The Garden Magazine 



Vol. XIV— No. 6 



Published Monthly 



JANUARY, 1912 



l One Dollar Fifty Cents a Yeah 

 1 Fifteen Cents a Copy 



[For the purpose of reckoning dates, New York is 

 generally taken as a standard. Ariow six days' difference 

 for every hundred miles of latitude.l 



I Will Have a Garden 



"V^TTTHIN ten days at most from the 



* * day you read this the New Year will 

 have arrived — the time for "good resolu- 

 tions." It has come to be regarded as 

 little more than a joke — this matter of 

 "turning over a new leaf" — because it 

 invariably means the renouncing of 

 some more or less pleasurable habit, a sort 

 of self-imposed reformation, that usually 

 turns out impracticable — or incon- 

 venient. 



Why not plan to make, instead, a con- 

 structive resolution that doesn't involve 

 hardship nor any great expense, that pro- 

 vides for a reward for eight months or 

 more, that is both economical and en- 

 joyable? Why not say, indeed, "I will 

 have a garden." 



That message is just for the unfortunate 

 mortals who never enjoyed one — to pre- 

 pare them for the activities that are to 

 come. Your already initiated gardener 

 will even now have caught himself thinking 

 of seed catalogues and next season's 

 plans. But there are other things for 

 him to attend to this month. 



Be sure the mulches on the hardy per- 

 ennial border, the bulb and pansy beds, 

 and the strawberry patch, are loose, and 

 not frozen into a tight, hard mass. If 

 there is snow on them, they are probably 

 all right; but, after thaws, shake up the 

 leaves or litter with a fork before they 

 can cake and pack. 



There will be an occasional mild day 

 when you can open up the cold frames in 

 which the cabbage and celery are winter- 

 ing, to give these hardy fellows a taste of 

 fresh air. Don't neglect these oppor- 

 nities, and don't overdo them. 



Even as early as January you can some- 

 times start an apple or cherry branch into 



blossom by putting it in a vase of water 

 indoors. 



By the way the color effects of the 

 shrubs and trees didn't disappear with 

 the falling of the leaves. Berberis is beau- 

 tiful with brilliant red berries, the ink- 

 berry (Ilex glabra) with glossy black ones. 

 Mahonia (Berberis aquifolium) keeps its 

 glossy, holly-like leaves and its purplish 

 fruit all winter — in a sheltered place. 

 Then there are a host of other fruit bearers 

 like symphoricarpos, pyracantha and 

 Viburnam opulus. But the beautiful 

 effects en masse are due to the golden 

 twigs of the willows and the brilliant 

 bark, in different shades, of the various 

 dogwoods. There is an education, along 

 the lines of color harmony, to be found 

 in these rich masses contrasted with the 

 unfailing freshness of the evergreens. 



These things of beauty are all about us; 

 we should open our eyes to see them, 

 constantly. 



If, as the first freezing weather came 

 along, you set away in the cellar some 

 roots of asparagus, kale, and rhubarb, now 

 is the time to force the first lot. Pot each 

 clump in a tub, pot or bench, with six or 

 eight inches of good rich earth. Set the 

 plants in a temperature of 45 to 55 degrees 

 and water them thoroughly; after a few 

 days begin to increase the heat gradually 

 till in ten days it has reached 65 to 75 

 degrees. 



Strawberries can be handled similarly 

 but they should have been plunged, pots and 

 all, outdoors and lightly mulched, until 

 time for forcing. 



The Prelude to the 1912 Garden 



TNLESS you receive catalogues reg- 

 ^ ularly, be sure a good seedsman 

 has your name on his mailing list before 

 the end of this month. 



Then, when the catalogues arrive 

 get out your last year's notebook and get 

 this year's plans under way. It takes 

 more than one evening to plan a good 

 garden. Keep at it until the successions, 

 location of crops, rotations and all such 

 details are as nearly as possible in accor- 

 dance with the very best principles of 

 gardening that you know or can find. 



If you have any seed on hand — either 

 gathered from your own plants, or your 

 neighbors or saved from last year's supply, 

 test it. Seed testing is not only an inter- 

 esting bit of indoor gardening, but it is 

 liable to have very valuable results and 

 teach valuable lessons. 



There are several forms of cheap, re- 

 liable testing devices. One, for the larger 

 253 



seeds, is a little covered dish of red clay — 

 flower-pot ware. Kept in a saucer of 

 water, this absorbs enough moisture to 

 provide the seeds with the right conditions. 

 But, even so, keep watch of it. Once 

 when using one of these dishes I was amazed 

 to note the disappearance of one or two 

 peas each time I looked at it. Not until 

 one night when I caught a wire worm — 

 that had got in through the holes in the 

 cover — eating the seeds, did I discover 

 the key to the "vanishing trick." 



Any one can make a tester with two 

 plates and some blotting paper; and an 

 excellent tin affair with cloth folds, and a 

 glass cover can be bought very reasonably. 

 But don't forget that a uniform, temper- 

 ature — about 65 to 70 degrees — and avail- 

 able moisture at all times are the essentials 

 that really determine the success of the 

 test and the tester. 



More Gardening Thoughts 



TF YOU and your friends are really 

 ■*• interested in gardens Avhy not ar- 

 range for a sort of "Community Garden 

 Club?" To be a member a person must 

 agree to have and take care of a garden — 

 either flower or vegetable — but preferably 

 both. Let each member carry out the 

 ideas of the whole club in regard to one 

 sort of plant — maintain an experimental 

 plot, so to speak. Let him, or her, keep 

 especially full notes of the care and progress 

 of this particular subject. Then each 

 week or so the Club could meet at one 

 the gardens and discuss its condition, 

 treatment, requirements, etc. On the 

 basis of the "two heads being better than 

 one" theory such a scheme should result 

 in a splendid lot of gardens, as well as a 

 number of enjoyable gatherings all through 

 the growing season. 



If you want any specific ideas for gar- 

 den experiments, write to the Editor of 

 The Garden Magazine, and talk the 

 matter over. There are innumerable ques- 

 tions that can be studied out even on a 

 little backyard plot, all the way from a 

 comparison of methods of growing onions, 

 to the relative value of certain fertilizers, 

 or the applications of Mendel's Law. 



Get some real, live interest into your 

 gardening; make it teach you — and other 

 people — something, as well as supply 

 your table; be agriculturists as well as 

 gardeners. But even if you cannot do 

 any of these things, dig up a little ground, 

 throw in some seeds, and have some sort 

 of a garden anyhow. 



Now, all together, say it once more — 

 "I Will Have a Garden"! 



