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// a problem grows in your garden write to 

 the Readers* Service for assistance 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 191© 



Just what every amateur wants to know 



Don't miss getting Dreer's Garden Book for 1910. 



The splendidly helpful new feature of Special Cultural 

 Notes by Experts, introduced in the 1909 edition, is 

 enlarged to include many more subjects this year, 

 making the book of still greater value as a garden guide 

 and reference work for the amateur. 



Everywhere Dreer's Garden Book is received with 

 enthusiasm. One correspondent says: "It groups to- 

 gether, in a brief and clear manner, all the necessary infor- 

 mation on the treatment of plants, which ordinarily would 

 require the perusal of several volumes on horticulture. ' ' 



Another letter from a gardener who is seventy years 

 young, says : ' ' The instructions are so varied and so plain; 

 and all about the plants I wanted so much to know." 

 Still another: "It is far and away the finest and most 

 practical garden book and just what amateur gardeners 

 need." One more: "./ spent last evening with Dreer's 

 Garden Book, and found it the most complete of any 

 similar work ever published." 



The 1910 Edition contains 256 large pages of practical and 

 usable information, based on a gardening experience of seventy- 

 two years. 



It is illustrated with upwards of a thousand engravings from 

 photographs, and with beautiful color and duotone plates. 



1200 varieties of flower seeds are described and priced; 600 

 varieties of dependable vegetables; and over 2000 kinds of plants, 

 besides hardy shrubs, climbers, small fruits, aquatics, etc., etc. 



Besides telling how to grow flowers and raise vegetables, from 

 seeds, it gives instructions on growing flowers in the house — 

 soil, potting, drainage, watering, etc. 



It shows how to get the best results with hardy plants, 

 explains the planting, pruning and care of shrubs, tells the 

 tools to use, insecticides, fertilizers, etc. 



In short, Dreer's Garden Book is the best guide to successful 

 gardening. 



Dreer s Garden Book sent free on receipt of request mentioning this magazine 



HENRY A. DREER FdiifelES 



spaded when a few trees are to be planted, and 

 where the plow can not be used. The holes must be 

 dug large enough so that the roots will not be 

 crowded. Any roots that are injured should be 

 pruned in order to have the cut surface lie flat on 

 the soil. Cut the limbs back, too, so that they will 

 not evaporate more moisture than can be con- 

 veyed to them by the pruned roots. This would 

 produce a stunty growth of foliage. I also wish to 

 advise against the prevailing tendency to fill the tree 

 holes with manure, or better soil taken from else- 

 where. The trees should stand from twelve to 

 twenty feet apart each way. The distance is 

 governed by the varieties and their habits arid the 

 natural fertility of the soil. 



While the trees are young, and especially during 

 the first year of growth, the soil should be stirred 

 often to preserve moisture. As one is more 

 inclined to cultivate well and regularly when some 

 crop is grown among the trees, corn — the first and 

 second year — potatoes, melons, or some other 

 hoed crop may be grown in the young orchard. As 

 soon, however, as the trees have attained bearing 

 size and age, the land should not be cropped. 



If possible, chickens should be allowed full range 

 under them to destroy the curculio and other insects, 

 that drop from the trees. Chickens are indeed 

 great "spraying machines." 



Barnyard manure may be used liberally if the 

 soil is sandy or lacks humus. After the trees have 





By all means plant some cherries: any deep soil 

 not too rich will do 



reached bearing age, they require more mineral 

 fertilizing elements, especially potash. This can 

 be supplied in the form of commercial fertilizers 

 — potash salts and phosphates — or ashes and hen 

 manure. When the distance is not too great, the 

 house slops should be poured around the trees. 

 They contain fertilizing elements in a soluble, 

 and therefore readily available form and will pro- 

 duce a luxuriant, healthy growth of foliage. 



During the first few years of growth, care must 

 be taken to secure a proper distribution of the limbs 

 that are to form the framework branches of a tree. 

 Sweet cherry trees may need severe cutting back 

 at first to maintain them within bounds. Of course, 

 it will be necessary to cut out dead and decaying 

 limbs and those interfering. Sweet cherries must 

 be pruned so they will produce an upright form, 

 while the sour varieties are inclined to grow in 

 woods and should be pruned to produce a drooping 

 habit. 



The fruiting habit of the cherry is closely related 

 to that of the apple and pear, therefore, the shorten- 

 ing of the annual growth is of less importance with 

 it than with the peach. 



Wisconsin. F. A. Strohschein. 





