242 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Mat, 1910 



(Editor's Note. — We want to know how 

 successful workers do things — in order to put 

 actual experiences before our thousands Oj 

 readers in all parts of the country. Every 

 reader is invited to contribute a short note on 

 some interesting experience. Just state the 

 facts about some ingenious idea that you have 

 actually worked out yourself or have seen.) 



I have noticed that a number of my neigh- 

 bors put their parsley bed some distance 

 from their kitchens. I think parsley ought 

 to be right by, or very near, the kitchen, 

 so that whenever the cook needs it she can 

 easily go out and pick as much as she 

 needs.— W. J. Y. 



Two years ago I had two strong snap- 

 dragon plants that I was very loath to lose 

 when autumn came. One I potted and 

 treated as a house plant, keeping it in an 

 unheated attic room in a sunny south win- 

 dow, and it bloomed for me there in the 

 spring. The other I left in the ground, tied 

 it up in straw when I did my rosebushes 

 early in December, and then covered it with 

 a large flower pot. It stood the winter, and 

 in the summer grew to a large and unus- 

 ually handsome plant, filled with bloom. I 

 tried to carry it over a second winter the 

 same way, but failed. My conclusion is 

 that snapdragons may be made biennials, 

 but probably not perennials in this climate, 

 by giving them winter protection. Here- 

 after I shall try to have each year one lot 

 of second-year plants — larger and more 

 full of bloom than first-year plants. — B. M. F. 



The perennial gaillardia {Gaillardia aris- 

 tata) is a Texas plant. The crown nearly 

 always winter-kills in this region, and I pre- 

 sume it does in all cold, wet soils. Under 

 fairly favorable conditions, however, young 

 plants will come up from the live parts of 

 the roots some little distance from the crown; 

 but as these show themselves later than 

 shoots from any sound crown would, people 

 imagine the plants are dead and dig them 

 up. If left alone for a longer time, how- 

 ever, they would have furnished the season's 

 bloom. Plants taken up in the fall and 

 heeled in or potted, and kept from severe 

 frost until brought into heat in February, 

 furnish root cuttings, which will produce 

 plants for summer bloom. Cuttings made 

 in the fall also make good plants, and seed 

 sown in heat in February will produce plants 

 that will bloom the same vear. — W. C. E. 



A mass of English primroses {Primula 

 vulgaris) in my hardy border is edged with 

 bird-foot violets {Viola pedata), trans- 

 planted from the wild. The combination 

 was accidental, but most successful. The 

 blending of the pale yellow and the delicate 

 blue is charming — F. B. C. 



Have other women who love to work in 

 their gardens discovered that chamois gloves 

 are the perfect solution to the glove problem ? 

 They don't get as stiff as kid ones, and when 

 soiled can be washed with soap and luke- 

 warm water. Don't rinse the soap out, as 

 it keeps them soft and nice. — L. M. 



Nearly all my neighbors use a hose with 

 which to water their gardens. I think in 

 most instances this is a very poor policy, 

 for I believe the cold water chills the plants 

 and injures them, to a certain extent. I buy, 

 each season, five or six molasses barrels which 

 I paint both inside and out to make them 

 last. Every morning I fill the barrels with 

 water from my hose, and take the water 

 from the barrels in the afternoon as I need 

 it for the garden. — W. J. Y. 



Planting a large circular or oval bed with 

 tulips is at times vexatious. You have your 

 ground all prepared — a nice soft bed where- 

 on to set the bulbs — but the centre is not 

 within reach from the edge. To avoid tramp- 

 ling down the soil use a stout board, thick 

 enough so as not to bend under the weight 

 of a man, and long enough to reach across 

 the bed. The middle of very large beds 

 may thus be reached without pressing the 

 soil in the least. Two two-by-fours placed 

 side by side will answer. — C. L. M. 



I planted my vegetable garden in rows, 

 putting a pinch of Shirley poppy seeds among 

 the beets and carrots. They opened in 

 every shade from faintest pink to almost 

 black, the beet and carrot leaves making 

 just the right background. When putting 

 in the peas and early corn a scattering of 

 carnation seed went down those lines. By 

 the time the peas were in blossom the pop- 

 pies were in bloom. The single ones looked 

 like satin and the double were great pom- 

 poms, many as large as teacups. Picking 

 off the seed pods kept the plants blooming 

 over a month. The seeds can be planted 

 any time after a rain. — J. S. S. 



Owing to a stress of garden work my 

 beets and carrots were not thinned out last 

 summer, and from one sowing of each early 

 in the spring, we had young beets until the 

 autumn, and all winter have been eating 

 young carrots, pulled and stored just before 

 frost. Of course, we kept using the largest 

 vegetables all summer, and the roots were 

 sweet and tender long after there were no 

 more in the markets. Sometimes they got 

 ahead of me, and crowded up out of the 

 ground, but neither split nor dried out. At 

 first we boiled the "beet tops and bottoms" 

 together; but as soon as the roots were large 

 enough, used them separately, as two vege- 

 tables.— H. M. O'C. 



This year my hyacinth bulbs growing in 

 water would not root freely. The white ones 

 came first, but bloomed in a half-hearted 

 way — short and stumpy. I experimented 

 with the others, and have them blooming 

 to the height of nine inches. The blossom 

 stems grow an inch a day, by actual measure- 

 ment, and with almost no roots at all. 

 This is accomplished by placing a tumbler 

 over the bulb as soon as the flowering spikes 

 are well developed. The bulb is kept in a 

 dark closet until it has developed sufficiently 

 for the buds to show color, and when brought 

 into the light is placed on the floor by a 

 radiator. The moisture forms inside the 

 glass, hence the quick growth. As the stem 

 grows I change the tumbler to a pint jar, 

 and finally to a quart jar — Mrs. H. S. L. 



It is strange that so little credit is given 

 to the common bayberry for its decorative 

 qualities. In Bergen County, N. J., we 

 have Myrica cerifera (Carolinensis) in great 

 abundance, growing usually in the most 

 abandoned places, such as railroad swamps 

 or the sandy slopes of hills. In the fall it 

 bears its close clusters of small white balls, 

 and holds them well through the winter. 

 Branches brought into the house, if not 

 shaken too violently, will retain them till 

 summer; and they have a delightful odor. 

 If the branches are put into water, the buds 



Try forcing some bayberry branches in water this 

 spring. The blossoms appear before the leaves 



on the tips sprout into tender green leaflets. 

 Either people do not care for things that are 

 common, or else have no perception of deco- 

 rative possibilities, for those around here 

 pay no attention whatever to the bay- 

 berries as long as they are outdoors. We 

 have been much surprised to read in 

 The Garden Magazine that other people 

 grow the bayberry bushes entirely for their 

 bronzing foliage. One writer remarked 

 that the berries were insignificant, but that 

 it did not matter anyway, as the plants were 

 dioecious, and were valuable for their leaves, 

 not their fruit. This, I am sure, is under- 

 stating the qualities of a wonderful winter- 

 cheer-giver. And what is to prevent plant- 

 ing both kinds of bushes? — J. D. W. 



