120 



The Readers' Service is prepared to 

 advise parents in regard to schools 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



Ornamental Light- Posts 



THE light-post bears an intimate 

 relation to the architecture of 

 the building before which it is 

 placed. From our many designs a 

 suitable selection may readily be 

 made. Or we will submit designs of 

 posts in harmony with the character 

 of the building. 



We issue separate catalogues of Display 

 Fountains, Drinking -Fountains, Electro- 

 liers, Vases, Grills and Gateways, Setteesand 

 Chairs, Statuary, Aquariums, Tree-Guards, 

 Sanitary Fittings for Stable and Cow-Barn. 



Address: Ornamental Dept. 



THE J.L. MOTT IRON WORKS 



FIFTH AVENUE & 17th ST. 



NEW YORK 



Peonies Tl? 1 C Our Rare 



From 



TEAS 



Collection 



When you have studied Peonies, grown 

 them, and lived among them for fifty 

 years, you will be pretty well posted on 

 the subject. Meanwhile, hadn't you 

 better let us help you build up a good 

 collection? Our stock contains the best 

 varieties, according to our half-cen- 

 tury's experience. You will find par- 

 ticulars in our booklet— 



"A CHOICE LITTLE LIST" 



—Sent Free 



It tells about our other Perennials — 

 especially Irises — Shrubs, etc., for 

 spring. Get it now: tell us about your 

 garden when you write. 



E. Y. TEAS & SON 

 Iris Boulevard, f enlerville, Indiana 



lEHffl 



the World 



The best Asters in the world are 

 grown right here in the vicinity 

 of Rochester, N.Y. We raise As- 

 ter Seed of the highest quality 

 on our own farm and sell direct 

 to gardeners at wholesale prices. 

 We also raise many other Vege- 

 table and flower Seeds of very 

 high quality. If you want really 

 good seeds, try Harris's. 

 Catalog Free 

 Joseph Harris Co. 



Box 58, Coldwater. N. Y. 



J 



HARRIS 

 SEEDS 



RHODODENDRONS 



Hybrid Rhododendrons — plants 18-24" — 2-2J', and 2§-3', fine plants well budded, the most hardy 

 varieties and assorted colors. Rhododendron Maximum — the best plants that can be supplied in 

 car lots. Write for prices. Catalog upon request for our general stock. 



MORRIS NURSERY CO., Sales Office: 1 Madison Avenue, Metropolitan Building, NEW YORK, N. Y. 



p ¥ A 1MT Col. of_Blood Root, Tall Coreopsis, Hepatica, Blue 

 NATIVE Flower Seed, 50c. 



Lobelia, Pentstemon, Wild Phlox and Moonseed Vine, 

 ■00. 10 different Ferns or 10 Vines, $1.00. 20 pks. Native 

 Canada Lily seed and list, 25c. 

 ¥>¥ A 1VJTC Prize Silver Lace Wyandotte Eggs, $3.00 per 15 



r LA III 1 3 American Native Nursery, Greenfield, Mich. 



New Strawberries S^caluS" 1 ReLbT 



interesting and instructive. All the new everbearers 

 and other important varieties ' — address 



C. N. FLANSBURGH & SON, Jackson, Mich. 



OSES 2f NEW CASTLE 



Most rugged, hardiest Roses in America. Plant them and make your 

 Rose Garden a success. New Castle soil best adapted to Rose growing 

 — hence our big success in growing healthy, vigorous Rose bushes. 

 They carry all the strength and vigor of New Castle soil. 

 We grow and sell allbest varieties of Roses, also Hardy Perennials, Shrubs, 

 Plants, Bulbs, Flower and Vegetable seeds. Safe arrival guaranteed. 



ROSES OF NEW CASTLE— free 



Our 1912 edition, most famous rose book published. Profusely illustrated 

 in colors — highest authority on rose culture. Gives all necessary 

 information. Plan your Rose Garden now— send for this great book — 

 it's free — write today. 



HELLER BROTHERS CO., Rose Specialists, Box 321, New Castle, Ind. 



March, 1912 



month, but the different varieties keep up the 

 succession of most delicious berries for a third of 

 the year. 



Hens make the confusion worse by moulting in 

 July, and laying most of their eggs in midwinter. 

 You can hardly get used to such abnormal per- 

 formance. Yet how handy it is, for eggs bring 

 fifteen cents in July and thirty-five in January. 

 The Northerner hunts for a possible egg in Novem- 

 ber; just then I can get my hat and pockets full 

 without any difficulty. 



Potatoes, which I have said were planted in 

 January, can be planted again in July. They want 

 the low lands by the lakes; and all of these low 

 lands must be sweetened with a lot of lime. Sweet 

 potatoes want the higher slopes, and melon vines 

 like the uplands. They will absolutely cover great 

 openings in the pine grovrs with melons that weigh 

 from twenty to fifty pounds. The shippers select 

 the heavier stock, but after the carloads have gone 

 North, averaging forty pounds to the melon, there 

 are still splendid melons to be had for the asking. 



If you stay here the year around, however, and 

 watch the way that the people and Nature operate, 

 you will find that the horticultural year really 

 begins about September 1st. You might fairly 

 call this New Year's Day. Now you make your 

 first garden. It consists of cabbage and carrots 

 and collards and beets and turnips, while we gen- 

 erally count in mustard and scoke for greens. 

 Lettuce, of course, we can have at any time — 

 lettuce as big as a half bushel is in order for Christ- 

 mas. We ship cabbages and crates of lettuce in 

 January. We begin to pick oranges in November, 

 and get through with the main crop in May — 

 except a few late sorts that hang on all summer. 



Our special hindrance is, first of all, the nature 

 of the soil. In the centre counties or pine sections 

 the soil is almost invariably sandy; and the humus 

 which ought to have been enormous, has been 

 either burned out or prevented from forming, by 

 the fires which are annually kindled in midwinter, 

 and allowed to sweep over the state. Our houses 

 and gardens are invariably protected by fire lines 

 that are plowed ten or twelve feet wide. This 

 burning is a terrible waste, in fact it costs the 

 state millions of dollars every year; yet without 

 annual burning the accumulation of dry vegetation 

 would be so great that an accidental fire would 

 obliterate forest trees as well as weeds. Of course, 

 this burning must be stopped as fast as we can 

 get the lands under cultivation. 



The first necessity for the gardener must be to 

 replace this humus which is burned. Nature will 

 help him enthusiastically with legumes, and he has 

 but to plow them under. The use of muck from 

 the lakes will help out this problem greatly, for 

 the lakes are everywhere, and in the dry season 

 the muck can be obtained in vast quantities; only 

 it is very sour, and needs aerating and liberal liming. 

 The compost pile should always be on hand and it 

 should have a good percentage of lime, much more 

 than in the North. 



A very large part of Florida is flat, and in the 

 wet season is swampy and malarious, as well as 

 mosquito infested. It is true that much of this 

 flat land is very rich for gardening, although it 

 needs draining half the year and irrigating the 

 other half. Some of it is celery land, and the 

 higher parts are excellent for white potatoes. Pine- 

 apples, mangos and other semi-tropical fruits 

 flourish in the wet lands along the coast. The 

 Northerner will find his normal place in the centre 

 of the state, where the land is high, rolling, healthy, 

 and the water is of the best. 



The hollows of this central section are full of 

 lakes that float water lilies, while most of them are 

 supplied with fish. Tourists as a rule do not visit 

 this part of the state, but have heretofore been 

 found in the palm-growing sections. Settlers 

 should be careful not to trust one word of the 

 phenomenal promises of land promoters; they 

 should never buy an acre untit they have seen it. 



We do not need winter cover crops against frost 

 as is the case in the Northern States, but we 

 do need summer cover crops to break the force 

 of the sun rays at noon time. This sandy soil 

 conducts heat with great rapidity and burns the 

 rootlets. This is one of Natures particular prob- 

 lems, how not to let the superheated sun rays get 

 at the little roots. So you find that all sorts of 

 shrubs, that in the North lift their branches up- 





