The Garden Magazine 



Vol. X— No. 6 



Published Monthly 



JANUARY, 1910 



One Dollar a Year 

 Fifteen Cents a Copy 



[For the purpose of reckoning dates, New York is 

 generally taken as a standard. Allow six days' difference 

 for every hundred miles of latitude.] 



A Good Beginning 



TF YOU want to begin the year properly 

 *■ and make a garden that is a real suc- 

 cess, take thought now and carefully plan 

 out your campaign. 



Especially is this true of the vegetable 

 garden. The only way to crop your ground 

 to the limit of its capacity is by carefully 

 planning out ahead just what space will be 

 allotted to each crop and arranging for the 

 successions. If you have never done this 

 before, learn how to do it by reading Mr. 

 McCollom's article in the Vegetable Garden 

 Department on page 286. That article is the 

 beginning of a series that will be continued 

 throughout the year, and which will serve as 

 a complete manual of the vegetable garden. 



In the fruit garden planning is not so full 

 of detail, but you should know exactly what 

 you are doing with each kind of fruit and 

 each tree should have its place marked on 

 a chart, especially if you have several dif- 

 ferent varieties. The record of the name 

 should be kept on the plan because labels 

 are liable to injury and may even be lost 

 entirely. You will find a great deal of inter- 

 est comes from studying varieties and their 

 peculiar adaptations and qualities. 



During the coming year The Garden 

 Magazine will continue a campaign for 

 "more and better fruit." We want every 

 amateur gardener to realize his opportunities 

 for growing his own fruit better than it can 

 be bought. 



Take stock of your fruit trees, berry plants, 

 etc., and see that you are growing the kinds 

 that will give the best quality. Do not waste 

 time in trying to mature a lot of second rate, 

 worthless kinds, when better ones can be had 

 at practically the same cost. Plant the best. 



In the flower garden the winter planning 

 should be toward correcting any color clashes 

 that you may have noticed last year and 



planning for succession of bloom and har- 

 mony of effects. While last season's results 

 are fresh in your mind and there is still time 

 before spring work opens, go over your gar- 

 den, make a plan and figure out any changes 

 that may seem desirable. One of the most 

 fascinating features of work in the flower 

 garden and shrubbery is the continual 

 struggle toward perfecting groupings and 

 color schemes. 



At this time, too, look to winter effects. Is 

 your garden bare and desolate? There is 

 no need for it to be so. Mark on your chart 

 now any places that need the relief of winter 

 effect, and order your plants from the 

 nursery for spring delivery. If you (io 

 not plan your garden this work becomes 

 a mass of jumbled detail and nothing is ever 

 properly carried out. Without foresight 

 in garden work you will find yourself sud- 

 denly caught up with a rush or several things 

 that want to be done simultaneously — must 

 be done then or not at all. 



Discounting the Future 



BUT the gardener's activity need not 

 entirely be occupied with planning. 

 If the winter remains open a certain amount 

 of planting of perfectly hardy nursery stock 

 can be done in all but the very coldest sec- 

 tions. Construction work and making walks 

 and drains can be continued as long as the 

 weather is open. Sometimes hard frost 

 does not come until the early part of January. 



If snow falls and weights down the shrubs 

 and evergreens, go into the garden imme- 

 diately the fall stops and knock it off the 

 branches. Some trees are much more 

 liable to injury than others, but even if 

 they do not break the continued weight of 

 snow may bend the branches out of shape. 

 Snow on the flower beds and lawn is a good 

 thing — it acts as a mulch. Do not hesitate 

 about throwing any quantity on the beds 

 in clearing walks and roadways. 



Prune large trees and clear out any dead 

 wood and repair damage generally during 

 the winter. Do not wait until other out- 

 door work is pressing. 



Prevent attacks of diseases and scale by 

 spraying now. It is surprising what good 

 results can be obtained by taking this pre- 

 caution. The lime-sulphur mixtures or 

 miscible oils should be used by nearly every- 

 body — not necessarily as remedies but as 

 preventives. Prevention is better than cure. 



Important Odds and Ends 



IF YOU have coldframes lift up the sash 

 and let in air on all occasions when the 

 temperature is not too cold, closing them 

 up again before the sun goes off. Look to 



the general condition of things about the 

 place. Do any carpentering work, repair- 

 ing hotbed sash, frames, flats, etc. Make 

 seed boxes or anything else that may be 

 wanted when the season opens. Look to 

 the tools. See that everything is sharp and 

 in order. Buy new ones now. 



Look over your stock of left-over seeds 

 and remember that it is not generally safe 

 to rely upon old stocks of carrots, leeks, 

 onions, parsnips, and sometimes lettuce. 

 Make out your seed lists and order the seeds 

 at once. 



Send for the catalogues and study the 

 novelty features. By all means try at least 

 a half dozen of these in a tentative way, but 

 do not discard proven favorites until by 

 actual trial you have found something 

 better. While improvement in varieties of 

 vegetables and flowers is actual, it is slow, 

 and varieties do not behave the same under 

 all conditions. 



Think about the hotbeds that you will be 

 making next month. Have you made 

 arrangements for heating material ? 



Prune grapes, currants and gooseberries 

 at any time that is convenient. After that 

 the standard orchard fruits can be taken in 

 hand. 



Mulch at once any newly planted trees 

 or fruits that are not yet established. A 

 great deal of ultimate success depends on 

 their getting a thorough hold during the first 

 year. Fall-planted stock especially needs 

 mulching, and the later it was planted the 

 more it will need it. Look over seed pota- 

 toes for scab, and treat with corrosive sub- 

 limate solution. Keep an eye on stored roots 

 to stop decay at once. 



Work in the Greenhouse 



THERE is a good deal of opportunity 

 for activity indoors. Bring in and 

 begin to force bulbs that have been buried 

 outside. Also spirea and other things. 

 Asparagus and rhubarb may be brought 

 indoors and put under the greenhouse 

 benches, or in a warm corner in the cellar, 

 and started into growth. 



If you are growing florists' flowers, root 

 cuttings in sand during January, giving a 

 temperature of 55 degrees, with the cutting 

 sand 10 degrees warmer. Sow spores of 

 ferns in pans of sand and keep in a tempera- 

 ture of 60 degrees. Root carnation cuttings 

 in 50 degrees. 



Easter lilies may be started to force at 

 60 degrees; anything above that will not 

 suit them as well. Lily-of-the-valley that 

 is brought indoors for winter flower can 

 be forced at 90 degrees, if planted in 

 moisture. 



