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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Jul y , 19 1] 



(Editor's 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.) 



Cabbages bursting 



I was lamenting to a farmer friend the 

 fact that last year about half of my cab- 

 bages, and the very best ones, burst open 

 and were almost a total loss. I espe- 

 cially lamented the large, perfect one with 

 which I was planning to take the first 

 prize at the county fair, and which, only 

 a few days before the fair opened, split 

 straight across the centre. "I can tell 

 you how to prevent that," he said, "just 

 pull each cabbage, not clear up, but 

 enough to break part of the roots. Then 

 the cabbage will remain alive, and keep on 

 growing a little, but not enough to burst 

 it open. The pulling is to be done as 

 soon as the heads have become solid." 

 — C. S. T, South Dakota. 



Transplanting in summer 



When you are obliged to set out in mid- 

 summer something that offers a great 

 deal of risk, such as a piece of shrub that 

 has not a strong independent root growth, 

 this plan is a good one: Fill the hole up 

 only partially and then put in a layer of 

 green grass — I pull it fresh by hand, 

 but lawn clippings will do. After water- 

 ing well, add the rest of the soil and then 

 a mulch of grass. Pieces of shrubs and 

 old-fashioned roses, chopped off with little 

 root, and small plants of box I have 

 planted in July and August in this way 

 with success. Not a piece of the box 

 was lost, though the plants were taken up 

 with little soil on the roots and then 

 separated. — H. S. A., Connecticut. 



Watering hanging baskets 



Every one who has had to water hanging 

 baskets knows that to pour water over 

 them means the washing out of a certain 

 amount of soil each time, and a com- 

 paratively small part of the water soaks 

 in, the rest running off rapidly; and that 

 the immersing of the entire basket is a 

 laborious process. I use a siphon of small 

 copper tubing with the outlet end squeezed 

 so that the water comes out no faster 

 than rapid dropping. With the short 

 leg of the siphon, say ten inches long, 

 set into a quart bottle, the longer leg of 

 the siphon twelve inches in length, and 



a wire hook around the neck of the bottle, 

 the apparatus may be hung over the basket, 

 and for three-quarters of an hour there 

 will be a steady, fine spray falling over the 

 foliage, giving a thorough soaking. Rub- 

 ber tubing may be used, if care be taken 

 to keep a long curve at the bend where it 

 leaves the bottle. — J. E. W., Pennsylvania. 



The Milla uniflora again 



Like your correspondent H. S. A., I 

 have grown for several years in my garden 

 a flower which I bought under the above 

 name. It is exceedingly beautiful, "white 

 with a faint lavender stripe on each petal," 

 and exactly like the illustration in his 

 article. It blossoms so profusely that the 

 foliage is almost hidden under a bank of 

 snow. Every one admires it greatly. 

 But the perfume! Alas, it has a strong 

 odor of garlic, as I found to my sorrow 

 when I made a button-hole bouquet for 

 a young man who was going to a dance. 

 The heat of the room soon developed the 

 obnoxious odor, greatly to his mystifi- 

 cation. I have not totally condemned 

 the flower; it grows and increases and we 

 enjoy it at a respectful distance. But is 

 it this climate that has wrought a change 

 in the scent? Since my discovery I have 

 wondered that none of the florists who 

 list the bulb in their catalogues mentions 

 this drawback. — I. H., California. 



Transplanting poppy seedlings 



To raise Oriental poppy seedlings that 

 will transplant successfully, try starting 

 the seeds in a tin can, having first removed 

 both ends by placing the can on the coals. 

 Fill this with finest rich soil and bury it 

 in the garden. By early fall, with the 

 trowel placed well down at the side of the 

 can, raise it carefully and you will find 

 numerous long single roots even below 

 the can. You can slip out the whole mass 

 and separate each little seedling and plant 

 in its permanent place. By using a dibble 

 you can make just the right sort of hole. 

 Press the soil firmly into place. — H. E. M., 

 Connecticut 



Shade for roses 



Everblooming roses do better for me 

 with moderate shade. I give it by plant- 

 ing Ramblers in the centre of each clump 

 of tea roses, and pegging down the ends 

 of the rambler canes. They take root 

 where they are fastened to the ground, 

 but bloom just as well and keep the hot 

 sun off the more tender ones. The im- 

 proved Crimson Rambler, Rubin, is a 

 beauty. — J. D. C, Illinois. 



New ideas in labels 



To label plants I use linotype metal 

 slugs, with the lettering cast in the line. 

 They are indestructible, and there is room 

 on each line for a descriptive word or two. 

 The description is convenient when mov- 

 ing plants for mass or color effects. For 

 use in the perennial border they are at- 

 tached to a six-inch wire, which is thrust 

 into the ground. The metal soon loses 

 its polish, and is invisible except to the 



one looking for the name. These labels 

 may be "set" almost everywhere, at a 

 cost of about a cent apiece. I steal 

 mine. — M. J., New Jersey. 



The surplus seedlings 



If you have grown more seedlings than 

 you need, and are tired of transplanting 

 the surplus, just lift them up by spadefuls 

 and put them in the ground. They will 

 stand the winter, in nine cases out of ten, 

 and may be transplanted the next spring 

 to fill gaps. Gardening enthusiasm is 

 higher, too, when the weather is not hot. 



— K. L. C, Massachusetts. 



Screening the porch 



If you have a screened-in porch and 

 want to cover it with vines, place poultry 

 netting, or, preferably, heavy, diamond- 

 mesh field fencing, in front of the screens. 

 Run iron rods or heavy wire through the 

 top and bottom meshes, and fasten these 

 with hammock hooks to the top and 

 bottom of the porch. Cut the wire short 

 enough so it will be taut when the fasten- 

 ings are in place, and the wire always will 

 look well, give the best support to the 

 vines, and come down conveniently in 

 the fall, when it is necessary to remove 

 the screens. The netting can be replaced 

 without disturbing the vines, or if the 

 plants need protection, they may be rolled 

 up with the wire and covered with leaves. 



— F. H., Illinois. 



A run=wild border plant 



Sweet rocket, or dame's violet (Hesperis 

 matronalis) always wants to own a border, 

 where, after all, only the white variety 

 is particularly desirable and that in only 

 a limited quantity. If the grounds are 

 large enough, remove some of it to a 

 place where it can run wild, and a really 

 beautiful naturalistic effect will be created. 

 Even the deeper of the two pink shades 

 takes on beauty in this way. On Long 

 Island there is a dooryard of an unoccu- 

 pied house where the long grass is full of 

 sweet rocket and it has strayed through 

 the fence, across the sidewalk and street 

 to the edge of the road, making a charming 

 sight when in full bloom. — B. S., New York. 



The Pearl Achillea again 



In the Readers' Experience Club for 

 April, 191 1, E. A. S. makes some scathing 

 remarks about the Pearl Achillea, which 

 the Editor has annotated by saying that 

 while E. A. S.'s. criticisms may be very 

 well for the West, "it (the Pearl) will be 

 considered as a worthy, pure white, hardy 

 perennial by us in the East." I have 

 found exactly E. A. S.'s faults with 

 The Pearl — ugly color, poor form, and 

 a really terrible propensity for spreading, 

 and for creeping in among the roots of 

 other plants — and have spent three 

 years trying to get rid of it. Boltonia 

 asteroides, however, has fulfilled my wildest 

 dreams of a good white flower for massing 

 and cutting, as well as for a background. 



— M. Y., Long Island. 



