ditions. 
| GARDEN MAGAZINE 
READERS SERVICE 
This department will help in dealing with general con- 
It cannot render personal professional service 
Beginning a Small Orchard 
I want to start a small orchard with twenty 
apple, peach, pear and cherry trees; some few 
espalier, the others either dwarf or standard. 
Which would be the better? What two varieties 
of apples, peaches and pears, for late bearing, shall 
I plant, and what two early cherries for eating ?— 
H. W., Penna. 
—UsE dwarf trees for a small orchard such as you 
intend to develop. They will, of course, be essen- 
tial where trained plants are desired. While the 
dwarf trees require more care in pruning and thin- 
ning than standard trees, they give fully as good if 
not better fruit and bear almost if not quite as 
long. Fletcher’s “How to Make a Fruit Garden” 
(price $2.20 postpaid) would give you just the in- 
formation you desire. Bulletin No. 128 of the 
State Experiment Station at State College, Pa., 
on the “Apple in Pennsylvania,” should also prove 
of interest. Reliable and high quality late apples 
for your section include Jonathan, McIntosh, Sut- 
ton, Delicious, Stayman. Pears: Bosc, Anjou, 
Winter Nelis. Peaches: Wonderful (white), 
Geary’s (yellow), and, slightly earlier, Reeve’s 
Favorite (yellow) and Stump (white). Of the 
sweet cherries especially suited for desert use we 
would mention Bing and Black Tartarian, both 
black, and Gov. Wood (amber). Of the sour cher- 
ries May Duke is a standard. 
How and When to Prune Lilacs 
What is the proper time and method of pruning 
a Lilac?—V. G. C., Ohio. 
—PRUNE every year if handsome bushes covered 
with flowers are wanted. All flower clusters should 
be promptly cut off as soon as the plants have 
ceased blooming, and the multitude of suckers that 
invariably springs from the base of the common 
Lilae should be repeatedly removed throughout the 
season. The Lilac flowers on the wood of the past 
season’s growth and must, therefore, not be cut 
back in the winter. Thinning, however, may be 
done. Carefully examine the bushes in the winter- 
time, and cut away the weak growths and crowded 
or superfluous branches, but do not cut back, as 
the flowers for the season would thereby be lost. 
Lilae bushes that have been neglected for a con- 
siderable time will be very tall and naked at the 
base, and will also be a dense mass of shoots. In 
such cases it is best to cut back in the winter-time, 
say within three or four feet of the base, to recover 
control of the bush and put it in proper shape. 
The flowers of the season will be lost but the 
bushes will break away freely, and form dense, 
handsome bushes, and, other conditions being 
equal, they will flower so freely the following sea- 
son and have such perfect shape that the loss of 
the one season will be forgotten. Moderate prun- 
ing and disbudding of Lilacs can be done just 
after the blooming season. Thin out shoots where 
they appear to be congested, and rub against each 
other, and shorten back any strageling shoots that 
spoil the symmetry of the bushes. It is well to be 
cautious about summer pruning in general. When 
it is overdone, as it is apt to be in the hands of the 
inexperienced, its effect will be enervating to the 
subjects so drastically treated. 
Propagating the Hollies 
How are Hollies raised from seed and cuttings? 
—F. A. D., Wash. 
HOLLIES are propagated by seeds which do not 
germinate until the second year and are therefore 
stratified and treated like the Hawthorns. The 
young seedlings should be transplanted after the 
second year. The evergreen species may be in- 
creased by cuttings of ripened wood under glass, 
especially the European varieties; they are also 
sometimes grafted or budded on seedlings of I. 
aquifolium or opaca. The best way is to soak the 
fruits in water, and by maceration of the fruits 
the seeds, or nutlets, are separated from the pulp 
and will sink to the bottom of the vessel or tub. 
The seeds are then dried in the sun. They are 
sown in flats of convenient size to handle, and piled 
up in the corner of the shade house, being fitted 
tightly above each other to prevent mice getting 
at them. During this period of rest they must not 
be allowed to become dry. In the spring of the 
second year the flats are spread out to allow the 
seeds to germinate. If you wish to propagate by 
cuttings take half nened cuttings in August and 
put them in a hotbed. 
A Crop for a Clay Soil 
What would be a good money crop to raise in 
clay soil on three-quarters of an acre, slight east- 
ern slope? Have no farm tools, but can rent horse 
and _ cultivator.—H. W. T., New Jersey. 
—WE COULD not suggest a crop for a three-fourths 
acre garden without knowing something as to the 
marketing demands and facilities. As far as a 
clay soil is concerned, strawberries, blackberries, 
plums, or almost any of the perennial vegetables 
should prove satisfactory; but you must, of course, 
choose something that you can get rid of when you 
have grown it. Except for the plowing and har- 
rowing in the spring, we would not advise the use 
of horse tools, but would urge the purchase of a 
hand cultivator or a wheel hoe, costing approxi- 
mately $12.00. 
Foundation Planting 
What flowers or shrubs can be planted around a 
house, fronting northeast; there is a 3-foot wide 
overhang roof. The foundation of the building is 
glazed tile. The soil is “Ohio clay.” Grass will 
not grow nearer the house than twelve or eighteen 
inches and flowers will not thrive-—H. W. H., 
Ohio. 
—NorHINnG can be grown under the overhang of 
the eaves. The best treatment for such a building 
is to surround with a gravel or pebble walk and 
put the planting outside of the walk. This will 
give the effect of foundation planting and also in- 
sures the health of the plants. We would suggest 
low-growing plants, such as the hardy Spireas, 
Japan Barberry and Rosa rugosa. 
Proper Method of Concrete Construction 
About two years and a half ago I built a stucco 
house. It was not rough boarded, but the wire 
laths were fastened to the studs and cemented on 
both sides, three coats on the outside and one back 
coat on inside. The matter of waterproofing was 
brought up, but we were informed that it was un- 
necessary. We have always had difficulty in heat- 
ing the house; the heating plant has been investi- 
gated and found all right, so we conclude there 
must have been something lacking in the cement 
construction. What course is usually followed in 
construction, such as I have described, to safe- 
guard against dampness and cold? Is there any- 
thing that can now be used inside or out which will 
overcome our trouble?—A. K. W., Conn. 
—WE Ark afraid. that there are a great many peo- 
ple in the same position in that the workmen who 
built their houses did not know as much as they 
should in the use of stucco in exterior wall con- 
struction. Not only should the stucco have been 
impregnated with a waterproofing compound on 
the outside, but since the back plastering method 
was used, which incidentally is a very good one, 
the inside wall (that is, the inside surfaces of the 
studding), should have been well covered with 
building paper; or, better still, one of the felt 
blanket coverings, before the lath was put on. 
The only thing that we could suggest now is that 
the space between the studs might be filled with 
mineral wool, or perhaps even with cinders, to 
make the wall more resistant to the changes of 
temperature. This could be done by taking off the 
plaster, for instance, around the frieze of each 
room on the outside wall and filling the spaces 
from the top. Needless to say, it would be an ex- 
tremely unpleasant operation. Still another possi- 
bility is the application of a whole new exterior 
surface over the old one. If this is done a quilting 
May, 
material should be put over the old stucco, this 
covered with building paper, and finally the new 
support for the lath. This might possibly fail at 
best, owing to the difficulty of coe the proper 
nailing on the blind surface of the old stucco. 
Improving a Clay Loam 
I want to improve the texture of a clay loam 
about five inches thick, underlaid by a stiff clay 
subsoil, and to increase its depth by using green 
manure. Can I sow red clover about the first of 
September for plowing under the following May or | 
June? What crop could I then sow to plow under, 
sowing red clover again about September 1st?— 
R. M., New York. 
—WE WOULD advise you to sow red clover in 
August and plow it under the following spring. 
You could then follow with rye or soy beans. If 
the ground is not now under a crop, we would 
suggest sowing soy beans immediately which could 
be plowed under in July and could be followed by 
clover or rye. Rye would be splendid under the 
circumstances as you would get a good growth of 
it this season and it would help to hold moisture 
in the soil over winter. Another course would be 
to sow buckwheat at once and plow it under when 
mature and then sow rye or clover. You can cer- 
tainly improve the soil by either of these methods. 
How to Insure Coolness 
Tam pleneine to move to northcentral Alabama, 
where the summer heat at times is quite extreme 
and oppressive. I want to build a bungalow that 
will be always “cool and comfortable”; are there 
any architectural ideas or principles that I may 
avail myself of, other than mechanical devices for 
cooling, as for instance the use of double walls, 
double roof, etc.?—J. O. G., Oregon. 
—THERE is no one thing that will keep a buildin 
cool so well as a double roof which is open al 
around between the two portions. The flatter this 
roof is the better, so we would suggest a very low 
pitch with a foot or a foot and a half clear space 
between. This upper roof, of course, could be of 
canvas stretched on a frame in the summer and re- 
moved in the winter time. In India a device of 
this kind is in use, but here they go to the addi- 
tional trouble of sprinkling the upper roof so as 
to secure additional coolness resulting from evap- 
oration. It would seem to be an unnecessary ex- 
ense to build double walls for the reason that 
oors and windows will be so constantly open in 
the summer that the inside of the house would be 
warmed in this way, anyway. We suggest, rather, 
that the house be located in a grove of trees. 
The Value of Dwarf Fruit Trees 
What is the value of dwarf fruit trees? Do they 
give good fruit, last a reasonable time and are they 
healthy? Does the fruit deteriorate as the trees 
grow older? Can grape vines be bought old enough 
to bear immediately ?—L. P. W., New Jersey. 
—Wulle dwarf fruit trees do not offer much to the 
commercial grower, they certainly provide very 
definite <dvantages for the owner of a small gar- 
den. While somewhat shorter lived than the stand- 
a.d trees of the same kind they are good for any- 
where from fifteen to thirty or more years of fruit 
bearing, and, if anything, the fruit is of higher 
quality than in the case of standard trees. This, 
maybe, is due in part to the fact that dwarf trees 
are much more easily sprayed, pruned, and thinned. 
Of course, for best results they require a consid- 
erable amount of careful management, especially 
in the form of pruning. It is impossible to get any 
sort of return from any fruit tree, bush, or vine 
the first season after it is planted. Of course, the 
older a grapevine is the more readily one might 
expect it to bear; but to offset this there is the 
fact that the older the vine the greater the shock 
of transplanting and the longer the period needed 
for becoming reéstablished. ‘There is little hope, 
therefore, of being able to buy grapevines that will 
“pear immediately.” 
1916. 
