14-4 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



November, 1912 



Set away the stock plants from which 

 the blooms have been taken for cuttings to 

 start from. 



Find out by attending the shows just 

 what new varieties you want, then make 

 out an order, at once, to be filled next 

 spring. 



Store the pea brush and bean poles where 

 they will be handy next spring and where 

 they will not harbor insect enemies all 

 winter. 



Begin to test whatever seeds you have on 

 hand. 



Examine from time to time the root pit 

 or the vegetable shelves for rotting speci- 

 mens. Destroy these at once. 



Similarly look over the preserves now 

 and then for any that are not keeping well. 



Start that mushroom bed. 



Figure out, before you forget important 

 details (as you surely will) how much the 

 garden cost and how much it was really 

 worth. 



Then send an account of it to The 

 Garden Magazine. 



Repair or buy snow shovels and ice 

 scrapers before you need them too 

 badly. 



Plant lily-of-the-valley pips from florists' 

 cold storage in moss or sand for table 

 decorations. Keep moist and at a tem- 

 perature of 75 to 90 degrees. 



Plant bulbs for New Years to Easter 

 bloom. 



Bring in potted strawberries (till now 

 plunged in a corner of the garden), gradually 

 accustom them to the warmth, then force 

 for Christmas fruit. 



Transplant cuttings of geraniums, coleus, 

 begonia, etc., as they need more room, 

 and start new cuttings of the typical 

 house plants. 



News and Comment 



SOME PRINCIPLES OF WINTER 

 PROTECTION 



TT DOESN'T matter in the least how 

 *■ you protect your plants, trees and 

 bushes this winter, so long as you get cer- 

 tain results. 



We wear clothes not only to keep warm 

 but to avoid sunburn and mosquito bites, 

 to keep off rain and for other reasons. In 

 the same way we mulch and wrap and bank 

 up in the garden for several diverse pur- 

 poses. Many of our fruits, flowers and 

 vegetables are existing under conditions far 

 different from those where they originated. 

 So when the weather gets severe it's only 

 fair to make the surroundings as nearly 

 homelike as possible. 



These are the dangers against which we 

 give winter protection : 



1. Low temperatures and cold winds. 



2. Actual freezing of intercellular moist- 

 ure, rupturing and destroying the tissues. 



3. The heaving of alternately thawed 

 and frozen heavy soil, which tears plants 

 out of the ground. 



4. The whipping and breaking of 

 branches and vines by the wind. 



5. Gnawing of the bark by squirrels, 

 rabbits, mice, etc. 



6. The scalding effects of direct, intense 

 sunlight. 



7. Unnatural winter growth stimulated 

 by a few warm days. 



8. Excessive drying out of the soil. 



9. The breaking of branches overloaded 

 with snow. 



Different plants are threatened by dif- 

 ferent dangers. Study their habits, natures, 

 and needs and use in your protective work 

 not only straw and leaves, but also plenty of 

 reason and common sense. 



TO KEEP OUT FOREIGN PESTS 



AT LAST we have horticultural "Pure 

 Food Legislation!" Under the pro- 

 visions of the nursery stock quarantine 

 law passed in August, all imported nursery 

 stock must be accompanied by a certificate 

 of inspection from the exporting country 

 and must receive a permit from the Federal 

 Horticultural Board before it is admitted. 

 Stock may not be shipped between states 

 until the Board or its local representative 

 is advised of the nature, source, consignor, 

 destination, consignee, etc., of the ship- 

 ment; and all these facts must be plainly 

 marked on the outside of each package 

 comprising the consignment. 



The Federal Horticultural Board, 

 created by the law and appointed by the 

 Secretary of Agriculture, is as follows: 

 C. L. Marlatt of the Bureau of Entomology, 

 Chairman; and W. A. Orton, plant pathol- 

 gist, Peter Bissett, of the Bureau of Plant 

 Introduction, A. F. Burgess, entomologist, 

 and G. B. Sudworth of the Forest Service. 

 It is given full authority to control and 

 regulate shipments and importations of 

 nursery stock; to quarantine any country 

 or state infected by a plant disease or 

 insect as yet not common in the United 

 States; and to create local officials to 

 carry on its work. 



The law carries an appropriation of 

 $50,000 and establishes, without further 

 act of the Board, a quarantine about all 

 localities infected with the white pine 

 blister rust, the potato wart disease and 

 the Mediterranean fly. It pronounces 

 violations of its rulings misdemeanors 

 subject to a $500 fine, imprisonment for 

 one year or both; and in the term nursery 

 stock it includes "all field-grown florists' 

 stock, trees, shrubs, vines, cuttings, grafts, 

 cions, buds, fruit pits or seeds of fruit 

 or ornamental trees or shrubs, and other 

 plants and plant products for propagation, 

 except field, vegetable and flower seeds, 

 bedding plants, and " other herbaceous 

 plants, bulbs, and roots." But the Board 

 is further authorized to extend the defini- 

 tion so as to include any or all of the 

 articles excepted above, whenever it shall 

 determine that the importation of such 

 material may result in some insect or 

 disease infection. 



Such a law enforced twenty years earlier 



might have kept this country free from San 

 Jose scale, and many another pest that is 

 responsible for millions of dollars' loss each 

 year; now that it is on the statutes, it is 

 to the interests of every person involved 

 and of the entire country that it be con- 

 scientiously enforced. The very first step 

 is for every person who has occasion to 

 import or ship nursery stock to obtain 

 from the Government or the Board a 

 copy of the law. Don't overlook this; 

 it may save you the inconvenience of legal 

 measures that cannot be escaped through 

 a plea of "ignorance of the law." 



THE BASIS OF FERTILITY 



IN A lecture before the Eighth Inter- 

 national Congress of Applied Chemistry 

 held in New York in September, Dr. 

 Gabriel Bertrand, director of the Pasteur 

 Institute in Paris, demonstrated the im- 

 portance of manganese being present in the 

 soil. Sir William Ramsay ranks this as 

 one of the greatest achievements in 

 chemistry. 



Professor Bertrand presumed that com- 

 mercial fertilizers of potassium, phos- 

 phorous and nitrogen compounds were not 

 completely adapted to all soils or plants, 

 since analysis of plant fibre reveals many 

 elements not supplied by such fertilizers. 

 His experiments for five years show an 

 increase of twenty-five to fifty per cent, in 

 the crop where the soil has been treated 

 with manganese. French concerns are 

 preparing to manufacture this fertilizer in 

 large quantities. 



We have long recognized the great value 

 of green plants of the leguminous class for 

 the nitrogen and humus they supply to 

 the soil when ploughed under. It is 

 likely that there are many other reasons 

 for their value, as yet hidden to us. 

 The metals which they hold in organic 

 form are quickly available when re- 

 turned to the soil in the leaves and 

 stems of the dead plants. For these rea- 

 sons barnyard manure may claim many 

 of its virtues. 



Iron and aluminum are two metals 

 abundant in the soil and widely distributed. 

 That iron is essential to plant as well as 

 animal growth has long been known. Its 

 presence is remarkably evident when 

 vegetable fibre is chemically tested. 



As we find in the laboratory that the 

 presence of some metals are necessary for 

 the reaction of others although not con- 

 tributing to the product itself; so too we 

 may find that in the soil, elements foreign 

 to plant food are necessary that its nutri- 

 tion may proceed. 



Doctor Bertrand has opened a field of 

 great possibilities of which he no doubt is 

 the most able leader. We are slowly un- 

 covering the secrets of nature apparently 

 simple in action, though complex in their 

 relations and difficult to unravel. The 

 increase of crops by these subtle means is 

 of tremendous importance when we see its 

 cumulative results in the agriculture of 

 the world. 



