June, 19 10 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



307 



(Editor's Note. — Every reader is invited 

 to contribute a short note on some interesting 

 experience. Just state the facts about some 

 ingenious idea that you Itave actually worked 

 out yourself or have seen. We want to know 

 how successful workers do things — in order 

 to put actual experiences before our thousands 

 of readers in all parts of the country.) 



Mr. Baldwin's "Real Planting Table for 

 Vegetables" is so much the best thing in its 

 line, that I am buying another copy of the 

 April Garden Magazine in order to have 

 it mounted on three separate sheets of card- 

 board for permanent use — and reference 



— and modification for my own gardens. 

 It does indeed bring order out of chaos! 



— H. M. O'C. 



For forty years I have grown our only 

 native yew (Taxus Canadensis) on Long 

 Island, as a member of a choice shrubbery 

 border. When grown in good soil and 

 encouraged by good care, it tends to change 

 its creeping habit, and gradually lifts itself 

 from a trailer into a fairly shapely (though 

 never compact) bush. Its berries, while 

 never abundant, are of a rich red. It is 

 absolutely hardy and impervious to cold, 

 drought or flood. — J. W. B. 



In New Orleans, La., on March ioth 

 of this year, we had a heavy rain preceded 

 by a north wind. Just before and during 

 the rain it became very dark. The weather 

 men of New Orleans ascribed it to certain 

 causes, and one said that the wind had been 

 southerly for a few days and had brought 

 volcano dust. The real cause was this: 

 The weather had been warm, dry and calm. 

 A breeze from the north sprang up and the 

 pine trees by the millions shed their pollen. 

 Everything was covered with it, just like 

 the leaves enclosed! — H. W. S. 



My heliotropes I brought in as usual in the 

 fall, and carried them over the winter in a 

 sunny south window. They did well, and 

 one of them bloomed in midwinter; but in 

 spring they became infested with aphides, 

 and in spite of spraying all the leaves dropped 

 off and the plants were so forlorn that I 

 debated whether they were worth planting 

 out. However, I cut them back severely, and 

 planted them in the garden at the end of a 

 row of young heliotropes. The following 

 September they were fine strong plants, full 

 of flowers.— M. F. B. 



Gloves are always awkward things when 

 it comes to actually getting down and digging 

 in the garden with the hands. In some of 

 the more delicate work, such as transplant- 

 ing very tiny seedlings, gloves are out of 

 the question. When the hands must get 

 "good and dirty," scrape all five finger- 

 nails at once across a cake of soap that is 

 somewhat softened on the surface, repeating 

 the operation with the other hand. The 

 soap will stay under the edge of the nails and 

 the worst damage that contact with the 

 soil will do will be avoided. — H. S. A. 



On June 24, 1909, I planted a Shirley 

 poppy row 50 feet long in the lettuce bed, 

 putting the seeds in hills eight to ten 

 inches apart. Fifty-eight plants were left 

 when I thinned them out July 15th; they 

 bloomed August 5th. By September 1st, 

 when a carpet of crimson clover had 

 succeeded the lettuce, a perfect hedge 3 feet 

 high and 3 feet wide was covered with more 

 than five hundred blossoms. The blossoms 

 were cut daily. Not a vestige of decay 

 showed in the poppy hedge when the first 

 heavy frost came on October 14th and I 

 had blossoms until November 1st. More 

 than 25,000 blossoms were picked from 

 the fifty-eight plants. — A. L. W. 



There is nothing dearer in garden work 

 than a cheap trowel. It will bend on the 

 slightest provocation and the very time that 

 you want it most is the very time that the 

 breaking point will come. Pay half a 

 dollar for a good one of solid steel. At the 

 same time buy one of the very narrow ones; 

 it is invaluable for transplanting seedlings. 

 Never leave it over night in the garden; 

 never put it away for the day without rub- 

 bing the dirt off; and also have one place 

 for keeping it. Did you ever stop to think 

 how often people can't find the trowel at 

 the first clip ? — A. 



It seemed impossible for us to get any- 

 thing to grow in a small bed, in an angle 

 between two walks deeply shaded by a 

 large chestnut. So we resorted to the woods. 

 Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) and wild azalea 

 {Azalea nudifiora) were brought in and 

 planted thickly, a few native rhododendrons 

 being secured from a nursery to form a 

 background. In time the ground was car- 

 peted with every wood-flower we could 

 find — hepatica, bloodroot, anemone, spring 

 beauty, saxifrage, Jack-in-the-pulpit, the 

 native columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis), 

 and also some Aquilegia chrysantha which 

 we raised from seed. Any uncovered spaces 

 were filled with ferns. Every fall the bed 

 is mulched with cow-manure, which is never 

 removed. The plants have not only flour- 

 ished but improved, showing both larger 

 plants and larger blossoms. — F. B. C. 



The statement often made that it is never 

 best to plant sweet peas in the same place 

 two years in succession may be, I think, 

 misleading. For twelve years I have planted 

 them in the same trench, with chicken 

 wire to climb on, and have had the most 



beautiful blooms. Every fall I spade up the 

 ground, putting in a large amount of well- 

 rotted manure. As early the following 

 spring as it is possible to work the ground 

 two rows of seed are sown four inches deep, 

 one row on each side of the wire (which 

 runs north and south). When the plants 

 are up, two more inches of soil is added. 

 The vines are mulched when six inches tall 

 with grass cuttings. Of course they are well 

 watered. I know of one man who has had 

 sweet peas in the same place for many more 

 years than I have, and he is noted for his suc- 

 cess in producing beautiful blooms — J. W.T. 



Let the owners of damp, shady spots 

 take courage! We were told by everybody 

 that we could not raise cucumbers and 

 squashes at the lower end of our garden, 

 which is moist and shaded by trees fifty 

 feet high. We made the ground ready, 

 however, and put in the seed in June, plant- 

 ing in holes about eight inches deep. We 

 had a heavy rain about a week later which 

 completely filled the seed holes. As quickly 

 as the water was bailed out of these it ran 

 in again, so we gave up and waited for 

 results. As no growth was apparent after 

 a reasonable length of time, we dug out the 

 holes and seeded again, this time putting in a 

 layer of sand. The second sowing came up 

 finely and gave a good crop. We put clean, 

 dry hay under each "fruit" so as to keep it 

 off the damp ground, and cut off every leaf 

 possible to let in the sun (which reached the 

 bed early in the morning only). — F. F. G. 



Perhaps the same surprise is in store for 

 you as came to me last summer. I had 

 planted seeds of the double or chrysan- 

 themum sunflowers and when the flowers 

 began to appear I found that the type broke 

 or retrograded to the single form, though 

 not to the same extent in every plant, so 

 that all the intermediate stages from the 



Various forms of tile double sunflowers which came 

 from trie same seed ; nearly every plant different ! 



single to the double, or filled sunflowers 

 were to be found on the different plants. 

 No one plant, however, bore flowers of 

 different forms. The photograph will con- 

 vey some idea of the various types. A 

 perfectly filled specimen of the large chry- 

 santhemum sunflower I did not obtain, 

 though late in the fall some of the smaller 

 flowers (that is, those borne lower down on 

 the stalks) showed rather good form. It 

 certainly was interesting. I found that 

 the blossoming period may be hastened by 

 starting the seed in a hotbed or within doors. 

 The plants transplant easily — they should 

 be set at least three feet apart each way — 

 and respond quickly to well-rotted manure 

 and watering. — - C. L. M. 



