F E B R r A R Y , 191 3 



T H E GARDE N M A G A Z I X E 



25 



with which to water the plants. Do this 

 twice a week. 



(4) Each child might start a gladiolus 

 bulb now all ready for his outdoor garden. 

 These grow rapidly in a class room. Pot 

 each bulb separately. Leave a bit of the 

 bulb above the soil in the pot. Place the 

 little pots in the dark for a week or ten days 

 to start root growth. After that the 

 plants will do nicely on the children's own 

 desks. 



(5) Madeira vines grow rapidly and are 

 satisfactory in class rooms too. Pot the 

 root as the gladiolus tubers were planted. 

 Growth starts very soon. The vine grows 

 rapidly and may be trained up over the 

 window casement. 



(6) Try different ways of starting plants. 

 Start marigold from seed; geraniums from 

 cuttings; begonias from leaves; madeira 

 vine from roots. The large leaved Rex 

 begonias are best to use for leaf cuttings. 

 Cut off pieces of a leaf only being sure to 

 have a section of midrib in each piece. 

 Stick the pieces midrib down in a box of 

 moist sand. Do not use the sand of the 

 kindergarten sand table for this purpose. 

 But any clean, sharp brown sand will do. 

 When the bits of begonia leaves are planted 

 they will look like sails of boats sticking up 

 in the sand. When roots have started from 

 the midribs plant in little separate pots. 



(7) When planting the vines for the 

 ornamentation of the school building try 

 Virginia creeper; Ampelopsis, a rapid 

 grower; Euonymus radicans, very hardy, 

 bears red berries. The trumpet vines and 

 rambler roses look well over door ways and 

 arches. 



(8) Excellent shrubs for the school or 

 home grounds are the following; lilac, Jap- 

 anese dogwood. Dutch honevsuckle, snow 



berry, barberry, and forsythia. Plant 

 shrubs from five to ten feet away from 

 buildings. The shrubs, thus planted, will 

 do better besides producing a more pleasing 

 effect. 



(q") Make the garden plan. Estimate 

 on cost of garden and amount of seed. 

 This is good arithmetic work. 



A Girl's One Hundred and Fifty 

 Dollar Garden 



By Mabel J. Musser, Cleveland. Ohio 



I STARTED my garden work this year 

 with the full determination of having 

 it better in every particular than ever 

 before. I wished to show what could be 

 accomplished on a plot fifty-two feet square 

 and also to make it net me Sioo. Many 

 of my friends laughed at the idea of 

 making Sioo on so small a plot. Some 

 said that few farmers could average S50 

 an acre. 



This did not discourage me in the least. 

 It only strengthened my determination. 

 I counted high on my tritoma bed, as I 

 already had orders ahead for twenty 

 dozen, which would net me S20. But 

 found later that they had not survived the 

 severe winter. The tritoma bed had been 

 the pride of my garden and my best money 

 maker. To lose this was a severe blow- 

 but I did not give up. 



My only hope then was to fall back on 

 my coldframes, which I crowded to their 

 full capacity with asters, salvia, snap- 

 dragons, foxgloves, Canterbury bells, del- 

 phinium and other plants along this order. 

 By May my receipts were S38.28 and by 

 July 10th they had passed the Sioo mark. 

 On 00 cents'' worth of aster seed I made 



This school girl's 52 ft. square garden made an income of over S150 last j-ear 



S30.76; salvia, S27.82; sweet peas, S13. 05; 

 Canterbury bells, S10.63; snapdragons, 

 S7.80; cut flowers, S15.85; and in all have 

 realized Si 58.73 from my little fifty-two 

 foot plot. My expense account ran much 

 higher this year than previous years. I 

 expended Si 2. 43 for seeds, fertilizers, car- 

 fare, etc. But this still left me S46.30 

 ahead of my mark. I also received So 

 in prizes this season, which I did not enter 

 in my cash book but which came indirectly 

 from my garden. My garden work has 

 all been done before and after school hours. 

 I have not been marked absent or tardy 

 and my monthly average has kept up 

 with my class. 



I place all my garden success to trans- 

 planting. I transplant every plant three 

 or four times before it is sold or placed in 

 the garden. This gives a better and 

 stronger root. I have proven in several 

 tests that a transplanted plant is more 

 vigorous, will have better and larger flowers 

 and in general, give far better results 

 than other seedlings. I do not mean by 

 this, that I lift a plant with a spade full 

 of earth (this I call moving a plant from 

 one place to another as though it were in 

 a pot or box) I lift the plant, shake the 

 earth from the roots and give it a fresh 

 start. I transplanted shell pink Mikados 

 last spring four times. I planted seed from 

 the same package which I did not trans- 

 plant. The result was I cut asters six 

 inches across with twenty to thirty-inch 

 stems, while the untransplanted seedlings 

 grew to be from six to twelve inches 

 high, with flowers two, three, and three 

 and a half inches across under the same 

 care. 



I think asters, salvias, Canterbury bells 

 and tomatoes improve 25 per cent, with 

 every transplanting and are very easy 

 plants to handle. I have had good success 

 with more difficult plants such as poppies, 

 sweet peas and mignonette. My garden 

 looked just as fresh in October as any 

 time in the summer with dahlias, gail- 

 lardia, snapdragons, cannas, scabiosa, 

 chrysanthemums, delphiniums, coreopsis, 

 nasturtiums, coxcomb, larkspur, China 

 pinks, bluebells, salvia, and stock in 

 full bloom. 



Our festival, last fall, was a beautiful 

 sight, mostly flowers; I had fifteen entries, 

 and did well to capture four first and three 

 second prizes. And finally I'd like to say 

 to all boys and girls, "let's join in having 

 gardens.'' The first thing is to make out 

 the seed order. This we must think over 

 carefully for we want only the best that 

 money can buy, not too many varieties, 

 say we each choose six, according to our 

 notion; then report to The Garden 

 Magazine next fall an accurate account 

 of our six varieties. We must try and 

 give every detail so as to learn from each 

 other just how to have success with each 

 kind. Have you ever noticed that the 

 busiest boys and girls have time for flowers 

 while some not so busy say they have no 

 time? 



