296 
pungency to a salad, but all that is necessary 
is to rub a cut ‘‘clove” around the bowl in 
which the dish is to be served. Good garlic 
can only be grown in a hot climate, and 
its cultivation should not be attempted in the 
North, where the true shallot will thrive 
much better, and having a similar flavor can 
be used in its place. 
The shallot is remarkable in the family 
for its extremely delicate flavor. The 
habit of the plant is peculiar, the bulbs 
splitting into numerous “‘cloves,” which in 
the young state are excellent in the same 
way as the “spring onions” already re- 
ferred to. Indeed, people often confuse 
the two. The shallot rarely produces seed, 
and is in that respect much like the potato 
onion. It differs from garlic in its growth 
in this respect: the cloves of the shallot 
are distinct and separate, easily detached, 
whereas in the garlic the cloves are en- 
closed in an outer silvery gray skin. The 
true shallot is also silver gray, but a small 
yellowish or brown onion is often sub- 
stituted for it. All these keep easily for 
twelve months. 
MOST DELICIOUS OF ALL 
The Jeek is esteemed as a delicately 
flavored member of the family, but it does 
not keep at all. For home use in its season 
(which is late) I prefer it over all others of 
the tribe. The blanched leaf sheaths are 
eaten—and there is little or no bulbing at 
the root. Good leeks have white, thick 
stalks, fine-grained flesh, and part of the 
green top leaves as well as the stalks are 
eaten. They must be planted in very 
deep soil to make them grow as much 
white stem as possible, as the more of the firm 
white stem there is, the better the leek. 
Rich soil is required, the same as for onions. 
The seedlings are transplanted about the 
middle of June, planting deep enough to 
cover all but the centre leaves. As the 
plants grow, draw up the soil around them, | | 
to blanch them. They may be had eighteen 
inches long. Though several varieties have 
been offered from time to time, there are only 
two types in the American trade. Large 
Flag is the most popular, but not the largest. 
Scotch Flag (or Musselburgh) makes a 
longer edible part, but it is not so thick. 
Leeks are not eaten raw, but are used 
principally for flavoring soups, etc.; stewed 
and served with white sauce, they are a 
most dainty dish. 
In chives, the slender green leaves are 
used chopped fine. It is essentially a salad 
plant. It is decorative, and hardy all win- 
ter. It is propagated by division, which 
should be done frequently, as otherwise the 
leaves will become coarse and tough. 
GROWN FOR ITS HARDINESS 
The Welsh onion, rarely grown, is like a 
magnified chives and is used for seasoning. 
It does not form a true bulb. ‘There are 
annual and perennial forms. Its only place 
is in the herb garden. It has the merit of 
great hardiness and as such it is useful for a 
mild flavor in colder regions, just in the same 
way as the leek. 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
An Easily Made Plant Stand 
HAVE found a device for a window 
garden for renters in the humble 
washing bench. It may be bought at any 
department store in any size from three to 
five and one-half feet long, and arranged in 
the following manner will provide for the 
plants destined to grace it a really admirable 
substitute for a greenhouse bench. 
Nail a 3-inch strip of wood to the edge of 
the top of the bench, fill any cracks there 
may be with putty or a good coating of paint, 
and then cover the enclosed space with two 
inches of sand. This provides the plants 
with a continuously moist place on which to 
stand, and allows you to give them as thor- 
ough a soaking as occasion may require 
without the slightest danger of the water 
A common washing bench, edged with strips so 
as to hold a layer of sand, provides a means of water- 
ing plants indoors without wetting the floor 
dripping on the floor. Another advantage 
of having the bench covered with sand is 
that the sand takes up any inequalities there 
may be in the surface of the bench, so that 
the pots always stand on the level. 
If casters are placed on the feet it is an 
easy matter to wheel the bench from place 
to place, as conditions require. 
The cost of my bench as shown in the 
photograph with the exception of the strips 
of wood, which I already had, is as follows: 
Bench (sisshtalone) elon eter e ees $1.33 
(CAgtS Acosscooe stagboaoedsoounaouodo -40 
Enamellipalin tieterierctert stretcher yak .60 
$2.33 
A washing bench is built very much on 
Craftsman lines, and when painted or stained 
to match the color of the room where it is 
to be used, it is really a very good-looking 
and acceptable piece of furniture. Mine 
is finished with white enamel. 
New York. Me Keke 
JANUARY, 1907 
Watering and Potting Ferns 
AE EESE are no foliage plants which can 
compare with the exquisite beauty 
of the ferns for decorative purposes; their 
finely cut and often oddly shaped fronds 
have a delicacy and gracefulness of habit 
foreign to all others. The more unusual 
kinds are more difficult to grow than the 
common house plants, and there are many 
that cannot endure the dry atmosphere of 
the dwelling. But the better known ferns 
can be easily grown as house plants, if at- 
tention is given to one or two points. Buy 
plants with not too young foliage, and 
gradually inure them to house culture. 
Young plants purchased in the spring, 
and repotted into larger pots, if necessary, 
will make handsome plants by winter. 
Ferns make their growth during sum- 
mer, and rest in winter. Nearly all of 
them like heat, shade and moisture in 
their growing season, so to have good plants 
for winter they must be grown in a rather 
close, shady place during the summer. 
The warm, enclosed end of a veranda is a 
good place. If many plants are grown, 
have a large box made, to hold one or more 
rows of pots. Fill the box with moss, which 
is kept damp, and plunge the pots therein, 
to their rims. This will keep the ferns 
moist at the roots. A plant that is required 
for table or room decoration may be removed 
from:the box, and placed temporarily in a 
jardiniere, but should be replaced in the 
box the next day, or if the jardiniere is filled 
with damp moss, the plant can remain thus 
for a longer time. If allowed to become 
dry at the roots, the plant is ruined for the 
season. During the winter months, place 
the box in a warm, shaded window. 
The kind of potting material used is one 
of the most important factors in fern growing. 
The best soil is a mixture made of two parts 
good garden loam, one part well-decayed 
manure, and one part sharp sand; this last 
to make the soil porous. Use clean, porous 
pots. Fill at least one-third of the pot with 
charcoal, or some other drainage material, 
then a layer of moss, to keep the soil from 
clogging the drainage, and lastly the soil, 
in which set the plant. In potting, do not 
firm the soil too much about the roots, for 
they prefer it to be rather loose. 
Water freely as long as active growth 
continues, using slightly warmed water. 
During the winter months, when the fern 
is dormant, give only sufficient water to keep 
the soil from becoming dry. In the spring 
(April) repot the plant. 
Moisture in the air is essential to the 
successful culture of ferns. This may be 
supplied to the ferns having coarse fronds, 
suchas the sword fern (Nephrole pis exaltata), 
with a plant sprayer, but those of delicate 
fronds, like the maiden hair (Adiantum), 
would be ruined if the foliage remained 
wet for any length of time—the fronds 
becoming brown, and having a rusty ap- 
pearance. For these latter, the neces- 
sary moisture is best supplied in the form 
of a vapor, by the aid of a cologne atomizer. 
California. ELEANOR M. Lucas. 
