MARCH, 1916 
iH i) 7 (GeASR sD eERN aA G AZ IN © 
93: 
in the fall, so much the better. In fact, it is 
best to have the space where the first peas are 
to be planted dug and well raked in the fall. 
Throw a thin layer of well-rotted old manure 
in the trench, and sow the peas on this. It 
sounds fatal, but I have never failed of a fine, 
early crop when I have used this method. If 
it seems too risky, sprinkle a light dusting of 
earth over the manure before sowing the seed. 
Cover the trench, and tread down with the feet. 
Gradus vines grow about three feet tall, and 
do best when supported. If possible, put in 
the brush, chicken wire or whatever you use, 
when planting the seed. 
For the second and third planting, make the 
ground rich but omit manure in the trench. 
Quite Content is a fine pea for the later plant- 
ings, large-podded, delicious and prolific. It 
grows about four or five feet tall; and if a 
dwarf kind is preferred, British Wonder is fine. 
Perhaps the old standby, Telephone, is as good 
as any for late planting. 
It does not pay to make plantings much after 
the middle of May, except in a cool Northern 
climate, but before that peas may be put in 
every two weeks. It is possible to have a late 
crop by planting little hard-seeded ‘“first- 
earlies” in August, but the vines often require 
spraying, and do not bear as well as the spring 
sowings. 
New Jersey. M. T. RicHarpDson. 
Platycodon “Winter Killing” 
WAS interested in Mr. E. S. Johnson’s letter 
in the January issue of THE GARDEN MaGa- 
ZINE regarding Platycodons, and whether or not 
they winter killed. Two seasons ago, when we 
had a terrific winter in the Berkshires, and 
lost great quantities of perennials of all sorts, 
even iris which had been established for years, 
my Platycodons which were in an exposed place, 
were not in the least affected. It is quite true, 
as Mr. Johnson says, that nothing is easier 
than to kill them in the spring weeding, not 
only after they sprout, but even before. They 
send up their shoots from a considerable dis- 
tance below the surface—six inches at least 
in my beds—and they can be destroyed with a 
hoe before they are above ground, if their po- 
sition is not marked. I have an established 
double row of fine plants, about twenty feet 
long, which form, when in full foliage, a consid- 
erable and solid little hedge. In order to hold 
up the flower stems without the bother of 
staking, I have stretched horizontally over the 
rows a length of chicken wire mounted on 
green stakes, about twelve inches above the 
ground. The plants grow right up through this 
wire, completely hiding it before blooming sea- 
son, and it never shows again. In winter it 
serves to hold the covering on the beds, and 
in spring it absolutely prevents any mistake 
about the situation of the crowns. Personally, 
I agree with Mr. Johnson that the Platycodon, 
at any rate in a well drained soil, is extremely 
hardy. This same arrangement of chicken wire, 
by the way, at a slight! greater elevation, is 
an excellent support for Peonies. 
Mass. WALTER PRICHARD EATON. 
Zinc Labels 
| A recent issue of THE GARDEN Maca- 
ZINE was an item concerning zine labels. 
If the labels are immersed in acetic acid or 
for a longer time in real strong apple vinegar, 
the name can readily be erased and the label 
ready for use again. I use a wide-mouthed 
horse radish bottle for the acid and a strip of 
zine cut like a dagger. The narrow end can be 
bent around a stem or attached to a wire stake 
and both sides of the label used. 
Rogers, Ark. J. W. TETIRICK. 
Manure—An Experiment With and Without 
HE value of manure to soil has Leen argued 
from every conceivable angle. For all gen- 
eral purposes there is nothing to equal it; you 
must use it if you want results. 
There are several reasons why manure excels 
as a plant fertilizer. It is the natural process 
of restoring to the soil the elements that plants 
take from it; it is very retentive of moisture, 
encourages root action, and prevents plants 
from suffering during dry spells; the fertilizin 
quality contained in manure is practically all 
soluble and therefore is readily absorbed by the 
plants; the fertilizing qualities are let off grad- 
ually and the growth resulting is steady and 
well ripened. To sum up, manure is conducive 
to a healthy, well balanced growth. 
I had a very vivid illustration last spring of 
the part that manure plays with the growth of 
plants; it taught me a lesson, I will never 
forget. 
My garden was a plot approximately 30 by 
60 feet. As I had a strip of good sod about 
30 feet wide adjoining the garden on the north, 
I decided to incorporate it into my garden, 
making it about 60 feet square. I had already 
provided manure for the original piece, and had 
ordered a load for the new part which I was 
going to plow under. I had made arrangements 
with a laborer to plow the soil; when he ar- 
rived the load of manure had not. The first 
load had all been spread on the other piece. 
As the work had to be done then, I determined 
to take a chance without manure on the new 
part and so had the entire area plowed. This 
new section did have a very good sod and I fig- 
ured by plowing it under good and deep that 
the plants would have sufficient nourishment. 
The man that plowed the garden made an ex- 
cellent job of it; he got the sod down where it 
belonged. 
After raking the garden I sowed the seed, in 
rows laid out crosswise of the garden, which 
turned out very fortunately, as I had two dis- 
tinct dates of maturity between the new and old 
parts of the garden. 
Of the beans, for instance, I made a picking 
on the part of the row that wasn’t fertilized 
several days before the others were ready. Of 
course, there was no comparison between the 
quality of the various vegetables when gathered 
from both sides of the garden. Root crops, 
such as beets, carrots, etc., matured earlier on 
the fertilized side; while seed pod vegetables, 
such as peas, beans, corn, ete., maturéd con- 
siderably earlier on the part unfertilized, 
though the quality was very inferior. Swiss 
chard, for instance, I cut twice as often and of 
Notice the difference in the height of this corn, caused 
by the presence of manure in the soil 
a much better quality from the fertilized side; 
lettuce on the unfertilized side was a failure. 
It ran to seed before the other lettuce started 
to head up. 
The “step,” which we have come to call the 
dividing line in our garden, is very apparent 
—there is a difference of two feet in the height 
of the corn on the different sides, and it is 
just as perceptible in the other vegetables. 
To make a comparison of the results from 
both sides of my garden, I would say that the 
side that was fertilized produced fully twice as 
much as the other, and that the produce was 
twice as good in quality so the proportion of 
the two sides would be one to four, when as a 
matter of fact the new soil, with the same 
amount of manure, would have produced better 
than the old because of the addition of the sod. 
Long Island. W. C. McCottom. 
A Home-Made Transplanting Dibble 
FEW years ago, while on a visit in west- 
A ern Pennsylvania, I saw an amateur gar- 
dener marking out his cabbage patch with a 
home-made dibble, and its merits over the ordi- 
nary dibble were so evident, and its construc- 
tion so simple, that on returning home I made 
one for my own use. Each year since then I 
have used it in all my kitchen- 
garden transplanting operations 
and have found it both a_back- 
saving and time-saving device, 
being able with it to make the 
setting holes nearly as fast as I 
can walk. 
The upright part (or handle) 
is a piece of lumber 4% ft. long 
and 2 in. square. About 4 in. at 
one end of this piece is sharp- 
ened to a point and a covering of 
tin, or sheet iron, tacked around 
it. One foot above the point cut 
a 1% in. deep groove square across 
the upright and then bore a ¥ in. 
hole in the centre of this groove. 
Next take another strip of lum- 
= SS 
72 HE 16 18 20 22 24% 
26 
A home-made dibble for planting all 
kinds of flowers and vegetables 
ber, 3 ft. long and 1 in. square and, starting 
3 in. from one end bore ten 14 in. holes in it, 
each 2 in. apart. Next turn the strip half over 
and at 12 in. from the last hole bore another 
hole. In this last hole insert, and securely 
fasten, a 9 in. long bolt or spike. Next place 
this strip (the horizontal, C) into the groove 
in the upright (A), fastening them together 
with 3 in. long % in. bolt, using a thumb nut 
and washer. Put this bolt through that hole 
in the horizontal whose distance from the 
spike is that number of inches at which the 
kind of plants to be set out are to b= apart in 
the rows. After marking off the ¢:»t for the 
rows (i. e. one way), take the aibble and, 
pointing the horizontal ahead directly with 
the row-mark, push the pointed nee into 
the ground where the first plant in that row 
is to be set. Give a half twist to the handle 
before lifting up, thus causing the spike in the 
horizontal to make a mark across the row- 
mark at the point ahead where the next plant 
is to be set. Make the next dibble hole at this 
cross-mark, and so on to the end o1 the row. 
Repeat this on each row. 
With this dibble I can mark out a plot for 
transplanting in less than half the time it 
takes with an ordinary hand dibble, and besides 
I am sure of having all plants just the same 
distance apart. I consider it one of the most 
helpful of my gardening tools. 
estershire, N. Y. JARVIS RUNKEL. 
How to Grow Japanese Anemones 
AN you or any of your readers tell me if 
_ they have had any trouble growing Jap- 
anese Anemones successfully, and if so their 
opinion as to the cause? Out of six strong 
plants set out a year ago in rich garden loam, 
in partial shade, two died outright, and of the 
other four only one produced flower buds which, 
however, never bloomed. On the place next 
door to my own, similar trouble has been ex- 
perienced, under similar conditions, the plants 
dying out altogether or producing only one or 
two blooms. Should the plants be covered in 
winter? Should the soil be enriched especially, 
or not? I would be most grateful for sugges- 
tions on these points. 
Dorrancetown, Pa. Mrs. L. M. THompson. 
Sulphur for Asters 
HAVE recently noted, in THE GARDEN Maca- 
ZINE, some notes about Aster troubles. I 
have had very good success with Asters both 
in new and old soil, and all I have ever done: 
as a preventive of trouble is to mix some sul- 
phur flour in around the roots when I trans- 
lant. I do not know enough about the chem- 
istry of the soil to state whether this is worth. 
while or not; but I do know that for several 
years I have had splendid Asters, both growing 
alone and in beds with other plants. 
Heron Lake, Minn. FRANCES B. Kirpy. 
