Mee 
DeEcEMBER, 1908 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
Another view of the bed of annuals (10 x 12 ft.), which cost only thirty cents a year for seed 
a bed of nasturtiums ruined by a premature 
frost I decided to have a bed of frost-resisting 
annuals. It was a small affair, say three 
by thirty feet, but it kept up a fair show for 
about a month after gardens are generally 
devastated. 
Mignonette bloomed even in the snow. 
One season it bloomed six weeks for me 
after tender plants were destroyed. Another 
year I picked some from the garden when 
the thermometer stood at 24 degrees and a 
coating of ice decorated the water pail. 
Late July is the time best suited for sowings 
intended for autumn bloom. 
Sweet alyssum is about the last annual 
to give up when repeated frosts try to dis- 
courage it. It has bloomed in my garden 
when the ground was covered with snow. 
It is unnecessary to sow sweet alyssum every 
year. After the first season it will self sow, 
and these seedlings, transplanted to the 
“frost”? bed, will be in their glory during 
the fall days. 
Verbena supplies a brighter color than 
those already mentioned and is one of 
the hardiest, enduring without protection 
a temperature several degrees below freez- 
ing. Verbena, also, after being dis. 
colored and wilted with the cold, will 
gradually resume its natural appearance as 
it thaws out. 
The pansy is one of the most attractive 
plants for late bloom. The rule is spring- 
sown seed for fall bloom and _ fall-sown 
seed for spring bloom. The flower bed 
that is given up to fall flowering pansies will 
yield a rich reward for the care given it. 
If all buds are picked off till cool weather 
begins the size and vigor of the flowers will 
repay the trouble. Fresh pansies have been 
picked from an unprotected bed when the 
weather was cold enough to cause ice in the 
water pail at noon. Pansies, likewise, 
escaped the frost that blackened tender 
plants under a covering of carpet. With 
foliage and stems almost black with the cold 
they will lift their heads as the weather 
moderates. 
The petunia defies the frost, and when 
wilted with the cold will come back to its 
former state after a little thawing. 
Calendulas are among the hardiest of 
all and have the further advantage that 
they add a touch of brilliant yellow to our 
autumn collection. 
Transforming a Dump Heap 
By Mary H. Curissincer, Md. 
if Niece garden was a veritable dumping 
ground before it was reclaimed two 
years ago. It required patience and thought- 
ful care before it reached its present state 
of perfection; but the results have amply 
repaid. 
The walk, which is seventy feet in length, 
has a solid border of asters, ranging in color 
from the palest to deepest tones, many of 
the blossoms measuring five inches and 
more across. Although the seed was 
“home grown,” both plants and flowers 
have reached such a stage of cultivation 
that they resemble exquisite chrysanthe- 
mums more than asters, with their var- 
iously shaped petals and splendid foliage 
and stems. Quite a number have reached 
a height of three and a half feet and 
more. 
They have grown so profusely and luxur- 
iantly that as many as five hundred blossoms 
have been cut at one time without apparently 
making any impression in their appearance 
” 
221 
and a conservative estimate might place 
the entire number close to twelve thousand! 
A clematis vine in full bloom covers part 
of the fence at the side of the garden. 
‘“New”’ Potatoes at Christmas 
By L. J. C., New Hampshire 
pe acme of quality in potatoes, from 
the English point of view, is repre- 
sented by the little round tubers, about an 
inch in diameter, which are sent im early 
spring from the Jersey and (Guernsey 
Islands. An English gardening periodical 
tells of an ingenious scheme by which any- 
one can have quite as good potatoes at 
Christmas time. 
First of all dig a hole three feet in depth, 
and procure some biscuit tins about nine 
inches long and four inches wide, having 
close-fitting lids. Tubers of a _ kidney- 
shaped potato having a smooth skin should 
be selected for storing. Snowdrop is a 
suitable variety. 
As each root of potato is dug pick up the 
tubers and put them in a basket, which should 
be immediately covered with haulm or some- 
thing to prevent the tubers from drying. 
When sufficient has been dug, take them to 
a shed and pack them thickly into the 
biscuit tins. No soil or any material is put 
with them. The tins should then be buried 
in the hole prepared for them, and a stick 
put in the ground to denote their where- 
abouts. 
It is best to select medium-sized tubers, 
just such tubers as are generally described 
as “new” potatoes. Remember that it 
is necessary to dig and store the tubers away 
in the tins before the skins are set, or they 
won’t keep well, nor afterward scrape like 
“new” potatoes. A little green or dried 
mint should be boiled with the tubers. 
This beautiful garden of asters was a veritable dump heap less than two years ago. 
Five hundred 
blossoms can be cut at one time without making any appreciable effect 
