276 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



June, 1906 



that the plants do not want for water, and 

 early in July spread a mulch of about two 

 inches of old manure around the roots to pre- 

 vent the ground from baking. From July 

 until the buds begin to show color I water 

 once a week with liquid sheep manure, which 

 is made by soaking five pounds of sheep 

 manure in forty-five gallons of water. Often 

 and weak, rather than seldom and strong, 

 being my guiding principle in the feeding 

 of the plants. 



The black and green aphides are always 

 very troublesome, but they can be held in 

 check by the frequent use of tobacco dust. 



PROTECTION FROM EARLY FROST 



Though the plants themselves are per- 

 fectly hardy, the flowers of the large-flowered 

 chrysanthemums are more or less tender 

 and must be shielded from early frosts. 

 About the middle of September six-foot 

 stakes six feet apart are driven into the bed 

 parallel with and two feet in from the edge. 

 The stakes are connected by a wire fastened 

 well above the tops of the plants. Over the 



frame thus formed strips of burlap, long 

 enough to rest on the grass in front and 

 extend well down on the other side of trie 

 wire fence in back of the bed, are thrown 

 whenever frost threatens. The strips are 

 weighted at each end with a stick. Other 

 material, such as muslin or canvas, would 

 answer as a cover, but the burlap is both 

 tougher and cheaper, the cover used last fall 

 being good after several seasons' wear. 



WINTER PROTECTION 



After the flowers have matured, or have 

 been cut, and frost settles down for winter, 

 the old stems are cut off close to the ground 

 and the stools covered with about eight 

 inches of loose, strawy material. Leaves 

 alone proved too compact. 



I understand that some people prefer to 

 dig up the roots and store the balls of earth 

 close together in a corner of the cellar, where 

 it is cool but not freezing, but I never have 

 done so. Indeed, the old roots are not 

 disturbed until the spring division, and with 

 me they have done very well out of doors. 



Any of the following early-flowering va- 

 rieties may be expected to do well. I 

 would always include the Glory of the Pa- 

 cific, and its sports, Cremo and Polly Rose. 



Dwarf: Cremo, light yellow; Glory of 

 the Pacific, pink; Ivory, white, globular; 

 Lady Harriet, deep pink, incurved; Pink 

 Ivory, pink sport from Ivory; Polly Rose, 

 white. 



Medium: George W. Childs, crimson; 

 Lady Fitzwygram, white; Marion Hender- 

 son, yellow; Merry Monarch, white; Mon- 

 rovia, bright yellow; Yellow Fitzwygram. 



Tall: Soleil d'Octobre, yellow. The tall 

 varieties are not well adapted to outdoor 

 cultivation. 



The plants can be bought from florists 

 for $1.00 to $1.50 a dozen, and if they are 

 to be grown for just one flower it should be 

 so stated when buying, as otherwise you 

 may receive plants with the tops nipped out, 

 causing the plant to branch and form a 

 bush. If you want to try any not named 

 above, be sure to ask for early, large-flowering 

 varieties. 



Tilling the Home Orchard-By s. w. Fletcher 



Michigan Agricul- 

 tural College 



THE MOST PRACTICAL WAYS OF SUPPLYING MOISTURE TO THE ROOTS OF FRUIT TREES WITHOUT GIVING 

 WATER— WHAT CROPS MAY BE SAFELY GROWN BETWEEN THE ROWS— THE DANGER OF LATE CULTIVATION 



YOUNG fruit trees set in tilled soil 

 generally do better than if set in sod 

 land, even though that is to be plowed later. 

 If possible, it is still better to put the proposed 

 orchard site into a cultivated crop, as corn 

 or potatoes, for one or two years before 



Corn grown between peaches the first season. 

 Plant no crop within five feet of the trees 



planting the trees. This not only shows up 

 the poorly drained places, but also warms up 

 the soil, puts it in better texture, and fur- 

 nishes a large supply of quickly available 

 plant food to give the young trees an early 

 and vigorous start. 



When setting out an orchard, it does not 

 pay to be in a great hurry, if you wish it to 

 live to be a comfort in your declining years. 

 A year or two of tillage preceding the setting 

 of an orchard is a very decided benefit to the 

 trees. This is especially true when the 

 orchard site is virgin soil or land that has 

 been in sod for many years, or on soil that 

 is inclined to be wet or sour. 



If the fruit garden soil is somewhat hard 

 or shallow, and especially if it has a hard- 

 pan that comes close to the surface in some 

 places, begin the tillage of your trees before 

 they are planted, by subsoiling or by tile 

 drainage. Under-drainage and tillage are 

 co-ordinate factors in supplying fruit trees 

 with plenty of water; under-drainage not 

 only carries off the surplus water in a wet 

 time, but also, what is still more important, 

 deepens the soil so that it can hold more 

 water in a dry time. This latter point is 

 often overlooked. Another way to increase 

 the water-holding capacity of some soils is by 

 subsoiling. Only in orchards of consider- 

 able size would it pay to use the subsoil plow 

 which follows behind the ordinary plow, 

 stirring the soil at the bottom of the furrow 

 to a depth of several inches. 



The benefits of this deep loosening of the 

 soil may be observed on some soils for 

 several seasons, or until the loosened soil has 

 settled back, which it usually does in two to 

 four years. Sometimes subsoiling is posi- 

 tively injurious to rather heavy land that is 

 to be used for annual crops, principally be- 

 cause it breaks up the earthworm burrows 

 that lighten and aerate it. 



This disadvantage should not hold for 

 tree fruits. If the fruit garden soil needs 

 deepening, but the orchard area is so small 

 that subsoil plowing is impracticable, at 

 least deepen the soil with a spade for several 

 feet around the place where each tree is to 

 be planted. 



THE SPRING PLOWING 



The fruit garden, especially the orchard, 

 should be plowed as early in spring as the 



ground can be worked; that is, whenever 

 it has dried out enough so that the ground 

 will work up loose and mellow, not lumpy 

 and wet. This time varies with the season; 

 there may be several weeks' difference 

 between succeeding years. 



The chief reason why it is commonly 

 advised to plow very early is that this results 

 in a great saving of soil water. The sooner 

 a mulch of loose soil is spread over the garden 

 or orchard, the quicker will the loss of water 

 from it by evaporation be checked. In 

 regions having a rather scanty rainfall, this 

 is a very important point. An incidental 



The root system of an apple tree, The depth of 

 the roots depends more on the soil and the variety 

 than upon tillage or lacK of tillage, contrary to the 

 common idea 



