222 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



June, 1918 



for weeks at a stretch, without serious injury. 

 Bugs may eat the greater part of a plant and 

 yet not kill it. Some forms of plant life 

 can get along without soil or direct sunshine 

 as thousands of species of submarine weeds 

 prove. But every living thing must have water. 



Drouth is the greatest enemy of the garden. 

 It paves the way for all the ills to which the 

 crop is heir; it undermines the constitution of 

 plants, rendering them susceptible to diseases. 

 Diseased (i. e. weakened) plants readily suc- 

 cumb to attacks of insects. Prolonged drouth 

 cuts short the yield of healthy plants. 



The next few months will confront home 

 gardeners with the problem of combating 

 periods of drouth. There are two ways to 

 fight drouth: — One is to supply moisture 

 when the natural supply fails; the other 

 method is to stop moisture from reaching the 

 surface by constantly closing the soil fissures. 



There is no one best way of irrigating the 

 garden. Each method or system has some 

 exclusive points in its favor. Generally 

 speaking, one should adopt that system of 

 irrigation that best fits the individual condi- 

 tions of soil and general plan of garden. 

 There is, however, one uniformly poor way 

 of watering the garden and that is, to sprinkle 

 it lightly and superficially each day. That 

 will defeat the very purpose of irrigating by 

 encouraging the roots to come up to the sur- 

 face after moisture rather than reaching down 

 for it. When you do apply water do it 

 liberally, so as to thoroughly soak the ground. 

 If done at night by means of some permanently 

 installed apparatus there is economy of time 

 too. 



The other method to fight drouth is to keep 

 the surface of the garden so finely pulverized 

 by constant cultivation as to make evaporation 

 impossible. Scores of special soil pulverizers 

 and weeders are available for that purpose. 

 Again, each gardener will have to determine 

 which special implement suits his soil condi- 

 tions best. 



The ideal way to manage the midsummer 

 garden is to combine irrigation and cultivation 

 into one efficient team for both offensive and 

 defensive purposes. When it becomes dry 

 to a depth greater than two inches water the 

 soil, and then, keep the moisture there 

 as long as possible by maintaining culti- 

 vation. 



"Not all the ammunition comes from powder factories." 

 — Darling in New York Tribune 



Two Handsome "Spiraeas". — Spiraea Arun- 

 cus and Spiraea kamtschatica are two of 

 the handsomest of all strong growing hardy 

 perennials. The former, a native of Siberia 

 and commonly known as the True Goat's 

 Beard, has several synonyms, among them 

 being Aruncus Aruncus and Aruncus Syl- 

 vester, but the generic name Spiraea is general- 

 ly used in gardens. Spiraea kamtschatica, 

 also known as S. gigantea, is a native of Kamt- 

 chatka. Both are lovers of abundant mois- 

 ture and deep loamy soil and are seen at their 

 best when growing in a half shaded position 

 in the wild garden or woodland but are also 

 valuable for the border or planting in groups 

 in the pleasure grounds. Spiraea Aruncus 

 has splendid foliage and large drooping 

 plumes of creamy white flowers on stems five 

 feet high. It blossoms in midsummer and 

 is conspicuously ornamental for a long time. 

 Spiraea kamtschatica, which belongs to the 

 Ulmaria section, has large flat heads of white 

 flowers also opening in July. When growing 

 in a congenial soil and situation the stems 

 reach a height of seven to eight feet, and the 



immense foliage is quite striking. For plant- 

 ing by the waterside it would be difficult to 

 imagine two finer plants. — A. E. Thatcher, 

 Bar Harbor, Me. [Would it not simplify mat- 

 ters to confine the name Spiraea to the woody 

 shrubs, and not use it for the many different 

 herbaceous kinds? — Ed.] 



Fruit Preserving in Sand. — This season all 

 garden produce is of especial value. In 

 many ways it is possible to preserve fruits and 

 vegetables, but in most cases this entails a 

 certain amount of cooking. After some pro- 

 longed experiments a French scientist has 

 given to the world a plan by means of which 

 many kinds of fruits and vegetables can be 

 kept for a lengthy period in a raw state. The 

 method is so simple that a good many people 

 will like to try it. In the first place, it is 

 needful to secure a quantity of fine dry sand. 

 It is well to sterilize this by baking it in an 

 oven for a few hours. By spreading the sand 

 out on big dishes and placing these in the 

 oven it is easy to sterilize a considerable 

 quantity of sand at a time. Now get some 

 wooden boxes; these might be of any conven- 

 ient size, although they should not be less 

 than five or six inches in depth. The next 

 step is to collect the fruits and vegetables. 

 The very soft fruits such as raspberries, straw- 

 berries, currants, etc., are not suitable. In 

 the experiments good results were secured 

 with plums, peaches, tomatoes, and such 

 vegetables as cucumbers, marrows, and even 

 peas and beans. It is very important that all 

 the specimens should be quite dry externally 

 and that they should be without any blemish. 

 In the case of fruit it is well that this should 

 not be quite ripe; certainly there must be no 

 sign of splitting open. Take each fruit and 

 vegetable and wrap it closely in tissue paper, 

 twisting the ends together at the top. Now 

 spread a layer of sand in one of the boxes; 

 this should be about two inches deep. Then 

 place out the fruits or vegetables allowing two 

 inches between each. Finally the sand is 

 packed in all over the fruits, the most im- 

 portant thing being to see that there is a 

 good two inches of the material round each 

 specimen. If undisturbed, sand-packed fruits 

 and vegetables will keep fresh and of good 

 flavor for many months. — S. Leonard Bastin, 

 Eng. 



Aruncus Sylvester (sometimes called Spiraea.) the Goat's Beard, is a grand perennial herb 

 for bold effect in midsummer 



Filipendula kamtschatica (commonly called Spiraea gigantea in gardens) is a worthy com- 

 panion, flowering in July 



