78 



OUR BACK YARD. 



hide the board fences which mark the Hmits of our 

 small domain. None of these things, except the 

 roses, cost one cent. The honeysuckle, clematis 

 and jessamine came from cuttings, which may be 

 had for the asking, and the Virginia creeper from 

 the woods, where all are welcome to help themselves. 

 The beginner will find much pleasure in learning 

 how many beautiful plants he can grow from small 

 pieces stuck into moist sand or even the open ground, 

 and where, as in our case, money is a prime con- 

 sideration, the number of possible plants will be 

 much increased by these experiments. 



As the result of our experience we have come to 

 prefer hardy perennials as far as possible for the 

 use of those who can only devote a limited amount 

 of time to their gardens. The annual vines, in par- 

 ticular, are not so desirable as those which are 

 ready at the first opportunity in spring to "con- 

 tinue business at the old stand." And our old-fash- 

 ioned columbine, cowslips, and plants of like char- 

 acter, are already making our garden bright before 

 we can stick the spade in the earth to prepare it for 

 the annuals and bedding plants. 



Almost ever since we commenced gardening we 

 have made a specialty of chrysanthemums. I be- 

 lieve there is no flower that the amateur can grow 

 which makes such large and satisfactory returns for 

 the money and labor expended. We began with one 

 or two of the old sorts, yellows and whites, and have 

 gradually worked up, as we learned the secrets of 

 their proper cultivation, until now we have 25 or 30 

 kinds. The part of our garden devoted to them is not 

 more than 7 feet by 25, and yet from this small bed 

 we last season cut bushels of flowers, and at the 

 time of writing (Dec. ist) there are almost as many 

 left. We first bought of a florist in New York some 

 dozen or more named varieties, and since then we 

 have several times bought seed. Started in the 

 house in the early part of April, and shifted from 

 pot to pot as they grow, we have found that go per 

 cent, of our seedlings will bloom the year of plant- 

 ing. In this way we have obtained some beautiful 

 kinds at a very small expense, and derived much 

 pleasure from the surprises which seedlings always 

 have in store for the gardener. We set our large 

 plants in the open ground, in rows, and. work be- 

 tween them freely with a hoe about once a week 



during the continuance of warm weather, watering 

 with a hose whenever needed in the least degree. 

 About the time of flowering we build over the entire 

 bed an awning or tent of cheap cotton on a frame- 

 work of lig^it pine sticks, just high enough to walk 

 under, which, in our climate, is ample protection 

 from frost. Chrysanthemums cannot be had in per- 

 fection without work, but if you give it they will re- 

 pay as surely as the coming of November. 



Disappointments have come, of course, and mo- 

 ments of discouragement. For some reason, prob- 

 ably the original poverty of the soil, our ever-bloom- 

 ing roses have never done well, neither blooming 

 profusely or handsomely. But we hope next spring 

 to dig out the present earth from their bed and re- 

 place it with very rich soil, and shall expect better 

 results. 



I have tried in this article to give some hints to 

 those persons who know little about the common 

 facts with which the beginner is confronted when he 

 first attempts to "make things grow." I would 

 have been glad of some such information at the out- 

 set of my own career in this line, but what we have 

 learned has been learned by the painful but effective 

 process of butting our heads against the stone walls 

 of natural phenomena. I hope such readers of the 

 Garden as attempt to follow in our path will avoid 

 these obstructions, and at the end of the next floral 

 year have no failures to record. 



The pictures with which this article is illustrated 

 are from photographs taken by an amateur friend, 

 and are given, not as illustrations of perfection, but 

 as showing what progress we have made in our fight 

 with ugliness. It is to be understood by the reader 

 that this is an ordinary city back yard, the size being 

 about jo feet by 70, surrounded by rough board 

 fences. Notwithstanding our efforts to "compre- 

 hend all vagrom " cats, an errant Tommy occasion- 

 ally finds his way into our flower beds, doing damage 

 thereto ; but a remorseless rifle, and a steel trap in 

 which we in one night captured six, have thinned 

 the feline population to reasonable proportions. 

 The Garden's sketch of our yard "before treat- 

 ment," as the patent medicine men have it, is very 

 mild, and shows an imagination rigidly controlled 

 by the love of truth. P. H. Stansbury. 



