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// a problem graxs in your garden write to 

 the Readers' Service for assistance 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



February, 1912 



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DISTANCE 

 ^TELEPHONE 



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From a Photograph Showing the Last Step in Locating the Exact Center of Population of the United States. 



"The Center of Population" 



A Title that Fits Every Bell Telephone 



From the census of 1910 it is found that the center of population is in Bloomington, Indiana, latitude 

 39 degrees 10 minutes 12 seconds north, and longitude 86 degrees 32 minutes 20 seconds west. 



"If all the people in the United States 

 were to be assembled in one place, the 

 center of population would be the point 

 which they could reach with the mini- 

 mum aggregate travel, assuming that 

 they all traveled in direct lines from their 

 residence to the meeting place." 



— U. S. Census Bulletin. 



This description gives a word picture 

 of every telephone in the Bell system. 



Every Bell telephone is the center of 

 the system. 



It is the point which can be reached 

 with "the minimum aggregate travel," 

 by all the people living within the range 

 of telephone transmission and having 

 access to Bell telephones. 



Wherever it may be on the map, each 

 Bell telephone is a center for purposes 

 of intercommunication. 



To make each telephone the center 

 of communication for the largest number 

 of people, there must be One System, 

 One Policy and Universal Service for a 

 country of more than ninety million. 



AMERICAN TELEPHONE AND TELEGRAPH COMPANY 



And Associated Companies 

 One Policy One System Universal Service 



"REECO"— Dependable Water 



For over half a century "Reeco" Rider and "Reeeo" 

 Ericsson Pumping Engines (operated by hot air) have been 

 considered the most efficient, economical and dependable 

 equipment made for domestic water supply- 

 Water service that is abundant for all needs, that is con- 

 stant in all seasons and all weather conditions, is assured by 

 "Reeco" equipment — in connection with pressure or elevated 

 tanks. 



Xo other pumps are so simple to operate, so safe and 

 reliable, so free from breakdowns, as "Reeco" Pumps, 

 child can operate them. 



Over 40,000 "Reeco" Pumps are now in use. 



RIDER-ERICSSON ENGINE CO. 



New York. Boiton. Philadelphia. Montreal, P. Q. Sydney, Aaitrslia. 

 Also Makers of the "Reeco" Electric Pumps 



Supply Systems 



Write nearest office /or 

 Illustrated Catalog U. 



Dahlias, Cannas and Gladiolus 

 in Texas 



IN THIS locality we have a sandy, fine and 

 porous, but very rich soil. The sand has not 

 had its fertility washed off by rain, as this is an 

 arid section and plants grow only when irrigated. 

 The soil will crust on top unless a large amount 

 of humus is plowed into it. 



For several years I have been trying out dahlias. 

 I have experienced no trouble at all in getting them 

 started and blossoming, but owing to the continual 

 sunshine, the plants become dwarfed. Xone of 

 my plants have grown over two feet high, al- 

 though they have been given a great deal of water. 

 On one plant, only two feet high. I have counted 

 forty blossoms either in full bloom or still in bud, 

 and yet blossoms have been cut off repeatedly. 



Beyond growing cowpeas or velvet beans to 

 plow under, I have used no fertilizer on the land. 

 We have practically no winter here, and so, if 

 tubers will form in the ground, we should have more 

 and larger ones than growers farther north. Then 

 it is very easy to slip dahlias; just cut off a piece, 

 stick it in the ground, keep the soil wet and shade 

 for perhaps a week, and you will have a new plant. 



I have been very successful with growing cannas. 

 From fifty plants bought a year ago, I sold 3,000 

 tubers this season, have fifteen or twenty fine 

 varieties and shall have 25,000 to 35.000 tubers to 

 sell next winter. They can be left in the ground 

 until wanted by customers, which means a quick 

 start. 



Last year I also planted sixty gladiolus bulbs 

 along the banks of an irrigation ditch, thinking 

 it would be a good place for them. But I found 

 that they could not be cultivated and were watered 

 whenever water went down that ditch. I think 

 they got too much moisture, but they blossomed 

 beautifully and I got seventy bulbs and 295 bulblets, 

 losing some by not taking them up completely (as 

 the soil was hard on the ditch bank) and a few more 

 by storing in too damp soil. 



From watching them carefully I made up my 

 mind that, in this warm climate, we could have two 

 growing seasons; that I could plant in February, 

 have them bloom in April and May, mature in 

 June, keep them out of the ground until the end 

 of July or the beginning of August, then replant, 

 have blooms in October to mature in December, 

 take up the bulbs and give them a rest until the 

 following February. We usually have a light frost 

 early in December but this would not hurt the 

 maturing bulbs. 



Accordingly, I planted what bulbs and bulblets 

 I had. together with one hundred of the Butterfly 

 gladiolus, on February 10th. and I planted them as 

 I would onions, in a double row about five inches 

 apart and about two inches deep. Each bulb 

 germinated and bore beautiful flowers, but those 

 that had been grown here for one season excelled 

 those planted for the first time, in size of flower, 

 texture and firmness of flower petals, and brilliancy 

 of coloring. They were exquisite. I do not know 

 whether this difference was due to the original 

 quality of the bulbs — one was domestic and the 

 other French — or to strong sunshine. But it 

 is my opinion that the colors, here in our almost 

 continual sunshine, are more brilliant than they 

 were when I grew the same varieties in the North. 



As the plants came up they were upheld by lines 

 of string along the sides of the rows, and blossomed 

 profusely, and when mature were dug up. with the 

 exception of a few that were left to go to seed. I 

 did not know as much then as I do now about the 

 bulblets. I stored them where they would dry 

 out. the same as the bulbs, and few of them came 

 up. Then I planted them too far apart, so that 

 the slender stalks were not protected from breaking 

 down by the wind. But from eighty-five bulblets 

 I got fifty-eight bulbs and about one hundred bulb- 

 lets. From the one hundred foreign bulbs I got 

 133 bulbs and 1289 bulblets, and from the seventy 

 domestic with the addition of 295 bulblets, I 

 got 155 bulbs and 1233 bulblets. These bulbs are 

 now stored in a dry place and the bulblets are 

 in slightly moist sand. They should never be 

 allowed to dry out. 



I intend to try planting some of the bulblets 

 in a flat of sand, putting them close together, 

 making very moist and covering with burlap so 



