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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Apjril. 1919 



Heavy Mulching. — My garden so far has been 

 mainly Roses, bulbs, Dahlrfis and perennials 

 large enough to profit by mulching. I offer as 

 a suggestion in your columns the advantage or 

 heavy mulching for Rose beds, bulb beds, and 

 large plants to eliminate weeding and watering, 

 to maintain an even, cool, moist, soil during the. 

 hottest droughts. Right through the worst heat 

 and droughts my Roses bloom like they do in 

 early spring because these heavy mulchings keep 

 the soil always damp and cool. In this way I 

 apply manure water by letting the sky do the 

 work, thus: the mulch is old cow manure with 

 a layer of leaf mold on top for covers; conse- 

 quently every time it rains, liquid manure is car- 

 ried to the Rose roots. There is nothing as labor 

 saving in all my experiences as these heavy 

 mulches and they are helpful to most flowers with 

 the exception of the German Iris. — Mrs. James 

 Baker, Easton, Md. 



Growing Onions on Heavy Soil. — One of the 

 best wrinkles I have struck in g'rowing onions on 

 heavy soil is to use sand in which to sow the seeds. 

 The way I proceed is as follows: The soil being 

 a clay was plowed in the fall and left rough during 

 the winter for Jack Frost to break it up finely. 

 In spring the clods were raked down as smoothly 

 and finely as possible and sheep manure added 

 to the surface before raking. Lines were then 

 marked for the onions and drills made with a 

 small pointed hoe. Next I used a large tin can 

 with a hole in the bottom to let dry sand flow 

 freely into the drill, thus covering the bottom of 

 the drill with about a quarter of an inch of sand. 

 On this sand the onion seeds were sown thinly 

 and a second lot of sand scattered over them in 

 the same way as the first lot. Thus the onion 

 seedlings had only sand instead of clods of clay 

 to push away when they sprouted. As another 

 practice I sowed a few radish seeds to mark the 

 exact positions of the rows, but this was not nec- 

 essary, because the sand itself indicated where 

 the rows really were. The result of this experi- 

 ment was highly satisfactory; whereas the year 

 before I had failed to get even a reasonably fair 

 stand of onions, this practice gave me a good one. 

 Ordinary cultivation and the application of poul- 

 try manure beside the plants made about as good 

 onions as one could expect on such heavy soil as 

 I then had. — M. G. K., Long Island. 



Horned-violet and Alpine Wallflower. — In 

 thinking back over the experiments and experi- 

 ences of the past summer in the garden, two 

 plants stand out vividly as having been particu- 

 larly lovely and satisfactory. Early last March 

 I went out from the city to have a look at my gar- 

 den and was astonished and delighted to find, 

 besides the chilly Snowdrops and the yellow Jas- 

 mine upon the south wall, broad, spreading 

 patches of bright lilac color in more than one 

 sheltered location. The little Horned-violet 

 Papilio was responsible for this gay display — so 

 much gayer and earlier than I had ever known 

 from any other variety of Viola cornuta. It has 

 the same long-petaled, sprightly-looking flowers 

 as the type, but they are larger and the upper 

 petals are bright lavender and the lower white. 

 Most of the plants then flowering were self sown 

 from a few that I had bought, and they had found 

 their way to odd corners of the walls and steps 

 and here and there completely buried the edge 

 of a border. They were still blooming, late in 

 October, but enjoyed a needed rest during the 

 period of distressing drought when I gave them 

 a good cutting over, removing all the seed pods 

 and shortening all the branches. Blooming so 

 early these flowers may be most delightfully used 

 among the spring flowering bulbs; set in and 

 about the groups of Daffodils and Scillas and as 

 an interplanting for the stiff early Tulips. I can 

 imagine the beautiful salmon-orange I ulip De 

 Wet shining with incomparable effect above a 



carpet of the gay lavender and white flowers. 

 All the Horned-violets thrive best in a soil that is 

 somewhat retentive of moisture ratherthan where 

 it is very dry, but they appear to enjoy unlimited 

 sunshine. Their manifest wellbeing in my gravel 

 path is explained by the fact that there is always 

 plenty of moisture to be found among the loose 

 stones and sufficient nourishment to sustain them 

 is washed down from the rich soil of the borders. 

 The other plant which has given me so much 

 pleasure is Cheiranthus Allionii, an Alpine Wall- 

 flower of garden origin, if such a thing may be 

 said. I have been told many times by gardeners 

 that this plant is not hardy but I have found it 

 perfectly sturdy even in the face of many degrees 

 below zero, but it requires a dry, well drained soil 

 and a sunny location for its safety. Winter 

 damp will kill it, but not winter cold, so it should 

 never be entrusted to a heavy retentive soil. It 

 is, however, distinctly a biennial, which may ac- 

 count for its reputation for a frail constitution. 

 It has much of the charm of other Wallflowers; 

 a warm fragrance, a bright, pure yellow color and 

 it grows into a stout little bush about a foot in 

 height. It starts its blossoming with that of the 

 early Tulips and continues for full two months. 

 Moreover, once introduced into the garden, this 

 gold-headed little plant will ahvays be there for 

 it seeds itself generously, and as is so often the 

 case, these chance colonies are the strongest, 

 most floriferous, and most effectively placed. 

 A few packages of seed of these two flowers this 

 spring would cost little and would provide much 

 gaiety and beauty in the garden. If sown early 

 in a frame or in flats indoors, both will bloom the 

 first year. — Louise Beebe Wilder, Pomona, N. Y. 



Cotton-seed Meal and Sheep Manure as Fer- 

 tilizers. — We attribute much of our success in 

 gardening last summer to the use of cotton-seed 

 meal and dried sheep manure as fertilizers. 

 Stable manure is expensive and very hard to ob- 

 tain in our community, so we purchased one hun- 

 dred pounds each of cotton-seed meal and dried 

 sheep manure, at a cost of #5.40 for the two. 

 Our garden plot is about fifty feet square. The 

 sheep manure was used generally in the garden, 

 sprinkling it over the surface before digging. 

 Larger quantities were used in the rows of lettuce, 

 squash, cabbage, cucumbers and tomatoes, mix- 

 ing it with the soil in the furrows before planting 

 the seed, and also hoeing it in occasionally after 

 the plants were up. It is better to use small 

 quantities frequently, as it is a very strong fer- 

 tilizer and too large applications may burn the 

 plants. It was also used as the basis of liquid 

 manure wherever a quick stimulant was needed 

 — on lettuce and cucumbers, especially. Two 

 large tablespoons of sheep manure steeped in 

 ten quarts of warm water makes a solution of the 

 right strength. The sheep manure improved 

 the texture of the soil, the small particles tending 

 to make the soil light and porous. The cotton- 

 seed meal was hoed in after the corn was well up, 

 and was used in the same way with the potatoes, 

 beets, cabbage, and turnips. A steel rake helps 

 to mix it with the soil and prevents it forming a 

 cake on the surface. A former experience with 

 peas convinced us that cotton-seed meal should 

 never be put into the furrow with the seed, as its 

 liability to cake causes decay. It is a wonderful 



Just because his peas were the earliest in town I 



stimulant for the lawn if applied before a shower 

 or before using the sprinkler. In addition to the 

 fertilizer which we bought, the garden received 

 a liberal coat of compost, which was spread over 

 each section before spading, and added much 

 humus to the soil. Diseased or insect- infested 

 plants should never be added to the compost 

 heap, but should be burned at once. — Anna M. 

 Burke, Mass. 



Iris Notes from Califronia. — A correspondent 

 in Los Angeles writes me the "following: "I 

 have two Irises in my garden that bloom contin- 

 ually from fall until spring. Of course conditions 

 are quite different here from those in the East, 

 and many of your spring flowers blossom here in 

 the winter. But even here my named German 

 Irises do not bloom until about April and only 

 once during the year, so that I feel that the long 

 flowering period of the two Irises mentioned is not 

 caused by the California climate. One of these 

 Irises is white with a yellow beard and is very 

 sweet-scented and the other is purple with a yel- 

 low beard and has a rather strong odor. They 

 were in the garden when I came here and I do not 

 know their names but they are exceedingly com- 

 mon in this neighborhood. The foliage is ever- 

 green. The white Iris begins to bloom about 

 October and continues through March. The 

 bloom is abundant now (January) but it is at its 

 height in the middle of February usually, varying 

 according to the rainy season. This Iris is a 

 large flower and its stem is 24 inches or more. 

 The purple Iris blooms nearly every month in 

 the year although in the hottest weather there 

 is only an occasional flower." I am not able to 

 come to any conclusion concerning the identity 

 of these Irises but am hoping that some Califom- 

 ian reader may recognize them and let us know 

 what they are. They do not tally with the de- 

 scriptions of any Californian species that I have 

 at hand and it would certainly be interesting to 

 hear more of them. My correspondent sa}rs that 

 upon seeing a large bunch of the purple kind in a 

 florist's window she went in and asked their name. 

 The clerk informed her that they were not Iris 

 at all "but a common garden Lily like the Calla 

 and was called Flag Lily." Of course Irises are 

 often called Flag Lilies and even Day Lilies in 

 country neighborhoods, and florists' clerks are 

 frequently equipped with but the most casual 

 knowledge of their lovely wares, so the informa- 

 tion offered by this one is probably worth noth- 

 ing. Moreover my correspondent is quite con- 

 vinced that her plants are Irises and I for one 

 would like very much to know what they are and 

 how they would behave in our eastern gardens. 

 — L B. Wilder. 



Currants and Gooseberries Kept Free from Pests. 

 — Last summer I was particularly successful in 

 keeping my currants and gooseberries free from 

 aphis and currant worms. This I attribute partly 

 to my knowledge of the habits of these creatures, 

 but partly to the prompt action I took in spray- 

 ing. As soon as I discovered the first currant 

 worm, I used arsenate of lead at the strength 

 recommended on the package. One spraying 

 was all that was necessary. No other worm ap- 

 peared during the whole season and the plants 

 were as full of leaves in September and October 

 as they were in May. Some of my neighbors 

 neglected spraying so lost all their foliage before 

 the first of June. As the insects start work on 

 the lower part of the bush and on the interior I 

 sprayed these parts thoroughly with an angle 

 nozzle directed upward. This placed most of 

 the poison on the under sides of the leaves so it 

 was not washed off by showers. To control the 

 aphis I used black leaf 40, according to directions 

 and applied from beneath. The result was that 

 I got the under sides of the leaves so thoroughly 

 covered, that not only was the first brood of aphis 

 destroyed, but I had no further trouble with the 

 pest all summer. — M. G. K., Long Island. 



