214 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



April, 1913 



By Mrs. 



Humphry Ward 



A New Novel of 

 English Life Just Ready 



Lydia Penfold is a young and charming artist, drawing in the Lake country for 

 her living, and of a poetic and unworldly temper. Equally poetic and unworldly 

 is the young landowner Lord Tatham who falls deeply in love with her. But his 

 possessions weigh nothing with her, and unconsciously she is drawn away from him 

 by the attraction of the other hero of the book, the young briefless barrister Claude 

 Favefsham, whom an accident brings upon the scene. The old eccentric and 

 tyrant, Edmund Melrose, who possesses immense wealth and a house filled with 

 treasures of art, gets Faversham into his power, makes him his agent and tool in 

 the oppression of his estates, and bribes him with the hope of a vast inheritance. 

 But in Lydia's eyes, Melrose's wealth is poisoned, and Faversham must choose be- 

 tween her and it. The novel is a study of rival passions as between Faversham and 

 Tatham, and of a conflict of conscience as between Lydia and Faversham; while the 

 sinister and tyrannical figure of Melrose broods over the whole. By what tragedy 

 the problem is loosed the reader must learn. The scene is laid amid the beautiful 

 scenery of the Cumberland fells, where readers of Robert Elsmere, and Fenwick's 

 Career, and Helbeck of Bannisdale will find themselves at home. 



Four photogravure illustrations by E. C. Brock. Net $1.35 



The 



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Mating of Lydia 



The Readers' Service gives Informa- 

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The Readers' Service will give you suggestions for the care of live-stock 



The Necessary Seedbed 



TO THE flower lover every step from seed plant- 

 ing to bloom is a pleasure, and the pride we 

 take in blossoms of our own raising more than com- 

 pensates for the small labor involved. Consider the 

 satisfaction of being the proud possessor of rows of 

 sturdy hollyhocks, Canterbury bells, foxgloves 

 and other perennials and biennials from which we 

 may dig a dozen or more plants to give to some 

 friend who may have been less fortunate with 

 them! Then, too, there is very likely to be one or 

 more gaps in our hardy borders, from winter killing 

 or other causes, which may be bountifully replen- 

 ished from a well stocked seedbed. 



Early last fall a kind neighbor sent me a lot of 

 fine campanulas which I put in my seedbed; several 

 of these died from some unknown cause but it is 

 an immense satisfaction to know that snug under 

 their winter covering of salt hay are plenty of sister 

 plants which will be ready for transplanting this 

 spring. Speaking of winter cover — for this class 

 of plants I find that a slight covering of marsh or 

 salt hay is the best. It is light and does not smother 

 the crowns. I do not recollect having lost a plant 

 covered with it. 



The seedbed is a money saver. It costs practi- 

 cally nothing to raise plants and flowers from seed, 

 while if purchased the expense is at least a consider- 

 able item. The saving may well be invested in 

 manure. My annual joke about Christmas time 

 is to ask for a present of fertilizer — anything from 

 a load to a carload. The family claim they are 

 denied many of the necessities of life, but a load of 

 manure is likely to arrive any day! 



The bed should be in a well drained location and 

 preferably shaded part of the day, although mine 

 is exposed to the full sun from early morning to late 

 afternoon. Some small protection from the north 

 winds is perhaps advisable but not necessary, mine 

 being open except for an evergreen hedge to the 

 east. 



Work on the seed bed commences in late fall 

 when we dig up all the ground not occupied with 

 plants to be carried over until spring, leaving the 

 earth in as large lumps as possible, the rougher the 

 better, the object being to let the frost pulverize 

 the lumps, to aerate the soil and to help get rid of 

 the cutworms. 



My entire vegetable garden is always dug over 

 every fall and the soil left in as rough and lumpy 

 a condition as possible. In the spring, as soon as 

 the ground is ready to work (that is, dried out suf- 

 ficiently to crumble well in the hand — and it's a 

 mistake to attempt any work in the seed bed before 

 the earth is in proper condition, as worked too soon 

 means lumps hard to break up), we spread over the 

 surface a good covering of manure, preferably cow, 

 thick enough so that no dirt can be seen. This 

 is spaded in to a depth of about a foot. 



The raking must be very thoroughly done. "As 

 fine as your grandmother's onion bed" is an old 

 saying that well describes the condition in which the 

 seedbed must be gotten before planting. I rake 

 mine again and again, and then once again! 



The seeds are planted in drills or rows about a 

 foot apart and the after care consists of a succession 

 of frequent cultivation, thinning out and very 

 judicious watering. Usually planting is done at a 

 time when the ground is quite moist and watering 

 may then be deferred until the seedlings appear. 



If the soil is not in this condition care must be 

 taken that a crust does not form through which 

 the seedlings cannot break. If watering is neces- 

 sary it should be done in late afternoon, using a 

 fine rose on the sprinkler. When the garden or 

 flower beds are watered, all know they must be 

 thoroughly soaked, but this on the seedbed would 

 mean washing away many little seedlings besides 

 baking the surface. With occasional weeding and 

 frequent cultivation or mulching, the bed should be 

 well filled by late summer with sturdy plants. It 

 is also well at times to grow annuals and leave them 

 there to bloom. The best larkspur I have suc- 

 ceeded in raising were sown in my seedbed in early 

 spring and bloomed there in late summer. 



My seedbed is a necessary annex to the vege- 

 table garden, the celery, cauliflower and other 

 plants not needing the early start of hotbed or cold- 

 frames being grown there and transplanted to the 

 garden when of suitable size. Here I also plant 



