March, 1917 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
103 
bage, lettuce, tomatoes, egg plant, peppers, 
celery, etc., may be sown in the frame or green- 
house this month. 
The Single Chrysanthemum will flower this 
season from seed sown now. It is interesting 
work, and as you may get some very fine 
varieties, it is worth the effort starting a good 
quantity of seed. Snapdragons intended for 
forcing must be sown now, carrying over the 
plants in pots for the summer in a frame. By 
careful watering they can be confined to 4 
inch pots from which they can be planted into 
the benches next August or September. Buy 
the best strain of Forcing Snapdragon you can 
procure. 
Ornamental Grasses are popular for bedding 
work and they are excellent for cut green to use 
with flowers. Most of these grasses are 
annuals and the seeds are so fine that if sown 
out of doors they are usually lost. The best 
method of handling is to sow in flats rather 
thinly and when large enough to handle break 
up in small clumps and pot up; these can then 
be planted in groups or rows as desired. 
For The Summer Season 
* I 'HERE are several worth while purposes 
to which you can put the greenhouse in 
summer, as for instance a few potted fruits. If 
properly cared for these little trees produce 
wonderful fruit which cannot be matched for 
size and quality with any fruit grown in the 
open. 
Another worthy summer crop is the musk- 
melon, especially as it is rather difficult to 
get good flowered fruit out of doors if there is 
any excess of rain during the ripening period. 
Start seeds now. 
Good cut flowers of the annual type such as 
Asters, Salpiglossis, Sweet Sultan, etc., are 
always in demand during the summer season, 
and grown in the greenhouse will give flowers 
that far and away surpass the garden grown 
blooms. 
Certain vegetables that do not do very well 
because of bad weather condition in the open 
can be grown to perfection inside. Cauli- 
flower in the greenhouse will produce heads 
of wonderful quality and practically every 
plant heads up; cucumbers are also uncertain 
out of doors, but inside they can be grown to 
perfection. 
Keep pinching the laterals in the early 
fruit houses; persistence and close application 
will do more to produce quality fruit than any- 
thing else. It is time that late fruit houses 
were started, as it is almost impossible to keep 
them back any longer without injuring the 
canes, spray them frequently when starting 
and tie the canes down to insure an even break. 
Handling Decorative Plants in Tubs, etc. 
r> AY-TREES, Hydrangeas, Laurels, Aucu- 
" bas, used in tubs about the porch need 
overhauling now: sponge the foliage, using a 
mild, soapy insecticide, and retub any that 
require it. When doing this use a rich com- 
post and ram down the soil thoroughly, using 
for example a pick handle. Bear in mind 
that these plants do not like a loose spongy 
soil; at the same time be sure to provide suf- 
ficient drainage at the bottom. 
Hard-wooded forcing (such as Acacia, 
Genista, Azalea, etc.) after they have finished 
flowering, should be stored away, as the green- 
house space, at this time of the year is valu- 
able. Dig out one of the frames deep enough 
to accommodate these plants. The hardy 
hard-wooded plants need to be put into some 
sort of pit where they will have protection 
until all danger from freezing is past, as after 
being forced in the greenhouse they are full of 
sap and tender, and placing them directly 
out-of-doors after they have finished flowering, 
may ruin many. 
Tender stove plants such as Crotons, Dra- 
cenas, etc., that have not been repotted must 
be fed freely with liquid manures; also all trop- 
ical or tender vines that are planted out such 
as Allamanda, Stephanotis and Bouganvillea. 
Which Sweet Corn and Why? AD0LP N I lvf RUHM 
RECORDING THE REMARKABLE ADVANCE IN POPULAR FAVOR MADE BY THE YELLOW-GRAINED SORTS IN 
THE PAST DECADE 
either of them to yield as 
handsome, well-filled ears 
nor as good a flavor; for, 
what you gain in earliness 
you lose in size and June 
suns cannot store that 
sweetness in the kernels for 
which we have to thank 
the hotter suns of a more 
advanced season. 
In connection with the 
time of maturity given for 
the different sorts, I 
must ask your indulgence 
for variations that are 
apt to occur. No other 
vegetable in our gardens is as 
exacting in its requirements, as 
far as climatic conditions are con- 
cerned, as is sweet corn. To 
perfect its ears, it needs, perhaps, 
more moisture and more sunshine 
than any other vegetable. If the 
moisture fails during July and 
you planted Crosby’s corn about 
the first of June, the plants will 
simply stop growing and wait for 
rain. A prolonged drouth is apt 
to cause a variation of anywhere 
from - a week to ten days in the 
getting ready of the ears. 
Another thing! If you live 
in a latitude above that of Bing- 
hamton, N. Y., and away from 
the beneficial influence of a 
maritime climate, it will pay you 
to pin your faith to the earlier and 
midseason kinds and to make 
repeated sowings of earliest varie- 
White Evergreen Com, a very choice white early, maturing in 95 days 
Golden Sugar is a newcomer in yellow sweet com, maturing in 85 days 
C ORN-ON-THE- 
COB— hm! Golden 
Bantam— hm!! The 
difference in the 
emphasis registers the dif- 
ference in anticipation when 
the man who “knows” first 
learns of the arrival of 
“roasting ears.” Not that 
I would want the reader to 
imagine for one minute that 
Golden Bantam is the only 
golden pebble on the beach! 
The change in popular 
opinion regarding yellow- 
grained sweet corn 
has brought about remarkable 
changes in the offerings of Ameri- 
can seedsmen. Nevertheless, it 
is safe to say that all the new- 
comers in golden sweet corn are 
indebted to Golden Bantam for 
the appreciation which the whole 
yellow class now deservedly re- 
ceives. 
When making a decision on 
what to plant for your own use 
this year ask yourself (as in the 
case of every other vegetable), 
first: “What do I want?” and 
then “When do I want it?” and 
then choose sorts to serve your 
wants. You can have sweet corn 
five days to a week earlier than 
Early Dawn mentioned as my 
own choice of a first-early. Both 
Peep O’ Day and Early Malakhoff 
beat that variety in time of 
maturity. But please don’t expect 
* i 
