260 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 191S 



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How the Greenhouse Won 



A True Fact Story 



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HESE are the facts. 



A New Yorker owned a several hundred acre 

 country place in New Jersey. "He" liked the 

 country the whole glad year around. His wife 

 had a decided leaning toward the city for the 

 winter months. However, "She" cheerfully 

 agreed to live in the country all the year, pro- 

 vided a thoroughly up-to-date greenhouse was joined to their 

 residence. It was joined. They lived in the country this 

 past winter. Everybody is happy. 



Having it Summer time all the time, is what having a green- 

 house means. No place these days really seems complete 

 without one and surely one's happiness isn't. 



Send for one of our catalogs and then get used to the 

 thought of having one for next winter. 



Hitchin^s^Compa 



New York City 



1170 Broadway 



Factory — Elizabeth, N. J. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



Pennsylvania Bldg. 



1 5th and Chestnut Sts. 



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. Dept. "I" Bedford, Mass. 



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Gladiolus Flowering the First 

 Year from Seed 



THE most fascinating hobby in connection with 

 gardening is undoubtedly that of raising new- 

 varieties, and more intensely so with anything of a 

 perennial nature. But the bugbear which deters 

 many amateurs from growing some flowers from 

 seed is the thought of having to wait two or three 

 years before the first flowers appear. In this sec- 

 tion we must include the gladiolus as we generally 

 know it; but with the introduction from Europe 

 of the new praecox type, this situation has com- 

 pletely changed — the new class, blooms freely in 

 from three to four months from the time the seed 

 is planted. 



Gladiolus pracox is a new and distinct type; the 

 flowers are five inches in diameter; the plant is of 

 vigorous growth, averaging three to four feet in 

 height; the flower spikes are long and full and fre- 

 quently carry eight fully developed flowers with 

 more to follow. The colors embrace all shades 

 found in the 1 Gandavensis, Childsi and Lemoinei 

 types. I have grown this precocious gladiolus 

 now for three years and my appreciation of it has 

 steadily increased. The first season we started the 



Flowers of Gladiolus pracox, a new type, produced 



three to four months after seed planting 



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seed indoors in early spring, transplanting the 

 seedlings into single pots and afterward planting 

 out of doors in May; but gladiolus seedlings do not 

 take kindly to being disturbed and a great many 

 were lost. All that survived, however, flowered 

 bravely in the early fall. 



The old adage "experience teaches" caused me 

 to adopt another, and what has proved to be the 

 proper, method. During the past season I had 

 several thousand plants which bloomed from Sep- 

 tember until killing frosts, by the following method: 

 Seed was, sown the last week in May in a seed 

 bed composed of very fine soil containing a fair 

 proportion of sand and made rich by thoroughly 

 incorporating a liberal quantity of well rotted 

 manure. The seed — after being soaked in water 

 for twelve hours — was sown thinly in drills one 

 inch deep, the rows being twelve inches apart. 

 The entire bed was made firm by pressure, and to 

 preserve the moisture and prevent cracking of the 

 surface a half inch mulch of rotted manure and 

 leafmold, passed through a fine meshed sieve, was 

 spread over all. 



Although the first year's flowers are very fine, 

 they even improve the second year; therefore the 

 bulbs (or correctly, corms) should be carefully 

 harvested and kept (indoors, away from frost) for 

 planting the following spring- 

 Pennsylvania. G. W. Kerr. 



The Readers' Service gives information about investments 



