26 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



February, 1919 



Sow earl}- cabbage for transplanting at the 

 same date, using only one or two rows of space, or 

 scattering seed broad cast near one end of the bed. 

 Y\ hen tiny seedlings have the first pairof true leaves, 

 transplant them to another part of the bed, choos- 

 ing only the choicest plants and spacing them 2 

 inches apart in rows spaced the same distance. 



Sow seeds of celery, tomatoes, peppers, egg- 

 plants, pansies and asters March 20-30 to secure 

 plants for out-of-door setting. Broadcast these, 

 planning to "prick out" (i. e. transplant) plants 

 of each kind when they have acquired their first 

 pair of true leaves and to allow them more space, 

 at least 3 in. x 3 in., except celery, Pansies and 

 Asters, 2 in. x 2 in., through transplanting. 



Start seeds of late cabbage, late cauliflower, 

 cucumbers, muskmelons, squash and sweet corn 

 during the latter part of April, preferably April 

 20-30. Except for cabbage and cauliflower which 

 are sown broadcast in small plots, plant these crops 

 in dirt bands or in square pieces of sod inverted, 

 in order that they may be taken directly to the 

 field with no check in growth from transplanting. 



Hotbed Equipment 



TN ADDITION to sash, provide mats of some 

 ■*■ sort for covering the hotbed during severe 

 weather, as well as during nights of late winter 

 and early spring. A partially grown crop well 



protected is far ahead of any crop which is 

 planted to replace it. Warm season crops are 

 easily checked or stunted if allowed to chill dur- 

 ing nights or cold, stormy days. Either straw or 

 board mats will answer satisfactorily. Doubled 

 glazed sash are often used in preference to single 

 sash and mats. 



AMOUNT OF MATERIALS AND ESTIMATED COST OF SAME FOE 4-SASH BED 



4 Sash 3 ft. x 6 ft. x 1 5 in. Double A glass ... . . . $14.00 



3 Mats, straw or marsh hay 7 x 7 7. 50 



1, 2 in. x 14 in. 14 ft. cypress 1.80 



1, 2 in. x 8 in. 14 ft. " 1.00 



i, 2 in. x 14 in. 12 ft. " 1.50 



I, 2 in. x 4 in. 18 ft. " .50 



Bolts, incidentals .60 



3 Loads manure 7 -So 



Total $3S-40 



The use of "flats" (shallow boxes of convenient 

 size for handling readily) is a decided advantage 

 in growing early plants. A seedling flat may be 

 moved about to facilitate watering and to give 

 the plants best access to sunshine and fresh air. 

 A wire bottom flat will be found preferable, as the 

 soil contained therein will be in direct contact 

 with that of the hotbed. In this way contents 

 of the flat receive uniform heat and capillary 

 moisture from soil immediately beneath them. 

 In making or buying flats, see that they are of 

 standard dimensions, in order that they fit 

 snugly into the hotbed frame — 9 in. x 13 in., 



13 in. x 18 in. or 18 in. x 22 in. size. Have each 

 flat approximately 3 inches deep. 



General Management 



DROVIDE for sufficient ventilation of the 

 *- hotbed to supply plants with the necessary 

 fresh air to reduce the humidity and to control 

 the temperature. The formation of drops of 

 water on the lower side of the glass is an indica- 

 tion that ventilation is needed. Begin venti- 

 lating by shoving alternate sash forward and 

 back, only a slight distance at first, gradually in- 

 creasing this distance each day until the sash may 

 be removed entirely. "Harden" all plants for 

 out-of-door setting by leaving the sash off both 

 day and night for a week or ten days previous to 

 transplanting time. 



See that the hotbed soil is kept moist contin- 

 ually without soaking the manure beneath it. 

 Water thoroughly, however, at frequent inter- 

 vals, preferably every day or every other day, 

 rather than sprinkle frequently. Water in the 

 forenoon of bright, sunshiny days only, as the 

 temperature of the bed is easily lowered by ap- 

 plying water late in the day, and the foliage 

 is left wet for the night. Such a condition 

 favors "damping off," one of the most serious 

 hotbed troubles. [See December, 1918, issue 

 p. 144.] 



The Smoke Problem in Suburban Gardens 



How Small Traces May Account for Difficulties in Cultivation 



It's evident that the Stevia plant on the right has suffered 

 considerably. Smoke did it! 



WHILE everybody understands that 

 plants need fresh air in order to 

 grow properly, yet the fact that they 

 suffer injury in varying degree due 

 to the presence of various products of 

 combustion in the air is not generally appre- 

 ciated. Effects vary in proportion to the 

 impurities in the air, and not every plant af- 

 fected by presence of coal smoke, for instance, 

 will show the injury as decidedly as the speci- 

 mens photographed in November at the Mis- 

 souri Botanical Garden. I he accompanying 

 pictures represent the results of several heavy 

 fogs when many plants in the greenhouses 

 were injured. 



It stands to reason that plants in dwelling 

 houses used for apartment decoration may easily 

 suffer in the same way. With decreased supply 

 of light, irregularity in the water supply for roots, 

 excessive changes of temperature, one or all, 

 coupled with the contaminating impurities of 

 the enclosure, it is not surprising that house 



plants frequently do not show the same vigor 

 as subjects in greenhouses or out of doors. As 

 a matter of fact the ordinary dwelling-house con- 

 ditions are as bad for plant cultivation as things 

 can well be. Soot and dust block up the pores 

 of the leaf, impair the breathing and transpira- 

 tion processes and the film of dirt cuts off some 

 more light. 



In the close proximity of buildings where smoke 

 from fires is common, deposits of soot on 

 the leaves of evergreens are accountable for the 

 poor behavior of such plants in the city environ- 

 ments, and such plants suffer all the more be- 

 cause they do not get a complete new suit of 

 fresh foliage each year. 



Coal smoke is injurious in many ways. The 

 burning of the sulphur that is present in the coal 

 produces sulphurous acid, from which the more 

 corrosive sulphuric acid is easily formed; and 

 that causes the drying, blackening, or curling of 

 the tips and margins of the leaves of the young 

 shoots of the expanding flowers. 



Plants differ in their reaction to the poisons 

 in the air — in other words some are more rugged 

 than others and have greater powers of resist- 

 ance. Some drop their leaves very quickly, the 

 Jerusalem Cherry for instance. Or the plant 

 may be injured internally even when it does not 



How a young Cineraria was affected is seen by comparison 

 with a healthy one 



drop its leaves, and in its weakened condition 

 becomes an easy victim of fungus and insects. 

 Whenever house plants do not seem to be grow- 

 ing happily it will be well to look for the presence 

 of combustion products and coal gas and the 



Smoke in the fog, is responsible for the bedraggled look of the 

 sick Chrysanthemum 



same thing is true of many plants in city and sub- 

 urban gardens. 



The Missouri Botanical Gardens, in its Bulle- 

 tin for Nov. 1917 makes the following report of 

 plants that were most seriously affected during 

 the bad spell of fog referred to above when the 

 accompanying photographs were made: 



Alternanthera versicolor, leaves dropped; 

 Azalea indica, leaves dropped; Begonia semper- 

 florens, leaves browned at edge; Calanthe, young 

 shoots blighted; Catasetum, young shoots 

 blighted; Cattleya, flowers dropped; Chrysan- 

 themem, foliage, browned, dropped; Cineraria, 

 leaves browned at edge; Cuphea hyssopifolia, 

 leaves dropped; Dendrobium, flowers failed to 

 open; Duranta integrifolia, leaves dropped; 

 Ferns, leaves browned; Hydrangea Hortensia, 

 leaves blackened; Laelia, flowers dropped; Poin- 

 settia (P. pulcherrima), leaves yellowed; Prim- 

 ula sinensis, leaves browned at edge; Solanum 

 pseudo-capsicum, leaves dropped; Piqueria 

 (Stevia), leaves blighted. 



