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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



June, 19 11 



(Editors' Note. — We want to know how suc- 

 cessful workers do things in order to put actual 

 experiences before our thousands of readers in all 

 parts of the country. Every reader is invited to con- 

 tribute a short note on some interesting experience. 

 Just state the facts about some ingenious idea that you 

 have actually worked out yourself or have seen.) 



Peas in wide trench 



After planting peas in double rows six 

 inches apart for years, I tried The Garden 

 Magazine plan of planting in furrows 

 the width of a spade and four inches deep. 

 The crop was a third greater than that 

 which the double rows produced, and the 

 weeds were fewer. — M. O. N., Illinois. 



Growing kohlrabi 



Most people transplant kohlrabi just 

 as they do their cabbages. I plant them 

 in a seed bed, thin them out to three inches 

 apart, and let it go at that. The "bulbs," 

 or whatever the edible portion is called, 

 become, for me at least, as large and tender 

 as those transplanted. — F. H., Illinois. 



Keeping cut flowers 



I notice on page 26 of the February 

 Garden Magazine, in a paragraph on 

 "Keeping Cut Flowers," the statement 

 that the suction area of a stem is increased 

 by cutting the stem diagonally. I cannot 

 see that this affects the suction area a 

 particle; only so much water can enter 

 the sap vessels whether they are cut square 

 across or on the diagonal. Here is a 

 point, however, that may not be gen- 

 erally known: If the stem is cut under 

 water the flower will keep better because 

 there is no chance for air bubbles to enter 

 the sap vessels and stop the passage of 

 the water.— W. R. W., California. 



Peas for succession 



The accepted rule, "Plant peas two 

 weeks apart for a succession," does not 

 work in Glenview, 111. Once in a while 

 it will, but generally, owing to a cold wet 

 spell or a hot, dry one, two or more plant- 

 ings ripen at the same time, making us eat 

 more peas than we would like to, in order 

 to "save them." Last year a successful 

 woman gardener, whose pea crop always 

 is continuous, told me to wait for the 

 second planting until the first was up two 

 inches, and make the third planting when 

 the second was two inches tall. I did this, 

 got five plantings, and had a perfect suc- 

 cession. Others who have tried it report 

 the same results. — W. H. J., Illinois. 



Planting limas 



Here is a little kink about lima beans: 

 When planting push the seed into the hill 

 or drill, as the case may be, with the eye 

 downward, so that when the root emerges, 

 it goes downward and forces the cotyledons 

 straight up, instead of in a circle, as will 

 be the case if planted on the flat side or 

 other edge upward. — I. T. C, New York. 



Where to plant altheas 



After losing altheas for several winters, 

 while they were hardy far to the north 

 of my Chicago suburb, I learned that 

 they were not harmed when planted in 

 light, well-drained soil. Therefore I 

 mixed coal ashes with my black earth, 

 put cobblestones a foot deep two feet 

 below the roots, and have had no further 

 trouble. — R. J. 



Watermelons without water 



I live out on the prairies where the 

 farmers depend entirely upon what the 

 soil will produce. This past year there 

 was a severe drought, but a friend of mine 

 had the best crop of watermelons and 

 marrows he had ever raised. When asked 

 how much water he gave them, he replied, 

 "None, but I gave that ground a heavy 

 dressing of manure last year and the year 

 before, and kept it in good cultivation." 

 — - C. B., Nebraska. 



Try some endive 



I raised endive last summer for the 

 first time and it was a great success. 

 Caution must be used in warm weather 

 not to tie the leaves too tightly when 

 blanching, or it will rot, but as the weather 

 grows colder in the fall it can be tied up 

 closely or even covered with boxes or bur- 

 lap, which will blanch it nicely. By 

 protecting it this winter we had endive 

 until January 15th. — K. L. R., New York. 



Sod edging for beds 



I wanted to carry out a certain plan 

 for a formal garden, and for an edging to 

 the flower beds had to have something 

 that would hold them in shape for the 

 curved ones. I was unable to get boards 

 that would stand the strain of bending, 

 and a grass edging would necessitate more 

 time than I could spare to keep it in order. 

 So the beds were first made the desired 

 shape and raised about five inches. Then 

 I had strips of sod placed grass side down 

 against the sloping sides of the beds, 

 pressing them firmly and filling the spaces 

 or cracks between the sods with earth. 

 The sod was thick and firm and held the 

 earth in place as effectually as boards could 

 have done. ,This edging has withstood 

 the heaviest rains without washing and the 

 garden looks well cared for with but little 

 attention. The first year I had some 

 trouble with top edges of the sod which 

 would insist on bobbing up serenely in 

 little tufts here and there, but by cutting 

 as close to the roots as possible without 

 destroying the sods, I soon overcame this 

 -slight difficulty.— I. M. C, Minnesota. 



Seedling shrubs 



Under a Japanese barberry planted 

 years ago I found last year a hundred 

 or more seedlings three or four inches 

 high. These were growing in several 

 inches of leaf mold, and a slight pull 

 lifted them for transplanting. They 

 thrived wonderfully in the dry summer 

 of 1909, and were a foot high by fall. In 

 19 10 they reached three feet, and 

 frequent pruning had made them stocky 

 and well branched. Nice seedlings also 

 were found under a wayfaring tree {Vi- 

 burnum lantana) and under an alder 

 buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula). A shrub 

 grown from a seedling interests me more 

 than one I purchase. — J. M., Illinois. 



Sweet brier for fragrance 



In reading through The Garden Maga- 

 zine I came upon a paragraph entitled 

 "Fragrant Foliage." In it the writer 

 says, "We can think of only three shrubs 

 that have it — candleberry, aromatic sumac, 

 and sweet fern." Has this writer never 

 known sweet brier? I think not, or he 

 would be sure that there is nothing — in 

 New England, at least — that holds so 

 exquisite a fragrance. It is not the small, 

 pale blossom of a rose, but the tender, 

 newly opened leaves that give it its right 

 to be classed among fragrant shrubs. The 

 sweet brier will bear transplanting and 

 will live and thrive contentedly in the 

 same border for years. The perfume is 

 elusive, yet lingering. If worn in the cor- 

 sage, the faint fragrance stays for days 

 after the faded leaves have been thrown 

 away. — H. W. R., Massachusetts. 



Training tomatoes 



My way of training tomato plants on 

 barrel hoops and sticks may interest other 

 amateur gardeners. Last year we trained 



XV 



I 



them in this manner — have little foliage, 

 and very fine, large fruit. Some of the 

 tomatoes weighed twenty-two ounces. — 

 B. B. A., Indiana. 



