362 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



July, 1911 



A "Corner 



in 



Celery 



FOR two years while I was in high school I 

 worked a garden and several acres besides 

 for one of the families of the village. The agree- 

 ment was that I was to live with the family for my 

 board, have just as good a garden as I could; 

 that the family were to use all the produce they 

 needed for themselves, and for the boarders that 

 were kept during July and August, and that if 

 I could raise more than was needed, I was to have 

 half the proceeds of what was sold. 



I succeeded in having one of the best gardens 

 in the village, and sold enough to keep me in 

 clothing, books, and pay all other necessary 

 expenses the rest of the year. 



I really had two gardens each summer — ■ an 

 upland garden and a lowland garden. A part of 

 the land lay along a small stream that ran into 

 a bay a short distance away, and which was 

 bordered by a strip of lowland meadow. The 

 soil from the bank was carted over this meadow 

 to make sufficient land for two garden plots 

 ioo x 100 ft. Here I raised onions in great abun- 

 dance, and planted especially those vegetables 

 that require the most moisture duplicating in many 

 things the upland garden so that dry or wet I 

 would not fail of a crop. The celery I grew in the 

 lowland garden. 



I bought 250 plants of the large-sized Giant 

 Pascal celery and set them about one foot apart 

 in rows about one hundred feet long. I set the 

 plants in a trench about six inches deep after 

 manuring the bottom of the trench with well- 

 rotted cow and horse manure. 



I set the plants during the latter part of July. 

 It proved to be a very dry season. The rows 

 were four feet apart but the celery grew so fast 

 there wasn't sufficient soil between them to bank 

 and bleach the mammoth stalks. I had to put 

 up boards and get additional soil. 



The season was so dry that almost all upland 

 celery failed. We decided that half a row would 

 be enough for the family use, and that we would 

 sell the remainder — two full rows. I buried it 

 all in a trench on the upland, and sold my portion 

 at Thanksgiving time, peddling it from house to 

 house through the village; I sold it at from fifteen 

 cents to twenty cents a root. Each root was a 

 great cluster as large as the bunches usually con- 

 taining several roots. I received an average of 

 eighteen cents per root, or $18 for my row. The 

 other row I dug up and sold off at Christmas time 

 at about the same price. 



Long Island. Daniel H. Overton. 



A Remedy for Wire Worms 



I HAD a rather interesting experiment with 

 Papaver orientate last summer. It was with 

 one of the hybrids, the beautiful salmon-colored 

 Princess Louise. Just as it was about to flower 

 with eight or ten splendid looking buds of promise, 

 two of the smaller flower stalks wilted over one 

 morning in a most dejected manner. Looking 

 closely at the base of the plant, I found the inevi- 

 table skipjack (the better name for wire worm). 

 At my touch he coiled up his shining brown length 

 and lay quiet, looking like a sleeping snail out of his 

 shell. I took away some earth and found many 

 more of the creatures. The poppy's main root 

 was attacked, and had turned to a horrid, black, 

 oozy mass part way through. It seemed a fatal 



malady, and the whole plant looked doomed. I 

 could not bear to think of waiting a whole year 

 for these great silky petals to again flaunt them- 

 selves, for only one flower was out at this time and 

 the other buds held such promise. I determined on 

 desperate measures. 



As the soil around the plant was no doubt 

 full of baby skipjacks, I gently excavated a 

 quantity from around the stalk, then cut away 

 with my pruning knife much of the soft, oozy 

 part of the stem and root, going several inches 

 under ground. I dusted sulphur all around the 

 stem and applied some soil fumigant, called ap- 

 terite, a red powder which had been sometimes 

 successful though never tried in such an advanced 

 case as this. Then a quantity of absolutely new 

 soil was clapped into the cavity and the plant 

 watered well. Next I sheltered the whole injured 

 side with a newspaper gently pinned in place. 

 This occurred about nine o'clock in the morning 

 of a hot June day. Off came the bandage at night, 

 so that Nature and her healing dew could continue 

 the cure. Back went the bandage next morning 

 and in two days the thankful Princess Louise, to 

 the joy of her anxious owner, announced herself 

 well. Out came every glorious swelling bud in 

 due time, their salmon-colored satin petals more 

 beautiful than ever. 



Of course, such tragedies do not happen to my 

 sturdy red scarlet ones. I would have preferred 

 to have had the surgical case on a plant less 

 precious, but as it was successful, it makes me 

 bolder. As the saying goes, "All that is done, is 

 done by daring." 



Pennsylvania. Frances E. McIlvaine. 



A Wheelbarrow Extension 



TO INCREASE the capacity of my wheel- 

 barrow I have made what might appro- 

 priately be called a wheelbarrow "extension." 

 It may be described as an oblong box with one 

 end and half of the bottom knocked out, although 

 this is not strictly accurate as the sides are placed 

 at the same slant as those of the wheelbarrow 

 proper so that they may fit against the wheelbarrow 

 side boards when in position. 



I use half-inch boards twelve or fourteen inches 

 wide, cutting one piece to fit across the handles 

 close to the wheelbarrow box. This is for the 

 bottom, and, if properly fitted, will give the slant 

 for the sides. Now cut the end piece for the ex- 

 tension one inch shorter than the widest side of 

 the bottom board, and the two side boards long 

 enough to extend well into the wheelbarrow box. 

 Nail the side pieces to the ends of the end piece, 

 then nail on the bottom and the contrivance is 

 completed. Be sure that the side pieces are close 



Two views of an " extension " which greatly 

 increases the holding capacity of a wheelbarrow. 

 Easily and cheaply made 



enough together at the open end to slip snugly inside 

 the sides of the wheelbarrow box. 



This is easily made, easily removed when not 

 needed, and for carting vegetables from the garden, 

 or bulky materials like leaves, will be found very 

 convenient. 



Virginia. S. H. A. 



How I Propagated Roses 



I HAVE in my garden forty-nine little rose bushes 

 growing in 2§- and 3-inch pots, which are 

 the result of a few minutes given now and then 

 during the summer to setting out the cuttings. 



The cuttings were taken from time to time from 

 the big rose bushes. At first jelly and drinking 

 glasses were used to cover the cuttings, several 

 being frequently placed under the same tumbler; 

 but when the house supply was finally exhausted, 

 a wooden frame a foot square and four inches deep, 

 covered with a pane of glass, was substituted. 

 The frame being in full sunlight, a thickness of 

 newspaper nearly covering it was laid on the 

 glass to prevent sunburn. The cuttings covered 

 by tumblers were usually set on the north side of 

 sparsely planted rose beds where they had partial 

 shade. 



In most cases the two-eye cuttings were taken 

 from the flowering stem, the lower leaf and half 

 of the upper being removed; but any hardened 

 wood of the present year's growth was taken from 

 Hybrid Perpetuals as their first bloom was over 

 before the attempt to propagate them was begun. 



Successful cuttings were made from Prince 

 Camille de Rohan, Abel Carriere, Coquette 

 des Alpes, Mrs. John Laing, Frau Karl Druschki, 

 Margaret Dickson, and the climbing Dorothy 

 Perkins. 



Among the teas and hybrid teas are rooted cut- 

 tings from Mrs. B. R. Cant and Beauty of Rose- 

 mawr. The latter was especially beautiful in 

 September and both were almost constantly in 

 bloom from June till frost. Cuttings from Virginia 

 R. Cox, General McArthur, delightfully fragrant, 

 Kaiserin Augusta Victoria, Souv. de Jean de 

 Cabaud, Killarney, Duchess of Albany, La France, 

 Marie Van Houtte and a dozen others also give 

 promise of roses next summer. 



Connecticut. C. 



A New Way to Water Melons 



ON THE farm in Pennsylvania where I grew 

 up lived an old ex-slave from Virginia, 

 who could raise finer melons than any brought 

 from the South. He did this by the use of liquid 

 manure; he puttered round the vines night and 

 morning while the sun was low, with the mixture, 

 although I never actually saw him watering the 

 vines. 



Years afterward, when I tried to imitate his 

 methods, I succeeded in doing nothing except to 

 cause the ground to bake when the manure water 

 hardened on the surface. To prevent this I dug 

 a hole in the centre of each melon hill and poured 

 the mixture into it, only to coax the feeding roots 

 up to the surface of the ground, so that if the 

 supply of water was not frequently and regularly 

 renewed the plant withered. 



Finally I hit upon this plan : To plant my melon 

 seeds in a circle, reserving the middle of the hill 

 for an old two-quart lard pail, having half-a- 

 dozen holes punched in the bottom. I sink this 

 four inches into the earth before the seeds are 

 planted, so as not to disturb their roots. If this 

 pail is kept filled with liquid manure after the plants 

 begin to run they will grow with wonderful rapidity. 



Squashes and pumpkins thus stimulated may 

 have a handful or two of rich earth thrown over the 

 vine where each of the first three or four leaves 

 springs from the main vining stem. Rootlets 

 will strike down at these points and help to sup- 

 port the heavy leaves. Muskmelons will bear 

 the same treatment, and I believe watermelons, 

 citrons and cucumbers will also respond, although 

 I have not yet tried it. A further advantage of 

 this treatment is that the vines will not be seriously 

 injured if attacked by the melon vine borer, a 

 pestiferous enemy in some places 



Pennsylvania. William F. Gibbons. 



