fill positions, along horticul- 
tural lines, is steadily growing. Eliza- 
beth Leighton Lee, Director, Consult- 
ant to the Garden Club of America. 
For further information write 
DR. WILLIAM S. MYERS, Director 
25 Madison Avenue, New York 
Send For Your 
Copy Today 
T shows the most complete line of small fruit plants to be 
secured anywhere—tells you how to plant and grow them success- 
I fully — Strawberry, Raspberry, Blackberry, Currant, Grape Plants. 
All guaranteed—all true to name—all free from disease—all northern 
grown on our new ground, which produces strong, healthy, large, 
heavily rooted plants. 110 acres of strawberry plants. 
Baldwin Berry Plants 
produced by Baldwin, himself. They are sure growers. The kind that 
produce profits—big profits—quickly. Though grown by the millions, 
they have the same care, the same attention, the same cultivation. 
that you would give a choice little garden patch of but a few plants. 
Read Our Guarantee All plants guaranteed to be 
== emus §=first-class and true-to-name, 
packed to (ren you in good growing condition, and to please 
you, or you get your money back, That’s a liberal, fair and 
honest guarantee. YOu take no chances whatever. ~ Send for 
the book today. Get our prices. Then rush in your order to 
O.A.D.BALDWIN, R.R.19,. Bridgman, Michigan 
The Readers’ Service gives tnformation about real estate 
nitrate of soda at the rate of one hundred pounds 
an acre, or cotton seed meal at the rate of one 
thousand six hundred pounds an acre (cutting down 
the potash or kainit one half). 
Unless natural drainage is perfect, you had better 
run one or two lines of tile under your garden while 
you have it torn up. In some cases a heavy blast 
placed ten to thirty feet deep in the ground will give 
you good drainage. 
A soil made in the way described will be very rich, 
though it will reach its best a year or two after you 
begin to grow things init. To keep it in the highly 
productive condition, certain fundamental treatment 
is necessary. You have built up a delicately bal- 
anced condition. Neglect in any of many forms 
will ruin it again, agriculturally. Keep it worked 
deeply—work it ten inches or a foot deep each 
spring, and several times each spring to a shallower 
depth. Protect the surface from dashing, eroding, 
cementing rains, with growing things, as much as 
possible, especially over winter. You can do this 
by planting cover crops of crimson clover, vetch, 
cow peas, or even turnips on any spot not occupied 
by a regular crop. Aim to turn under a lot of vege- 
tation every year. Conserve the moisture supply, 
so bacteria will be active. The phosphate rock, 
Thomas slag, potash, kainit,' nitrate of soda and 
cotton seed meal should be ‘applied every season, 
though of course you will not use all of these, since 
some of them are alternatives. The directions given 
apply to ordinary soils in the worst possible condi- 
tion. The treatment is radical and complete. You 
will have to decide whether your soil demands the 
entire programme, or whether you safely can adopt 
modifications. In any case, don’t leave out the 
organic matter, the lime or the drainage. 
If your garden is too big to be handled as sug- 
gested, do part of it at a time. Sometimes it is a 
wise plan to have one pile of “soil”? coming on all 
the time—rotting the vegetable matter and digest- 
ing the lime and commercial fertilizer. You can 
handle such a treatment with your own hands. 
Maryland J. R. Matrern. 
Figuring Fertilizers for Square 
Yards or Feet 
apie gardener who is lost in the bewildering in- 
structions to use dressings at “rate per acre” 
usually overdoes the thing when dealing with small 
areas. 
From the accompanying table any given quantity 
from 100 to 1,000 pounds an acre may be at once 
reduced to the corresponding amount per square 
foot or yard. It will befseen that the standard 
thousand pounds to the acre is less than four ounces 
to an area of 2x 5 ft. spread completely over it and 
only 176 grains to a square foot. 
; EQUIVALENT 
POUNDS | EQUIVALENT | EQUIVALENT FOR I SQ. FT. 
FOR ONE | FOR I SQ. YD. | FOR 10 SQ. FT. 
ACRE (OUNCES) (OUNCES) (OUNCE) | (GRAINS) 
100 3 3 .037— 17.7 
200 % z 073+ 35. 
300 I ry -Ir0o+ 53-8 
400 14 its -147— 70.5 
500 12 is -183+ 87.9 
600 2 2h 220-+- 105.6 
700 24 2h 257+ 123.2 
800 2% 3 204-- 14I. 
900 3 33 +330— 158.2 
1000 33 33 367+ 176. 
Pinching off Rose Buds 
ies TAKES a strong determination and a heart as 
hard as Pharaoh’s to deliberately pinch off the 
first buds on a maiden Rose bush that we are so 
anxious to see bloom, but as flower bearing is the 
process of reproduction the apparently cruel habit of 
pinching off the buds that appear the first season 
will result in a conservation of strength that will give 
more blooms the next season. 
Picking off the lower leaves from the Rose bushes to 
let the sunlight strike in at the roots and allow a 
better circulation of air in and about the plant is 
held to be important by some very successful 
rosarians. Of course it is superfluous to add the 
advice.to keep the Rose bed weeded. The Rose de- 
mands all the strength the soil can give. 
Pennsylvania. H. G. READING. 
