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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



December, 1909 



Wallflowers All Winter 



WALLFLOWERS are supposed to require a 

 damp climate, and the blazing sun of 

 Colorado withers their blossoms almost before 

 they can open. However, I planted a package of 

 mixed annual seed as an experiment, and was very 

 successful. 



The garden was new and the seeds were planted 

 in a sandy, unprepared strip which had been left 

 by the builders of the house. I watered them 

 twice a day and the plants grew thriftily. 



They began to flower, intermittently, in August, 

 the flowers drooping almost immediately under the 

 hot sun. With the cooler nights of September they 

 blossomed freely and were in their prime the end 

 of September, when we had our first frost. 



I could not bear to lose the plants, so decided to 

 try bringing them into the house. The large, 

 bulky ones were placed each in n-inch pots in 

 the same sandy soil, slightly enriched with old 

 manure. 



I put them in a north window where they had 

 no sun whatever, and they bloomed unceasingly 

 all winter. In May I set them out-of-doors again, 

 but, though they lived, there were no more blossoms. 



Colorado. Roosevelt Johnson. 



Illuminating Christmas Trees 



LAST Christmas I bought a Christmas tree 

 outfit consisting of eight 3-candle power 

 incandescent electric lamps, a battery of three 

 cells, wiring, sockets, etc., necessary for the tree, 

 which costs about four dollars. Its trade name is 

 "a Christmas tree outfit." These outfits are made 

 abroad and the lamps come in various designs of 

 fruit, like oranges, pears, etc; also in various colored 

 glass. As the dry batteries do better if the lamps 

 are not burned continuously I have the lights lit 

 for only an hour or so each night. Burned this way 

 the batteries will last for three or four nights. If 

 needed for a longer period than this the batteries 

 can be renewed — three cost about one dollar. 



The danger from fire is eliminated when these 

 Christmas tree outfits are used. Of course if your 

 house is lighted by electricity you need buy only the 

 wire and the small lamps. 



New York. P.N. 



An "Arcade" Trellis 



TRELLISES of many kinds have been used 

 in our garden, but one of the best and least 

 expensive was made of strips of wood measuring 

 one by two inches and thirteen feet long. They cost 

 five cents apiece, the trellis, when completed 

 costing a cent and a half per running foot. It was 

 constructed arcade fashion, with an upright every 

 two feet and a toprail, the height being four feet. 

 We made a modification of this trellis for tomatoes 

 three feet high, which had an upright every yard. 



Besides the cheapness of the trellis, it is strong and 

 not easily disturbed by wind if a foot or more of the 

 upright is set in the ground. It is light and easy 

 to move, if it is desirable to change the place the 



next season; or it is sufficiently durable to leave 

 out all winter if necessary. It can be used for peas, 

 pole beans and tomatoes, and would doubtless be 

 equally good for cucumbers and vine squash, though 

 these latter we have not yet tried. It does not 

 shade vegetables growing behind it as a more 

 solid trellis would do, is exceedingly neat and 

 compact and adds to the appearance of the garden, 

 when covered with vines. The height, three to five 

 feet, according to the crop to be grown, is most 

 convenient for picking and a great improvement 

 on the old time bean pole, which gives the bean 

 patch the irregular straggling look produced by 

 poles of every size and shape. It facilitates culti- 

 vation, for instead of the elaborate manoeuvres 

 necessary around bean poles, one furrow of the 

 wheel-hoe on each side the trellis is all that is 

 necessary. 



The picking is as easy as the cultivating, for all 

 ripe vegetables can be seen at a glance. The 

 toprail provides a good place to support a covering 

 when frost threatens; we have kept our vines 

 green for some time after frost by pieces of heavy 

 bagging thrown over them at night. 



As to the training of the vines, we found no diffi- 

 culty in the limas clinging to the uprights. When 



Keep the garden looking neat by growing beans, 

 peas, tomatoes, etc., on an "arcade" trellis 



they reached the top rail they required a little 

 training to follow it, and clipping now and then 

 helped to keep the vines looking trim. Tomatoes 

 were tied to the uprights; then spread along the 

 top rail as they grew and tied to keep them 

 flat. Peas were provided with twine, run from 

 one upright to another, back and forth, about 

 six inches apart; a staple here and there kept the 

 lines of twine straight and even. In this way the 

 same trellis could be used for three or more dif- 

 ferent crops during successive seasons. The small 

 amount of trouble to train, tie and trim is more 

 than made up by the good appearance, the ease of 

 cultivation and picking, and the economy of space. 

 New York. I. M. Angell. 



Tomatoes and Peas 



I PLANTED my extra early peas in four double 

 rows, putting them about two feet apart. 

 The last of May I set my tomato plants between 

 the two outside rows. The peas were out of the 

 way by the middle of July and the tomatoes were 

 growing about as well as though the peas had 

 never been there. 



Minneapolis, Minn. L. E. Robinson. 



Another Use for Flower Pots 



IN THE April, 1909, number of The Garden 

 Magazine, someone advised covering young 

 tomato plants with paper bags, with the bottoms 

 cut out, held in place with stakes. I have used 

 ordinary clay flower pots for this purpose for 

 years, and rarely lose a plant. 



The pots are six inches in diameter, and with 

 very little care can be kept indefinitely. They 

 protect the young plants from sun, frost and wind, 

 besides holding the moisture, which is very essential. 



I place them over all the small plants I set out 

 and growth commences at once. I find by using 

 the pots that I can set out the most delicate plants 

 in the hottest weather, with success and little 

 trouble. The work can be done at any time during 

 the day and one does not have to wait for the evening 

 or a rainy day. It is well, however, when setting 

 out the plants, to put a little water on each one. 



Maryland. E. G. L. 



Bordeaux Mixture for the Small 

 Garden 



THE usual directions for making Bordeaux 

 mixture deal in quantities too large for the 

 home garden — one doesn't use fifty or a hun- 

 dred gallons at one spraying — and if the solu- 

 tions are mixed at once, the stuff deteriorates. On 

 the other hand, the amounts called for to make 

 "stock" solutions are so great as to scare all 

 notion of spraying out of the head of the owner 

 of a small potato patch. 



After working with Bordeaux for some time, 

 and reading all kinds of recipes, it seemed to me 

 that there were two objects to be kept in mind — 

 that the fungicide (copper sulphate) must be 

 applied to the leaves of the plant, and that there 

 must be enough lime in the solution to keep the 

 sulphate from injuring the foliage. 



Proceeding with these ideas, I have for the last 

 two or three years mixed my Bordeaux according 

 to my own notions, and as it seems to accomplish 

 all that can be asked in the way of preventing 

 blights and rots, and certainly sticks as well as 

 others prepared "according to Hoyle," it seems 

 worth passing along. I have two fifty-gallon 

 vinegar barrels, into each of which, in the spring, 

 I put approximately twenty-five (it may be twenty- 

 four or six) gallons of water. In one I dissolve 

 six pounds of copper sulphate, in the other slake 

 six to eight pounds of lime. These are my stock 

 solutions. 



When the potatoes are well up, and the bugs begin 

 to appear, I get out an old butter tub, in which I 

 mix approximately equal quantities of these solu- 

 tions, dipping out with an old pitcher first the 

 copper, then the lime, then copper, then lime, 

 until my tub is full. Then I add some Paris green, 

 strain into my Auto spray and apply to the plants, 

 If it wants to settle out, it can do so on the leaves. 

 I can mix as little or as much as I want to use at 

 that time, apply it perfectly fresh (therein I fancy 

 lies the value of the solution) and have none wasted. 



I have used it on everything that needs to be 

 sprayed, it has never injured the foliage in the 

 slightest degree, and I have had no blight on my 

 potatoes nor rot of my tomatoes in two or three 

 years. The quantities mentioned last all summer, 

 giving the potatoes at least three sprayings. 



New Jersey. A. C. Brown. 



