24 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



August, 1911 



Sow Endive for December Use 



DURING the past three years my family has 

 enjoyed endive salad until the first of 

 December. The last of August each year, I sow 

 an ounce of either white curled or green curled 

 endive, in well fertilized beds, making the rows 

 about a foot apart. 



When the plants are two inches high, I always 

 transplant them to a bed where the soil is as rich 

 as the seed bed, but I do not take up all of the 

 plants, only those that are crowded too close 

 together. 



The white curled is self blanching, and pre- 

 ferable in every way to the green curled, as there 

 is but little waste to it, the leaves blanching out 

 to the tips, and being crisp and tender from first 

 to last. 



The green curled is tougher and more difficult 

 to blanch. When the plants are from six to eight 

 inches in length of leaf, and are filling out in the 

 centre, I fold the longest leaves up over the top, 

 and tie loosely with a piece of soft twine, or raffia, 

 which is better. 



The last of October when the frosts become 

 heavy it is well to give the endive some protection 

 and I do this by covering with hay. Being a 

 woman I find it is much easier to handle than 

 boards, which when used are put together in a 

 trough like fashion, and placed over the rows like 

 a V upside down. 



One great secret in being successful in raising 

 endive is that it must be kept watered all through 

 its growth, and not allowed to dry out from the 

 day the seed is planted until the endive is tied up 

 for blanching. 



It must be tied up on a dry and sunny day, and 

 when the hay is put over the plants, they must 

 be dry. Often times, as the winter advances, the 

 plants will come out of the hay in an almost frozen 

 condition, and the only thing that can be done 

 with them, is to place them at once in a pail of 

 cold water which will draw out all the frost and 

 when it is served at table, one would never know 

 that it had been at the freezing point a few hours 

 before. 



Endive is delicious if served with a whiff of 

 onion and French dressing. It is also a very 

 pleasant addition to potato salad, in the place of 

 lettuce. 



Connecticut. Julie Adams Powell. 



Another Idea for Garden 

 Clothes 



VARIOUS descriptions of clothes for women 

 who do garden work have appeared in the 

 Garden Magazine from time to time, but none 

 of them seems to me to be quite so good for all 

 purposes as mine, perhaps because it is mine, 

 as well as because I have tried them all. 



In the first place the all-enveloping apron 

 which some advise has the bad habit of whipping 

 up over the head at every wind, thereby spilling 

 the contents of pockets. A suit of heavy denim 

 with leggings and "knickers" is far too warm for 

 comfort from June to September here in Illinois. 

 Besides it is heavy and difficult to launder. 



My garden "costume" is made from the pat- 

 tern of a higb-necked, long-sleeved apron. Cut 

 just a trifle fuller than usual for an apron, and sewed 

 up the back, so that it is really a dress that is full 



enough for comfort when stooping, but easily 

 ironed as an apron. For a slim person make it 

 two and a quarter yards around the bottom and 

 if you wish you might add a flounce! This apron- 

 gown I wear in dry weather as a dress, with a 

 wide-brimmed straw hat and boys' canvas gloves. 

 A hat is much cooler than any sun-bonnet, and the 

 cotton gloves never become stiff and useless as 

 old leather ones do. 



When the weather is cooler, my apron-gown 

 covers a short, warm skirt and sweater. When 

 the ground is damp I wear under it a skirt made 

 from a discarded rain-coat, the cape of which has 

 made an excellent wind-proof and water-proof 

 coat. A bonnet was made from the small upper 

 cape. With this outfit I can do transplanting in a 

 drizzle without getting wet. In very bad weather 

 I wear boys' rubber boots. 



Illinois. Lulu G. Parker. 



Grafting Crab Cactus on Cereus 



THE crab cactus is a weak grower and abomin- 

 ably slow while the night-blooming cereus 

 grows with swift, tropical luxuriance and vigor. 

 By grafting the cactus on the cereus we can give 

 the crab cactus the sturdiness and rapid-growing 

 characteristics of the cereus or Phyllocactus ! 



In August, say, break off a few inches of a cereus 

 stem and stick it in a sandy soil enriched with 

 rotted manure. With but little water or attention 

 of any kind the cutting will thrive. 



In January, graft a cutting of the cactus on the 

 cereus or, better, make a double graft to insure 

 certain results. This is even simpler than tree 

 grafting. Cut a narrow wedge out of the top of 

 the cereus stalk, or split it down from the square- 

 cut top. Insert a big cactus stalk, trim down 

 like a wedge, and perhaps two inches long in 

 one side of the cut and duplicate it on the other. 

 Tie up the split with a few strands of soft twine 

 and cover the cleft carefully with the melted 

 droppings from a tallow candle. Of course the 

 plant has been brought indoors with the arrival 

 of winter. These grafts are surprisingly sure and 

 vigorous beyond belief. 



My experience has been with grafting Epiphyllum 

 truncatum on the Phyllocactus stock, but any 

 variety of crab cactus can easily be grown on 

 either cereus or Phyllocactus. In fact, any cactus 

 can be grafted on any other. Always select for 

 the main stalk a sturdy, rapid grower and for the 

 graft a variety marked with beautiful bloom. 

 Cuttings can be made in August or any suitable 

 time — if outdoors, in warm weather, of course. 

 A sandy soil and a very little water furnish the 

 right conditions. 



In Arizona they are actually grafting grape 

 vines on large cacti with a success that invites 

 even more daring trials. 



Indiana. Harry N. Holmes. 



Two Hardy Lupines 



ALONG with a great many others' of the good 

 old-fashioned border flowers, the herbaceous 

 lupines were allowed to lapse into neglect. Yet 

 they are singularly valuable in the hardy border, 

 and still more so when either naturalized or given 

 a naturalistic treatment. Both the wild lupine 

 of the Eastern United States (Lupinus perennis) 

 and that of the Pacific Coast (L. polyphyllus) are 

 highly desirable for the border or wild garden. 

 The former, which usually is in bloom on Decora- 

 tion Day in Connecticut and on Long Island, 

 prefers sand, but does well in poor soil. Although 

 transplanting is not easy, it can be managed if 

 care is used; sometimes if it is not. The two 

 plants in my garden were dug up with a knife when 

 in flower and carried some three miles by hand. 

 They were given some sand and, at first, a goodly 

 amount of water. Normally, the color of this wild 

 lupine is blue, but now and then it turns to white. 

 Of L. polyphyllus, the hardy lupine of old gardens. 



A vigorous and rapid growing crab cactus can be 

 had by grafting it on cereus stock 



Lupinus perennis the common wild lupine of the 

 East, is excellent for naturalizing 



there are now blue, white, pink, and blue and white 

 forms. Seed planted in a coldframe the first of 

 July, or earlier in the open ground will bloom the 

 year following. 



Connecticut. H. T. I. 



Flowers Eleven Months in the 

 Year 



WE HAVE many kinds of hardy flowers in our 

 garden and they are so arranged and grouped 

 that no part is entirely without color at any part 

 of the season. Our borders are all irregular, with 

 a shrubbery background and clumps of hardy plants 

 and perennials. 



We have for a long time used some kind of a 

 carpeting plant between the flowers and shrubs 

 and have had the best success with the Scotch 

 tufted pansy and the dwarf daisy (Bellis perennis). 

 Many people think that a pansy is short-lived, very 

 difficult to grow and very tender, but we have not 

 found it so with the above variety. 



Last spring, in March, we gathered pansies 

 before snowdrops or crocuses bloomed and con- 

 stantly all the season through. 



Finally, the season of outdoor flowers came to 

 an end with the chrysanthemums, but the tufted 

 pansies continued to bloom. On December ist, 

 we picked the last of the flowers. 



We had much speculation as to what would 

 be our first flower this spring. On February 13th 

 the warm weather came and for four days it almost 

 seemed like spring. On the 17th, much to our sur- 

 prise, we picked a dozen pansy blooms from an un- 

 protected part of the border, and nearby the Bellis 

 perennis had a half dozen bright little blooms, 

 each the size of a penny on very short stems. 



Indiana. Earl Brooks. 



