92 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



October, 1915 



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JUST as soon as there is a stir of life in the 

 roots of your flowers and shrubs next spring 

 they need quickly available food. 



The more you can encourage the strong de- 

 velopment of that first growth, the greater 

 will be the later growth. 



Alphano dug around the 

 roots now, will by next spring 

 have become a direct part of the 

 soil itself and in ideal form for 

 the ready assimilation of the 

 smallest rootlets. 



. r > taiga tor $5. k I '^. a ton in bags. 

 $8. a ton by the carloud In bulk. 



Besides the advantage to them; there is the 

 advantage to yourself of having all that usual 

 bothersome worrysome Spring enriching, all 

 taken care of. Off your mind entirely. 



That Alphano is the ideal odorless plant 

 food and soil builder, the Convincement 

 Book will prove to you beyond 

 all doubt. Send for it. 



Order some Alphano at once. 

 Do this work while the fine 

 weather still makes it a pleas- 

 ant task. 



m 



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AlpK 



ano 



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umxi-s 



Established 1905 



17-C Battery Place 



New York 



HI 



To be Successful in Your Garden 

 Use Our Seed and Plant Forcer 



The cold nights are corryng and your plants will need protection. This 

 ingenious device forces the plant's growth through focusing the heat of the 

 sun and at the same time simply and effectively shades it from the elements. 



Write for our interesting descriptive booklet and price list. 

 THE CLOCHE CO., 131 Hudson Street, New York 



ORCHIDS 



Largest importers and growers of 

 Orchids in the United States 



This . 



ill be refunded 



Send twenty-five cents for catalogue, 

 on your first order. 



LAGER & HURRELL 

 Orchid Growers and Importers SUMMIT, N. J. 



SCHOOL OF HORTICULTURE FOR WOMEN 



(1 8 Miles from "Philadelphia) 



Fall Term of regular two-year 

 course begins Sept. 14th. Practical and 

 theoretical training in the growing of 

 fruits, vegetables and flowers. Simple 

 carpentry. Bees. Poultry. Preserving. 

 School Gardening and the Principles of 

 Landscape Gardening. Constant de- 

 mand for trained women to fill salaried 

 positions. Write for Catalogue. 

 Jessie T. Morgan. Director 

 Ambler. Pa. 



Start a Fernery 



Brighten up the deep, shady nooks on your lawn, or that dark porch corner— just 

 the places for our hardy wild ferns and wild flower collections. We have been 

 growing them for 25 years and know what varieties are suited to your conditions. 

 Tell us the kind of soil you have— light, sandy, clay— and we will advise you. 



j^GILLETTS Ferns and Flowers 



will give the charm of nature to your yard. These include not only hardy wild 

 ferns, but native orchids and flowers for wet and swampy spots, rocky hillsides 

 and dry woods. We also grow such hardy flowers as primroses, campanulas, 

 digitalis, violets, hepaticas, trilliums and wild flowers which require open sunlight 

 as well as shade. It' you want a bit of an old-time wildwood garden, with flowers 

 just as Nature grows them, send for our new catalogue and let us advise you 

 what to select and how to succeed with them. 



EDWARD GILLETT, 3 Main Street, Southwick, Mass. 



Sweet Peas by the Thousands 



MY NEIGHBORS thought I had some very 

 fine sweet peas last summer; the principle 

 proof I have that they were so, is that my neighbors 

 came and asked for them for all sorts of purposes. 



In the fall I always begin my preparations for 

 the following year's sweet peas. I collect all the 

 leaves I possibly can get and put them in the 

 chicken house for the chickens to scratch in. They 

 soon become broken into fine bits, 'almost powder. 

 I remove this, mixing it with the droppings from 

 under the roosts, and pile it in a dry shed for future 

 use. This is an excellent compost for sweet peas. 



Last February I had several wagon loads of this 

 material. Then during a period of mild weather 

 that month, I began digging my trench, which was 

 sixty feet long, eighteen inches deep, and fifteen 

 wide. All the earth from this trench I threw over 

 into the garden; then filled it with the compost, first 

 mixing with about half its bulk of the soil from the 

 chicken yard, by skimming off not more than three 

 inches of it from the top. This furnished a very 

 rich soil in which to plant the seeds. The trench 

 was filled to within four inches from the level of 

 the ground; this I filled up as the plants grew, till it 

 was level. Then followed moderate waterings 

 and frequent cultivation — hoeing and raking about 

 the plants from four to five times a week. 



The seeds were sown early in March; and they 

 were the best seeds I could buy. I did not pay any 

 attention to novelties, but selected the colors I 

 wanted, which last year were white, pink, lavender, 

 rose. These I planted in a double row; lavender 

 and white on the west side, rose and pink on the east. 

 When the plants were six inches high, I stuck long 

 brush between the two rows, and in a short time 

 the vines completely covered it. The flowers were 

 cut every morning except Saturday; the big cutting 

 of the week, on Sunday yielded sometimes as many 

 as fifteen hundred stems. 



Kansas. Frank C. Ward. 



As the Fall Advances 



HOUSE plants should be moved under cover 

 of porch and later into greenhouse or con- 

 servatory. 



Take up a few seedling annuals. Petunias, 

 verbenas, larkspurs, and nasturtiums will bloom 

 during the winter in a sunny window. 



Transplant pansies, daisies, and perennials 

 which were sowed in August in coldframe. Place 

 them four inches apart. Enrich the soil with 

 well rotted cow manure finely pulverized. 



Make some commercial fertilizer — to one part each 

 of nitrate of soda and muriate of potash put two 

 of acid phosphate — and incorporate it with the soil. 



Water thoroughly and protect plants from the 

 hot sun until they get established, as the October 

 sun is often very stifling. Protect by glass frames 

 over night for fear of frost, and lift the frames during 

 the day. Even if days are cold let in a little air. 



Big Boston and May King lettuce should also 

 be transplanted now. The soil should be very rich 

 for lettuce, as it should be forced rapidly. Water 

 plants this time of year in the morning, otherwise 

 they will damp off or mildew. Be especially care- 

 ful not to wet the leaves of the lettuce but water be- 

 tween the plants. Too much water on winter 

 lettuce causes rot. May King is a good early 

 lettuce for the fall, and Big Boston later on in 

 winter. Make another planting by the middle of 

 October and another the first of November. 



Cut off asparagus tops and burn, and level the 

 bed and cover it with good manure. 



Grass seed can be sowed this month and even 

 in November if the weather is open. 



Sow crimson clover on all vacant plots in the 

 garden, to turn under in spring as a green manure; 

 it is the cheapest and best fertilizer and supplies 

 humus as well. 



For information about live stock write to the Readers' Service 



