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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



that is, iron with a wood veneer. It costs a 

 little more than a wood house, but it lasts 

 longer, costs less for repairs, and admits 

 more light, because its frame is more slender. 

 An even-span house, twenty-five by fifty feet 

 with six-foot sides, all iron frame, can be 

 erected for about $2,200 without masonry 

 work, but covering cost of erection, with 

 cement walks, iron-frame benches with tile 

 bottom and glass with sixteen by twenty-four 

 double - thick glass. Also boiler and an 

 adequate system of four-inch cast-iron pipes 

 to maintain a temperature of 55 to 6o°F. in 

 zero weather. There would be to add to 

 this figure certain fluctuating charges on 

 account of freight, cartage, expenses of work- 

 men, excavating and grading, the cost of 

 which would vary according to local con- 

 ditions, and might even total as much as 

 $700 more. Masonry work, to include a cel- 

 lar for the boiler, would cost perhaps $1 ,000. 

 A wood house would cost perhaps one-third 

 less. The height of the sides modifies the 

 cost of the house very materially, and the 

 higher they are the greater the consumption 

 of coal to maintain the required degree of 

 heat. 



SOLID BEDS OR EAISED BENCHES? 



The present tendency is favoring solid 

 beds, especially for American Beauty- The 

 hybrid teas, which give the greatest satis- 

 faction under glass, seem to flower more 

 freely when planted in beds; on benches they 

 exhibit a tendency to go dormant, and cease 

 growth. 



The benches should hold four and one-half 

 inches of soil and have drainage provided 

 by having the bottom boards or tiles one-half 

 inch apart. In solid beds drainage material 

 — broken stone — is placed in for a space 

 of fifteen inches and a soil depth of six or 

 seven inches allowed. 



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Raising Hollyhocks From Seed 

 Sown in July 



ANYONE can easily raise a stock of holly- 

 hocks by sowing the seeds as soon as 

 possible after they are ripe. It is important 

 to gather them as early as possible, because 

 if left on the plants there is danger of loss 

 from rotting as a result of the late summer 

 rains. The old-fashioned way of raising 

 hollyhocks was by cuttings, and if one 

 wishes to be sure of increasing a given 

 variety that is the only way. I have grown a 

 full set of Chater's hollyhocks, which are the 

 finest to be had, and found that they would 



reproduce themselves so nearly true from 

 seed as to render the tedious cutting method 

 quite unnecessary for the ordinary amateur. 

 Sow seeds in July in a drill one inch deep in 

 a sunny, rich soil, leaving plenty of space 

 between the seeds to allow the young plants 

 to grow without crowding until the next 

 spring — not less than four inches. The drills 

 should be eighteen inches apart, to permit 

 cultivation either with the wheel cultivator or 

 hand hoe. At the approach of winter protect 

 the plants by a light covering of straw and 

 leaves with boards placed over all, both to 

 hold the covering and to shed water. This 

 is of course best done by having two boards 

 joined together to form an inverted V. If it 

 is desired to keep the colors separate, of 

 course they must be labeled in the rows 

 where sown; but if a mixed bed of hollyhocks 

 is wanted it is far better to mix the seeds 

 before sowing, for somehow or other it is 

 hard to plant a mixed bed from separate 

 colors — at least it is hard to get it done satis- 

 factorily. 



When the covering is removed the following 

 spring the plants will be in perfect condition 

 to transplant to the positions they are to fill 

 in the garden. When lifting them take great 

 care to dig deep and secure intact the long, 

 fleshy roots, as they are the standby of the 

 plants during the stress of hot weather and 

 drought. The reason why there are so many 

 hollyhocks of only average quality seen, and 

 so few really good ones, is that insufficient 

 care is given to preparing the soil. The holly- 

 hock is a plant that can hardly be overfed 

 and revels in a deep, rich soil. Double dig 

 the place where they are to be planted and 

 put a generous quantity of rich manure in the 

 trench when refilling it; or feed freely all 

 through the growing season with nitrate of 

 soda, one-half ounce, and superphosphate 

 and kainit, one-fourth ounce each, to two 

 gallons of water. Give this once in three 

 weeks. 



The all-outdoor cultivation of hollyhocks 

 is far more simple than the old way of starting 

 them under glass and, moreover, gives us 

 plants with stronger constitution. Treated 

 in this way as a biennial, it will give better 

 results than when grown as a perennial. 



A RACE OF ANNUALS 



Very recently a distinct new race of holly- 

 hocks has been introduced which promises 

 to be very valuable to the amateur in that if 

 sown early the plants grow to full size in the 

 season and bloom profusely in late summer 

 — branching freely from the ground up. 

 There are both single and semi-double 

 varieties, and the foliage is often distinctly 

 lobed (showing evident traces of Althaa 

 fici/olia), the colors are of many shades, and 

 by a little selection we shall no doubt have 

 as wide a range of color with equal perfection 

 in form as exist to-day in the older hollyhock 

 (.4. rosea). In their essential requirements 

 these are the same as the older favorites and 

 will certainly become popular. 



One other advantage of the annuals is 

 that they do not appear to be so liable to the 

 disease which almost ruined hollyhock cul- 

 ture a few years ago. This system of growing 



the old type strictly as a biennial, sowing in 

 July as directed, very materially lessens the 

 liability to disease. 



Propagation by cutting is accomplished 

 by taking pieces of young shoots, consisting 

 of two joints with lower leaves removed, and 

 inserting them in fine soil frames during 

 August. But I prefer seeds. 



Massachusetts. jr q Qrpet. 



My Practical $500 Greenhouse 



nPOO many amateur gardeners are accus- 

 -!■ tomed to pass into a state of hiberna- 

 tion — a sort of enforced passivity in cold 

 months, because they believe nothing can be 

 doing. But winter need no longer be a sea- 

 son of suspended animation. A greenhouse 

 that is warm in winter and free from the evils 

 of drip can be built and heated for $500. 



And such a little house will work the mira- 

 cle of early started vegetables and plants that 

 flower at Christmas and Easter. It is not 



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392. An 8 x 20-foot greenhouse like this was erected 

 complete with heating apparatus for $500. It is just 

 the thing where a south wall is available for one side 



an elaborate, highly ornamented structure 

 with all sorts of iron trellis frills and trims 

 about it, but just a plain practical green- 

 house made to grow plants. 



Of course, it is a "lean-to" house, because, 

 in utilizing a wall of some other building for 

 the side, a comparatively larger house at 

 lesser cost can be erected, and it is placed on 

 the south side of the building or wall, that 

 being the better location — warmer and sun- 

 nier — if it is not too far removed from an 

 existing cellar which may be used for the 



