The Garden Magazine 



Volume XVIII 



AUGUST, 1913 



Number 1 



For the purpose of 

 reckoning dates, 

 the latitude of New 

 York City is gener- 

 ally taken as a stan- j 

 dard. In applying 

 the directions to 

 other localities allow 

 six days' difference 

 for every hundred i 

 miles of latitude. 









Chief activities of 

 this month; Trans- 

 planting evergreens; 

 setting out potted 

 strawberries; sowing 

 seed of perennials for 

 next year's flowers; 

 getting the green- 

 house in order; mak- 

 ing up the bulb list. 

 Plant Madonna lilies. 





.'- -■/. ' •' 





KEEP busy these days — not all day, of course, but in the 

 cool hours before breakfast and after supper. Among 

 other things 

 Wrap the trunks of the peach trees for eighteen inches 

 or two feet from the ground with common brown paper to keep 

 out the borers. 



Watch for the aster beetles — dull black, lanky fellows an inch 

 or so long, that chew away the buds and foliage of the aster and 

 other cultivated plants. There is nothing to do but pick them off, 

 unless you can get the chickens to do it. 



Spray around the base of the elm trees with kerosene emulsion, 

 or hot water to kill the pupae of the elm leaf beetle which matures 

 either on the ground or in crevices on the lower parts of the trees. 



Use the emulsion on chrysanthemum, viburnum, nasturtium, 

 and all other plants on which aphides or green or black flies appear. 



Pick off and destroy all the caterpillars and grubs in sight. 

 Where a poison can safely be used, spray with arsenate of lead. 



Buy potted strawberry plants, unless you have raised your own 

 from runners as suggested last month. 



Bud any of the stone fruits to improve or especially liked vari- 

 eties. Of course you should have cut the bud sticks in winter and 

 kept them in cold storage, but you may be able to buy what 

 you want. 



Propagate tall, leggy rubber plants and dracenas by pot layer- 

 ing, which consists of (a) making a slit in the bark half way up the 

 plant, (b) binding about the wound sphagnum moss or two halves 

 of a flower pot filled with some absorbent material, (c) keeping the 

 moss moist until roots form when (d) the stem may be severed 

 below the roots and each half treated as a separate plant. 



Look on page 34 of the August, 1907, Garden Magazine for a 

 list of worth while greenhouse duties. 



Keep flowers picked clean, especially where a continuous supply 

 is wanted. 



Start from seed, preferably in a coldframe, all perennials and 

 biennials for next year's garden, and house plants for winter bloom. 

 (Pansies are often sown outdoors in the place they are to occupy 

 permanently.) 



Order, buy and plant, with the least possible delay ,the following 

 types of bulbs: (a) Those that should make good growth this fall 

 in order to bloom next summer, as the Madonna lily, Spanish and 

 English irises, the great lily (Eremurus robustus), and crinum. (b) 

 The two species that planted now will bloom this fall, viz., col- 

 chicum and sternbergia. (c) The tender lilies to be forced for 

 Christmas effects — for example, the Bermuda lily, freesia, daf- 

 fodils, Paper White narcissus, Roman hyacinths, etc. 



Get the late celery crop transplanted, setting the plants between 

 every two rows of corn if you like, provided the latter will come 

 out within two weeks. Another good place for celery is between 

 every third and fourth row of onions; the latter cast no shade and 

 will be harvested in time to provide loose soil for banking. 



Plant for crops before frost, peas, corn, radishes, mustard, New 

 Zealand spinach, beans and lettuce — using always early, quick 

 growing varieties and, so far as can be determined, drought resis- 

 ters. Plant for winter and next spring's dinners: corn salad, 

 endive, chervil and salsify. 



Plant evergreens, observing the essential but often forgotten 

 practice of keeping the roots moist and protected all the time. If 

 transplanting, wrap wet burlap around them the minute the tree 

 is dug; if buying, keep the stock in a shady spot, waiting to unpack 

 until it can be placed directly in the ground and watered copiously. 

 However, if there must be a delay of a day or more see that the 

 packing is kept moist. 



Install, even now, an overhead sprinkling system to relieve you of 

 the waste of time and energy involved in supporting and hauling 

 around a hose. If the large, herbaceous ornamentals suffer from 

 drought, sink a tin can with holes punched in the bottom close to the 

 plant or in the midst of small groups. Fill this with water (occas- 

 ionally liquid manure) once or twice a day and the root systems 

 will really get enough. Meantime mulch the ground around the 

 plants. 



Visit all the gardens you can find and compare them with your 

 own. It is usually easy to criticize the neighbor's plot. How 

 about your own if subjected to the same dispassionate inspection? 



Questions to Answer 



IS THE lawn a smooth, unbroken expanse of good turf? Or is 

 it spotted with "carpet beds," specimen shrubs and isolated, 

 aimless trees? 



Is it bounded by soft, curving lines of shrubbery and herba- 

 ceous border? 



Are the raw edges and corners of fences and buildings masked 

 by well grouped ornamentals and perennials? 



Are there plenty of vines to furnish shade and a graceful 

 drapery about the dwelling? 



Do the lines of the trees frame distant vistas, and hide nearby 

 unsightly objects? 



Are there any formal, geometrical, ungraceful beds? 



Are there any clashes of inharmonious color in the border? 



Are there any mistakes in height where the tall growers are in 

 front and the shorter ones behind? 



Are there plenty of perennials? They are the mainstay of 

 successful gardens. 



Isn't there room for a little lily-pond or some sort of a unique 

 garden in some odd corner? 



Are you succeeding in getting plenty of color and cut flowers 

 every week throughout the summer? 



Are you getting enough in proportion to the ground occupied 

 and the time and money expended? If not, some more planting 

 is needed. 



