254 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 19 14 



Address Ornamental Department 



The J. L. Mott Iron Works 



Fifth Avenue and 17th Street, New York 



Established 1828 



OWNERS of country 

 places seeking new 

 ways tobeautify their 

 grounds should consult our 

 illustrated catalogues. 



They are full of suggestions 

 for everything in ornamen- 

 tal metal. We are always 

 ready to prepare original 

 designs for unusual require- 

 ments. 



We issue separate cata- 

 logues of Display Foun- 

 tains, Drinking-Fountains, 

 Electroliers, Vases, Grills 

 and Gateways, Settees and 

 Chairs, Statuary, Aquar- 

 iums, Tree-Guards, Sani- 

 tary Fittings for Stable and 

 Cow-Barn. 



The Box that Makes the Plants Grow 



STEEL GREENHOUSE 



IF YOU ARE 

 INTERESTED IN 

 PLANTS, you should 

 see this new patented 

 galvanized steel box. 

 It can be set inside 

 or outside the win- 

 dow, or on the porch 

 r a i 1 i n g — anywhere. 

 Will not leak, and 

 damage the wood- 

 work. Patented ven- 

 tilating and drainage 

 bottom. Made of heavy galvanized steel, enameled green. 6 

 inches deep, 7 J inches wide, and made in any length. 



To introduce and show you these boxes, we will send 

 you by parcel post one box 30 inches long, anywhere 

 east of the Mississippi, on receipt of $1.00. Your money 

 back if not satisfactory. 



Success Manufacturing Company 



260 Sargent Street Gloucester, Mass. 



"EASY EMPTYING" 



Grass Catcher 



Saves the Work and Damage of Raking 



Keeps the lawn clean, smooth and velvety. 

 Fits any mower. Easily attached and de- || 

 tached. " Lift it off to empty." ___ / 



NON-SLIP BOTTOM 



with adjustable front flange pre- 

 vents grass sliding forward onto 

 mower roller. 



Insist on getting " Easy 

 Emptying." 



Ask your hardware dealer to 

 show you or write for free book- 

 let " Useful Things for the Lawn." 



Specialty Mfg. Co. 



1047 Raymond Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 



A LAWN EXPERT 



will answer your lawn questions and advise how to 

 get the best lawns through Readers' Service. 



You, Mr. Fruit Grower, Are Losing Money 



You would mighty soon sew up a pocket that was letting coins slip through — BETTER 

 STOP that leak in your orchard — your bank balance suffers every year from it. 



Those insects — bugs — fungi — pests and blight are punching a big hole in your 

 income — hardly noticeable during the growing season, but much in evidence 

 at harvest time in the large per cent, of imperfect valueless fruit these para- 

 sites produce. They get a fat share of the profits that should be yours. 



A SPRAMOTOR 



the spraying equipment of proven worth — that has won the highest 

 awards in competitive tests, will stop the leak. The increase in yield of 

 perfect fruit of a single season's crop will pay the price of this 

 machine and still leave a goodly balance to your credit. Its use 

 at a cost of a few cents per tree, insures a bumper crop of better 

 fruit, commanding the highest market prices — the kind that 

 win the prizes at fruit exhibitions. 



YOU NEED THIS EQUIPMENT IN YOUR BUSINESS— 

 there is a size and a price to meet your every requirement. 

 Send for our free descriptive book and treatise on diseases of 

 fruit trees. 



SPRAMOTOR CO. 



129 Erie St. 

 Buffalo, N. Y. 



179 King St. 

 London, Ont. 



in the second or third or fourth remove. Color 

 is all important to the fancier and to the cut-flower 

 trade; but in fairness to the vegetable kingdom one 

 must admit that a dull bricky tint of bloom is biolog- 

 ically as useful as purples or the much sought blue. 

 Taller plants, heavier wood, bigger foliage, fatter 

 tubers, enlarged seeds or quadrupled seed-crop we 

 do not seek; we want chiefly new colors in old- 

 established forms of blossom. Only one variant, 

 thus, is sought or noticed. Mendel's laws have not, 

 so to speak, elbow-room to work in, because we 

 throw on the autumnal bonfire so many individuals 

 one or two seasons old and doomed to die childless 

 because they are not "good" — that is, are not 

 florists' flowers. 



Were dahlias to be treated as annuals for a score 

 of years by some seed farm, probably strains of 

 "true" seed could be developed as they have been 

 developed in other compositae, notably the asters. 

 Then, indeed eugenical crosses would be looked 

 after in the family! But the complication has 

 been that the tuber business gives an individual 

 dahlia plant a sort of immortality. If a gardener 

 likes an individual, that plant is elected to ever- 

 lasting life forthwith. All the other seedlings that 

 he does not like go into oblivion unobserved. 

 Thus, the tuber device on the plant's part, and 

 crass favoritism on man's part, unite to upset 

 nature's balancing of traits in this quick-growing 

 annual. Wheat, which needs twice a dahlia's 

 span of life to seed, we are on the way to knowing 

 all about — its strains, its sources, its traits, it 

 breeding laws. Wheat has no tuberous complica- 

 tions. But the dahlia, as an exact science, is falling 

 into worse and worse estate very year, as it becomes 

 more and more a fancier's flower. Isn't it queer? 



Pennsylvania. E. S. Johnson. 



Another Monster Boston Fern 



IN THE April, 1913, issue of The Garden 

 Magazine, Mr. Otto Giffen of Ohio writes in 

 regard to his Boston fern, and in the March, 19 14, 

 issue O. B. C. of Michigan boasts of his fern. I 

 have them both beaten; the longest frond on my 

 Boston fern measures n feet from base to tip! 



We have a store that faces the South, the front of 

 it being protected from the sun by an awning. The 

 ceiling is fourteen feet high, and the fern is sus- 

 pended from it near the front of the store, hanging 

 about two feet from the ceiling. I have a swivel at 

 the hook and turn the plant every two or three 

 weeks. It is about ten years old, has not been 

 repotted in six years, and is in a pot about fourteen 

 inches across the top. I care for it much the same 

 as Mr. Giffen, and water it every Saturday night 

 before the store closes, giving it all the water it will 

 absorb. Occasionally I add a little ammonia to the 

 water. The room is steam heated and the atmosphere 

 consequently is very dry, but the plant thrives. 



If any one has a better specimen of a true Boston 

 sword fern, I would like to hear from him. 



Iowa. Harry F. Jacobs. 



Dandelions — To Eat and Drink 



DANDELIONS are of course, a pest and a great 

 trial to the would-be gardener, both in the 

 border and on the lawn. But they make a very de- 

 lectable dish of salad. Wash the greens thoroughly 

 in cold water, cut off the root-stock, and serve with 

 any salad dressing as one would serve lettuce. 



Dandelions will also make delicious boiled 

 "greens" for dinner. Wash thoroughly, cut off the 

 roots, and be sure to cut out any flower buds which 

 may have formed. Cover with cold water and 

 boil for an hour or until quite tender. Strain in 

 colander, chop fine, and return to the hot pan to 

 be heated. Season well with salt, pepper and but- 

 ter, and garnish with slices of hard-boiled egg. 



Dandelions also make a most delicious wine. 

 Gather four quarts of blossoms, pour over them one 

 gallon of boiling water, cover, and let stand for 

 three days. Add the grated rind of three oranges 

 and one lemon to the blossoms and the water; boil 

 for fifteen minutes. Have ready three pounds of 

 white sugar in a vessel and over this strain the hot 

 decoction, stirring until the sugar melts. When the 

 mixture is tepid, add to it one yeast cake, cover the 

 whole again, and let stand for ten days. Strain 

 again, settle, cork, and put away in a dark place. 



New York. S. T. Homans. 



The Readers' Service will give information about the latest automobile accessories 



