The Garden Magazine, April, 1920 



127 



better plants for me than my paper pots, and last three or four seasons. 

 Our Tomato plants are usually pretty tall when we set them out, be- 

 cause we do not put them into the garden before the end of May. 

 Instead of digging a very deep hole to dispose of the contents of the 

 "pot" and surplus stem, we dig a long one, and lay the root and 

 several inches of stem on its side in the hole, turning the leafy portion 

 upright when we fill in. This gives opportunity for the development 

 of a splendid root system in the best soil, and the results are fairly 

 magical. Last year I picked ripe tomatoes on July iith. I have 

 experimented a good deal with garden tools because so many of them 

 seem quite unsuitable for feminine use. I have found a Warren hoe, and 

 a smaller triangular hoe with a blade 4x4x5! inches, both much easier 

 for a woman to use than the ordinary hoes. It may not be out of place 

 to add that in my humorously inclined family The Garden Magazine 

 is known as "mother's Bible." — Harriet L. Kutchin, Green Lake, 

 Wisconsin. 



Snowballs and 

 Aphis 



A S TO the old-fashioned Snowball going 

 -*» out of culture because attacked by blue 

 aphis (page in, October,. 19 19) I find that the 

 circumstance is often a reminder that we do not 

 do as well by it as we should. I have an old plant that has stood 

 in shade and been much neglected a long time and I find that it is 

 often attacked by the aphis and fairly crippled. Sometimes I have 

 been on the point of pulling it up and throwing it away. One year 

 I found a small plant that had rooted from the old one — as they 

 will do readily if the ends of branches are covered, much as the 

 Forsythia does — and I took it up and set it in rich soil in full sun. 

 The result was that it began to blossom when not more than a foot 

 high and it gets many compliments for its beauty of leafage when out 

 of blossom. I think we can raise it and the Japanese Snowball, too, if 

 we give it proper care. — John W. Chamberlin, Buffalo, N. Y. 



The Little 



Iris 



Arenaria 



THIS wee immigrant from Transylvania 

 (referred to by others in recent notes) 

 found a place in my garden several years ago. 

 It has shown approval and appreciation of 

 its new home by spreading growth and gleeful yellow bloom in early 

 May. To the lover of the tiny fairy-like representatives of any genus, 

 it will appeal because of its excellent, if sometimes whimsical, qualities. 

 It likes the hottest, driest, sunniest plain of the rock garden, demand- 

 ing the whole of its diminutive domain and resenting sulkily any 

 intrusion of overhanging plants. Within the week or ten days of its 

 blooming period it makes amazing bursts of color. It seeds so 

 abundantly that often the pods have to be removed in numbers for 

 fear of exhaustion to the plant. When sown as soon as possible 

 after ripening, the seeds germinate fairly well the following spring. A 

 single seedling sheaf transplanted in August will by the next August 

 have spread, in some cases, to the astounding number of thirty — a 

 somewhat rambling tuft of slender foliage, rarely exceeding five or 

 six inches. The shallow anchorage of the roots requires the protection 

 of a mulch. Manure should not be used. A simple shading of the 

 spot with pine boughs or a few cornstalks is the most satisfactory 

 winter and early spring care. The bloom is somewhat fugacious, lasting 

 in very hot sunny weather even less than a day. — Ella Porter 

 McKinney, New Jersey. 



Banana 

 Melons 



1READ with interest what R. E. Allen had 

 to say of his experiences with the Banana 

 Muskmelon on page 300 of the February 

 Garden Magazine. But I take exception 

 to the comment and here are my reasons for so doing: about 25 years 

 ago I visited a friend at Calla, Ohio, in August. My friend went to his 

 garden and brought back a large basket of various Muskmelons among 

 which were several ranging from 12 to 15 inches long. I commented 

 on this variety and he told me they were the " Banana" melon. They 

 were very fine eating, as Mr. Allen has said. For several years I have 

 been trying to grow Muskmelons and found that the hungry bugs got 

 most of them until I got some of the Banana seeds and grew them. 

 For two years I have grown these and the bugs have not yet discovered 

 that they are Melons — much to my satisfaction. Some years ago I 

 visited Southern California in early fall and got acquainted with the 

 wonderful Casaba Melon. A little later the Honey Dew was intro- 

 duced and now it is extensively sold in the city markets (Cleveland). 

 But it is entirely different from Banana, which is a real Muskmelon 

 while Honey Dew has light green smooth skin and a different texture 

 of flesh, and with no furrows or ribs. I endorse all that Mr. Allen says 

 for Banana Muskmelon. Honey Dew is mighty good too — yes, better 



than lots of Muskmelons and well worth a trial by any one having a 

 long summer season. — F. A. Ganong, Ohio. 



— May I draw your attention to the foot note to the "Better than 

 Bananas" paragraph on page 300 of the February issue? Mr. R. E. 

 Allen's description of the Melon precludes all possibility of its being 

 Honey Dew; it is the true Banana Muskmelon which our firm (Burpee 

 & Co.) has been offering for many years. The shape of Banana Musk- 

 melon has been against the variety from the commercial growers' 

 viewpoint, but on account of its cropping qualities and fine flavor it 

 has become quite a favorite in many home gardens. — Geo. W. Kerr, 

 Penna. 



A Revised 

 Opinion and 

 Some Peas 



DOES your conscience ever trouble you? 

 Mine does! I wrote recently that The 

 Garden Magazine was not quite everything 

 it ought to be, but after looking over back 

 numbers, and comparing them with the recent issues, I apologize. 

 The magazine is certainly great and growing better. I have grown 

 garden peas very liberally for home use for years, some seasons for 

 market and as I believe, the first Gradus ever sold in Binghamton. I 

 found that Gradus does its best by being sowed very early, as early in 

 fact as the smooth peas can be planted, also that the seed should be 

 sowed much more freely than usually recommended. I have sowed 

 peas when large chunks of frost or frozen earth were near the seed, 

 resulting in splendid'germination, sometimes quite a fall of snow and 

 unseasonable low temperature occurring after planting with no bad 

 results. Gradus never shows its best when caught by warm weather. 

 I think Laxtonian and other wrinkled peas would stand the same treat- 

 ment. The only trouble I ever had was from severe freezing after 

 peas were above ground which turned the vines yellow, they never 

 making a complete recovery. My soil by the way is a rather heavy 

 loam, too heavy to get sweet corn real soon. — La Forest F. Brown, 

 Binghamton, N. Y. 



— It is indeed surprising to learn of such results in view of the extraor- 

 dinarily early planting of wrinkled peas. The garden must be unusu- 

 ally well drained, and it must warm up quickly, which is exceptional 

 on a clay soil. Since Mr. Brown likes Gradus, why not also try Thomas 

 Laxton of the same habit of growth with pods uniformly well filled, 

 and the peas of even superior flavor. Of the strictly dwarf peas give 

 Buttercup and Potlach a trial. These are mid-season dwarfs; Butter- 

 cup is of unrivalled quality, though not suitable for market because 

 of its light color; Potlach on the other hand, perfects a pod like Thomas 

 Laxton, and is a wonderful market pea maturing in eighty-five days 

 on the clay soils of Western Pennsylvania. — A. K. 



The Horse- 

 chestnut Here 

 and Abroad 



WHEN I read the fine description of 

 the Horsechestnut (in February Gar- 

 den Magazine) I wondered why Mr. Wilson 

 did not mention the noble double row of trees 

 on the long waterfront at Lucerne, Switzerland, for I am sure that he 

 must know of it. They shade the promenade in a most acceptable 

 way. I recall sitting under the monster one on the terrace above pic- 

 turesque Altdorf ; and we found striking specimens in St. John's College 

 park at Oxford. I have never seen quite as fine Horsechestnut trees 

 in this country as in Europe, though that may be on account of our 

 considering them too common and neglecting them. Buffalo, N. Y., 

 has had such a sad experience with the Horsechestnut that I have said 

 I would never plant one, or even let it come up as a weed from the nut, 

 as it is inclined to, just as the Ailanthus will do as soon as it is once 

 established. The tussock moth somehow marked the tree for its own 

 a number of years ago and proceeded to devour its foliage entire, so 

 that it stood from early July as nude as in winter, unless it had energy 

 enough to leaf out again. As the insect has but one brood here the 

 later leaves were not attacked. This circumstance has made the tree 

 a nuisance here, though through no fault of its own. Finally the city 

 had to set up a forestry department, chiefly to fight the worm and is 

 making good headway against- it, though if not persistently sprayed it 

 will return year after year. Oddly enough the trees in surrounding towns 

 are not molested. The worm will eat no other foliage generally except 

 that of the Basswood, so I have thought that the only way of getting 

 rid of it would be to cut down these trees and starve it out. In dry 

 weather the Horsechestnut suffers and its leaves often become very 

 ragged in appearance and sometimes fall prematurely, so that it is 

 really not much of a success as a city shade tree here. We Easterners 

 are sorry that the Sugar Maple does not succeed here, as it does in 

 central and eastern New York, but there are varieties of it that flour- 

 ish. Our shade trees are the Elm (not quite as good as in New England), 

 Oak, in several species, Soft Maple, Sycamore and many others in 



