May, 1918 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



187 



Be neighborly! If, heretofore, you've 

 thought that you had a perfect right to mind 

 your own business, come out of your shell 

 now and cooperate. There will be hundreds 

 of seedling beets, onions, lettuce, etc., that 

 you can't use for lack of space. Pass them 

 on to your neighbor ! You'll be doing everybody 

 a good turn by doing so. You'll be patriotic 

 by saving the world some seeds, your neighbor 

 some time, and yourself some pangs of 

 conscience for throwing away potential food 

 possibilities. 



Each individual home gardener this year 

 should make it a point to study the com- 

 parative food value of the different vege- 

 tables. Some, like cabbage, are 98 per cent, 

 water. Cabbage requires at least 100 days 

 to become fit for food, and is a problem in 



storage. On the other hand, beans represent 

 food in highly concentrated form, mature 

 readily, and the dry product is easy to keep. 

 Learn to analyze vegetables from the stand- 

 point of food value as well as regarding them 

 as gustatory delicacies. 



If some one asks you to which class of 

 plants May offers absolutely ideal conditions 

 for development, you may, without hesi- 

 tation, answer "weeds!" The sod is right, 

 the weather is right, conditions are right, 

 everything is just right for weeds, regardless 

 of variety. But the one thing for which the 

 well managed garden should have no room, 

 is weeds. Better to cultivate 20 x 20 ft. and 

 to keep that spot weedless than to. have a 

 garden twice that size as a weed nursery. 



Weeds are a waste! — wasted fertility, 



waste of labor, and reduction of normal crops. 

 Kill the robbers while they are young. You 

 can kill more weeds in one hour with a wheel 

 hoe during May than you can pull by hand 

 in one day during July. Of course, it all 

 depends on "the nature of the beast." Some 

 weeds have to be up-rooted and cutting off 

 the tops simply aggravates the roots to 

 stronger activity. 



Don't forget the food requirements of the 

 growing crops. Some, like the lettuce, spinach, 

 and other crops grown for the green foliage, 

 will appreciate some nitrate of soda to push 

 them along; onions like wood ashes; potatoes 

 like plenty of hoeing and a long lasting 

 complete fertilizer. All crops like an abund- 

 ance of moisture, but thorough cultivation 

 often does more good. 



Getting the Jump On the Garden Huns f. f. rockwell 



What to Do Now to Protect Your Crops This Summer From Bugs, Worms, and Blight — See to it That Your Neighbor 



Protects His Too 



THE man who permits insect 

 pests and destructive diseases to 

 become established in his garden 

 may be looked upon by his 

 neighbors as a garden pest himself. 

 Any one who uses valuable seed and 

 fertilizer and garden space, only to 

 feed the Kaiser's allies in the garden, 

 is not only a traitor to the Free For 

 All Fraternity of Gardeners, but also 

 an undesirable citizen giving aid, com- 

 fort and good grub to the enemy! 

 Ignorance and inexperience are no ex- 

 cuses for negligence. The garden 

 "rookie" must assume his share of 

 responsibility in the food trenches 

 along with the veteran. 



Down With the Garden Hun! 



BUT, good resolutions and forceful 

 phrases don't get anywhere unless 

 they are backed up by efficient action. 

 It will take more than a flag over 

 your garden gate and a membership 

 card in the Volunteer Home Garden 

 Reserves to keep the Huns without the 

 fold. To that end, every garden be- 

 ginner should take the following steps 

 in garden preparedness for enemy 

 control: 



1. Realize, first of all, that there 

 is no "mystery" about this important 

 business of getting the best of the 

 garden enemies. Secret formulas and 

 patent prescriptions are not essential, 

 but manufactured articles from firms 



of repute are great conveniences to the busy 

 worker, and especially on a small scale. 



2. Remember that 90 per cent, of the things 

 that trouble your garden may be put in one of 

 the three following classes: a. Eating Insects. 

 b. Chewing Insects, c. Fungous Diseases. 

 (Blights and mildew.) 



3. Get firmly in mind the fact that for 

 each of these three classes, there is one 

 standard remedy that in one form or another 

 is the primary ingredient of the appropriate 

 remedy, home-made or manufactured brand. 

 These essential remedies are: 



Arsenic for .... . Eating Insects 



Nicotine (Tobacco) or Oils ... for ... . Sucking Insects 

 Copper (bordeaux mixture) . . . for . . . Blight and Mildew 



Easily portable, handy type of sprayer 

 to iave ready for instant use on individual 

 plants 



Repeat these three lines, sing them, whistle 

 them, dance them until you know them by 

 heart, backward and forward, sideways and 

 endways. They form the basis of your whole 

 garden campaign. 



Getting Into Action 



A S EACH one of these things acts in an 

 **■ individual way, their action must be 

 understood before they can be used in- 

 telligently. 



Arsenate of Lead is a stomach poison 

 which must be actually swallowed by the 

 insect to be effective; it must therefore be 

 applied to the portion of the plant which is 



being eaten. It should not be put 

 on until just as the particular pest 

 against which it is to be used is put- 

 ting in an appearance or may be 

 expected. It must be applied to all 

 parts of the plant likely to be attacked. 

 It must be applied often enough to 

 keep the new growth covered. If 

 properly put on, it will "set" after a 

 few hours of sunshine, and will not be 

 easily washed off; but after long con- 

 tinued rains it may be necessary to 

 spray again. (In this respect, it is 

 very different from paris green which 

 washes off easily.) 



Nicotine Extract is a "contact" 

 poison. It must be applied, prim- 

 arily, to the insect itself— of course, 

 incidentally, the plant is covered too; 

 but the material must be brought di- 

 rectly in contact with the insect, in 

 order to be effective. It is not a 

 "poison" in the same sense as arsenate 

 of lead; but acts rather as a drug — 

 the amount applied being a fatal over- 

 dose for soft skinned insects such as 

 aphids, mealy bugs and so forth. It 

 must be used only when the insects 

 are actually present; but just as soon 

 as they are present. Many of the 

 pests subject to this treatment cause 

 the leaves to curl up, so that it is 

 next to impossible to get the spray 

 to them, therefore prompt action is im- 

 perative. These pests also frequently 

 work or live on the under sides of the leaves 

 or at the growing crowns or flower buds of 

 the plant. They seem instinctively to seek 

 protection, and for all these reasons, the 

 gardener must realize that if he does not 

 achieve complete success, it may not be the 

 fault of the spray. 



Oils or emulsions of kerosene and soap, etc., 

 act against the same class of enemy as the 

 tobacco extracts by penetrating the breath- 

 ing organs and so suffocating. 



Bordeaux Mixture. — The diseases for 

 which this is used are the result of infection 

 by certain bacteria or spores of fungi. Tht 



