136 



// a problem grows in your garden write to 

 the Readers' Service Jor assistance 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1912 





BIRD 



NEPDMSET 



!.. ROOFINGS «?„ 





^s 



H?HI 



Costs Less Than 

 Shingles— Lasts Longer — 

 Adds Fire Protection 



These are the three BIG reasons that have led thousands of farmers 

 and manufacturers as well as the big railway systems to use 



NEPDNSET 



PAROID ROOFING 



It has stood the test of the hardest service in every climate for years. The 

 Chicago and Northwestern Railroad laid NEPonseT Paroid on one of their 

 train sheds nine years ago. Last summer when the shed was torn down 

 the NEPdnseT Paroid roofing was found to be in so good condition that it 

 was cut in strips and used to re-roof several suburban stations. Isn't that the 

 kind of a roof you want for your farm buildings ? 



Send for Our Free Booklet on Roofing 



and the name of a NEPonsET dealer near you. He is reliable. Send 



postal today. 



NEPONSET Proslate 



makes a handsome red or green 

 roof for houses 



ZZ. F. W. BIRD & SON, (,%'s) 221 Neponset St., E. Walpole, Mass. 



New York 



Chicago 



Washington Portland, Ore. 



Canadian Plant: Hamilton, Ont. 



San Francisco 





DUTCH ROOTS and BULBS 



dire 



ct from Holland. Newest roiei 



. A 



Cat 



iloeue full of vital facts. FREE. 



V\ 





Gt. van Waveren & Krt 



■ijfl 



QUALITY SEED POTATOES 



That's All. — Catalogue Free. 

 JOHNSON SEED POTATO CO. RICHMOND, ME. 



MAKE EVERY ACRE 

 NET $200 EACH YEAR 



An acre of berries will bring more net 

 profit than ten acres of corn or wheat — 

 WITH LESS WORK— five acres, more 

 income than the salary of the average 

 state senator. With ten acres you 

 should live well and put $2000 a year in 



Knight's Book on Small Fruits 



Don't make any definite plans for your 1 

 free for the asking as long as they last. 



YOU CAN'T GET INTO 

 A BETTER BUSINESS 



Berry growing is a solid, permanent busi- 

 ness. Berries have grown to be a necessity. 

 City people are eating more and more. 

 Prices are double what they were ten 

 years ago. Learn the facts about the great 

 the bank. Gibson Strawberry and the Giant Himalaya Berry. 



tells you all about these and many other profitable varieties. 

 912 planting until you have seen one of these books. They are 



Box 103 



DAVID KNIGHT & SON 



Sawyer, Michigan 



will wash it over the plants as it will surely yellow 

 and kill them. 



Lousy plants snould be burned at once or 

 washed in an infusion of tobacco stems. Plants 

 badly affected are rarely profitable even though 

 they survive. 



Cucumbers require regular, even cultivation 

 but when they have begun blooming it is wiser 

 to disturb the plants very little when working about 

 the bill. A rather unusual garden implement but 

 one especially useful in this case is a long-handled 

 scraper such as is used about the fireplace. By 

 lifting the vines carefully and drawing this over the 

 surface of the soil about the hill each week, weeds 

 will be prevented from gaining a foothold. 



Overgrown cucumbers should not remain upon 

 the vines as their growth and ripening will check 

 the vines' bearing. 



The everbearing and the White Spine varieties 

 are general garden favorites, being crisp, tender and 

 prolific. 

 .New Jersey. M. Roberts Conover. 



A Short Season for Tomatoes 



AFTER having made repeated efforts with 

 _ • growing tomatoes, I decided that the only 

 thing to do in this climate (northern Minnesota) 

 was to try and get on the vines as many large 

 tomatoes as possible, and pick them just before 

 the fatal frost which comes here about August 2 2d. 



Tomato culture with me therefore, begins in 

 March in the house. My problem is how to hurry 

 the plants along, and get enough fruit to pay for 

 the time and labor expended. 



We have frosts in June; tomatoes cannot be 

 set out in the garden until June first at the very 

 earliest, but by careful handling of young plants 

 in the house we can have them in bloom by that 

 time. 



Last summer I planted fifteen hills of a very 

 indifferent grade of tomatoes in hills about two feet 

 apart both ways. The soil was very poor, so I 

 dug out the hills and filled in with made soil, which 

 was quite rich. In these hills the tomatoes were 

 planted, and when they began to lag, I took quart 

 tin cans (such as we get canned tomatoes in) made 

 an opening as large as a half a dollar in the bottom, 

 and removed the tops entirely. These cans I 

 filled half full of the richest barn yard manure 

 I could find, and sunk them into the ground about 

 half their depth, one beside each tomato plant. 

 When I watered the plants, I poured the water 

 into these cans, and it filtered through the manure 

 and carried the nourishment down to the roots. 

 The summer was very dry, and I would have had 

 to carry an immense amount of water if it had been 

 applied in the usual way: but by giving it in the 

 manner stated, every drop reached the roots and 

 carried food with it. 



From fifteen hills of this very commonplace 

 variety, we picked two bushels of green tomatoes, 

 of all sizes, many four inches in diameter, which 

 ripened in the cellar. 



Minnesota. George E. Wolfe. 



Raising Early Cauliflower 



IN MAKING the change from city life to farming, 

 if it is important rhat the farm yield a profit, 

 one of the most important things to learn is the 

 demand of the local market. Experience is the 

 only sure method of mastering this lesson. 



We had had some little success anticipating the 

 market on early peas. If early peas and summer 

 squashes bring a special price, we thought, why not 

 early cauliflower? 



We bought fancy seed, raised them in our hotbed, 

 and in due time transplanted them into the open 

 garden. Last spring cutworms were more than 

 usually active. To prevent loss from this pest, 

 around each plant as we transplanted it we put a 

 collar. For this purpose we used heavy paper — 

 fourteen inches by four and a half — which we had 

 bought to make paper pots. We pinned the ends 

 of the paper together with ordinary pins and placed 

 this circular collar around the plant, putting about 

 two and a half inches below the surface of the 

 ground. We did not lose a single plant from the 

 cutworms. 



The season was dry. With my own hands I 



