260 



The Readers 9 Service gives informa- 

 tion about real estate. 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 1909 



A "Home 

 Comfort" Stove 



Have you solved the "Home 

 Comfort" problem for this coming 

 summer ? 



Are you planning to put the coal 

 range out of commission ? 



Will you do the family boiling, 

 stewing and frying in a sane and 

 restful manner over a stove that 

 does not overheat the kitchen ? 



You can do all this with the 



NEW PERFECTION 



Wick Blue Flame Oil Cook-Stove 



The "New Perfection" is different from all other oil stoves. It has a substantial 

 CABINET TOP like the modern coal range, with a commodious shelf for warming 

 plates and keeping food hot after cooked — also drop shelves on which the 

 coffee pot or teapot may be placed after removing from burner — every 

 convenience, even to bars for holding towels. Nothing adds more to 

 the pleasure of a summer home than a "New Perfection" Oil Cook- 

 Stove in the kitchen. Made in three sizes. Can be had either with or 

 without Cabinet Top. If not at your dealer's, write our nearest agency. 



The aE ^ <p^ ~r /2r%. T A lS/t i P A1 ' tnat a ' amp shou ^ be tne 



£jL y fj X-/Z J. 1 X M. Rayo is. Well made — ornamental 

 ^^ — not easily tipped over — has perfect combustion — 

 greatest volume of light for oil consumed — burns 

 longest with one filling. If not with your dealer write our nearest agency. 



STANDARD OIL COMPANY 



(Incorporated) 



"IV 



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LOOK OUT 

 FOR SPARKS 



No more danger or damage from flying 

 sparks. No more poorly fitted, Ilimsy fire- 

 place screens. Send for free booklet 

 " Sparks from the Fire-Side." It tells about 

 the best kind of a spark guard for your in- 

 dividual fireplace. Write to-day for free 

 g§ booklet. 



The Syracuse Wire Works 



103 University Avenue, - Syracuse, N. Y. 



PALETTE 

 i«° BENCH 



•A 

 MONTHLY Slt)6t)ZIMZ 

 foi- ilje 



ART STUDENT 



unp 

 CRAFTS WORKER \ 



Send 25 cents for sample copy of 

 PAT.ETTE and BENCH a new maga- 

 zineforTeachers and Students of Oil 

 and Water Colors and the Crafts. 



Endorsed by the leading art educators of the 

 country. Prospectus free. Free sample 

 copy of " Keramic Studio" to those in- 

 terested in China painting. 



Keramic Studio Pub. Co., 

 114 Pearl St., Syracuse, N. Y. 



FAIRFAX ROSES 



CANNOT BE EQUALLED a***™ fa. 



W. R. GRAY Box 6, OAKTON, FAIRFAX, CO., VA. 



The Mt. Desert Nurseries, Bar Harbor 



For Late Planting and the Hardiest Stock 

 For Northern Grown Evergreens and Flowering Shrubs 



For the Finest Garden Perennials 



and the Most Beautiful Old-Fashioned Flowering Plants 



in their Best Forms Old and New 



Send to 



THE MT. DESERT NURSERIES 



Packing done with greatest care BAR HARBOR, MAINE W rite for Catalogue 



if you would be economical. As stable manure is 

 a complete fertilizer, i. e., one containing the 

 three elements, any crop will be benefited. 



Manures are better than fertilizers, too, because 

 they improve the texture of the soil. They furnish 

 humus (vegetable fibre). Heavy clay soils are 

 made more open and porous, admitting better 

 circulation of air and preventing baking, and 

 sandy soils are made more compact, preventing 

 them from wasting. Besides all this, the effects 

 of manure are lasting. 



Someone writes, "How much manure shall I 

 need?" The answer is, "All you have." From 

 ten to twenty tons per acre is considered sufficient 

 for most farm crops — that is, from five to ten 

 pounds for each ten square feet of garden, but 

 double and treble may be used. Of course, it 

 is n't necessary to weigh it — guess-work is good 

 enough. A ton of fresh stable manure ordinarily 

 contains eight pounds of available nitrogen, ten 

 pounds of available phosphorus, and ten pounds 

 of potash. Based on what we must pay for these 

 elements in commercial fertilizers — nitrogen at 

 sixteen cents, potash at five cents, and phosphorus 

 at six cents — manure is worth at least $2 a ton. 



A question that is constantly asked is whether 

 it is better to haul manure directly from the stable 

 or to leave it in the yard or heap. The general 

 answer is, if you have a good place to keep it, a 

 covered shed or a clay or concrete pit that will 

 prevent the leaching effect of rains and the loss 

 of the liquid part which is very high in fertilizing 

 qualities, keep it in a heap and spread it when 

 you can handle it most conveniently. But if it 

 is wasting away on some side hill or barnyard, 

 and, because it is not systematically forked over, 

 if it is burning up and turning white, then get it 

 on the garden whenever you can. Do not locate 

 it in small piles, but spread it and spade or plow 

 it in. The loss in value of manure is enormous 

 when kept under wasteful conditions. In an ex- 

 periment conducted at Ithaca, N. Y., 4,000 

 pounds of stable manure, containing an estimated 

 value of plant food of $2.30, was left in a compact 

 pile and exposed to the elements. In less than 

 five months it had reduced in weight to 1,730 

 pounds and the plant food value remaining was only 

 a little over a dollar. The annual value of the 

 manure in New York State alone is about a hun 

 dred million dollars and at least a third of it is 

 wasted. Therefore, if you can't care for manure 

 properly, get it out in the fields. 



We are repeatedly asked about manures other 

 than from the stable. The answer is that cow 

 and pig manure are less constant in composition 

 and generally less valuable than horse manure. 

 The two most valuable of all are poultry and 

 sheep manure. A ton of poultry manure will 

 contain eighty-two pounds of nitrogen, sixteen 

 pounds of potassium, and thirty pounds of potash, 

 and, therefore, pound for pound, is worth about 

 four times that of horse manure. You can there- 

 fore pay profitably at the rate of six to eight dollars 

 a ton for poultry droppings in good condition. 

 The manure question can be disposed of with the 

 following brief instructions: If you have manure 

 use it and read books about it afterward. 



The real problem is that most small gardeners 

 do not have sufficient manure, and therefore have 

 to help out the supply with some kind of concen- 

 trated fertilizer. Here is where the trouble begins, 

 for each crop, according to the books, will require 

 a different formula. For instance, you read that 

 corn will require a 2—7—6 mixture; grapes 2-8-1 1, 

 radishes 3-7-9, lettuce 5-6-9 and so on. In 

 order to apply all this, the home garden would 

 have to be laid out like a checker board and each 

 square or row given a special mixture that would 

 require the services of a druggist's prescription 

 clerk to apply. 



In my own practice, I am unable to get very 

 much manure, and therefore buy a so-called com- 

 plete fertilizer at $30 a ton and use it for every- 

 thing. I will admit that I may be wasting some 

 fertilizing ingredient that the soil does not need, 

 and may not be getting maximum crops. But 

 what of it? I would be wasting still more valu- 

 able time and money fooling with all these special 

 mixtures and treatments. Even the scientist will 

 admit that chemical analysis of a soil does not 

 show anything, because it does not, as a rule, 

 determine availability or soil texture. Under 



