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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 





m^ 



Burpee's "Fordhook Finest" Lawn Grass 



AT ST. LOUIS WORLD'S FAIR 



The Gold Medal for Lawn Grass S&lgTn ; a LTthe 



lawns produced from Burpee's " Fordhook Finest " Lawn Grass. This is the highest 

 award possible. The seed from which these lawns were produced was exactly the same 

 "prescription " and quality as supplied regularly to our trade. If you would have the 

 best lawn it is possible to produce you should order this unequaled " Gold Medal " 

 Mixture. 35 cents per lb. box, postpaid. By express or freight, 25 cents per lb.; 

 25 lbs or more, at 20 cents per lb. It is the cleanest and heaviest seed on the market ; 

 weighs 25 to 27 lbs. per measured bushel. 



A GRAND PRIZE for Vegetables at ST. LOUIS was 

 won by the products of Burpee's "Seeds that Grow" 



If you garden you want THE BEST, and we shall be pleased to mail you Burpee's 



Farm Annual for 1905 — an elegant new book of ij8 pages, which tells the plain truth, 

 with hundreds of illustrations, beautiful colored plates and describes Superb Novelties of 

 unusual merit. Write to-day ! A postal card will do, while it is sufficient to address simply 



BURPEE'S SEEDS, PHILADELPHIA 



W. ATLEE BURPEE & CO. 

 Seed Growers and Proprietors of the World's Largest Mail=Order Seed Trade 



LARGE FLOWERING CLEMATIS 



MADAM ANDRE 

 (Red), JACKMANNI 

 (Purple), HENRY II 

 (White). Three (3), 

 one of each, strong 2- 

 year old, field-grown ; 

 by mail to any address, 

 $1.60. PLANTS and 

 FRUIT TREES in great 

 variety. 



Get our free catalogue. H. S, WILEY & SON, Box 22, CAYUGA, N. Y. 



latter is a by-product of the manufacture of 

 coal gas and the richest in nitrogen of all 

 fertilizer elements, but it must undergo the 

 change to nitrate before growing plants can 

 use it. Its price is against it. 



Nitrate of soda is, I believe, the most 

 abundant and cheapest of all forms of nitro- 

 gen for the home garden. In its commercial 

 form it contains from fifteen to sixteen per 

 cent, of nitrogen in a state that makes it imme- 

 diately available for the plant. It comes in 

 the form of a coarse salt, is cleanly to handle, 

 and is without offensive odor. Nitrate of 

 soda may be used safely and advantageously 

 as a top-dressing on the lawn or garden or 

 around shrubs or trees. It absorbs moisture 

 from the atmosphere and quickly dissolves. 

 That it is ready for immediate use by plants 

 may be easily shown by sowing some of it 

 on the lawn in the shape of any well-marked 

 figure. Under favorable conditions, after 

 five or six days the figure will be plainly seen 

 in the luxuriant growth and rich, dark-green 

 color of the grass. Under the best condi- 

 tions as much as 400 pounds per acre may 

 be used, but the safe and wise quantity for 

 general purposes is 100 pounds per acre. 



Nitrate of soda hastens the maturity of 

 fruits and vegetables. The amount of nitro- 

 gen taken up by a given crop varies from 

 forty-six pounds per acre for grapes to 150 

 pounds per acre for cabbages. Nitrogen 

 alone is not a complete fertilizer. Plants 

 must have potash and phosphorus, but it is 

 always safe to add nitrogen either to any 

 fertilizer that is ordinarily used or to apply 

 it directly to the soil in form of a top-dressing. 

 Nitrate of soda may be obtained from any 

 seed store or fertilizer dealer. 



New York. 



Blaxton C. Welsh. 



Two Formulas for Lawn Fertilizer 



TF I were laying down a lawn (and I should 

 -*• prefer to do so with chemicals rather than 

 stable manure, to avoid weed seeds), I should 

 use a mixture to analyze about 

 3 per cent, ammonia, 

 12 per cent, phosphoric acid, 

 10 per cent, potash, 

 and it should be made up of dissolved bone 

 and muriate of potash, with a portion of the 

 ammonia in the form of nitrate of soda, say 

 one-third of it. This would give a mixture 

 that would insure a good catch of grass seed 

 and would place in the soil a good quantity 

 of phosphate of lime and potash as a per- 

 manent dressing for the grass roots to feed 

 upon. The following year I would top-dress 

 with a fertilizer containing, say 

 6 per cent, ammonia, 

 6 per cent, phosphoric acid, 

 6 per cent, potash, 

 the ammonia to be present one-half in the 

 form of nitrate of soda, the rest in the form 

 of organic matter like that obtained from 

 dissolved bone. 



Such a mixture I have found to work 

 admirably on lawns. It gives a beautiful 

 green turf and avoids the presence of ob- 

 noxious weed seeds and also noxious odors 

 from unsightly stable dressing. 



Massachusetts. W. H. B. 



