194 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



April, 1914 



A Garden Full 



The GLADIOLI is one of the most 

 satisfactory flowers grown because it 

 blooms continuously when it is cut and 

 put in water just as well as when in the 

 ground. 



There is no reason why every 

 family cannot enjoy this grand 

 flower, for the simple reason that it 

 is as easy to grow as the potato. 



You can have them in bloom from July 

 to frost if you plant a few bulbs each 

 month from April to July. 



For only ONE DOLLAR we will send 

 75 BULBS of our GRAND PRIZE 



MIXTURE, which covers every conceiv- 

 able shade in the Gladioli kingdom. 



Last year we sold 150,000 of the bulbs and 

 have received hundreds of testimonials as to 

 their merits. 



Order Your Bulbs Now 



so as to have them to plant when you begin 

 making your garden. 



The culture of Gladioli is a simple one; bulbs may 

 be inserted in the ground with a trowel, about four 

 inches deep and one to two feet apart, being careful to 



rake over the ground with a small weeder, after the bulbs have started to grow, so as to keep 



it from becoming hard or cakey. This will insure splendid blooms. 



Write or call at our store, mention "Garden Magazine," and secure this 

 splendid collection of Gladioli Bulbs for only $1.00, prepaid to your home, any- 

 where in the United States, with our 1914 Catalogue. 



e!^^^^^y^ 



30-32 Barclay Street 



NEW YORK 



Herbert's Dahlias 



The finest varieties to date in decorative, fancy, cactus, show, peony-flow- 

 ered, collarette, single, Century, duplex Century and pompon dahlias, are all 

 illustrated and described in our 



New Catalog, Illustrated in Natural Colors 



Reputation Set 



Five beautiful dahlias se- 

 lected for exceptional quality. 

 The choice of our 500 best 

 varieties sent postpaid for Si. 



This helpful book is free. It tells where, when and how to 

 plant Dahlias to get best results; is an accurate, complete 

 guide on Gladioli, Cannas, Lilium and other summer-flower- 

 ing bulbs and plants. Send today for your copy. 



DAVID HERBERT & SON 

 Box 401 Atco, New Jersey 



100 acres devoted to dahlia culture — the greatest plant in the world 



The matted bed I divided into rows eighteen inches 

 wide, spaced eighteen inches apart, by digging out 

 all plants that were between the rows. I thinned 

 the rest, leaving only the strongest and heaviest 

 yielders. Some of the largest young plants were 

 carefully lifted, with as much earth clinging to their 

 roots as the spade would hold, and transplanted 

 into two new rows. 



Wanting the plants to store up abundant strength 

 for the next season, I top-dressed the bed with 

 nitrate of soda mixed with loam. Later I top- 

 dressed it with wood ashes and again in the fall 

 with horse manure. Although the weather was 

 dry the plants began growing in a short time and 

 by fall the patch was in splendid condition. I had 

 set enough runners to widen the rows to two feet 

 and to fill the bare spots in them. All other run- 

 ners were cut off. 



Cultivation was continued through November. 

 Soon after the ground became frost-bound I mulch- 

 ed the bed with coarse, strawy manure, weighted 

 with corn stalks. The plants came through the 

 winter, which was almost without snow, in fine 

 shape and bore 144 quarts in 1013. The bed was 

 twice fertilized with nitrate of soda and bonemeal 

 early in the spring, the first time just as growth 

 was starting and again when the plants were in 

 blossom. 



The summers had been very hot and droughty, 

 but I don't believe either the excessive heat or lack 

 of rain killed any of the plants. I am convinced 

 most of them died when their roots were burned by 

 the heat of the fermenting manure. By using 

 fresh manure the foods it contained were not avail- 

 able for the plants until fermentation ceased. 

 This lack of nutrition doubtless contributed to the 

 death of some of the weaker plants that might other- 

 wise have lived. As soon as the manure had been 

 worked over by nature so that its potential foods 

 were made available for the rootlets, the surviving 

 plants quickly assimilated the nourishment, grew 

 vigorously and bore abundantly. 



Iowa. Harry J. Rodgers. 



A Profitable Strawberry Patch 



NO KITCHEN garden is complete without its 

 strawberry patch, and probably no fruit is so 

 welcome as this, the first of the season. 



There is the greatest difference in the world be- 

 tween the adaptabilities of different varieties of 

 strawberries to different kinds of soil. A variety 

 admirably suited to the upland may be a miserable 

 failure in the low lands. So I made every effort to 

 learn the best variety for my particular soil, a very 

 fine sandy loam, friable, and well drained, through 

 inquiry among neighboring growers and experts. It 

 was finally decided to plant Senator Dunlap (per- 

 fect blossom) and Warfield (imperfect) in alternate 

 rows. Care must be taken to have a perfect blos- 

 somed variety in the combination, else the imper- 

 fect one will not be fertilized. It is not necessary 

 to have an imperfect blossomed variety, however. 

 I sent to Michigan for my plants, and sturdy well- 

 rooted specimens they were, with the tops and 

 roots trimmed. 



That was in the early spring of 1912. I had my 

 garden plowed, harrowed and dragged, the soil 

 having been well-manured the preceding season 

 and planted to a crop requiring clean culture. The 

 particular spot that I had intended for strawberries 

 was kept well cultivated until about the 10th of May, 

 and, immediately before setting the plants, finally 

 gone over with a hand rake which thoroughly pul- 

 verized every inch of soil. 



I marked off six rows three feet apart and forty 

 feet long. The plants were set twenty inches apart 

 in the row, Dunlap in one row and Warfield in the 

 next. I took elaborate care in this planting. First 

 the holes were dug with a small garden trowel and 

 each treated to a pint of water. When the water 

 had soaked away the plants were set, not with the 

 roots rounded into a bunch, but carefully spread 

 out. I then drew the soil around them and pressed 

 it firmly about the roots. The plants were level 

 with the surface of the surrounding ground. No 

 roots were exposed and the crowns were not covered. 

 On the surface surrounding each plant I left a loose 

 mulch of fine soil to prevent evaporation. 



I cultivated weekly and after each rain with the 



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