116 
THES (1G 2AGR MD PEIN eyes CAs Ze Nia 
MARCH, 1916 
eee ooo 
Wie puzzle over the greenhouse best 
adapted to your location, purpose, 
and proposed expenditure, when our ad- 
visory service 1s at your disposal without 
cost? 
The fact that we have been designing, 
NEW YORK: 1170 Broadway 
GRAPE VINE 
Best varieties—finest grade of stock. For the home 
garden—for the vineyard. 
Book on Grape Culture—Free 
Contains valuable, practical information — planting, 
cultivating, pruning. Every grape grower needs it. 
Write today for free copy. 
T. S. HUBBARD CO. Box 55, Fredonia, N. Y. 
Gooseberries 
Currants 
BOSTON: 49 Federal Street 
e@ 
nhouse Service 
planning, and building greenhouses for 
considerably over quarter of a century ar- 
gues well for the confidence you can put in 
this service. The quality of our materials 
and workmanship is satisfying to the hard 
to satisfy. Send for our literature. 
PHILADELPHIA: 40 S. 15th Street 
Ever reen choose plants with summer beauty of 
blossom and winter brightness of leaf,— 
Rhododendrons, Kalmias, Azaleas, Galax, - 
Arbutus, Vinca, Hepatica, Wild Ginger, 
Oo a t California Violets, English Daisies. Our 
elevation on the slope of Alleghanies en- 
sures hardiness. We specialize also on 
for Hemlocks, Cedars, Pines, Hollies, Box- 
woods! Leucothoes. Sample packages of 
x2 well-rooted, 5-ro inch plants, postpaid for 
year-round $x. Larger, by express, at buyers’ expense. 
b ROSEBAY NURSERY Garden City, N. C. 
eauty, 
WHOLESALE PRICES 
On strawberry plants. Also a large stock of Blackberry, Red 
and Black Raspberry, Currants. Gooseberry, Grape, As 
agus, Rhubarb. etc., at low prices. HERE ARE ABSO- 
WN IN MICHIGAN 
22 years’ experience in propagating small 
T. 
LUTELY NO BETTER PLANTS GRO 
BY ANY ONE. 
fruit plants. 
Everything fully guaranteed. Catalogue free. 
A. R. WESTON & COMPANY 
Bridgman 
Michigan 
{ 49 For best re- 
. hs FRUIT sults you 
Q must have 
é % KNIGHT'S 
PLANTS fs0i4 
guaranteed 
plants. They 
have a National reputation for superior quality and have 
been the 
STANDARD FOR OVER 80 YEARS 
If you would like strawberries in October we have the plants 
that will grow them. Read about theseand all other new 
and standard varieties in our 
Knight’s Book on small fruits. It’s Free—Write. 
DAVID KNIGHT & SON, Box 560, Sawyer, Mich, 
Have You Gardening Questions? Experts 
will answer them free. Ifa plant fails, tell us about 
it and ask help from Readers’ Service. 
Rhododendron carolinianum 
New American Species 
me CLEAR PINK. ABSOLUTELY HARDY 
Send for prices and full description, and Catalogs 
of the only large collection of Hardy Native Plants. 
Highlands Nursery HARLAN P. KELSEY, Owner 
Boxford Nursery Salem, Massachusetts 
Iris, Lilies and Japanese 
Garden Specialties 
We have one of the largest stocks of Iris, etc., in this coun- 
try. Nearly 500 varieties of Iris. March to May is the time to 
plant. Order early for early shipment. Send for Catalogue. 
Rainbow Gardens g¢)past "Minnesota 
The Readers’ Service gives information 
regarding Live Stock 
Send for Catalog 
A ees (Evergreen and Deciduous), Shrubs, Hedgeplants, Roses, Vines, Garden 
Plants, and Everything for the “Hardy Garden.” 
Our Trees and Plants are the hardiest obtainable. 
“Bedford Grown’ quality, ask your neighbor. 
We have no Agents 
THE NEW ENGLAND NURSERIES, Bedford, Mass. 
If you are not familiar with 
Correspondence Invited 
‘melons, ete. 
Early Started Cucumbers 
Benes in January we ordered our seeds and 
the implements we thought we would need 
and toward the end of March, after the ground 
to be given over to vegetables had been deeply 
dug, we started some cucumber seeds in 
“midget” frames. These small, handy frames 
are twelve by fourteen inches and are splendid 
for getting ahead with the more tender fruits 
and vegetables, such as squash, cucumbers, 
We dug holes the size of the 
frames and about eighteen inches deep, putting 
in hot manure which was firmly trampled 
down and well watered. After this the earth 
was replaced, mixed with half a pail full of 
humus and two or three handfuls of fine ground 
bone-meal. This was formed into a nice hill 
with the top about three inches below the glass 
of the frame. The latter was placed over the 
hill and the sides were sunk three or four 
inches below the level of the ground. Hot 
manure was banked about the outside of the 
frame and covered with earth upon which 
radish seed was scattered. The sash was then 
ut on, some sacks thrown over all, and the 
rames stood for three days to heat up and cool 
a little. On being tried with a hotbed ther- 
mometer and finding the temperature about 85 
degrees, it was decided to sow the seed. 
Cool and Crisp was the variety chosen and 
the seeds were scattered only slightly below the 
surface of the hill and a few radish seeds were 
sown here, too. The bed was watered, covered 
with sash, screens of cheesecloth were put over 
the glass, and the sacks were put back over the 
whole thing to keep the beds warm and dark, 
after which they were left strictly to their own 
devices for three days. After this each day the 
sacking was taken off in the morning and re- 
placed at night and the thermometer watched 
to see that it did not get over the 85 degrees. 
At night the temperature must have gone 
slightly lower. The seeds germinated well and 
soon a fine crop of young cucumber plants were 
to be seen. Water was given carefully when 
the surface of the ground appeared dry but not 
allowed to touch the leaves. 
The cheesecloth screens were kept on during 
the day and the beds were ventilated to pre- 
vent damping off and to make the plants stocky. 
After they had three of their second leaves the 
lants were thinned out to four in a frame. 
oon the frames were filled with the cucumber 
. plants and one sunny April Sunday morning 
we decided to make an expedition after some 
pansy plants. When we left home it was not 
warm at all, just sunny; but before we re- 
turned, an hour and a half later, it had become 
really hot. My first thought was to inspect the 
cucumbers. They were burnt to a crisp! The 
sash had not been opened and the sun had 
given them a good broiling. 
That afternoon they were all pulled up and 
the hill turned over with a small hand fork and 
more seed planted. This crop grew just as 
well as the first, being carefully engineered 
past the boiling point, and when the leaves 
came dangerously near the glass, the frame was 
raised to the surface of the ground where it 
stayed about two weeks and was removed alto- 
gether, toward the beginning of June. The 
ground was well forked and the vines left to 
grow. Soon an enormous crop of fine cucum- 
bers was the result of our labors. A bushel 
picked at one time and plenty left on the vines 
was not at all unusual. Before the vines be- 
gan to show signs of yellowing three more hills 
were planted in the open. After the young 
plants had their second leaves, salt hay was 
spread over the surface of the well cultivated 
soil and close up to the roots of the cucumbers. 
The vines grew splendidly over the hay and 
seemed to enjoy the moisture that was, in this 
manner, retained in the ground. This second 
crop will do until frost, the first fruits being 
gathered the last week in August. The radishes 
planted on the outside of the frames were eaten 
and the others left to attract any insects that 
might prey on the baby cucumber -plants and, 
after they were growing vigorously and show- 
ing power to resist attacks, the horny old 
radishes were removed. 
Lettuce was grown between the first hills and 
on the ground where the second hills were 
planted, but was out of the way when the 
cucumbers were ready to occupy the ground. 
