36 
T HE G A R D E X M A G A Z I X E 
September. 1916 
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ALPHANO 
■KA U.&.A4T orr. 
Make Your Lawn This Fall ■ 
Not Next Spring ^ 
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T here are five good common sense reasons 
why Fall lawn-making costs less and produces 
thicker, stronger sod the first year than if Spring 
made. 
Every one of these five reasons is fully explained 
and freely illustrated in our book called “Lawns— 
Their Care and Fare." 
This book is the result of our own 10 years of system- 
atic lawn making study and development; combined 
with that of three well known experts 
who compiled the text. 
The first is an acknowledged high 
authority on soils and seeds. 
The second is an intensely practical 
man who has spent years in coming to 
lawn-making conclusions by the way of practical work- 
ng prove-up proofs. 
Th 
he third is no less than the man so inseparably as- 
sociated with the successful making of so many of the 
leading golfing greens in this country and the British 
Isles. The nuggets from these men’s experiences make 
this Lawn Book of ours. 
It sets forth the advantages of Fall lawn-making 
and repairing in a way that is certainly most con- 
clusive. 
Each expert recognizes and ad^fises 
the use of Alphano Humus for the 
purpose. 
Send for the book. It will gladly 
be sent with our compliments. 
$12. a ton in bags 
$10. a ton in bags by the carload 
F.O.B. Alphano, N. J. 
$8. a ton in bulk 
by the carload 
A^lpK 
ano 
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17-C Battery Place 
Established 1905 
New York 
ORCHIDS 
Largest importers and growers of 
Orchids in the United States 
Send twenty-five cents for catalogue. This amount will be refunded 
on your first order. 
LAGER & HURRELL 
Orchid Growers and Importers SUMMIT»N. J. 
Horslord’s itpays 
^ I j t o u s e 
^OlO Horsford’s cold 
weather plants in 
• ■ ^11 rlimnrpc where 
Plants 
all climates where 
winters are severe. 
His list is the re- 
suit of thirty years’ experimenting with the 
kinds that can stand the coldest weather. 
You can’t afford to use tender plants in hardy 
climates. Even though you don’t mind the 
cost, you lose much in rime and disappoint- 
ment. Horsford’s lists (spring and fall! offer 
Shrubs, Trees, Vines, Bulbs, Wild 
Flowers, Hardy Ferns, etc., about 
a thousand kinds. Many of these, set in 
season, would give better returns next year 
than I’f planting is postponed until spring. 
Don’t fail to send for these lists before 
placing orders. Send now and ask for 
Catalogue N. 
F. H. HORSFORD, Charlotte, Vermont 
S My latest catalogue of the leading fruit 
trees. A complete list of standard varieties of 
Apples. Pears. Peaches, Plums and Cherries for 
the home garden. Also gives many helpful cul- 
tural suggestions for the home planter. 
Send for Fraser's Tree Book and ask for special list of trees 
ready to bear fruit. 
SAMUEL FRASER NURSERY, INC. 
173 Main Street Geneseo, N. Y- 
DARWIN TULIPS 
Rembrandt and Hybrid Tulips 
direct from the sole originators 
E. H. Krelage & Son 
Complete Bulb Catalogue Free 
on request to 
J. A. deVEER, Sole Agent, 100 William St., N.Y. 
scissors, like manicure or “stork embroidery” sizes, 
one can readily cut back the tubular cactus petals, or 
in a decorative remove alternate rows of florets en- 
tire, so as to expose the forked, recurved stigmas 
ready to be pollinated. 
The obtaining of high-bred cactus pollen is often a 
serious matter, especially if one is working with a 
light colored variety and wants to keep to a light 
tint in the second parent. For the sake of pollen, 
September is the best month of the season to raise 
seed, because if a cactus Dahlia will give pollen at all, 
it will give it on oldish wood, in a poor and slow 
growing flower, in September. Scarlets and crim- 
sons are freer of pollen than orange. Yellows freer 
than whites, and pinks scarcest. Darkest maroons 
are shy in giving pollen. Pollen of singles or decora- 
tives will take perfectly well on a cactus seed parent, 
but fewer cactus types occur in the offspring than 
where the breed is loo per cent. pure. I incline to 
the opinion that shape of petal goes from the pollen- 
parent, type of bush, leaf and root descending from 
the seed-bearer; color is all chance, but runs half or 
more light from light colored parentage. 
Only cactus Dahlia flowers with a poor centre, 
which shows signs of becoming “open” or yellow, 
will give any pollen. These I watch until the disk 
centre turns yellow, I cut them, place in warm water 
in the cellar or in a closed room away from wind and 
bees for a day or so, and then use. I find that 
Dahlia pollen is moist, lumpy, and perishable, while 
pistils remain in workable condition for several days 
each (less in hot, windy weather, of course). House- 
ripened pollen has normal vitality, and you get more 
of it per flower when you are ready to fertilize. 
When the dew has dried, on a warm, sunny morn- 
ing, is the best time to pollinate your chosen seed- 
parent flowers. I take my cut flowers out to the 
garden in a vase of water. If I am working on the 
toothpick-tubular kind of cactus, I cut back a dozen 
or two of petals and split or unroll them inward till I 
expose the recurved stigmas of the pistil in each. 
When I have them ready, I tear away the colored 
outside rays of the cut flower which I am going to 
use, so that it becomes a yellow pompon of stamens 
on a long stem. Then I touch each of the exposed 
stigmas with pollen from the pompon. As long as 
there is any pollen to use, I keep on touching the tuft 
of stamens to one set after another of pistils in the 
flower which I want to have bear the seed; when the 
stock of pollen is exhausted, I stop cutting out 
tubular petals to expose the pistils, and let the re- 
mainder of the flower go untouched. Seed will only 
appear on the impregnated florets, when the pod 
ripens — and probably not in half of those. 
I do not use a watchglass, or isinglass sheet, with 
forceps or toothpick, for collecting pollen and dis- 
tributing it. Dahlia pollen is relatively coarse, and 
I think that the grains bruise and dry out if removed 
from the anther before getting into the nourishing 
moisture of the stigma-surface. In working out- 
doors in sun and breeze, one best preserves the pollen 
in its own ripened masses on the brush-like stripped 
flower, which one returns to the vase of water be- 
tween times. It is perfectly possible to pick out one 
floret of the cut flower and use it in a tiny pair of 
forceps to touch the waiting pistils; but the brush- 
like pompon of pollen on its own stem is more easily 
managed and just as certain. 
Sometimes a frosty night in early October 
threatens my seed crop before maturity. Covering 
the plant is rarely of use; the seed pod is as sensitive 
as a bud, and sure to freeze if anything does. I cut 
the pods with long stems, slit stems part way and 
place in warm water, precisely as if I were preparing 
cut flowers to keep in a warm room. Then for a 
week or two 1 keep the bouquet of pods, all tagged 
with their names, of course, in a jug of water on a 
sunny window. I find they ripen precisely as if on 
the plant. When they are so ripe they begin to open 
and shell out the dark brown seeds, 1 rub them be- 
tween my fingers to separate from the husk and 
store the seeds in envelopes in a warm room. I 
sow the seeds in pots during March. The most im- 
portant tricks, at the best, are to cover with the 
barest dredging of earth, and to keep the proper 
labels always in the pots as they were always on the 
gathered seed pods. Cactus seeds germinate slowly 
some years, and vigorously in others. The best 
flowers sometimes come from the strongest germina- 
tions, sometimes from the weakest; contrary to what 
(Continued on page 36B) 
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The Readers’ Service is prepared to advise parents in regard to schools 
