80 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



For over a hundred years have been universally 

 recognized as the standard of excellence. 



OUR CATALOGUE— the 104th successive annual edition- 

 contains a more complete assortment and fuller cultural 

 directions than any other seed annual published. It is 

 beautifully illustrated with the finest half-tones. It contains 144 

 large-size pages, and is in every respect and without exception the 

 most complete, most reliable, and the most beautiful of American 

 Garden Annuals. We will mail it FREE to all interested in 

 gardening or farming. 



We Have Been Awarded 



TWO GRAND PRIZES 



At 



the 



St. Louis Exposition 





One for the collection of VEGETABLES grown from our 

 Seeds and another for our collection of SEEDS. 



We are offering this year, the great 



Noroton Beauty Potato 



The most -valuable 

 ever introduced. 



Fulldescription andthe opinions of manyhigh authoritieswho have tested it, will be found 

 in our catalogue, which will be mailed FREE, to all interested in gardening or farming. 



J. M. THORBURN & CO., ffiffiKii 36 Cortlandt St., NEW YORK 



so? Years in the Business. 



Strawberry Plants 



and SEED POTATOES 



You can make more money if you plant intel- 

 ligently. Write and tell us about vour soil. 

 We'll send you our Free Descriptive Book. 

 Over 100 varieties. 



The FLANSBURG & PEIRSON CO. 



LESLIE, MICH. 



Send Me 8 cents 



and namesof two flower loving friends 

 I will start you with 4 packets of pure, 

 fresh seed — Nasturtiums — 20 kinds: 

 Koy al Show Pansies — 100 colors ; Sweet 

 Peas— 40 varieties; Asters— all kinds. 

 FREE— "Floral Culture," and 13th 

 Annual Catalogue, with big list of rare 

 seed bargains; also my offer of S100 cash 

 prizes for best pictures of lawns and 

 vardssown with the famous Lippincott 

 seeds. Write TODAY; you'll forget it 

 TOMORROW. 



MISS C. H. LIPPIHCOTT 



fioncer Scectswoman of America S19 Cth Street, Minneapolis, JUm>- 



" You plant good seed if 

 you buy of Miss White." 



SEEDS 



Seat free, my dainty catalogue of the choicest and rarest of beautiful 

 flowers. If you inclose 6c. and addresses of two other flower lovers, 

 I will send you also my Surprise Packetf 500 seeds of 20 choice annuals, 

 mixed) and certificate for my 5th Annual Prize Contest for flowers 

 grown from it. First prize, §50.00. Catalogue gives particulars. 

 Write me — do it now. 



3010 AMrii-li A* 



MIS* EMMA V. AVIIITE, Seeds 



MINNEAPOLIS. MINN. 



LAWNS 



Nothing adds more to the beauty and value of a home place than 

 a nice lawn. Our Lawn Book tells how to make and keep a 

 beautiful velvety lawn. Of great interest and worth dollars to 

 every one who has even a small place, but we will be glad to 

 furnish you a copy of same free if you mention this magazine. 

 Our large catalogue of Seeds, Plants, Shrubs, etc., would also be 

 of value to you. Better ask for it. 



IOWA SEED CO., Des Moines, Iowa 



FERTILIZERS 



How to Buy Nitrogen for the 

 Home Garden 



OF the three necessary components of all 

 complete fertilizers — nitrogen, potash 

 and phosphorus — the first is the most expen- 

 sive and, in a sense, the most necessary. We 

 may call it the unit element, the one which 

 practically determines plant growth and 

 ability to assimilate the others. There are 

 four great sources of nitrogen: the legumes, 

 manure, animal refuse, and chemicals. 



Although about four-fifths of the atmos- 

 phere consists of nitrogen, few plants possess 

 the power of acquiring it from that source. 

 Of those that can do this, the most familiar 

 are the clovers, peas, beans and vetches, while 

 most other plants commonly grown in the 

 lawn, garden or orchard possess little or no 

 such power. Where it is possible to give over 

 a portion of the land to the growth of such 

 nitrogen-fixers and to plow them under when 

 in good growth, nitrogen may be supplied 

 to the soil in an inexpensive and satisfactory 

 manner. In addition to the nitrogen, they 

 furnish decaying vegetable matter, which 

 assists materially in lightening and mellow- 

 ing the soil, as well as in its permanent 

 enrichment. This is practicable and profit- 

 able to the farmer who can spare his land for 

 a season for this purpose, and also to the 

 professional fruit grower, but is hardly pos- 

 sible as a means of fertilizing the garden, or 

 for isolated fruit trees or ornamental plants. 



Stable manure, if it has been properly 

 cared for, is rich in nitrogen and supplies 

 the much-valued humus of the turned-under 

 green crops, but it is also rich in seeds of 

 weeds and undesirable plants that have 

 ruined many a good lawn and added many 

 a backache to the enthusiastic gardener's 

 burden. It also contains phosphorus and 

 potash. 



Prominent animal products are dried 

 blood, fish guano and tankage. The per- 

 centage of nitrogen in animal products 

 ranges from six to ten per cent., and there is 

 also a wide variation in the availability of 

 the nitrogen as plant food, this availability 

 depending entirely on the rapidity of decay 

 of the matter, which involves a double 

 chemical change of the nitrogen, first into 

 ammonia and then into nitrate, before the 

 plant can utilize it. Animal fertilizers are 

 largely used in farming operations, but in 

 my opinion there is no inducement for the 

 home gardener to buy them, because of their 

 great variation in quantity and availability 

 of nitrogen, to say nothing of their offensive 

 odor. 



The chief chemical sources of nitrogen are 

 nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia. The 



