134 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



November, 1914 



small gardens, four trees in gardens of a half 

 acre, and about ten trees in gardens of an acre or 

 larger. 



Quince flavor is so penetrating and individual 

 that it lends its own taste to other fruit when only a 

 small proportion of quince is included. Quinces 

 are highly scented and perfumed. For flavoring 

 preserves, butters, canned fruit, jellies, pastries 

 and many prepared dishes nothing else will take 

 their place. 



Pennsylvania. J. R. Mattern. 



Wood Ashes for Potash 



IF THE European war should cause our large 

 annual imports of potash to dwindle, many 

 will look to wood ashes among other substances to 

 replenish the potash supply. If they are carefully 

 stored and not permitted to leach, wood ashes may 

 be of considerable value applied as a top dressing to 

 grass land and to pastures where they will encour- 

 age the growth of clover and better kinds of grasses 

 which will then crowd out inferior kinds and weeds. 

 Wood ashes may be also used for corn and roots. 

 Because of their lime content they are not so good 

 for potatoes. 



Ashes indirectly increase the available nitrogen 

 of the organic matter in the soil, and have been 

 known to do excellent service (in Europe) on drained 

 moorland. 



Besides the potash, ashes contain other ingredi- 

 ents which are of value to plants; namely about i or 

 2 per cent, of phosphoric acid, a little magnesia, 

 and a great deal of lime. 



Ashes from hard woods (deciduous trees) are 

 richer in both phosphorus and potash than those 

 from pines and other soft woods (conifers). Ashes 

 from oak, elm, maple, and hickory have more pot- 

 ash than those from pine. The ashes of twigs 

 are worth more than the ashes of heart-wood taken 

 from the middle of an old tree. In general, 

 the smaller and younger the wood burned, the 

 better the ashes. The ashes of coal do not contain 

 enough potash to make them valuable in this con- 

 nection. 



Ordinary house ashes contain on the average 

 about 8 or g per cent, of potash and 2 per cent, of 

 phosphoric acid. Investigators have considered 

 that there is enough potash and phosphoric acid in 

 a bushel of ashes to make it worth 20 or 25 cents. 

 Besides that, some 10 or 15 cents additional might 

 be allowed for the "alkali power" of the ashes. 

 This power is that which enables ashes to rot weeds 

 and to ferment peat. — Office of Information: U. S 

 Deft- of Agriculture. 



A Hardier Barberry Hybrid 



I FANCY I have in my garden a hybrid barberry 

 of considerable worth, as it is most attractive in 

 appearance, is strong and bushy in growth, and is 

 absolutely hardy. The winter of 191 2 was probably 

 the coldest remembered in this part of the country, 

 and although there was a great deal of snow, Thun- 

 berg's barberry was in every case greatly damaged. 

 I found it necessary to cut out most of my specimen 

 shrubs, and found it advisable to entirely cut down 

 a hedge. The common barberry and my hybrid 

 were entirely unharmed. This hybrid is a seedling 

 from Berberis Thuribergi and resembles the com- 

 mon barberry in blossom and fruit; also somewhat 

 in its growth, although it is thicker and more com- 

 pact. The leaf is almost as small as that of the 

 Japanese barberry, but of less substance. I won't 

 say that it equals the Thunbergi in beauty, but it 

 grows more rapidly and with great strength and is 

 very beautiful in late autumn and winter, retaining 

 its scarlet fruit even through January. 



Wisconsin. William P. Gundry. 



[Berberis species hybridize very freely — too 

 much so in fact, so that it is difficult to keep 

 the species true from seed. It is quite possible that 

 this is a hybrid between Thunbergi and vulgaris. 

 Several instances of such crosses have been recorded 

 where the two plants have been grown together. 

 One of these has been named and is on the market 

 as B. Thunbergi, var. pluriflora. It carries three to 

 ten flowers in a short umbel-like raceme, the branches 

 being much more gray than in Thunbergi. We ad- 



vise you to continue growing your plants for a little 

 while longer and endeavor to increase the stock, as 

 you may have something which will prove to be a dis- 

 tinct acquisition to your region, which can be prop- 

 agated by soft wood cuttings taken in early spring 

 and put into heat, or by layers. But the layers 

 will take two years. Of course, you cannot re- 

 produce the hybrid from seed and get it true to 

 type— L. B.] 



More Uses for Lime-sulphur Wash 



I WAS much interested in reading the article 

 on lime-sulphur wash in the November, 1913, 

 issue of The Garden Magazine. I know of two 

 more uses for it. 



A friend of mine last spring found it a valuable 

 remedy for "scratches" on his horses. This skin 

 disease is most prevalent during the winter and 

 spring when the roads are muddy. One horse 

 had an aggravated case of it and the owner washed 

 the sore parts once with the concentrated solution. 

 He cured it. This is a simple remedy and cheap; 

 and, unlike some of the remedies applied to such 

 infections, such as salt water, which is very irritating 

 for awhile, the animal does not mind the application 

 of it in the least. 



Nearly every summer new methods of treating 

 poison ivy patients are published. The simplest 

 remedy that I have seen applied is lime-sulphur 

 wash. Several acquaintances of. mine have used 

 it and they received immediate relief. The itching 

 was soon relieved and the inflammation disappeared 

 in a short time. 



Because of the caustic properties of the lime- 

 sulphur wash it is not wise to make repeated appli- 

 cations at short intervals. One or two at intervals 

 of a day have been found, by those who have used 

 it, to be sufficient. 



Pennsylvania. Harold Clarke. 



The Mistletoe Fig 



TpiCUS LUTESCENS, or the mistletoe fig, as 

 X it has been appropriately called on account 

 of the whole plant when in fruit (in which condition 

 it can be had the year round,) much resembling a 

 branch of mistletoe. 



The plant in growth is of attractive appearance. 

 The small fruit or figs are of the size of a large pea 

 and are borne singly on short stems in the axil of 



The mistletoe fig (Ficus lutescens) is excellent for the 

 window garden 



each leaf. They are at first green, changing to a 

 pale yellow, occasionally with a reddish hue. 



The plant is a good subject for the window gar- 

 den, succeeding well in the dry atmosphere of the 

 house, and is not subject to insect pests. It was 

 originally imported from Java, and was first offered 

 here in the United States in the spring of 1904. 



New Jersey. J. D. Eisele. 



Coal Ashes and Their Uses 



OF ALL unsightly and apparently useless 

 residues, a pile of coal ashes is undoubtedly 

 the worst. Most men consider one of the first 

 duties of early spring to be the immediate carting 

 away of the ashes from stoves and furnaces. Yet, 

 as is nearly always true, there is no waste in nature's 

 great cycle of reproduction; for even coal ashes 

 have their uses. When properly understood and 

 handled they are not only worth while but highly 

 valuable. 



In an unsifted condition, they may with advan- 

 tage be put in a long low row against the sheltered, 

 sunny fence of the chickenyard. The fowls will 

 delight to dust in the finer parts, while the heavier 

 portions will keep the dust from being blown away. 

 The chickens obtain from the ashes a certain amount 

 of wholesome grit; and, in bad weather, ashes will 

 keep that part of the yard in which they are placed 

 well drained. 



But for the most important uses, the ashes should 

 by all means be sifted. If they are lying dry under 

 some shelter, they must, of course, be wetted, and 

 then permitted to dry until they are mealy, before 

 they can be properly handled. The best labor- 

 saving sifter is one like that which is employed for 

 sifting sand to be used in concrete work. A quarter- 

 inch wire mesh — and the wire should be stout — 

 is best for all purposes. With such a sifter, a 

 winter's accumulation of ashes can be separated 

 in a very short time. 



Having separated the ashes, several important 

 uses will be found for both the rough and the fine 

 parts. First, the rough may be used in paths and 

 on roads. Before long, the rougher portions will 

 work down to a clean, firm, springy surface. Such 

 paths are especially advantageous in the garden, for 

 weeds will not readily spring in them; moreover, 

 they dry off quickly, enabling one to get about more 

 comfortably and quickly after a rain than would a 

 dirt path. 



Secondly, as a summer mulch for fruit trees, or 

 for any growths whichjrequire such attention and to 

 which coal ashes can conveniently be applied, this 

 waste product is very valuable. For such work 

 the large clinkers should be taken from the rougher 

 portion already separated from the fine. Such 

 coarse parts as would pass through an inch mesh 

 can be used to great advantage. So employed 

 ashes conserve moisture at the roots, at a time when 

 moisture means life for the plant and money for its 

 owner. 



This same principle, we have found, may be 

 applied in another way, and with excellent results. 

 About a pyramid of coarse ashes, plant melons, 

 cucumbers, tomatoes, or any plants requiring a 

 great deal of water. The roots of the plants will 

 pass under the ashes, and there will find cool soil, 

 moisture, nourishment. In a very dry time the 

 plants about such a heap may readily be relieved 

 from the effects of drought by pouring water on the 

 ashes. Thus the moisture is slowly and judiciously 

 distributed to the roots of all the plants, no one 

 planted receiving an undue amount. 



The chief use of the fine sifted ashes is in condi- 

 tioning the soil. They are admirable to render 

 friable the tougher soils; but they cannot, like 

 lime, sweeten sour land. Their virtue is in lighten- 

 ing the soil. Also, though not at all to be com- 

 pared to wood ashes as a fertilizer, they undoubt- 

 edly have a fertilizing effect of a certain mild and 

 wholesome degree. Soil to which sifted coal ashes 

 have been added will grow plants of darker, richer 

 foliage, and of larger fruit than soil not so treated. 

 But the ashes must be thoroughly incorporated 

 with the soil. 



For experiment a few years ago, a soil was. 

 prepared, consisting of the following ingredients: 

 j stable manure, 5 woods earth, j garden soil, J 

 sifted coal ashes. In this soil, potatoes were 

 planted; and the yield, in size, appearance, and 

 flavor, far surpassed the crop grown in the adjacent 

 garden soil. 



The man who tries to make everything on his 

 place count for something, and who never loses an 

 opportunity to improve his garden walks and his 

 garden soil, will never throw away coal ashes. He 

 will sift them and use them to all the advantage 

 that they are capable of affording. 



Pennsylvania. Archibald Rutledge. 



