CURRENT GARDEN LORE. 



247 



season, and by transplanting them two inches apart each 

 way in a rich border, or, what is better, in a coldframe 

 where a shade can be put over them, fine plants are con- 

 veniently at hand when planting-time comes. When 

 only a moderate number of plants are needed, it is better 

 to buy them in this way than to raise them from seed. — 

 F. Masst-y, hi Garden and Forest . 

 Cheap Plant- Protector. — A useful contrivance is a 

 plant-protector for early melons, cucumbers, squash, to- 

 made of wire. It is cheap. con- 

 It consists of a No. 8 wire hoop 

 15 inches in diameter, and 

 three pieces bent nearly in 

 shape of a half-circle and 

 ooped at the two ends 

 around the hoop, crossing 

 each other at the top. They 

 ai-e secured where they cross 

 by being tied by a piece of 

 small aQuealed wire. The 



hindle attached by means of two pieces or old wagon- 

 tire. Bore holes into the face of the roller, one foot 

 apart, and put in pins. To use this tool as a marker, 

 make each of these pins hold a small rope, encircling the 



matoes, beans, eti 

 venient and durabl 



Cheap Plant-Protectc 



wire framework can be covered with old newspapers or 

 strainer, or cheese-cloth costing three or four cents per 

 yard. When put on, a little soil on the edges in several 

 places will prevent the wind from blowing it off. The 

 strainer-cloth covers might be sewed fast to the frame- 

 work, but rats and mice are apt to make nests among 

 them when stored away. These protectors can be made 

 of several sizes. For tomato-plants they might be a few 

 inches taller than for melons. They can be made to 

 order by tinners and wire-workers in small lots at S3 per 

 100. Gardeners and truck-growers can 

 sometimes save the cost of these protec- 

 tors three times over in one season. — 

 Farm and Home. 



A Gourd Garden. — The varieties of 

 fancy gourds now offered by the trade 

 are almost innumerable. A large col- 

 lection have for some years now been 

 grown at Kew, and as they have at last 

 succeeded in weeding out the useless or 

 less ornamental kinds, the collection 

 there may almost be taken as a standard 

 for garden purposes, as the selection in- 

 cludes fruits of large size as well as of 

 distinct colors. The collections grown 

 in the Royal Gardens, Kew, form an in- 

 teresting addition to the hardy plants in 

 the herbaceous ground, and as they are 

 trained to poles, the — in some cases — 

 extraordinary forms are shown to the 

 best possible advantage. The vines bear 

 in such quantity that they have to be 

 frequently thinned. This gourd garden 

 has awakened a considerable amount of 

 interest. — Gardeners' Chronielc. 



Roller and Marker. — This is an ordinary wooden 

 garden-roller, such as anyone can make of a piece of 

 chestnut or oak log, three or four feet long, with iron 

 pins driven in the center on each side, and a simple 



Roller and Marker. 

 roller by driving the pins into the holes beside the end of 

 the rope. More than one row of holes can be used to 

 change distances if required for other vegetables. Strips 

 may be tacked lengthwise of the roller to mark places in 

 row for setting plants. — Grciner's Xeic' Onion-Cullnre. 



Tulips for House-Decoration. — Someof theearliest 

 kinds of tulips are amongst the brightest of our winter 

 flowers. Pots of these bulbs, chiefly of the Van Tho) 

 variety, are now to be seen in all our flower-shops, each 

 plant with a fine flower, and amateurs are apt to be dis- 

 appointed when their home-grown bulbs begin to blos- 

 som, that they are not all so perfect and so fine as those 

 exposed for sale. But the nurseryman goes a different 

 way to work to produce these specimen potfuls, and 

 those who know the right plan can easily supply them- 

 selves with tulips, not only in pots, but growing in bas- 



'."i IJD-LINLD W.\LK IN GARDENS AT KEW. 



kets of moss and even in vases, where drainage can be 

 ; rranged for. Bulbs can be planted in autumn in boxes 10 

 inches in depth, with a light, sandy compost, containing 

 a little leaf-mold and equal parts of loam and sand, with 



