284 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



May, 1913 



JUST OUT 



The 



Port of Adventure 



By C. N. and A. M. Williamson 



Authors of "The Golden Silence," 

 "Lord Loveland Discovers America, " "Set in Silver" 



Alice Williamson 



THE Williamsons have found in one of the most picturesque portions of 

 the United States the inspiration for a new story of American life. 

 "The Port of Adventure" is a tale of California with the romance of the 

 old Mission lands for a picturesque setting. It is full of the beauties of the 

 land of the Golden Gate and of that romantic spirit which is ever associated 

 with Spanish life and customs of lower California. 



Illustrated and Decorated. Net $1.35 



By the Same Authors 

 The Guests of Hercules The Heather Moon 



Illustrated. Net $1.35 



Illustrated. Net $1.35 



Doubleday, Page & Co., Garden City, N. Y. qfr^^SSSStSGSt&PSR 



ORCHIDS 



Largest importers and growers of 



Orchids in the United States 



LAGER & HURRELL 



Orchid Growers and Importers SUMMIT, N.J. 



IS: 



nun 



itoiai 



IMMF.BB 



Willi" 



BROWN LAWN FENCE 



iiiiiiiin 

 mum 



IMMMMQ 



iiiiiiiiiiiiiiuiiir 

 iiimiiiiimiiiiii 



iiiiiiiiiiitmiimiiiiii; 

 iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 



pspip5psp.spspspsphpsp5p.spji 



Many Styles LAWN AND FARM FENCE Low Prices 



Cheaper than wood, lasts longer and more ornamental. We sell direct 



to users at manufacturers' prices. Write today for catalog. 



The Brown Fence & Wire Co., Dent. 95, Cleveland, Ohio 



u 

 



u 



h 

 



u 

 en 



Z 



FLOWER, VEGETABLE AND GRASS SEEDS 



HOSEA WATERER 



Seedsman and Bulb Importer 

 107 and 109 South Seventh Street - - Philadelphia, Pa. 



CATALOGUE MAILED FREE UPON REQUEST 



PLANTS, - BULBS, - GARDEN TOOLS 



W 

 % 



H 



r 



N 

 PI 

 73 



TRAD*! MARK 



SLUG -SHOT 



USED FROM OCEAN TO OCEAN FOR 29 YEARS 

 SOLD BT SEED DEALERS OF AMERICA 



Saves Currants, Potatoes, Cabbage, Melons, Flowers, Trees, 



and Shrubs from Insects. Put up in popular packages at popular 

 prices. Write for free pamphlet on Bugs and Blights, etc., to 



B. HAMMOND, Fishkill-on-Hudson, New York 



WATER-LILIES 



The most fascinating of all decorative plants for the 

 flower garden, large or small. My exhibit at the 

 International Exhibition, April 4-12 was the centre of 

 attraction and admiration of all visitors. 



This is planting season for Water-lilies, Perennial 

 and Subaquatic plants, &c. Hybrid Tea Roses, strong 

 healthy 2-year old plants, own roots, home grown, 

 choicest varieties, $5.00 per dozen. 



Send for catalogue 



WM. TRICKER 



Water-Lily Specialist ARLINGTON, N. J. 



The Readers' Service will give information about automobiles 



I lay down the yardstick and drop a little bunch 

 of seeds at the figures 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35; 

 move the stick forward, and repeat the planting. 

 I think they come up better this way than by the 

 traditional method of planting radish seed with 

 them; then, when I thin them, to one plant to 

 each bunch, I am never tempted to leave more for 

 the sake of sparing an especially fine plant, and even 

 if my germination was imperfect my plants after 

 thinning are exactly even in spacing unless a whole 

 bunch failed. If you like you can plant them at half 

 distance, three inches apart where they are finally 

 to be six, and eat the half-way ones half grown. 



How much irregularity you can allow in your 

 thinning, depends on what the crop is and how far 

 its roots spread sidewise and cross those of other 

 plants. A great deal of corn has been very suc- 

 cessfully raised in hills: if you have planted yours' 

 in drills, to be thinned to one foot apart in the drill 

 but your germination was poor, and in order to get 

 strong stalks you have to make out the number of 

 six plants in six feet by spacing them successively 

 20 in., 9 in., 7 in., 8 in., 12 in., 16 in., this simply 

 means that you have changed your drill arrange- 

 ment to a sort of compromise between hill and drill, 

 which may be the best possible thing under your 

 circumstances. But no one ever heard of raising 

 turnips successfully in hills. Two turnips or 

 carrots growing close together will hinder each 

 other's development even if there is not another 

 plant within six feet. Doubtless turnips that are 

 to be thinned to a foot apart can safely be allowed 

 to stand at distances of alternately 8 inches and 16 

 inches; but if you let two spaces of 8 inches come 

 next each other I do not believe that any liberality 

 of spacing before and after them will make the 

 middle turnip of the three grow much larger than 

 if the whole row had been thinned to the 8-inch 

 standard. Cabbages, though not a root crop, are 

 more like turnips than like corn in this respect. 



It follows that for the turnips there is no ad- 

 vantage in having a ruler more than two feet long, 

 except that you do not have to move it so often; 

 but for the corn you are likely to want a stick of 

 six feet or so, attending merely to the two ends of 

 the stick, and spacing the proper number of stalks 

 between the ends by your eye and not by any marks 

 on the stick. I use a six-foot rod that my father 

 made when I was a boy, with feet notched across 

 one side and inches notched along one corner. 

 One thing that I value that stick for is that I can 

 feel the measurements in the dark. I do not know 

 how many more people there are who cultivate a 

 larger garden than they have enough daylight for, 

 but I do know that a good deal of starlight work 

 has been done in my garden, and this six-foot stick 

 has often been carried out for work that, by daylight, 

 would have been done with the lighter yard stick. 



Massachusetts. Steven T. Bytngton. 



Brief Fertilizer Notes 



MURIATE of potash is poison to hyacinths, 

 even to the second season after the salt has 

 been used on the ground. 



Tulips planted in good vegetable garden soil 

 with no manure dug in and top dressed in February 

 with muriate, are happy in the diet, and are large, 

 long stemmed, and early. If it is desired to feed 

 nearby fruit trees a good salting of equal parts of 

 muriate of potash and nitrate of soda may be given 

 before the tulips come up. 



The asparagus bed responds to nitrate if well 

 watered. Tillage alone is not a substitute under 

 artificial stimulation such as this. 



Lettuce grows faster and is better if acid phos- 

 phate or superphosphate is incorporated in the soil. 

 The same is true of heliotrope. Beans and string 

 beans are indifferent to phosphate, but leap ahead, 

 as do tomato plants, under nitrate of soda. All 

 narcissus resent nitrate of soda, but Primula ob- 

 conica thrives and blooms on what they detest. 



Of narcissus and muriate of potash, N. biflorus, 

 N. Barri conspicitus, N. poeticus, N. poeticus or- 

 natus (or King Edward), and Emperor, show most 

 marked liking for it. Horsfieldi is not improved. 



Dahlia roots (of the fall of 191 1) dipped at time 

 of digging in a bucket of weak lime sulphur solution 

 kept through the (following winter with less rot 

 than any roots not dipped. It is a powerful disin- 

 fectant for dahlias. 



Pennsylvania. E. S. Johnson. 



