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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1913 



News and Comment 



NOW WILL YOU SPRAY? 



UP IN Burlington, Vt., the State Agri- 

 cultural College has been spraying pota- 

 toes with bordeaux mixture for twenty-one 

 years. Some seasons were moist and late 

 blight and other diseases were very pre- 

 valent. Other years were dry and the 

 plants suffered more from drought than from 

 disease injury. The spraying was done just 

 the same with these results : 



The average yield per acre for the twenty- 

 one years, was greater where the plants 

 were sprayed by 104 bushels or 65 per cent! 



Years when disease was rife, the increase 

 in the sprayed plants was from 116 to 

 192 bushels; from 52 to 215 per cent.! 



Years when the mildness of the disease did 

 not apparently necessitate spraying, sprayed 

 plants yielded from 38 to 91 bushels 

 per acre more than unsprayed; an increase 

 of from 26 to 108 per cent! 



Invariably plants sprayed with bordeaux 

 were bigger, contained more starch and 

 showed a larger growth of tubers than 

 unsprayed plants of the same age — no 

 matter when they were dug! 



Now will you spray! 



HONORING A PLANT BREEDER 



MR. M. H. WALSH, of Woods Hole, 

 Mass., has been awarded the White 

 Memorial Medal of 191 2 for the original 

 work he has done in giving new roses 

 to the world. The trust for the medal 

 is in the hands of the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society which honors itself 

 in selecting Mr. Walsh as the recipient of 

 this award "for distinguished services to 



horticulture." Strange as it may seem the 

 originator of Lady Gay (to name only one 

 of the host of wonderful climbing roses 

 given us by Mr. Walsh), has had but little 

 real recognition at the hands of his fellow 

 craftsmen in America, but abroad Walsh's 

 hybrids have been received with acclaim. 

 Our floral societies fail to appreciate gener- 

 ally the prime importance of the home 

 garden, but will do much for a new introduc- 

 tion for forcing under glass. Mr. Walsh has 

 put new life into the rose garden — he has 

 embellished thousands of porches; yet our 

 own Rose Society has failed to appreciate 

 the fact so far as any overt recognition is 

 concerned, despite its slogan, "A rose for 

 every garden." 



SOME GREENHOUSE DATA 



A GREENHOUSE twenty feet wide and 

 ^~~*- more than a thousand miles long 

 represents the total amount of space under 

 glass in the United States at the present 

 time, according to the last census. Illinois 

 owns the largest share in something over 

 fourteen million square feet; the other lead- 

 ing states in order are New York, Pennsyl- 

 vania, New Jersey, Ohio, and Massachusetts. 



Figures obtained from more than one 

 hundred growers throughout the country 

 furnish data that the prospective builder 

 of a glasshouse may find of considerable 

 value and assistance. 



For instance, the average cost of green- 

 houses that cover less than 10,000 square 

 feet is 55 cents for every square foot of 

 space covered; that of houses larger than 

 this is 39 cents per square foot. 



About u| tons of soft coal, costing 

 $26.79, delivered, is used per season for 

 each 1000 square feet of ground space. 

 And for the same unit some 280 gallons of 

 water are used daily during May and June. 



What was accomplished in one year on an apparently uncongenial soil 



However this is used unequally during the 

 twenty-four hours, practically all of it 

 within twelve hours at most. 



About 92 per cent, of the growers in- 

 terviewed prefer the even-span house, 

 and some 70 per cent, stand up for home 

 construction rather than the purchase of 

 "ready-to-build structures." 



The use of steam for heating large 

 houses is advocated by 86 per cent, of 

 those growers with more than 20,000 

 square feet of land under glass; 70 per 

 cent, of those managing a smaller range 

 believe that hot water gives most satis- 

 factory results. 



Seventy-eight per cent, make use of 

 overhead watering systems, of which 80 

 per cent, find them "unqualified successes." 

 Only two make use of sub-irrigation, but 

 both prefer it to any other method espe- 

 cially during the dull, short days of winter. 



A "GARDEN MAGAZINE" GARDEN 



EVERY once in a while, we are gratified 

 to hear from some subscriber who 

 has successfully adopted the teachings of 

 The Garden Magazine and became the 

 possessor of a real garden. The photo- 

 graph shown herewith is submitted from 

 one such reader as evidence of what can 

 be " accomplished in a year by an amateur 

 who must learn by making mistakes." 



" Our lot," continues Mrs. Mary R. King 

 (Massachusetts), "is somewhat short of 

 200 by 75 feet, the house occupying the 

 front third. From the first the garden was 

 planned from ideas taken from The Gar- 

 den Magazine, and its success is largely 

 due to the practical instructions given by 

 the different writers. 



" The land itself was of very uneven 

 quality, with a thin loam and a stiff and 

 immovable hard pan of clay and gravel. 

 A swamp elm was the only tree and there- 

 fore very precious. It presented a difficult 

 problem to the gardener, however, as its 

 roots acted as a giant sponge, sucking up 

 water. The soil was exceptionally dry, but 

 by heavy fertilizing it proved ideal for 

 roses, while a dozen sun-loving plants nearly 

 killed themselves with blooms. 



" To cover the trellises quickly orna- 

 mental gourds were used and also a few 

 tall double sunflowers. Dividing our lot 

 from the next, a California privet hedge 

 was started, with a closely set line of 

 dahlias in front, with a line of peonies still 

 further forward. The hedge will be left to 

 grow undipped to serve as a windshield. 



" The trellis, concealing the drying yard 

 on the left, had a planting of purple 

 clematis, reinforced by ornamental gourds, 

 for the first season. Salvias, August lilies 

 and a sowing of candytuft around the tree 

 gave quick results in covering and color, 

 but the idea is not a permanent one. 

 Some fifty or sixty perennials were set out 

 in the long borders. For fillers the old- 

 time annuals made a heavy display all 

 summer." 



We should be glad to receive other photo- 

 graphs of Garden Magazine gardens. 



