186 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



January, 1915 



the flats, if used before, should be dried out thoroughly and 

 given a coat of whitewash. If you are short of pots and pans 

 for other work in the greenhouse order some 

 now so they will be on hand when required. 

 You will need a number of flats for the spring 

 work and this is a good time to build them. 



Pots and 

 Pans 



Making Plans 

 on Paper 



GARDEN planning however, is the big task for January. This 

 may seem absurd with the spring some months away, but, 

 the one that plans ahead will surely have better success with his 

 garden than the person who puts off everything until the very last 

 moment. Make a plan of your garden, see if 

 you can get an arrangement that will economize 

 space, plan the rotation of crops, and plan to 

 have the taller vegetables in the rear as a background. Arrange 

 your garden so that it looks well, but don't allow its looks to inter- 

 fere with productiveness. Figure on trellises for those vegetables 

 that require supports — such as tomatoes, lima beans, etc. Wooden 

 trellis of all kinds are fast giving way to ones of iron; and while 

 the first cost may be more, the iron trellis will prove cheaper over 

 a period of five years. Further than that it looks much better 

 than the wooden trellis. 



How about 

 the Seed Order 



MAKE out your seed order (after studying the catalogues) and 

 send it to your seedsman. The result of early ordering is 

 that you get what you want, and no substitution is necessary. Of 

 course every one knows that a ready reliable seedsman would never 

 send you cabbage for cauliflower; but some 

 man might be tempted to send you Early 

 Erfurt Cauliflower for Early Snowball. There- 

 fore, order early. Furthermore, seeds keep well and they will be 

 on hand when required. For years I have had my spring order 

 for flower and vegetable seeds made up and mailed to the seeds- 

 man the first week in January. And by the waj', don't be scared 

 about there being no supplies because of the war. Everything has 

 been provided for this season's demands. 



DURING January we sometimes have severe sleet storms which 

 are injurious to evergreens. When these storms weigh down 

 the branches to any extent go around with a wooden rake and 

 knock off the ice. Heavy snows can be shaken off. 

 Out on the ^ s su gS este d ^ ast month this is a good season 



Ground to move an y l ar g e trees, the idea being to have the 



ball of earth containing the roots frozen so that 

 in shifting the roots are not disturbed. 



AN AMERICAN 

 S EEDSMAN'S 

 TOUR INTO 

 EUROPE'S SEED 

 GARDENS LOOK- 

 ING FOR NOVEL- 



IAM after novelties for America." 

 These words proved the "open sesame" 

 on a trip through the seed gardens of 

 Europe last July, for America not only 

 absorbs "novelties" like a sponge does 

 water, but also pays the highest prices for 

 them. Many times I wished I had been 

 more explicit in explaining at the start that 

 I was after "worth-while" novelties from 

 an American standpoint. 



One of the new plants seen in the author's travels, 

 white lobelia suitable for baskets, etc. 



I tried once or twice, when the outlook 

 was not particularly promising, to explain 

 what I really wanted — a private view, or 

 to speak of what was yet to come before 

 the kind of people who read The Garden 

 Magazine, so that I could give them an 

 expert advance critique! But I soon dis- 

 covered that, from the standpoint of the 

 European grower, all his novelties were 

 "worth-while" or "he wouldn't grow 

 them." 



Let it be said in favor of the European 

 seed growers that they all are serious in 

 their intentions. If, in their zeal, they 

 often miss the mark, they still do suffi- 

 ciently good work to call for an appreciation 

 of their efforts. The biggest stimulus in 

 this game of producing novelties is compe- 

 tition. They all try to "beat each other 

 to it" and it is not an unusual happening 

 that a novelty brought out by one firm one 

 year will be presented in improved form by 

 another firm in the same town the year 

 following. 



The case of Cyclamen Rokoko Victoria 

 and Rokoko Victoria Perfecta illustrates 

 this. Two years ago a German grower 

 introduced Rokoko Victoria — a new type 

 of cyclamen with fringed petals. It has 

 white flowers, red eye and the petals are 

 edged with a scarlet fringe. Last year, 

 another grower took this new type of Cycla- 

 men, in which he saw great chances of 

 improvement. He crossed it with Cycla- 

 men Sunray — a strong free-flowering 



TIES THAT FIT 

 OUR GARDENS 



By 

 Adolph Kruhm, 



Ohio 



sort of the old type with smooth petals. 

 The result was Cyclamen Rokoko Victoria 

 Perfecta, a beautiful delicate rose or lilac 

 colored sort with carmine red eye and 

 fringe, which will be fully described among 

 floral novelties later on. 



Improvements in all popular classes of 

 vegetables and flowers by either selection or 

 cross-fertilization are being carried on sim- 

 ultaneously and along similar lines by all the 

 important seed growers of one country. In 

 Erfurt, Germany, for instance, we find, in 

 a city of about 150,000 inhabitants, 10 seed 

 houses, every one of which is at least as 

 large as our largest American Seedhouses. 

 While there is a good deal of competition, 

 there is also a great deal of friendly co- 

 operation. 



There are, fortunately, a good many 

 growers who think more of their reputation 

 than of financial rewards gained through 

 "hurry-up" methods. This was forcibly 

 impressed upon me during my visit with 

 one of the most renowned houses on the 

 continent. In walking through the gardens 

 I discovered an entirely new form of Fuchsia 

 triphylla, with trumpet-like, stiffly erect 

 flowers, instead of pendant flowers to 

 which we are accustomed in Fuchsia. The 

 whole thing was so absolutely unique 

 and entirely unexpected that it struck me 

 at once as a novelty indeed. 



"Could I take a photo of this fuchsia" 

 and "would they please furnish me with 

 sufficient facts concerning its origin to 

 enable me to write about it?" A polite, 

 but firm, "No" was the answer. Why? 



