10 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



February, 1918 



upon individually to lend their money. 

 1 wo loans have already been absorbed. The 

 third, which will probably be greater than the 

 others, is not far distant. The money must 

 be contributed by concerted effort of all the 

 people consecrated to the great task which lies 

 before us. Those soldiers and sailors of our 

 families who are rendering sacrificial personal 

 service must be supported by the others who 

 can only give or lend of their material posses- 

 sions. A matter demanding immediate atten- 

 tion is the Income Tax return. This must be 

 made(before March i)to the proper authorities 

 by every individual whose income in any way 

 whatever exceeds #1,000 a year. 



Hastening Germination of Hard Seeds. — 

 Many seeds such as Canna, Kentucky Coffee 

 tree, hardy Locust, and to a less extent Sweet 

 Pea, are very slow to germinate because of 

 the bony coverings around their "kernels." 

 Many a Moonflower, Wild Cucumber and 

 Abyssinian Banana seed have I filed, cut or 

 soaked in boiling water to hasten germination. 

 While the holes admit water and thus are 

 satisfactory the process is too slow; and 

 while the hot water is a quick and easy way 

 of treating a lot of seed at a time it does not 

 prove as effective as could be desired. A 

 year or so ago a friend who had heard of the 

 use of sulphuric acid for the treatment of 

 cotton, alfalfa and clover seeds, which are 

 often "hard," tried some experiments with 

 the boniest seeds he could get at the time — 

 those of the Kentucky Coffee tree. These 

 seeds had lain beneath the parent tree from 

 the previous fall more or less covered and 

 thus kept moist by leaves and leaf mold. 

 Not one had shown the slightest inclination 

 to swell, much less sprout. They were 

 placed in a convenient sized beaker glass and 

 covered with concentrated sulphuric acid 

 (specific gravity 1.84, the strongest obtain- 

 able). They were left in contact with the 

 acid for one hour, when the acid was drained 

 off and the seed washed free from acid with 

 water. Next they were planted (July 15) 

 in flower pots filled with ordinary good soil 

 and the pots plunged rim deep in a shady, 

 moist place. Untreated seeds were similarly 



planted, but up to the time that the 

 photograph of the successful ones was 

 taken forty-one days later (August 25) 

 not one had sprouted. Considering 

 the extreme slowness of this plant the 

 growth of about six inches of stem 

 and a spread of nearly a foot is surely 

 remarkable. Other hard seeds have 

 also been experimented with. In the 

 case of Sweet Clover (Melilot) and 

 other seeds of similar size and charac- 

 ter a treatment of 30 minutes has been 

 found to give satisfactory results. 

 He has also tried the plan with 

 Sweet Pea seed and thereby has increased 

 the germination by 25 per cent. From these 

 data he believes that any seeds that have 

 hard coats may be benefited by such treat- 

 ment. The "acid method," while not so 

 strongly practised by nature, is nevertheless 

 utilized; for the seed coats of many fruits are 

 softened by the natural acids produced by, 

 or at least allowed to act upon, the pulp if 

 the fruit decays on the ground protected by 

 leaves, or when they pass through the di- 

 gestive apparatus of animals or birds, thus 

 coming in contact with the hydrochloric 

 acid in the stomach. Doubtless the fruity 

 coverings of peach, cherry, and plum pits; 

 of apple, pear and quince seeds; the pods 

 of Honey Locust and Kentucky Coffee trees 

 not only tend to keep the seeds from drying 

 but they aid germination by adding more or 

 less acid as they decay. — M. G. Kains. 



Help! Help! Rhododendron Color. I 



would like help with some Rhododendrons 

 as to color for I find that no two catalogues 

 agree as to just what the color is. I wish to 

 make a clump containing red, another clump 

 containing pink, another clump containing 

 white and a fourth clump containing purple, 

 lavender and violet varieties. There is so 

 much magneta in many of the Rhododendrons 

 that clashes with most other colors, that it 

 almost requires an expert to separate these 

 so there will be no clashing of colors and if 

 you can yourself or get some expert to ar- 

 range in four clumps as indicated above, 

 the varieties listed herewith 



Alexander Dancer 

 Atrosanguineum 

 Charles Dickens 

 H H. Honeywell 

 H. W. Sargent 

 Album Elegans 

 Boule de Neige 

 Catawbiense Album 

 Everestianum 



Mad. Smits 



Henrietta Sargent 



Ignatius Sargent (The Boss) 



Lady Armstrong 



Mrs. Charles Sargent 



Caractacus 



Roseum Elegans 



Catawbiense Grandiflorum 



Treating the seed with strong sulphuric acid resulted in 

 this development in forty-one days, when untreated seed 

 had not swelled 



it would be greatly appreciated. — W. E. Davis, 

 Jr., Conn. [Now then, let the colorists speak 

 out in meeting. — Ed.] 



Urge Daylight "Using."— If the Daylight 

 Saving Bill passes the House, as it has already 

 passed the Senate, it will give an hour's 

 time of daylight during the spring and 

 summer months to those who now arrive at 

 home too late in order to take any active 

 part in garden development. Twelve Euro- 

 pean countries have availed themselves of the 

 benefit of this act. The reports are uniformly 

 commendatory. It would be the height of 

 folly for us not to secure similar advantage. 

 We would save a million tons of coal, increase 

 our farm product tremendously, have greater 

 opportunity for recreation and physical 

 culture, as well as sports. Labor and capital 

 unite in support of the Daylight Saving Bill 

 and with proper public approval, it should 

 pass the House within a few weeks. I hope 

 that The Garden Magazine readers will 



take an active part 

 in pushing the bill. 

 If each man and 

 woman, who would 

 like to have an 

 extra hour during 

 the spring and 

 summer afternoons 

 to spend in the 

 garden, would 

 write to his or her 

 Congressman and 

 Senator, the effect 

 would be unques- 

 tionable. — Marcus 

 M. Marks., Presi- 

 dent, National Day- 

 light Saving Associ- 

 ation. 



— The short note 

 in the January 

 issue of The Gar- 

 den Magazine on 

 Daylight Saving is 

 very timely. As 

 an interested 

 reader, let me urge 

 you to hammer 

 away on this cam- 

 paign. Let us have 

 something on the 

 question of Day- 

 light Saving in 

 every issue of the 

 magazine until 

 Congress has made 

 this a reality. — 

 Fred. L. Merritt, 

 Mass. 



Is this plant doing double — We thank very 

 work? Tomato grafted on j r 



potato bearing fruits and many readers tor 

 tubers at the same time their similarly ex- 



pressed views. 

 Tell your Senators and Congressmen what 

 you want. — Editor. 



Here it Is Again, — the "pomato" or 

 "topato" (or anything you chose to call it), 

 the ever-recurring curiosity of a tomato vine 

 grafted' on a potato stalk. While it is fre- 

 quently hailed (in yellow journalism) as a 

 wonderful achievement, it is really the most 

 logical union of two closely related plants. 

 The potato, Solanum tuberosum, has the same 

 blood running in its veins as the tomato, 

 Solanum lycopersicum: The arrow points 

 to the "graft," as performed by the well- 

 known "true blue" tomato crank, my friend, 

 Robert Livingston. He had the box built 

 especially with a removable side, which could 

 be taken out and replaced without disturbing 

 the whole ball of earth. Whether or not the 

 combination — culture of the two vegetables 

 as one — can be made so profitable as to be 

 practical, has so far defied the analysis of 

 experts, I think. — A. K. 



Winter Protection for Biennials. — Many 

 growers still labor under the delusion that 

 winter mulchings are given with the idea of 

 keeping plants warm. In some cases it is 

 true they are applied to keep frost from the 

 roots of certain shrubs, but in the case of 

 hardy perennials, bulbs, strawberries and 

 biennials the mulch is designed rather to 

 keep frost in and prevent the ground from 

 being heaved when thaws occur in late 

 winter or early spring. And I always like 

 to wait until December or January before 



