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Q CARDENINC 

 YOUNG FOLKS 



CONDUCTED BY ELLEN EDDY SHAW 



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A Look Ahead 



EACH month, for a time at least, 

 there will be on this page a 

 calendar which will show at a 

 glance the things which should be 

 done in or for the garden. Ex- 

 planations will be given, when 

 they are needed; and if these seem 

 not sufficiently clear, write to us 

 and receive more explicit informa- 

 tion. 



The garden really has to be all 

 thought out before planting, else 

 one loses time. A plan should be 

 drawn to scale showing just the 

 size of it, beds in it, and what is to 

 be planted in each. In considering plants, it is 

 wise to start with those easiest of culture. Rad- 

 ishes, lettuce, beans, kohlrabi and onion, especially 

 onion sets, are surely on this list. For flowers, 

 nasturtiums, zinnias, scabiosa, sunflowers, castor 

 oil beans, verbenas and sweet alyssum are easy to 

 handle and all are fairly sure to give good results. 



When some of these seeds are started indoors 

 in flats, be sure to have the soil fine. It really 

 should be sifted through a fine sieve. After the 

 flat, a cigar box or any other low box is filled with 

 soil, scatter the seeds over the surface and dust on a 

 very little more soil. Extreme care must be taken 

 in the watering of seeds planted so near to the sur- 

 face. A piece of fine muslin placed over the top 

 of the box breaks the force of the water when it is 

 poured on. 



Gladiolus bulbs (of the Colvillei varieties) may be 

 potted now and forced inside for Easter bloom. 

 The Bride is one of the best varieties to use. These 

 bulbs, after potting, should be put in a cool, shaded 

 place until the roots fill the pot, and then placed 

 in full light. As the blossoms begin to form water 

 once a week with liquid manure, about the color 

 of weak tea. These bulbs do better when a num- 

 ber are planted together in a pot. 



Of course the more one gardens, the more one 

 really should know about the garden. For then 

 it is possible to do so much more and do it with 

 surety of success and with ease. The soil con- 

 ditions can be controlled to a certain extent, while 

 the conditions of light and moisture are not as 

 flexible. 



Soil has a mechanical and a chemical make-up. 

 When you say that the garden soil is "light" or 

 "heavy" you are speaking of its texture, or the 

 mechanical side. If you make a statement to the 

 effect that your plants are not 

 growing well and you think 

 they need nitrogen, you are 

 speaking of the chemical side. 



Some day look over the gar- 

 den and just see what its ap- 

 pearance is. If the soil is 

 heavy and soggy, or has dried 

 out and huge cracks are visi- 

 ble, then it is too full of clay. 

 These signs bespeak the pres- 

 ence of a surplus of clay. Sup- 

 pose the soil is loose, falls apart 

 easily, and is full of small par- 

 ticles of stone. Then the soil 

 is a sandy one. If it is dark 

 in color, rich looking and has 

 leafy matter and twigs visible 

 in it, say to yourself that you 

 have a good loam, and one rich 

 in humus. Humus comes from 

 decay of vegetable matter and 

 contains nitrogenous matter. 

 A dark color is usually an 

 evidence of humus in the soil. 



Pick up a bit of soil in your 

 hand; see if it will form into a 



FERTILIZER CHART FOR THE HOME GARDEN 



FOOD 

 ELEMENT 



SOURCES 



AMOUNT PER 

 SQ. ROD 



WORK 



FOOD FOR 



Nitrogen 



Manure 

 Nitrate soda 



2 or more inches 



thick 

 2 lbs. 



Produces leaf 

 growth 



Cabbage, lettuce, spinach, 

 celery, radish, tomatoes, 

 squash 



Phosphoric 

 acid 



Acid phosphate 

 Bone meal 



4 lbs. 

 i lb. 



Blossom and 

 fruit former 



Tubers, roots, flowering 

 plants, beets, carrots 



Potash 



Kainit 

 Wood ashes 



i? lbs. 



Use all you can 



Makes blossom 

 and fruit (ex- 

 cellent fruit 

 producer) 



Small fruits, onions, flow- 

 ering plants 



ball or merely drop apart. Clay has the power 

 to hold soil together; sand lacks this power. A 

 soil may be too sandy or light; too clayey or 



School gardens with corn and tomato club contests 

 are doing much to make gardens in West Virginia 



The garden at the 



State Normal School. West Virginia. 

 school students . 



235 



heavy. So sandy soils need to be 

 bound together, and soils too full 

 of clay must be lightened so that 

 their particles, when moist, will 

 not squeeze so tightly together 

 that air is forced out. Right 

 here it is natural to say this: add 

 sand or even coal ashes to lighten 

 clay soils; add clay to bind to- 

 gether the particles in sandy soils. 

 At the same time that one is thus 

 improving the mechanical side of 

 his garden soil, he ought also to 

 improve its chemical or food 

 value. What things add food 

 elements to soils and also improve 

 their texture? There is an ideal 

 helper. It is rotted manure, which lightens heavy 

 soils, adds body to light soils and gives to both 

 plant food. Fresh manure may be rotted by 

 piling it up on the garden plot, wetting it and turn- 

 ing it over as it heats. Later in the spring work it 

 into the garden soil. Any portions still hot should 

 be buried deep down so that they cannot come in 

 contact with the seed or the seedling too early in its 

 growth. A good garden soil should be light, but still 

 able to hold water; heavy, but not so heavy that it is 

 a soggy mass in times of rain. A soil dark brown in 

 color has good plant food in it. That color is a mark 

 of richness. Remember what black soil is in the 

 forests. This color is the result of time during 

 which carboniferous matter has slowly decayed, 

 becoming finally an integral part of the soil. I 

 have known boys who took long trips to swamps 

 for black muck to work into their garden plots. 

 This added body and food to gardens otherwise in 

 poor condition; but muck soil needs lime added 

 to sweeten it. 



School Exercises 



GERMINATION. There are many ways to 

 show the process of germination in plants. 

 Seeds may be sprouted on damp blotters, in saw- 

 dust, cotton and soil boxes. Sawdust is an excel- 

 lent medium to use when one desires quick results. 

 Seeds may be pulled up out of the sawdust in any 

 stage and put back without serious harm resulting. 

 Use both corn and beans in this experiment and 

 so have examples of both mono- and di-cotyledons. 

 The corn starts with one cotyledon; the bean 

 with two seed leaves which it holds on to, for 

 nourishment, a long time. Note the first swelling, 

 how the embryo pushes its way out, how long it 

 holds its seed leaves, and how 

 long it is before true leaves 

 appear. Mark with indelible 

 ink on the roots and see 

 whether growth is from the tip 

 or upper portion of the root. 

 The sawdust should be moist 

 all the time. The seeds may 

 be rolled in a ball of damp 

 cotton and sprouted in this. 

 Or put a blotter on a plate, 

 wet thoroughly, place seeds 

 on this and cover with another 

 moist blotter. The seeds will 

 sprout very quickly if the 

 blotters are kept wet all the 

 time. 



Seed testing. Seeds are 

 tested by gardeners to find 

 out how good the}' are. If seed 

 is 70 per cent, good it is worth 

 using in this work. Many boys 

 and girls plant seeds too close 

 together and so there are al- 

 ways plenty to sprout. In this 

 test one hundred small seeds 

 are used and fifty of large or 



It is used also by the summer 



