178 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



April, 19 10 



You can also prepare lima bean hills now, but I 

 would not advise sowing until after May ist. Dig 

 good deep hills for the limas and add plenty of 

 manure to the soil. Mark off the row and place 

 poles by making good deep holes with a crowbar; 

 then dig around the pole and fill in with the soil 

 that has been removed, to which about one-third 

 manure has been added. I use a wheel-barrowful 

 to every three hills. 



Before setting plants of cabbage, cauliflower, 

 Brussels sprouts, leek, lettuce, etc., out in the open 

 ground, harden them off slightly. Start by 

 having a little air on the frame at night and 

 keep gradually increasing the amount until by 

 the end of the month the sash can be left off 

 altogether. 



Egg plant, peppers and tomatoes are best 

 left in the frames until the end of May and 

 should not be subjected to the hardening-off 

 process. So partition off your warm plants in 

 some way. 



Make drills about three or four inches deep for 

 cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and leeks with 

 the edge of a hoe. The drill protects the newly set 

 plants from the wind and sun, and catches water; 

 the soil can easily be leveled off after the plants 

 have attained any size. It is not practical to do 

 this with lettuce or onions. When planting out 

 vegetables always place your line and make a 

 drill as a guide to getting straight rows, but for 

 lettuce and onions and such vegetables, make it 

 very shallow, one inch being deep enough. 



New York. W. C. McCollom. 



[Next month we will take up the sowing of lima 

 beans and other heat lovers; sowing for succession; 

 thinning out, etc. — The Editors.] 



A Washing Tank for Vegetables 



IF you have no place where the vegetables can be 

 washed before taking them into the house and 

 if you do not feel inclined to build a proper washing 

 tank, use a barrel sawed in two or an old butter 

 tub. But a tank would not cost very much; it 

 could be made as follows: 



Dig a hole about eighteen inches deep, three feet 

 long and two feet wide. Build inside of this a tank 

 of bricks, putting a partition in one end, the par- 

 tition wall being about two inches lower than the 

 side walls. Place a pipe in the bottom of each 

 basin leading to a barrel or some other drainage, 

 and then plaster the bottom and side walls with 

 cement. Place a cork in the pipe in the large 

 washing compartment, which is only used to draw 

 off the water in winter. All the sand is held in the 

 first compartment by the partition. Throw the 

 vegetables right into the tank; if you have a half 

 barrel alongside to hold refuse it will help. 



New York. L. I. C. 



Double Crops All Season 



SHOULD I call my garden work last year a 

 success? I suppose the professional might 

 be richly indignant did the same ground yield him 

 no better returns; but since I got a double crop 

 from nearly every foot of land and a yield that 

 supplied my table and some of my neighbors' all 

 summer, and which is still proven by turnips, 

 winter radishes, beets, celery and oyster plant in 

 my cellar, I feel satisfied and, indeed, gratified. 



Like some of you who are now planning next 

 summer's garden, I began mine last February. 

 My recreation from business during the evenings 

 was in searching seed catalogues. Moreover, as 

 I knew little about gardening, I got from these 

 catalogues many valuable ideas on planting, caring 

 for crops and harvesting. I secured from our 

 agricultural college reports on small gardens, to 

 learn what might be expected to grow luxuriously 

 on soil of poor quality, and on a patch only 40 x 40 

 ft. Later when I became acquainted with the 

 nature of my soil I felt ashamed of myself for trying 

 to produce anything until I had enriched it and it 

 seemed audacious to think of double crops. 



But I was an amateur and worked along in bliss- 

 ful ignorance. Before my open fire I drew design 

 after design of that garden. I plotted it out, and 

 produced my crops time after time in imagination, 

 until at last planting time actually arrived and I 

 was so eager to get the seeds into the ground that 

 the plots and plans were well-nigh forgotten. 



I had, however, spent one winter evening in 

 making garden labels. They were whittled from 

 cigar-box wood, just wide enough to write in the 

 name of the seed, variety and date of planting. 

 These came in very handy, for when one has covered 

 even 40 x 40 ft. with different seeds, it is most 

 difficult to remember which is which and where is 

 what. Moreover, these sign posts afforded an 

 opportunity for further study. 



In a single row forty feet long I planted spinach. 

 A half dozen inches away I put a row of earliest 



corn. Lettuce and radishes had been sown together 

 in a long row. As the radishes were ready for 

 pulling earlier than the lettuce they were gotten 

 out of the way, the lettuce being coaxed into develop- 

 ing big heads. Immediately beside this I planted 

 a second row of corn which had the field to itself 

 as soon as the lettuce had ripened. 



My several varieties of peas — several because 

 we are particularly fond of peas — were gotten 

 out of the way in season for tomatoes. These were 

 my pride. I raised eleven different varieties, includ- 

 ing the small strawberry, from house-sown seeds. 

 Each alternate tomato row was provided with a 

 stick to which the vines were tied. While the 

 closely pruned vines yielded earlier, they did not 

 produce as abundantly as those which were allowed 

 to spread over the ground. 



We had string beans all summer. The last were 

 picked after the first frost and were, I believe, the 

 most delicious of the year, or did they seem so 

 because of their unseasonableness? As fast as 

 they ripened, cabbage, Brussels sprouts and pepper 

 plants followed. After early beets I set hotbed- 

 raised cucumber and squash plants. Summer 

 squash plants were removed in time for celery 

 settings that had been growing in the hotbed. 

 Later peas gave way to later corn; oyster plant and 

 parsnips succeeded more early beets. 



But best of all to me was that where I had raised 

 my first spinach and early corn I was enabled to 

 get a third crop — turnips. This was compensa- 

 tion for a joke I had played on myself in my planting. 

 Our family was particularly anxious for melons, 

 but I had said that too many children played near 

 our backyard — I would not place a melon tempta- 

 tion in their way. I therefore planted cucumbers, 

 watched them carefully, hoed them diligently, 

 watered and fostered and coaxed them to grow. 

 They did; they even surpassed the earlier planted 

 cucumbers in another corner of the lot. I boasted 

 about those cucumbers and even ordered the brine 

 prepared for cucumber pickles. But one day I 

 opened my eyes and found those cucumbers were 

 muskmelons! That land bore but one crop. 



Mind you, this is the garden of an amateur. 

 Even to-day, after a season's experimenting I am 

 not sure I could plant to the expert's liking. I know 

 I could and will make improvements next year 

 and hope then to get double crops by my amateur 

 intensive method. 



Yet I am not dissatisfied with my first effort. I 

 can not give all the figures, for late in the season we 

 were away so much that a strict account was not 

 kept. However, our 40 x 40 ft. garden yielded us — 



30 quarts peas 



22 quarts string beans 

 i bushel cucumbers 

 j bushel beets 

 \ bushel turnips 



6 bushel tomatoes 

 J bushel parsnips 

 j bushel salsify or oyster plant 

 Abundant supply of com 

 18 cabbages 



Japanese iris will bloom the second year from seed. It is hardy and free from insects 



Also radishes, lettuce, summer and winter squash, 

 spinach and Brussels sprouts. 



Massachusetts. George F. Jenks. 



Japanese Iris from Seed 



IT IS indeed strange that the Japanese iris is 

 not more generally grown, as it is perfectly 

 hardy, free from insects and will bloom the second 

 year from seed. 



Beginning five years ago with one plant, I now 

 have forty varieties, the colors ranging from purest 

 white through pale silver, dark blue, royal purple, 

 pink and rose to deepest wine. The shades and 

 colorings are indescribable. 



In just a few feet of ground in a city garden I have 

 had in one season over fifteen hundred blooms. 

 The first blossom usually opens June 6th, the last 

 one July 27th, making a long period of bloom. 



The third season from planting I had as many 

 as fifteen blossoms on a plant at one time. I know 

 of no other hardy flower as desirable in every way as 

 the Japanese iris. The culture is very simple — just 

 give plenty of water and the best soil you have. 

 After that they will take care of themselves. 



Before the iris comes into bloom, the bed where 

 they are to grow is full of forget-me-nots. When 

 the irises finish blooming, the cardinal flower takes 

 their place, so that from early spring all through 

 the season the iris bed is a beauty spot, requiring 

 but very little time and labor in comparison to the 

 results. 



New Jersey. Matilda Laning. 



