46 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



September, 1915 



many households till October. The woody growth 

 was short and angular like that of Summer Rambo, 

 the leaves very large on long petioles; in rainstorms 

 the laden boughs used often to split off. I would 

 advertise for the treasure if I thought anybody had a 

 stock of it nowadays. I shall never feel that my 

 collection of antiques is complete without it. 



Fall pippins are of one kind, according to the 

 catalogues; but if I were to blindfold a judge of 

 varieties and feed him bits of several that I have, he 

 could not narrow the pippins down to one thing; 

 their flavors are distinct. Rarest of all is the huge 

 perfumed king of pomes that is golden to the very 

 centre and has but two or three developed seeds in a 

 whole core ! Locally, this would already have been 

 a lost apple but for my taking of grafts from a perish- 

 ing tree; but it has not at all lost its vitality, for 

 scions make a good union and grow two or three feet 

 a summer on a new host, and their chocolate-black 

 bark glistens with health. I heard of this sort of 

 pippin being grown at Elizabeth, N. J., one tree 

 being old there fifty years ago according to my in- 

 formant; and it is said to exist also at Allentown, Pa., 

 under the name of Lehigh Greening. This last I am 

 inclined to doubt, as I cannot conceive that any town 

 would be so color-blind as to christen the brightest 

 of chrome-yellow fruits "greening" any sooner than 

 "blueing." The urchin outside the fence would 

 deal with such a misnomer. For Grimes' Golden is 

 a pallid blur beside the opulent yellow of this pippin. 

 Yet I have never seen specimens of it at a fruit show, 

 nor do I expect to unless I take them there myself. 

 The thing is so old that it is undiscovered; else it 

 would tie Wolf River for size and weight in half the 

 shows of the land. "Pumpkin Pippin" was its 

 name in the Wyoming Valley up to a generation ago. 

 It ripens with the pumpkins, too, and used to be 

 stored till the January thaw in clean, big under- 

 ground barrels beside the parent tree. 



Broaching a barrel, with shimmery oat-straw or 

 crimson buckwheat-straw pulled out from under the 

 lid and heaped alongside on the dead-white snow, 

 and the scarce and precious "Pun'kins" glowing on 

 more straw down in the cavity, and a primeval glory 

 of fragrance wafting up from them as you bent over 

 to gloat upon the hoard — it marked one of the great 

 days of winter! Every child who was anybody 

 knew about those apples underground, I think. 

 But so hallowed was their reputation that even our 

 local Tom Sawyer never dreamed of illicit raids; 

 there was a moral quality about their grandeur. 

 Maybe they had advanced farther than most fruits 

 toward undoing the fatality of that first apple in 

 Eden? If so, let us by all means set them up in 

 fence corners for the rising generation's improve- 

 ment. An apple too good to be stolen! 



Pennsylvania. E. S. Johnson. 



Saving Flower Seeds 



FEW things are so cheap as flower seeds, when 

 one considers the possibilities of a little 

 package of them. For this reason, not to mention 

 the trouble, the game of "saving seeds" — to use 

 the homely old-fashioned expression — is, as a 

 rule, scarcely worth the candle. 



Yet there are a good enough reasons why the 

 garden amateur should save seeds now and then. 

 For one thing, there is the not unimportant matter 

 of preserving a good strain. Japanese morning 

 glories, for example, are quite prone to turn out 

 more or less disappointing and any one who has 

 found a strain worth having would far better save 



his own seed from year to year than trust to out- 

 side luck. 



The first step toward -aving seed is, naturally, 

 to pick out the blossom that promises best; that 

 is the initial move in the " selective " process. Then 

 the blossom should be marked, as it is not always 

 easy to remember the finest flower head. Time 

 was when a bit of string, or a narrow strip of cloth, 

 was the favorite marker, and in New England the 

 housewives have not abandoned it. But such 

 markers are easily hidden by the foliage and are 

 not distinctive enough; even if various colors are 

 used they may so fade before the seed is ripened 

 that they can no longer be recognized. The best 

 marker is one of the little tags that are used for 

 price marks on merchandise. Green ones may be 

 used for inconspicuousness, but white ones are 

 better. Write, preferably with a blue pencil, the 

 variety, or color, on the tag and fasten it to the 

 stalk by slipping it through the noose of string. 

 When the seed is gathered add the generic name 

 and the date and let the label lie with the seed 

 until the data can be transferred to the proper 

 envelope. 



In general, seed should be gathered when the 

 pods are ripened, and if possible when they are not 

 wet. There can be no set rule, however, as some 

 plants spill their seed on the slightest provocation 

 and others shoot them in every direction. Famili- 

 arity with their ways, in itself worth all the pains, 

 is the only safe guide. For gathering the seed, 

 take an old finger bowl or a glass in the left hand 



Never trust to memory when saving seeds, etc. 

 good label with name, date, etc. 



Use a 



The southern side of a wall or building is an ideal location 

 for the hotbeds 



and either shake the dry heads over it or cut off 

 the heads and let them fall in the receptacle. In 

 the latter case leave everything in the receptacle 

 to dry in the sun; which may take a day, or several. 

 And see that the seeds do not get a wetting. Also 

 see that popping seeds, like the fraxinella, are 

 covered with fine wire netting; otherwise they will 

 soon be out of the bowl and unrecoverable. If 

 the wind is high, similar protection is advisable. 



Many put away seed, chaff and all, but this is not 

 very neat, to say the least. Coarse chaff may be 

 easily picked out by hand. To get rid of the light 

 pieces of husk and the inevitable dust, empty the 

 receptacle into a saucer, shake it a bit to enable 

 the heavier seed to settle and then blow gently. 



Seed saved in any considerable quantity, say for 

 later division or for naturalizing, may be put away 

 in a desk drawer in a tin, wooden or pasteboard 

 box, or what is very convenient, a small glass bottle 

 with a wide mouth. But don't put it away until 

 it is properly labeled. For ordinary purposes the 

 best thing is a manila pay envelope, with the flap 

 on the narrow end. If sealed carefully, even fox- 

 glove seed will not leak out. Label plainly in ink 

 and put away in a mouse-tight box, if that rodent 

 is likely to come around. 



New York. H. S. Adams. 



Concrete Hotbeds and Coldframes 



AS A means for obtaining winter vegetables and 

 early spring plants, the hotbed or coldframe 

 has never been improved upon. Such vegetables 

 as lettuce and radishes may be had in midwinter 

 or before, while plants to be set out in early spring 

 may be advanced to any stage before transplanting. 

 The disadvantage of the customary frame of 



wood is that it decays very rapidly, and its life 

 is very short. An economical and indestructible 

 type of frame that will last indefinitely without 

 painting or repairs and which improves rather than 

 deteriorates with age is one made of reinforced 

 concrete. 



Have the frames protected from north winds 

 with an abundance of sunlight. The southern 

 side of a wall or building is ideal. Where not used 

 on a large scale for commercial purposes, a four- 

 sash bed will answer. 



A standard hotbed sash is 3 feet by 6 feet. Lay 

 out the bed 6 feet 8 inches wide by 1 2 feet 10 inches 

 long. The concrete walls should be 6 inches thick. 

 Dig the foundation trenches 2 feet 6 inches deep 

 within the lines given above. Make forms of i-inch 

 lumber to carry the south (front) wall 6 inches and 

 the north (back) wall 14 inches above the ground. 

 Forms are not required below ground level. The 

 tops of the end walls slope to the others. Before 

 filling the forms with concrete, test the dimensions 

 of the bed by means of the sash. See that the 

 sash lap the forms 2 inches on all sides. 



Mix the concrete mushy wet in the proportion 

 of 1 bag of cement to 25 cubic feet of sand to 5 

 cubic feet of crushed rock, or 1 bag of cement to 

 5 cubic feet of bank-run gravel. Fill the forms 

 without stopping, or in one operation. Tie the 

 walls together at the corners by laying in them old 

 iron rods bent to right angles. While placing the 

 concrete, set 5-inch bolts about 2 feet apart to hold 

 the wooden top-framing of the bed to the concrete, 

 or make grooves in the top of the concrete for 

 countersinking the sash to the level of the walls 

 with an allowance of j-inch for clearance. This 

 can be done by temporarily imbedding in the con- 

 crete wooden strips of the necessary dimensions. 

 During this operation, by means of blocks nailed 

 to the strips, make provision for the centrebars 

 described below. Remove the strips as soon as the 

 concrete stiffens. Take down the forms after 

 five days. The extra 2| inches in length of the bed 

 is allowance for the three centre-bars between the 

 sash. These sash-supports are of dressed i-inch 

 stuff, shaped like a capital T turned upside down. 

 The length of the stem of the T is equal to the 

 thickness of the sash and the top is 3 inches wide. 

 Sufficient materials for the concrete will be supplied 

 by 14 bags of cement, i; cubic yards of sand and 

 25 cubic yards of crushed rock; or 14 bags of 

 cement and 25 yards of pit gravel. These ma- 

 terials will cost about $10. 



More work is required to establish a hotbed than 

 is the case with the coldframe, for the latter is 

 complete when covered with the glass. To pre- 

 pare the hotbed dig out the dirt to the depth of 

 2 feet, tramp in 18 inches of fresh horse manure, 

 well mixed with leaves or bedding, and cover it 

 with 4 to 8 inches of rich soil. Bank the excavated 

 earth around the outside of the bed. Put the sash 

 in place, hang a thermometer on the inside and 

 allow the bed to heat up. After a couple of days, 

 when the temperature has dropped to 85 or 00 

 degrees, planting may be safely done. 



During the midday, in bright weather, the bed 

 will become too hot and must be ventilated for a 

 short period by raising the sash on the side away 

 from the wind. Water the plants in the morning 

 only and ventilate later to remove the moisture 

 from the foliage. On winter nights it will often 

 be necessary to cover the bed with old carpets and 

 boards. 



On warm days ventilate the beds by raising the sash 



