194 
T H E GARDEN MAGAZINE 
April, 19 17 
A Ditch in a Jiffy 
A few pounds of Red Cross — 
a blast — and the ditch is made, 
— quicker than you could say 
“Jack Robinson”— far quicker 
than men could dig it — many 
times cheaper too. 
RED CROSS FARM POWDER 
is the modern farmer’s magic power. 
It lightens labor and lessens time. 
Thousands of farmers the country over 
have found it a short cut to easier work, 
bigger results and greater profits. 
Get Posted Now 
Write at once for our big book telling 
the new and approved methods of 
ditching, draining, stumping, sub-soil- 
ing, tree planting and road building 
with Red Cross Farm Powder. It is a 
revelation of up to date farming 
methods. You ought to have it. Send 
now for free 
Hand Book of Explosives No. 523 
E. I. DU PONT DE NEMOURS & CO. 
Wilmington Delaware 
The Readers’ Service will help you 
solve your^garden problems. Send us 
your questions and difficult points. 
P ROFIT and 
LEASURE 
in growing your own 
vegetables this year 
Atkinson’s 
PREPARED 
Humus 
contains everything necessary for any plant and any soil 
Each Pound („JiS r ) will grow more than 
FIVE LBS. OF LUSCIOUS VEGETABLES 
Why pay extortionate prices for stale stuff if you have ground enough 
for a kitchen garden? Atkinson’s Prepared Humus, Cream of the Earth 
top dressing, will produce affine putting green or lawn quicker and cheap- 
er than by any other method. The original, clean, odorless. Prepared 
Humus. Beware of imitations and substitutes. Apply now on lawns 
for immediate results Prices F. 0. B. cars at warehouse BOGOTA, 
N. J. 100 lbs. $3.00; 30 lbs. $2.00; 25 lbs. $1.25: 5 lbs. 35c. Send for 
300 lbs. trial order at ton rate $7.50 with instructions. 
M. B. ATKINSON Bogota, New Jersey 
Vegetable Garden Making in a 
Rush 
' I 'HE chief routine work is to harden off the 
egg plants, tomato and pepper plants in 
the cold frames by leaving off the glass during 
the day (unless the weather is cool), being 
careful of course to recover the frames at night. 
Start sweet potatoes to get sprouts in a hotbed 
made of wet leaves packed down and a four- 
inch top layer of sand. 
Onion plants raised in cold frames can be set 
out in open ground the end of this month. 
Fall planted cabbages should be pushed on by 
frequent applications of nitrate of soda. 
Among the strawberries work in a good com- 
mercial fertilizer and put straw or pine tags 
close around the plants to keep the berries 
clean. 
It is not too late to plant early potatoes 
though if the weather is open and the soil in 
good condition, it is best to get them in the 
ground the end of February or first of March. 
Eureka and Irish Cobbler are good early sorts. 
In planting a garden, put the long season 
crops such as rhubarb, carrots, salsify and 
parsnips in one section. Plant cucumbers, 
squash and melons to themselves and widely 
separated from each other. It is thefirevalent 
opinion [quite erroneous, however, Ed.] that 
the close proximity of these curcubits affects 
the flavor of each other. However that may 
be, each one requires much space, as the melon 
hills should be six feet apart each way. 
The garden plot for melons and tomatoes 
should now be put in condition, checked off in 
squares, six feet apart for melons, four feet for 
tomatoes. At the conjunction of the squares 
dig a two-foot hole and put in a foot of well 
rotted cow manure, pell the dirt over this and 
make a hill. At the end of May plaGe in the 
centre of each hill the tomato plants and the 
melon seeds respectively. 
Continue planting the wrinkled varieties of 
garden peas, also biweekly plantings of string 
beans, beets, summer varieties of lettuce and 
radishes until the first of June and begin again 
at the end of summer for the fall garden. 
The Government is urging a larger planting, 
too, of medicinal herbs. Farmer’s Bulletin 
663 gives interesting and valuable information 
regarding these. It could be made an in- 
teresting and profitable occupation and it is 
certainly a necessary part of home pre- 
paredness. 
LAWN AND FLOWER GARDEN 
In early spring the weeds begin to appear on 
the lawn and it should have immediate at- 
tention for if the weeds are not hoed out when 
they first appear, they increase at a surprising 
rate. The bare places should be raked over 
and grass seed sown and rolled in and a little 
nitrateof soda scattered over just before a rain. 
The coarse manure which was spread over 
the flower borders in the fall should now be 
spaded into the ground, incorporating at the 
same time a little' bone meal and acid phos- 
phate. 
The perennials sown in the cold frames last 
August should be removed to the borders and 
well rotted cow manure or good compost 
(Continued on page ig6) 
Double Value This Month 
This most unusual offer enables you to provide for a lovely 
display of everblooming Hybrid Tea Roses at almost no cost. 
The regular price of these Roses is 5 for $1, but 1 now offer 
double for the money — 10 Roses — each one a different kind, 
properly labeled and sent prepaid, all for only $1 (or 60 for $5), 
if you mention this paper. If you appreciate choice Roses, 
don't miss this liberal offer. ORDER NOW. 
CLARENCE B. FARGO 
DESK 6 FRENCHTOWN, N. J. 
1 “ 
Be Prepared 
To save your lawn and garden from burniug up under the 
hot summer sun. You can be completely insured against this 
eventuality by using the new Campbell Oscillating Sprinkler. 
This machine is at once reliable, durable and entirely auto- 
matic. Simply turn on the water and let the sprinkler do the 
rest. The little streams of water travel from one side to the 
other every three seconds, thus giving an absolutely even dis- 
tribution without the possibility of flooding. 
Because this sprinkler waters a rectangular area it is espe- 
cially desirable for watering along the edges of sidewalks, 
driveways and such places where any circular sprinkler would 
be wholly unsuitable. 
Our new catalogue fully describing this, as well as many others , 
will be sent upon request 
THE GEO. W. CLARK COMPANY 
259-F Fifth Avenue New York 
“/ have never hung 
by the eyelids to the 
summit of a climax 
with an interest so 
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episode of ‘The Balance 9 
inspires. 9 9 
“THE BALANCE** is an unusual first novel 
by Francis R. Bellamy. 
All Bookstores. Net $ 1 .35 
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. 
Write to the Reader s’ Service for suggestions about garden furniture 
