June, 10 18 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



223 



Here's the pumpkin before water feeding began ; — 



Making Pumpkins Grow Fast. — A good 

 way of hustling the growth of pumpkins, 

 marrows, etc., is to feed the fruits with 

 water. It is only needful to secure some 

 pieces of round lamp wick. Holes are made 

 in the stalk of the fruit and, into these, one 

 end of the wick is inserted. The other end of 

 the wick rests in a jar of water which is kept 

 well supplied. The pumpkins grow at twice 

 the rate they do normally and are ready for 

 cutting much sooner. In this way the pro- 

 duce secured from the plant is largely in- 

 creased. The plan is well worth following 

 out. — S. Leonard Bastin 



Potatoes for Late Planting. — Although 

 potatoes planted from May i to 20 usually 

 yield more than later plantings, the natural 

 reduction in yield from the later plantings 

 can be almost entirely prevented by sun- 

 sprouting the seed. Growers who must 

 plant their potatoes late should begin sun- 

 sprouting at once. Set the potatoes in shal- 

 low trays, with the "bud" end exposed to 

 partial sunlight. Exposed for four to ten 

 weeks, the sprouts will grow only an inch or 

 less in length and then remain dormant until 

 planted. This method is adapted only to 

 hand planting as the sprouts should not be 

 broken off. The sun-sprouted seed will 

 start into vigorous growth as soon as planted. 

 The yield from sun-sprouted stocks at the 

 Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station was 

 twenty-nine bushels more than from cold 

 storage stock and thirty-four bushels more 

 than from seed kept in a cellar. In this 

 experiment the three kinds of seed were all 

 planted June 30. The sun-sprouted seed 

 planted at this late date yielded four 

 bushels less than cellar seed planted May 10. 

 — W. F. Bruce, Ohio State University. 



Dried Vegetables Make Delicious 

 Dishes. — If the housewife will just 

 use a little thought, skill and time 

 in the preparation of dried vegetables 

 for her family, she will be amply 

 repaid by the deliciousness of the 

 dishes she prepares. No matter how 

 the dried vegetables are to be cooked, 

 they must first be soaked, at least 

 overnight, in a large amount of 

 water. Then drain and cook till 

 tender in water containing a speck 

 of ordinary baking soda. Perhaps 

 there is nothing else that the house- 

 wife cooks that requires as much care 

 in seasoning as do dried vegetables. 

 Salt, pepper, lemon rind, nutmeg, 



onion, celery r salt and bits of celery, mus- 

 tard, cheese, peppers and tomatoes, all 

 add flavor. Then, as most of these dried 

 vegetables are low in fat content, it may 

 be well to add it in cooking, as in the 

 case of pork and beans and peas and bacon. 

 There are a great variety of ways in which 

 to use these vegetables. They are important 

 as meat substitutes and can be used for the 

 main dish in a meal — examples are bean loaf 

 and baked beans. They may be used in 

 making very nutritious soups. Salads pre- 

 pared from them are both nourishing and 

 attractive. When combined with other ma- 

 terials, as macaroni, spaghetti or cheese, they 

 are very good. In fact there is almost no 

 limit to the combination that may be made by 

 the clever housewife. — Magdalene Hahn, Col- 

 orado Agricultural College, Fort Collins, Col- 

 orado. 



Azaleas for Northern New England. — Can 

 you inform me where I can procure 

 Azalea dahurica or any other rose-colored 

 hardy Azalea? Do you think Azalea yoda- 

 gama will be hardy in northern New England? 

 — Harold G. Rugg, Hanover, N. H. 

 [ — Generally speaking, hardy Azaleas are diffi- 

 cult subjects in New England, with the pos- 

 sible exception of Azalea viscosa. Ed.] 



A Small Water Lily Pond. — Having re- 

 ceived so much benefit from articles in The 

 Garden Magazine I have ventured to relate 

 my experience in making a small Water Lily 

 pond. Such a Lily pond is suitable for any 

 modest home. Considering labor and expense, 

 I think it was the most satisfactory thing I 

 had in the garden last summer. It is twelve 

 feet in diameter and two feet deep and built 

 of concrete; the sketch shows other details of 

 construction. The water supply comes from 

 the roof of the house, supplemented by a 

 small pipe from the city system, for use in 

 dry, hot weather. Any surplus flows over 



Section and plan of Lily pool shown below 







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This 12-ft. Lily pool was constructed at little expense, and made a practical home for 

 hardy aquatics in this Wisconsin garden 



and three days later 1 The wick attachment is clearly seen 



the edge and soaks away in the lawn. The 

 only form used for the concrete was made of 

 thin boards, inside and outside of the rim, 

 secured by stakes. It took two men half a 

 day to put in the concrete; all the rest of the 

 work I did myself, mornings and evenings. 

 The bird bath was made of concrete by form- 

 ing a hole in the ground and using an orna- 

 mental ring from the heating stove to form the 

 curved edge. The cost was as follows: 



4 cu. yds. sand and gravel $4-50 



13 bags Portland Cement 8. 50 



Labor 7.00 



Pipe, Lumber, etc 5 . 00 



Total £25.00 



I filled the concrete basin with garden soil 

 to a depth of fourteen inches and planted four 

 or five roots of Nymphaea Gladstoniana, 

 which proved very satisfactory, as they are 

 hardy and multiply rapidly, and we had 

 from five to ten large white flowers in bloom 

 all summer long. As an experiment, I placed 

 two small gold fish in the pond early in the 

 summer and when the water was drained off 

 in the fall, I captured, besides the original 

 pair, about twenty-five little fish ranging from 

 one-half to two inches in length. — Wm. H. 

 Singer, West Allis, Wis. 



Share Your Garden With the Settlement. 

 — To owners of gardens sounds the call 

 for service; flowers are needed by the children 

 in the city tenements and in the charity 

 hospitals. Send them the flowers that wilt 

 in your gardens for lack of hands to pick 

 them. This year, in the rush of Red 

 Cross work and various foreign reliefs, 

 there is danger that the poor at home 

 will be neglected, and it is your patriotic duty 

 to lend your assistance. Pick the flowers soon 

 after they blossom, though if you take a few 

 wilted blooms to make a boxful, the 

 children will not care; flowers are 

 flowers to them whether wilted or 

 not. Pack them carefully in well- 

 dampened tissue paper, mark the 

 box "Perishable," and send via ex- 

 press to- 'the settlement house in the 

 city nearest your home. Some com- 

 panies ship boxes marked "For 

 Charity" free; however, any charge 

 made is but nominal. Select flowers 

 ofthe hardier varieties, Snap-dra- 

 gons, Phlox, Sweet Peas, Nasturti- 

 ums; and in later season, Daisies and 

 Asters. Since you can not bring 

 the children to your garden, why 

 not send the garden to them? — 

 Helene Edwards, Indiana. 



