The Garden Magazine 



Vol. V— No. 6 



Published Monthly 



JULY, 1907 



One Dollar a Year 

 Fifteen Cents a Copy 



[For the purpose of reckoning dates, New York is 

 generally taken as a standard. Allow six days' difference 

 for every hundred miles of latitude.] 



July Opportunities Worth $200 or 

 More 



SOME editors are blind, unimaginative 

 and self-centred. They assume that 

 what they are interested in must be interesting 

 to their readers. That is why we did not 

 get more than a dozen articles in response 

 to the fifty-two "Things We Wanted to 

 Know" which we printed in November 1905, 

 and January 1906, with an offer of $5 for 

 the best reply to each question. 



Now we propose to offer prizes for what 

 you are interested in. How do we know 

 that? By saving all the letters that 

 come to us from readers that tell what they 

 are doing in July or wish to do then. 



Another mistake we made was in urging 

 brevity and offering a uniform check of $5. 

 There are few subjects that can be treated 

 in 500 words with sufficient detail to be really 

 useful. If you have had an experience of 

 general interest and value it may require 

 perhaps six photographs and 2,000 words 

 to tell it properly and the account may be 

 worth $20 to $25. We have no desire to 

 buy twenty-five-dollar articles for $5. 



Therefore we offer a minimum prize of 

 $5 for every acceptable working out of any 

 hint on this page and on other pages of this 

 number. 



There will be no "contest" about it, as 

 we will gladly take two or more solutions 

 of the same problem, if they are suitable for 

 publication. And there will be no rules, 

 conditions or "red tape" of any kind — no 

 set date, word limit, typewritten restrictions 

 or other conditions of servitude. 



The object is to fill The Garden Maga- 

 zine for July 1908 with personal experiences 

 about things done or started by our readers 

 in July 1907, instead of dosing them with a 

 lot of uninteresting articles which are merely 

 the working out of preconceived notions, 

 such as crotchety, whimsical and book-mad 



editors evolve in their remote dens from 

 their inner consciousness. 



IDEAS WORTH $25 EACH 



Did you ever start a fruit, vegetable or 

 flower garden in July? (A very successful 

 one was described in The Garden Mag- 

 azine for July 1906, pages 330 and 331.) 



How can a person who knows nothing 

 about gardening and doesn't want to devote 

 a lot of time to it get his place planned and 

 planted in an attractive and permanent 

 fashion for $100? Do these "landscape 

 departments" of the big nurseries furnish 

 good plans cheaply or do they clutter up a 

 place with all sorts of horticultural freaks ? 



The autumn-blooming bulbs ought to be 

 ordered in July for August delivery. If you 

 wait till September they may be out of stock 

 or bloom in the bags while in transit. Who 

 will plant all the crocuses, colchicums and 

 sternbergias, that bloom outdoors between 

 September and November and take accurate 

 notes on dates of bloom, number and size 

 of flowers? 



Why not transform your garden into an 

 outdoor living room and win that prize 

 offered in connection with Mr. Saylor's 

 article on "Garden Furniture" in the June 

 number of The Garden Magazine? 



Who will try all the different kinds of weed 

 killers for which so much is claimed nowa- 

 days ? Who will give us accurate statements 

 of their relative efficiency and economy; 

 which ones are dangerous, when, how, why, 

 etc.? 



Who can tell us in detail of a complete 

 outfit that will positively vanquish every 

 enemy of the home fruit, flower and vege- 

 table garden. Outfit must not cost more 

 than $25 including apparatus, material, 

 books, etc. Must be written from actual 

 experience in the home garden. 



beginning a garden after june 15TH 



Five dollars for the best picture and data 

 showing success with bedding plants set out 

 after June 15th. 



Do you know that portulacas refuse to 

 germinate until June and that you can 

 transplant them in full flower to fill gaps 

 in your garden ? 



Five dollars for the best picture of a Sep- 

 tember flower bed from seed sown after 

 June 15th. Give dates, number of flowers, 

 size, etc. 



Five dollars or more for the best account 

 of white, or fragrant flowers sown in July 

 to make the garden more enjoyable in the 

 evening. 



Five dollars for two photographs of an 

 evergreen grown in a willow basket for 

 planting in the hottest and driest summer 



weather. Show before planting and result 

 in September. [N. B. — The baskets do not 

 have to be removed.] 



Five dollars for a photograph and narra- 

 tive of success with gladioli planted June 15. 



Five dollars for the greatest growth made 

 'from a Kudzu vine planted after .June 15th. 

 It often grows forty or fifty feet a -season and 

 is the fastest growing vine in cultivation. 



Five dollars for a photograph and narrative 

 of success with Crimson Rambler rose or 

 Clematis paniculata bought and planted 

 after June 15th. Not left-overs from the 

 local florist, but plants grown by nurseries in 

 pots especially for people who have to begin 

 their gardens in midsummer. 



It is said that standard or tree roses in pots 

 can be planted at any season without the 

 slightest risk; also that better results can be 

 obtained with them than with dormant 

 plants. Ten dollars for proof of this. 



INTIMATE QUESTIONS ABOUT HOME LIFE 



Can you honestly take pride in what your 

 children have accomplished in gardening 

 or nature-study? Have you planned a 

 practical garden for them ? 



Have you made any bird houses that really 

 attract the birds to your garden and foil 

 cats? Are they those absurd things made 

 to resemble human dwellings, or are they 

 founded on the needs of the birds? Are 

 these dainty, new, folding opera glasses 

 really strong enough for the use of a bird 

 lover ? 



Have you ever imported toads into your 

 garden for company and to destroy the 

 insects, as Celia Thaxter did ? 



Is it possible for a woman to feel comfort- 

 able and look attractive while gardening? 

 Has the subject of garden clothing advanced 

 any since Noah's time? 



What are the best possible arrangements 

 for dining outdoors? Do you have lawn or 

 garden picnics? Are you sure that there is 

 no danger of ptomaine poisoning or other 

 trouble from your refrigerator? 



Can you really take pride in the way the 

 utilities are treated in your backyard — gar- 

 bage and other refuse ? Have you a hygienic 

 plan of keeping and hiding them which you 

 believe hundreds of your fellow townsmen 

 could take as a model? Is your lawn dis- 

 figured by clothes lines and clothes posts ? 



Have you a water supply system sufficient 

 to protect your garden from drought and your 

 house from fire ? It is said that more crops 

 are ruined from lack of water than from all 

 other causes. 



What idea received from The Garden 

 Magazine has helped you most ? 



More prizes of a similar nature are offered 

 on page 362 



