January, 1915 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



201 



Anita. Frank, Lizzie, Kirk. Barbara, and Katie. 

 These varieties bear in succession for about two 

 months. All but two of them, the Eva and the 

 Millard, appear to be hardier than Elberta. 



Professor Close's favorite in this list is the Lizzie. 

 It is a free-stone peach, very handsome and waxy 

 in appearance, a light lemon yellow with a light red 

 blush. The skin is tough and almost entirely free 

 from fuzz. The flesh is firm, fine-grained, and of 

 excellent quality. It is a first-class shipper. It is 

 a trifle shorter than Elberta and of nearly the same 

 size, though it has a decidedly smaller pit. It blooms 

 later than Elberta and is much hardier in bud. 



An interesting characteristic of these varieties is 

 their freedom from fuzz. "I have always obser- 

 ved," writes Mr. Steubenrauch, whose experience 

 extends over forty years, "that those varieties 

 having a heavy fuzz, with either a crease on the 

 side or a deep stem cavity, will always rot the worst, 

 the rot spores finding ready lodgment in the fuzz 

 of an uneven surface. Among my new varieties 

 there are a number of which I have never seen a 

 single rotten specimen, including Toughina, Lizzie, 

 Barbara and Katie." 



Another of Mr. Steubenrauch's peaches, not in- 

 cluded in this list, but which is highly recommended 

 by Prof. U. P. Hedrick, is Miss Lola, which was first 

 grown at Mexia from a pit planted in 1876. It is a 

 popular variety in parts of the South but is hardly 

 known in the North. As grown on the trial grounds 

 of the New York Experiment Station at Geneva it 

 is, according to Professor Hedrick, the best of its 

 season and one of the best of all peaches. It fills a 

 gap in the peach procession that ought to make it 

 valuable in the North. It follows Mamie Ross and 

 Greensboro, both of which it surpasses in appearance 

 and quality. It precedes Champion, and unlike 

 Champion is almost a free-stone. It ripens with 

 Carman, but is hardier in bud. of better quality, a 

 little larger, and generally more productive. 



Miss Lola is roundish-oval, creamy-white, specked 

 ind blushed with carmine and darker splashes. The 

 skin is tough, the flesh white, fine, sweet, and melt- 



•ng. 



Long Island. 



Walter A. Dyer. 



Is It Better than a Hoe? 



WHEN I use a hoe the trail is one of disaster. 

 Generally it is the most cherished plant that 

 "eceives a misdirected blow and I lose a choice blos- 

 som or a branch of promise. If I work among the 

 shrubbery my skirts do woeful damage. My culti- 

 vating trials have been greatly relieved by a broad 

 sharp chisel mounted on a handle about the length 

 of a rake. With this simple home-made affair I 

 can stand at the edge of a bed and stir the soil 

 around each plant with one or two gentle pokes. It 

 is surprising how rapidly one can work with this 

 tool, far more so than with a hoe, and a great differ- 

 ence in fatigue. I have also found the chisel a great 

 help in removing weeds from the garden paths and 

 the lawn. 



Berkeley, Calif. Mrs. B. R. Putnam. 



[Why not buy a Dutch or scuffle hoe, which will 

 work the surface more lightly than the chisel, and 

 cover more space at a stroke? — Ed.] 



Increasing the Yield of Potatoes 



MY AIM in gardening is to get the largest pos- 

 sible yield of crops without decreasing the 

 fertility of the soil. This can be done by the scien- 

 tific use of fertilizers. That is to say, the land must 

 receive as much plant food and humus as are re- 

 moved by growing crops. 



The recognized necessary fertilizing elements in 

 the order of their importance are nitrogen, phos- 

 phoric acid, and potash. But when these substances 

 are applied to the soil they are not always in a con- 

 dition to be easily assimilated by plants. Certain 

 soil bacteria by their activity transform insoluble 

 plant foods into soluble forms which are then dis- 

 solved by soil moisture and are made ready for 

 absorption by the rootlets of plants. The more food 

 a plant absorbs the more rapidly it will grow and 

 produce a larger yield. Hence, there should be 

 applied to the soil, in addition to fertilizers, those 

 substances which render bacteria more active. 



Several experimenters have discovered that, in the 

 presence of sulphur in the soil, the nitrifying and 

 ammonifying bacteria become very active and 



prepare large quantities of nitrogenous food that 

 can easily be assimilated by plants. To get the 

 best results with sulphur, however, it is important 

 that the soil should be well supplied with organic 

 nitrogenous fertilizers. Barnyard or poultry man- 

 ure, or such leguminous plants as clover or cowpeas, 

 may be used for this purpose. Under favorable 

 conditions, their use with sulphur may be expected 

 to give an increased yield of crops. 



In 1014 I tested the value of sulphur on potatoes. 

 The methods and results were briefly as follows: 

 Well-sprouted seed potatoes of the Irish Cobbler 

 variety were used. The seed had been carefully 

 selected for growing an early crop, the bulk of them 

 being small whole potatoes with a single vigorous 

 sprout. Seed potatoes with weak sprouts were 

 discarded. 



Each seed potato was first dipped in water and 

 then carefully rolled in a deep pan of ground sulphur, 

 care being taken that both seed and sprout were well 

 covered with the sulphur. The process required a 

 little more time than the ordinary handling of 

 sprouted potatoes as seed, but few were injured by 

 this method of treatment. The seed were then 

 planted in rows three feet apart and about fifteen 

 inches apart in the rows. The potatoes were grown 

 on plots about 60 by 18 feet, or approximately one- 

 fortieth of an acre each. There were six rows with 

 48 seed potatoes in each row. The yield from the 

 sulphured potatoes was a little less than 9 bushels 

 as compared with about 6j bushels on the plot 

 where the seed were not sulphured, or an increased 

 yield of about one-third. 



The ground sulphur used cost five cents per pound 

 and about 5 pounds were utilized in the test. It also 

 took about an hour's extra time to prepare the seed 

 for planting in the manner described. 



As an aid to the sulphur, it should be mentioned 

 that the land had been well supplied with organic 

 fertilizers. In 1913 there had been grown on these 

 plots sweet corn with cowpeas between the rows. 

 Both the corn stover and the cowpeas had been 

 plowed under in addition to a sufficient supply of 

 poultry manure. The land, therefore, was well 

 supplied with the organic substances required by 

 soil bacteria for the formation of assimilable plant 

 food. 



The season, however, was not a good one for pota- 

 toes in that part of Maryland where this test with 

 sulphur was made. Potatoes are a cocl weather 

 crop and can stand plenty of moisture rather than 

 dry weather. But the growing season had long hot 

 and dry spells with long intervals between showers. 

 Fortunately, by early planting, the plants received 

 the benefit of the more favorable weather in April 

 and May, thus giving them a good start . Notwith- 

 standing these drawbacks, the two plots gave a yield 

 which would be equivalent to about 300 bushels per 

 acre; while the gain from the use of sulphur was ap- 

 proximately at the rate of 100 bushels per acre. 

 The gain on a small garden plot was very profitable 

 for the cost of the sulphur and for the extra hour 

 or so spent in preparing the seed potatoes. 



Kensington. Md. James B. Morman. 



Raspberries and Peaches 



WITH all the preaching about intensive farm- 

 ing and double cropping, the great question 

 seems to be what crops to combine for the greatest 

 return, with the least harm done to the per- 

 manent crop. And lately I have seen, in a num- 

 ber of publications, articles advocating rasp- 

 berries as an orchard filler, and especially among 

 peaches. 



This same advice was given to me three years 

 ago by some of the best authorities; but I am glad to 

 say that my first peach orchard had strawberries 

 as a filler. The second year, when I planted another 

 peach orchard of some hundred trees, I placed some 

 of them among Cuthbert raspberries, which had 

 been planted the year before. Planning to be on 

 the sure side we dug away the raspberries some 

 three feet from where each tree was to be planted. 

 The land has had thorough cultivation all the 

 time. 



The trees were all from the same stock, planted 

 within fifty feet of each other, at the same time in 

 the same light loam soil. 



The first tree was planted in the spring of 191 1 and 

 the raspberries were removed the fall of 19 12. 

 While it has made a little growth I am in doubt 

 if it is worth while trying to save, and I think I 

 may get better and quicker results by planting a 

 new tree. 



The next tree was planted at the same time among 

 raspberries, but they \vere dug out that same fall 

 and the following season it has had small ornamental 

 nursery stock around it. It seems to have entirely 

 recovered from the set back and is a healthy looking 

 tree. 



The third tree was planted near the first, but 

 outside of the raspberries. It has had only small 

 vegetables and melons about it. 



They speak for themselves, these three pictures, 

 and it is settled in my mind that no orchard that I 

 have anything to do with shall have raspberries 

 planted in it. I have also had Columbian raspber- 

 ries among some apple trees for two years, and while 

 the apples seem to have stood it better than the 

 peaches, I feel sure that they would be further ad- 

 vanced if the}' had not had the raspberries among 

 them. 



Strawberries, melons, squashes, and cucumbers 

 seem to do no harm to the trees, and certainly will 

 yield as large a return as the raspberries while the 

 permanent orchard is not stunted, but gives you 

 returns in a few years. 



Newark, N. J. Rose Williams. 



Hollyhock Disease 



WE HAD excellent success, last season, in over- 

 coming this disease by spraying with a weak 

 solution of arsenate of lead. Our plants were badly 

 affected and were entirely cured in a few weeks, so 

 that we had a fine display of flowers for the rest of 

 the season. 

 Andcver, Mass. F. D. Somers. 



Showing the disadvantage of using raspberries as an orchard filler. Three trees planted at the same time: the first one 

 amongst raspberries, the second one with nursery stock, and the third, small vegetables and melons 



