232 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1910 



A Season's Garden Lessons 



THE editor has asked me to write for this 

 number an account of the actual happenings 

 in my garden for the past year. Although the 

 season was unfavorable my garden produced plenty 

 of everything; I not only had quantity but also 

 quality. 



One of the lessons I learned thoroughly this 

 season was that while there are a great many honest 

 seedsman, there are also a number that, while 

 not what one might term downright rogues, are 

 certainly unscrupulous. They do not hesitate 

 to label as their own a vegetable which is neither 

 new nor their own. Such things as "Smith's" 

 Improved Red Globe turnip, or "Jones" Improved 

 Long Orange carrot, or "Brown's" Improved 

 parsnip, advertised in big letters in early spring 

 are familiar to the public, and ninety-nine times 

 out of one hundred the seed is the same as some 

 old standard sort, a new name being applied and 

 a higher price asked. 



Last season I secured seeds from a number of 

 different sources and tried novelties from over twenty 

 different houses. I had about 600 varieties of 

 vegetables this season, and exhibited some 460 

 varieties at a show held in September. But I 

 found that, in a great many cases, "Jones" Im- 

 proved black eggplant was not different in any way 

 from the old Black Pekin. I found that " Smith's" 

 wonderful creation of the largest pepper in the 

 world, was not even a selected strain of Chinese 

 Giant. On the other hand, however, I did receive 

 some big improvements in various vegetables, 

 and had some novelties that were really worth 

 while. 



A most peculiar case: I received seed from 

 one house of their famous "Strawberry" tomato 

 in a beautifully lithographed packet; from another 

 I secured their wonderful "Grape" tomato; from 

 still another I had the wonderful "Tomato" 

 currant; and they all turned out to be the same 

 identical thing — the Red Cherry tomato, which 

 I could have bought from any reliable seedsman 

 for one-quarter the price I paid. 



I also learned how to grow leeks to perfection. 

 I never had trenched them, but I now use paste- 

 board collars about nine inches high around the 

 plants, and keep the soil worked up to the bottom 

 of the collar, raising it as the plants grow. This 

 method certainly gives much longer stems. 



I was troubled last summer by eggplants split- 

 ting. The fruit would get about the size of a base- 

 ball, and look perfectly healthy, but would 

 split so badly as to be unfit for use. After a little 

 experimenting I found that the cause of the trouble 

 was too much artificial watering. I applied a 

 mulch and stopped watering, and even though the 

 ground was frightfully dry, the plants did well. 



One lesson which I learned this past year, and 

 one which I will not forget for a long time, is the 

 necessity of planting potatoes early if one wants 

 results during June and July, usually two very 

 dry months. I planted some potatoes on April 

 ist, and fully intended putting my entire crop 

 in at the same time, but something turned up to 

 prevent it, and about one -half of the potatoes 

 were then planted, the other half being put in 

 about two weeks later. The potatoes first planted 

 matured a crop of good-sized tubers, while those 

 of the second planting were mere marbles. Strange 

 as it may seem, a couple of weeks makes a great 

 difference, for the plants get their roots further 

 '.nto the ground and the potatoes have formed 

 before the hot weather hits them. Less moisture is 



required from then on. This same thing has oc- 

 curred to me before, but the hopes of a favorable 

 season has sometimes prevented my planting all 

 potatoes by April ist. 



I am not going to say "I told you so," but if 

 you remember I did make a plea to you in the 

 spring to use good manure and plenty of it. Didn't 

 I present ever}' conceivable reason as to why you 

 should use manure in your garden? If you did, 

 it was undoubtedly better than your neighbor's, 

 who didn't use manure but pinned his faith to 

 some chemical fertilizer. 



I use a great deal of manure in my garden, and 

 all through the drought of last summer, many 

 people remarked upon its fine appearance. Gar- 

 dens that were started properly in every wa}' but 

 with a lack of manure, were not more than bare 

 patches of earth after the dry weather hit them. 

 By using manure, I do not mean to use one load 

 to a garden 100 x 100 ft. — I mean to dig imder 

 a dressing of about three or four inches of mellow 

 manure. I once had an amateur gardener ask, 

 how much manure to use on his garden. When I 

 told him about- ten loads, he said he certainly 

 wouldn't use any more than two. He eventually 

 increased that amount to three, with the result 

 that his garden produced nothing. He might 

 better have saved his time and money. Don't 

 be half hearted over the manure. 



Long Island. W. C. McCollom. 



Pruning and Feeding Orchard 

 Trees 



ON ANY warm pleasant day in December, 

 prune the' orchard. Let us consider for a 

 moment what our objects are. We want a tree 

 that is headed low down, so we can conveniently 

 spray the tree and pick the fruit, but not so 

 low that we cannot cultivate under the branches 

 which should be so far apart as to freely admit sun- 

 shine, and circulation of air when in foliage. The 

 trees should be kept symmetrical and beautiful. 



The vase shape, or a modification of it, seems to 

 best fulfill these requirements. When beginning 

 with the newly planted young tree it is easy to 

 attain the ideal shape, but with a large tree that 

 has been more or less neglected, the best we can 

 do is to modify its form. AVhen the one- or two- 

 year old apple trees were set in the family orchard 

 in spring, they were headed back to two or three 

 feet, and older ones to say, four feet. Now, when 

 winter comes the shaping must be determined by 

 pruning to form an open vase. Cut oat branches 

 that are liable to touch each other as they develop. 



When a tree is started in this way, the after- 

 pruning for a year or two is very easy — simply 

 to maintain the general vase form of the tree, 

 keeping an open centre, and pinching or cutting 

 off branches that are too close together, or cross 

 each other. Do this with a sharp pocket knife. 



With the old apple orchard we have a more 

 difficult problem. The tool one should most often 

 use in this work is a fine-tooth saw perhaps two 

 feet long. Special pruning saws can be bought, 

 but the ordinary hand saw does very well. In 

 addition have one pair of long-handled pruning 

 shears and one pair of pruning shears made with 

 short handles, for use with one hand. The prun- 

 ing shears are more often used for cane, bush, and 

 vine fruit than for trees, for the saw or knife makes 

 a cleaner cut. Sometimes, however, the pruning 

 shears will do good work in quickly cutting suckers 

 and sm.all branches. Cut close so that no stubs 

 are left to rot away. 



When pruning an old neglected apple tree, the 

 first thing to do is to cut off the suckers or sprouts 

 on the body and main branches of the tree, and 

 the dead and decaying limbs. If the sound wood 

 then needs thinning, cut the limbs that are too 

 close together or that cross or over-lap, but avoid, 

 if possible, cutting those over one inch in diameter. 

 Sometimes it may be necessary, but I would hesi- 

 tate to do so with old trees. Do not cut off many 

 large branches or prune too closely in one year. 



Let some of the strongest sprouts grow where 

 they are wanted, and cut away each year a little 

 of the old wood. Whenever a branch over one 

 inch in diameter is cut, cover the wound imme- 

 diately with thick paint if the weather is not too 

 cold. If so, do it the first warm day. 



A tree growing in rich soil, with good cultivation, 

 requires more pruning than that planted in poor 

 soil without cultivation. Pears and cherries 

 require iess pruning than plums and peaches. 

 Don't prune too much; the more wood the more 

 leaves, and the more leaves the more growth. 

 The tree's food is mostly in the atmosphere, and 

 the leaves are the feeding organs. 



Protect young trees from injury by animals, 

 especially if they are near a forest where there 

 are rabbits and deer that gnaw the bark. Rats 

 and mice wiU bad!}' injure small trees by gnawing 

 the bark close to the ground. A mound of earth 

 packed close around a tree, several inches high, 

 is a very good protection against rodents. Rabbits 

 usually are most destructive to small trees. They 

 generally gnaw the trees when the snow is on the 

 ground, and may girdle a tree one or two feet from 

 the ground, so to be on the safe side protect the 

 tree to the branches, especially when it is headed 

 low. Wrap tarred felt bands around the trunk 

 of the trees or whitewash them. 



The orchard and small fruit garden must be 

 well fed in order to give good results. Commercial 

 fertilizers have proved satisfactory only when 

 used in connection with cover crops. Sometimes 

 a cover crop plowed under in the orchard, supple- 

 mented by some form of potash or phosphoric 

 acid makes a very well balanced fertilizer. Stable 

 manure containing all the urine is not a well 

 balanced fertilizer for it. It contains too much 

 nitrogen and is too stimulating for young trees if 

 very much is used. One of the best and most 

 economical fertilizers is made by composing raw 

 ground South Carolina phosphate rock with ani- 

 mal manure. Use the ground rock in the stable 

 as an absorbent. If one has a place in which to 

 store manure where it will not freeze, it is a good 

 plan to buy green, fresh manure, and compost it 

 with the ground rock by spreading each in 

 alternate layers. The ground rock can be purch- 

 ased from any fertilizer firm for $7 to $8 per 

 ton, and a few hundred pounds with a ton of 

 animal manure, doubles the value of the manure 

 and makes a well balanced fertilizer. The acid 

 rock should be purchased when not composted 

 with manure. Using this fertilizer, with thorough 

 cultivation and aeration, puts the soil in condition 

 to grow clover; and clover, grown as a cover crop 

 and plowed under, feeds the orchard most 

 economically. 



New York. W. H. Jenkins. 



Wlien pruning young orchard trees adhere to the 

 vase shape 



