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TOP-NOTCH GARDENING 



SOME of the most encouraging letters that reach us from 

 our readers are those based on honest and constructive 

 criticism, which do more than criticize in that they so 

 f often point out the progressive step for future guidance. 

 Naturally, among the readers of this magazine there 

 are not only all classes of people but people at all stages of 'progress 

 in garden practice and horticultural knowledge. With some, an 

 intimate acquaintance with various plants and their varieties is 

 an end in itself. Others see the garden chiefly as a means to 

 supply the household with certain quantities of food supplies 

 in the form of fresh vegetables and fruits of a standard and of a 

 quantity that are not likely to be available in the ordinary mar- 

 kets. Others again will have none of the utilitarian, seeing in 

 the garden rather solace of the soul and aesthetic indulgence. 

 It takes all kinds to make up the gardening world, and each is 

 perfectly justified in his own viewpoint. 



As between exploiting the commonplace and demonstrating 

 the greater possibilities of making the most of opportunities, 

 there is perhaps something to be said on both sides. But, after 

 all, even the most ordinary gardening is a technical subject, and 

 as acquaintance with it becomes extended and broadened, the 

 technicalities seem to loom up with a greater and greater im- 

 portance. Elemental gardening is but the first step in progress 

 and the one thing that will lead us on to higher standards is 

 the striving toward an ideal. 



All of this is written touching some correspondence in rela- 

 tion to some of the recent instructive articles that have appeared, 

 particularly on vegetable growing. It is true that The Garden 

 Magazine articles of this character are based on the standards 

 of highest production and perhaps in that respect may be some- 

 what misunderstood by certain readers; yet, after all, isn't the 

 top-notch effort the thing that is really worth while? And prog- 

 ress in the cultivation of our gardens will be achieved only 

 through the constant striving toward higher returns. It is a 

 first principle of efficiency "to make use of immediate, reliable, 

 and permanent records," but unfortunately in the past garden- 

 ing has lacked these records — gardening has been blessed with a 

 good deal of belief and imagination, it is true, but with few ac- 

 tual facts and records. It is to remedy such a condition that 

 The Garden Magazine has devoted particular effort during 

 the last few years, as exemplified in such practical articles as 

 Mr. Kruhm's on vegetable growing. 



Our attention has been called to the desirability of stating 

 that the articles to which we refer are based on top-notch records 

 of quality production under highly perfected methods of intense 

 cultivation. They are aimed to excite and stimulate the reader 

 and to uncover to his view the latent possibilities that he has 

 probably not yet attained. Care is always exercised that such 

 statements are well based and especially in the work that we 

 have been doing with the vegetables; they are records of many 



years of experiments under home gardening conditions that 

 justify all the claims that have been made. 



As to the question of necessary or even desirable quantities 

 of a given crop there can, from the very nature of the thing, be no 

 definite expression. One man's meat is another man's poison 

 and personal likes and dislikes must govern requirements; but 

 the data given, based on personal experience of the author, may 

 be taken as a reliable guide — of course, being interpreted in the 

 light of individual requirements and preferences. It would be 

 interesting to know just what is the average requirement of the 

 average family in various crops of the garden. For instance, 

 in a recent article in The Garden Magazine recommending 

 quantities for a family of five, thirty Tomato plants, each cal- 

 culated to bear thirty pounds of fruit or nine hundred pounds 

 of tomatoes in all, were suggested for a year's supply of five 

 people. It may reasonably be conceded that that yield would 

 greatly exceed the needs of many families, but as a fact it was the 

 actual requirement for the family in question. That the yield 

 per plant is not extravagant may easily be demonstrated, al- 

 though it is unquestionably not attained by the average plant 

 in the average garden. 



Mr. Robert Livingston, to whom the world is indebted for 

 improvement of our Tomatoes more than to any other man and 

 who certainly should speak with authority, writes in this con- 

 nection," I believe some of our best growers hereabout (Colum- 

 bus, Ohio) could show more than thirty pounds from many of 

 their plants in open field culture, but one must have a good sea- 

 son for Tomatoes." This is based on fifteen clusters of three to 

 six fruits in a cluster averaging two pounds per cluster — not an 

 impossible thing on Tomatoes trained to two stalks with good 

 cultivation. Of course garden conditions would show at least 

 equal results. After all, the goal of gardening is making the 

 most of the least space and least opportunity. 



PLANT QUARANTINE HEARING 



THE Federal Horticultural Board — presumably, from sub- 

 sequent statements contemplating further and more drastic 

 restriction on plant importation— announces a "conference on 

 Plant Quarantine" at the offices of the board at Washington, 

 D. C, at 10 o'clock, April 19, "for the purpose of considering 

 the advisability of any modifications — additions to or deduc- 

 tions from — of the classes of plants permitted entry under permit 

 for immediate sale under Regulation 3 of Quarantine 37." 

 Again we urge the reader to write to the Secretary of Agri- 

 culture, and also to his representatives in the Senate and House, 

 before the time of that meeting in the terms suggested on page 

 46 of our March issue. 



The Garden Magazine will shortly publish from the pen 

 of Mr. William Robinson an interesting and original study on 

 The Proper Use of Color in Planting. Our readers are to be 

 congratulated on the opportunity thus presented. 



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