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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



April, 19 13 



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These squares give you the comparative enriching values 

 of best quality barnyard manures and Alphano Humus. 

 When used freely, one application of Alphano lasts for ytars 



Alphano Humus Gives to Your Lawns 

 a New Greenness; to All Soils 

 a New Life and Enduring Fertility 



ALPHANO HUMUS is neither a dried 

 animal manure mixture, nor a chemical 

 fertilizer. 



It is an odorless black humus in powdered 

 form. 



There is no mystery about it — no secret 

 process of manufacturing. It is nature's own 

 vegetable make — extremely rich in humus 

 and plant foods. This wonderful humus de- 

 posit is at Alphano, New Jersey, where you 

 are welcome at any time to come and see us 

 digging and preparing it. 



Nature has been thousands of years in the 

 making. We furnish it ready for you. 



Used freely in your soil it will not only give 

 it new life this year, but will continue its 

 benefits for many years to come. For making 



worn out or naturally poor soil fertile and 

 friable, it is highly satisfactory. 



The government has given it most exhaus- 

 tive tests. 



We have numerous convincing letters from 

 Alphano users telling of its merits. You are 

 heartily welcome to see them. 



This Humus has none of the flashy tempor- 

 ary stimulating disadvantages of chemical 

 fertilizers. 



Being in powdered form it is easily and 

 quickly applied. Having no odor, it is neither 

 an annoyance, nor in any way objectionable to 

 handle. 



Order some — use it freely. 



5 bags $5. Per ton $12.00. 



By the carload $8.00 a ton — bulk. 



I 



Alphano Humus Co. 



938 Whitehall Bldg. New York 



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This Catalog contains a volume of information regarding 

 Trees and Plants for Rock Gardens, Old-fashioned Gardens, 

 Seashore Planting and Ground Covering under Rhododendrons 

 and Shrubbery. Gives also suggestive planting plans and 

 planting lists for Rose Gardens, Herbaceous Gardens and 

 Suburban Estates. Names and describes desirable Trees and 

 Shrubs with ornamental Fruits, Hedge Plants, Trees for 

 Orchard and Forest Planting, new and old varieties of Roses 

 and Climbing Vines. Copy sent FREE upon request. 



We grow in quantity every hardy Tree or Plant worthy 

 of cultivation. Correspondence invited. 



The New England Nurseries Co. t)ept. "I" Bedford, Mass. 



Grapes in the Back Yard 



TOO few people try to grow their own grapes. 

 A good young vine costs no more than does 

 one small basket of Concords in market; the 

 second year after planting, a new vine will often 

 pay for itself by producing three pounds of fruit. 

 In the third year, five to fifteen pounds is a 

 reasonable crop. In valley lands, or where the 

 wild native grapes grow luxuriantly, it is safe to 

 assume that climate and soil are right for grape- 

 vines. 



In town, trellised vines running the length of the 

 yard make a sightly screen, and if properly placed, 

 take up little room. Other vines trained high on 

 arbors over porches or windows may give screen, 

 shade, and fruit, at once. 



Space is not a first consideration in the country, 

 so that space-saving devices are not so necessary 

 as in town. At the same time, porch trellises need 

 not be neglected at the farmhouse. 



Three matters are essential: First, The vine 

 must be pruned hard once every year. This is 

 done with sharp pruning shears in fall or spring. 



Second, the vines must be fertilized every year. 

 This is never forgotten in the commercial vine- 

 yards, almost never remembered for dooryard 

 vines or dooryard cherry trees. A bearing vine 

 may be tilled or grown in sod and will do as well one 

 way as the other provided it is liberally fed from the 

 surface and watered. Tillage acts as a substitute 

 for watering. Woodashes and stable manure, or 

 a heavy layer of hen house sweepings, or scattered 

 handfuls of nitrate of soda alternating with hand- 

 fuls of muriate of potash week about, are all excel- 

 lent regimens for grapevines. These last, the com- 

 mercial salts, are very available for town use — 

 inexpensive, odorless, and easy to handle. Muriate 

 of potash produces large, sweet, long-keeping grapes. 



In manuring a grape, remember that its roots 

 run far and wide. To feed the plant the stem should 

 not be smothered with litter. 



Third. Grape buds develop in April and May 

 with succulent young canes- to-be, from the first 

 few joints of which the fruit is to grow. These 

 shoots are as brittle as the best asparagus. They 

 switch off at the bud in windstorms. They must 

 be tied to the trellis or to old wood of the vine in 

 such a way that no strain will come upon the point 

 of junction with last year's growth. 



Pennsylvania. E. S. Johnson. 



The Grape-Vine Flea Beetle 



THE grape crop in gardens in Central Pennsyl- 

 vania was materially reduced in 191 1 be- 

 cause of an unusually bad attack in the early spring 

 by the grape-vine flea beetle. This insect had not 

 in the past given grape growers in this section much 

 trouble; in fact, so few were acquainted with the 

 pest that it did considerable damage before garden 

 owners knew what to do. 



This flea beetle is about one quarter of an inch 

 long and the color of blued-steel. The beetles 

 winter over in the adult state in rubbish or other 

 convenient places, and come from their hiding 

 places just as the buds are pushing out. They at 

 once commence to feed on the tender buds, eating 

 both young leaves and flower buds. They are very 

 active; they can fly or jump with equal ease, and 

 do both with lightning rapidity. 



After having fed for three or four weeks, during 

 the latter part of which time they have been de- 

 positing small, orange colored eggs in clusters on the 

 under sides of the leaves, they die. These eggs 



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