VALUABLE AGRICULTURAL BOOKS, 



Asparagus Culture Flex. Cloth $ 50 



American Rose Cuiturist 30 



Barry's Fruit Garden. New and Revised Edition. . 2 0) 



Bommer's Method of Making Manure 25 



Brill's CauLflowers. 20 



Brill's Farm-Gardening and Seed-Growing 1 00 



Broom-Corn end Brooms 50 



Breck's New Book of F.owers 1 75 



Burr's Vegetables of America 3 00 



Celery Culture , 40 



Downing's Fruits aud Fruit Trees of America. 



New Eaition 5 00 



Elliott's Hand Book for Fruit Growers. Pa. G0c.;clo. 1 00 



Every Woman Her Own Flower Gardener 1 00 



Forest Leaves 50 



Fitz's Sweet Potato Culture GO 



Gregory on Cabbages 30 



«' " Carrots and Mangels 30 



£3P"At the prices named, the books will be ma 



Gregory on Onions 30 



" Squashes , 30 



Henderson's Gardening for Profit 2 00 



" " k> Pleasure 1 50 



" Practical Floriculture 1 50 



" Hand Book of Plants 3 00 



Hop Culture. New and Revised Edition 30 



Tho Language of Flowers 25 



Oi-ions— How to raise them Profitably 25 



Purdy's Smal Fruit Instructor 2d 



Lice's Play aud Profit ia My Garden 1 50 



Sugar Caccs. Their Culture aud Manufacture . _ 75 



Stoddard's An Egg Farm 60 



The Poultry Yard and Market &0 



Test Book on Silk Culture 26 



Thomas' American Fruit Cuiturist. New Edition. 2 fO 

 Tobacco Culture. By fourteen experienced culti- 

 vators , 25 



iled, FOSTAGE PAID, on receipt of the money. 



IMPORTANT MINTS— PLEASE READ- 



SOWING THE SEED AND PREPARING THF SOIL. These are very important matters; and care 

 should be taken to have your seed bed finely raked, and free from all rubbish and lumps, and well enriched 

 with weli-rotted manure, and also not to sow seed too early, or in other words, until the soil becomes sufficiently 

 warm and dry, so that it will work mellow and crumble to pieces when struck with the spade. Do not attempt 

 to raise fine flowers or good vegetables cn a j:oor soil. Always keep a heap cf manure on hand for tbe next 

 season, When it will be thoroughly rotted and ready for use. I f these points are overlooked, and the seed sown 

 too early, it is apt to rot or perish, and consequently involve a loss and sad disappointment cn tbe part of the 

 cu tivatjr, and it i3 n^t the fault of the seed or seedsmen, as it is unfortunately laid a great many times. How- 

 ever, in all ca^es, follow a i nearly as possible the directions of each variety, as given in tho Catalogue, and you 

 will have a marked success. By sowing everything, as much as possible, in drills, instead of broadcast, a great 

 deal of labor will be saved, as all can be kept clear of weeds by the hoo and hand cultivator. 



HOi-BtLDS. The hot-bed is made by forming a pile of horse manure with the straw used for bedding or 

 leaves, some ihree feet in height, and about 12 or 18 inches larger all around than the size of the frame to be 

 used. Shake all together, so that the straw and manure will be equally mixed. It may be sunk in the ground a 

 fcot or eighteen inches, or made on the surface. Place the frame on soon as the bed is made, and fill in with 

 about 5 or 6 inches of good me low soil, keeping the frame closed for a few days until fermentation takes place 

 and the soil is quite warm. It is better to wait a day or two after this and then sow the seeds. The fr^me can be 

 constructed by any handy man at very small expense. It consists of a wooden frame, from J to G feet wide, and 

 from to 16 feet long, according to the supply of vegetables or flowers required. The back side should be at 

 least 6 inches higher than the front— the frame sub-divided by cross-bars and each division covered by a glazed 

 s eh. The frame should face the South or Southeast. From the time the seed is sown, attention to airing and 

 fehauing during the hot part of the day, aud covering up at night, is essential, and also that the soil bo never 

 allowed to get dry. Tho watering should be done with a very fine rose watering pot, and w th tepid water. The 

 temperature at night may range from 55 to 65 dogrees, and during tho day from 70 to 80. 



COLD FRAME.' A cold frame is so easy in construction and management as to be available to all. This 

 is simply a hot-bed frame with glazed s;isb, placed upon n bed of fine mellow earth, in some sheltered place in the 

 garden. After tho frame is secured in its p.ace, a couple of inches of fiuo earth should be placed inside, and the 

 trame closed up a day or two before the seeds are planted. As tho cold frame depends upen the sun fcr its 

 warmth, it must be started as soon as the hot-bed, and in this latitude the latter part of April is soon eiough. 

 Watering occasionally will be necessary, aud cir must be given in bright warm days. Shade is i.lso necessary. 



THINNING is a very important operation. Everything cuq-ht to be thinned very early, even in seed leaf, 

 if the plants stand toj close. Another thinning may be necessary when they are more ad anccd, to givo them 

 room to grow stalky. All plants, when crowded together, run up tall and slender, and never succeed wed. 



TRANSFLAN TING. In transplanting, the main points to be regarded are, tare in tailing up the plants so 

 as to avoid injury to the roots, planting firmly so as to enable tho plant to take a secure hold of the sc?l, reducing 

 the top t j prevent evaporation, and shading to prevent the sun from withering and blighting the leaves. In 

 transplanting from a hot-bed, harden the plants by letting them get quite dry a day or two before, but give an 

 abundance of water every Jew hours befovo they are taken out. It is most apt to bo succcssiul if dono just at 

 evening, or immediately befor or during the first part of a raiu, about tho worst time being just after a rain, 

 when the ground being wet it is impossible to sufiiciently press it about the plant without its baking hard. If 

 water is used at all, it should be used freely and the wet surface immediately covered with dry soil. 



NOTICE. 



2^*If any of our customers receive any extra copies of our Gar 

 (I n Annual/ would they please hand to some friend interested in 

 gardening. Or if they will send the names of a few of their neigh- 

 bors* who would be likely to need a supply of good Vegetable Seeds, 

 we shall be pleased to seild such oar Annual.,;.;-.: 



Address all correspondence, and make all P. 0. and Express 

 Mont*y Orders payable to 



COXAE'S SEED STOEE, 



E. M. COLE, PROPRIETOR. PELLA, IO^T-i^.- 



