THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



15 



16. The strawberries that grew in the lea of the arbor- 

 vitae hedge were the earliest in the neighborhood 



the garden. They are heavy feeders, and 

 the vines do their best and heaviest bearing 

 the second year, although they will yield a 

 fair crop the third. 



THE AUTHOR'S GARDEN 



May I sketch our garden for you, laying 

 out the berries ? (Fig. 13.) This is only one 

 of many plans, but it seems to be entirely 

 satisfactory for our situation with its southern 

 exposure. 



Remember that bush berries are fairly 

 high in growth and should not shade the rest 

 of the garden too much, and also keep in 

 mind the fact that strawberries should be 

 sheltered somewhat, if you wish early fruit. 

 Of course, currants should go among the 

 gooseberries, for one could not get along 

 without their piquancy and brilliant coloring, 

 especially if one take pride in one's jellies. 



17. The beginning of a compost heap— sods, leaves, 

 old vines, and tops 



Sometimes there are gardens shaded from 

 a valuable amount of sun by a row of trees. 

 This can at times be remedied by topping 

 the trees, which will stimulate the trees' 

 growth, keep them fuller and in better form, 

 and at the same time let the sun over them 

 into the garden. 



THE PROBLEM OF INCLOSING A GARDEN 



Is it desirable to have your garden in- 

 closed ? Is it necessary to keep out chickens, 

 dogs, or children ? I hope never your own 

 children, for garden life means a fuller life 

 for them, and being in mother's or father's 

 garden will make the sowing, transplanting, 

 thinning, and weeding so natural that their 

 own garden will come as a matter of course. 

 However, if the garden must be inclosed, let 

 me offer a suggestion. Make a fence of locust 

 posts, on which stretch one-inch-mesh chicken- 



18. Some of the flowers that screened the vegetables 

 in the garden sketched in Figures 10 and 11 



wire. There may be a top and bottom rail, 

 or not. It will furnish you a first-class pea, 

 bean, and tomato trellis, and should a part 

 be too shady for vegetables, plant wild cu- 

 cumber or morning-glory, which will sow 

 their own seed year after year and be no 

 trouble to you, but, instead, a joy forever; 

 or the entire fence may be made a thing of 

 beauty by covering it with sweet peas or nas- 

 turtiums. When the peas and beans or to- 

 matoes reach the top of the fence, which 

 should be four feet, I think, cut the tops off 

 and force the strength into the fruit. We 

 use a combination of flowers and berries for 

 the garden's division lines instead of a fence, 

 currants, gooseberries, black-caps, and even 

 the low-growing strawberry being utilized, 

 and our friends at least always speak of the 

 neat, well-kept appearance of our little gar ■ 

 den plot. 



All the Foxgloves Worth Cultivating— By f. a. Waugh A ™,"r ulturc 



THE FIRST OF A SERIES OF "LITTLE MONOGRAPHS" WRITTEN BY SPECIAL- 

 ISTS FOR THE EXPERT GARDENER, WHETHER AMATEUR OR PROFESSIONAL, 

 AND DESIGNED TO BRING OUR KNOWLEDGE OF EACH SUBJECT UP TO DATE 



Photographs by the author and Henry Troth 



[Editorial Note — When Professor Bailey completed his monumental Cyclopedia of American Horticulture, he announced that he considered it only a beginning ; that his work was largely 

 designed as a record of American horticulture at the beginning of the twentieth century, and that he hoped the Cyclopedia would be considered as a basis for further improvement. The Garden 

 Magazine offers its columns to those who are in a position to contribute something to the advancement of horticultural science, and would be glad to co-operate with those who have investigations 

 under way. Correspondence is invited. We particularly wish to hear from those who are growing complete collections of anything and those who are creating new varieties. 



As a beginning. The Garden Magazine proposes two new things, which it is hoped will be considered improvements ; first, that the readable or human portion of a monograph should come 

 first, and the technical portion, which is only for reference, last. Second, that every species in cultivation should be provided with a " common " or English name, which should be passed upon by 

 a committee representing all interests, and published in an official and formal way. The ornithologists have provided every bird with a vernacular name, to the great benefit of bird study ; each wild 

 flower in Britton and Brown's " Illustrated Flora " has an English name, and the time is now ripe for giving one to every cultivated plant. 



Professor Waugh's article is the first of a new type of horticultural writing, in which the point of view is primarily human and horticultural, not the dry-as-dust botanical. The old style 

 "alphabetical monograph" merely describes species; it does not distinguish them. This new department will do both, and hopes to be interesting also, as well as praclical. The new plan 

 combines the convenience of the alphabetical arrangement with the accuracy of the " key " arrangement, which alone can give one a grasp of 1I12 whole genus in the shortest possible time.] 



THE common foxglove is, or ought to be, 

 one of the twelve most popular "hardy 

 perennials." About the second week in 

 July, when the foxglove is the queen of the 

 border, there is a certain moment when 

 each stately spire is at its best — the moment 

 when the lowest flowers are quite open and 

 the upper ones successively smaller, until the 

 topmost buds are merely little dots of green. 

 It is impossible to resist the spirit of the fox- 

 glove; its whole expression is one of aspira- 

 tion. Every one who has the rudiments of 

 an imagination in him thinks at once of 

 church towers and bells. Although the 

 foliage is rather coarse, the whole plant is 

 one of the stateliest of perennials, having the 



same sort of formal beauty as the larkspur, 

 which enjoys a later reign in the same border. 



The foxglove is one of the commonest 

 English wildflowers, and there are some local- 

 ities in America where it has run wild, but not 

 in great masses as in Europe. 



The common foxglove has two distinct 

 uses. The typical, or purple-flowered form, 

 is best for wild gardens or for those hardy 

 borders which are not kept up to the highest 

 mark of neatness. In such places the fox- 

 glove "self-sows" and finally makes glorious 

 colonies. But for the most refined borders 

 the appropriate thing is the gloxinia-flow- 

 ered strain — so called because the flowers are 

 larger and spotted in the throat like the 



gorgeous gloxinias of the greenhouse. For 

 a certain chaste effect the white - flowered 

 variety of this strain (Digitalis purpurea, var. 

 gloxinia>flora alba) is unrivalled in the genus. 

 It is difficult to keep these refined foxgloves 

 up to their best, and many people complain 

 that their high-priced varieties revert to the 

 original type. The explanation usually is 

 that the uncommon forms have not had the 

 uncommon treatment they deserve, as will be 

 explained forthwith. 



The common foxglove is usually a biennial, 

 which sometimes lasts three or four years, 

 and the seeds are generally sown in spring, 

 Unless well cared for, they may not make 

 large enough plants by autumn to live out- 



