244 
June, 1915 - 
me 
CARDEN MACAZINE 
READERS' SERVICE 
Help in need! Ask this department to answer your specific 
problem. Replies of general interest only are printed here 
Planting Sweet Peas 
What is the best time to plant sweet peas in Cape 
Cod?— C. H., Massachusetts. 
— Plant sweet peas as soon as the ground can be 
worked. The earlier the seed can be put in the ground 
so much the better. We advise you to read the article 
on growing sweet peas which appeared in the February, 
1915, issue of The Garden Magazine, pages 28, 29, 
and 30. 
Cutting Asparagus 
I expect to cut asparagus from a three-year-old bed 
this year. How shall I treat it before it is ready for 
cutting? — E. T., New York. 
— If you are raising the ordinary green asparagus, 
there is usually nothing to be done before the cutting 
season except to remove any mulch that may have 
been on the bed over winter as soon as danger from frost 
is over and cultivate shallowly, working in at this time 
a light dressing of salt. If there is any danger of the 
ground baking, it would be well to go over the bed once 
a week or so with a rake or weeder so as to keep the 
surface loose. If you are raising the blanched type of 
asparagus, the common practice is to cultivate lightly 
until the first shoots appear, when a ridge or mound of 
soil is thrown up over the row, perhaps eighteen inches 
wide and eight or ten inches high. While the asparagus 
is growing up through this, should any weeds appear a 
board set with nails like a small spiked tooth harrow 
may be drawn along the top of the mound. When the 
shoots appear they are cut with a regular asparagus 
knife at the original level of the ground the entire stalk 
then being white instead of green. After the cutting 
season the use of the board may be continued to keep 
down the weeds. 
Definition of Ashes and Sand 
In the articles about Mr. Davis’s dahlias in the March 
number of The Garden Magazine several writers 
speak about using ashes. Do they mean the fine 
powder after the ashes are sifted, or just as it comes 
from the furnace? When they say sand, do they mean 
brook sand, or could the white sand or coarse sand 
used in mixing cement be used? — H. C. G., New York. 
— When gardeners speak of ashes they mean ashes just 
as they come from the furnace, and by sand is always 
meant sharp sand, as water- washed sand binds too 
tightly. Any clean sand, such as is used in mixing 
cement, can be used. 
Hardwood Ashes 
I have a large quantity of hardwood ashes; will 
they be suitable for use on asters and gladiolus? Should 
they be forked under or spread over the top of the 
ground and raked in? — F. J. W., Ohio. 
—Hardwood ashes are valuable since they carry both 
potash and lime and they may, therefore, be used as a 
top dressing for lawns or in vegetable, fruit or flower 
gardens. On lawns they may be evenly sprinkled 
shortly before a rain, while on cultivated land they may 
be sprinkled more abundantly or dug or cultivated in. 
Hand Lawn Mower Driven by Gasolene 
What firm is it that manufactures a gasolene driven 
hand lawn mower for golf links and city parks? — L. A., 
Wis. 
A gasolene driven hand lawn mower manufactured 
by several concerns such as the Ideal Power Lawn 
Mower Co., at 401 Kalamazoo Street, Lansing, Mich- 
igan; the Coldwell Co. Newburg, N. Y. and the Sup- 
plee-Biddle Hardware Co., Box 1575, Philadelphia, Pa. 
Starting a Vegetable Garden 
I am starting a vegetable garden in the usual soil of 
a filled-in city lot — about one half good black soil, the 
remainder sandy loam, some clay and a small portion 
of hard coal ashes, etc., mixed with dirt. Have avail- 
able for fertilizer chicken manure mixed in compost 
of half and half with dry pulverized black soil. How 
should this be used for ordinary vegetables? Will it, 
alone, be sufficient for good results? How can it be 
improved by the use of commercial fertilizers without 
too much expense? What is best to sow this fall to 
plow under next spring as green manure? — W. H. 
Crumb, Illinois. 
— If it was not possible for you to obtain some well 
rotted stable manure to be spread on your garden before 
plowing this spring, we advise using the poultry manure 
already on hand, which, if well pulverized, can be 
applied after plowing and simply harrowed in. If you 
had a good supply of this it may not be necessary to 
use commercial fertilizer, although 25 pounds of nitrate 
of soda distributed around the plants and along the 
rows after the crops appear will be decidedly beneficial. 
This will be enough for the summer. If you wanted 
to do still more you could add 25 pounds of tankage, 
25 pounds of potassium sulphate or chloride and 75 
pounds of ground rock phosphate. Next fall, you 
would do well to sow either rye, crimson clover, or 
vetch, then before plowing next spring if you would add 
another dressing of manure it would be well. 
When to Plant Cuttings 
Last fall I made cuttings from currants, grapes, and 
ornamental shrubs and stored them in sand in a cool 
cellar; some of them are rooted and have begun to 
sprout. When can I safely plant these out in the open; 
I have no coldframe or greenhouse? — R. B. P., Mass. 
—As soon as the danger of severe frost is over you can 
safely plant out your cuttings. Of course a rather 
sheltered position would be desirable. 
Japanese and Domestica Plums 
Which Japanese plums are adaptable for growing 
west of the Allegheny Mountains, in about the same 
latitude as New York City, the altitude being more 
than 1,000 feet above sea level and the climate much 
colder than that of New York City? — D. M. G. — 
Pennsylvania. 
— Of the Japanese types of plums the following will 
succeed in your section. Abundance, of medium size 
and quality, bright red color, early to medium; Bur- 
bank, large, medium quality, purple yellow, medium 
to late; Chabot, large, medium quality, red purple, 
early to medium; Red June, medium size, slightly 
under medium quality, red, very early. At the same 
time, we should expect any of the following varieties 
of the Domestica type to also be adapted to your 
locality: Bradshaw, Damson, Golden Drop, and 
Italian Prune, which are of medium to good quality; 
and Bavay, Green Gage, and Imperial, of excellent 
quality. 
Spindly Growth in Seedlings 
In starting vegetables in boxes in the house, the 
seedlings grow very thin and spindly, many of them 
breaking near the soil. I keep them carefully in the 
sun, use good seed and water well. — H. D. M., Vermont. 
— A common cause of too spindly growth in seedlings 
is excessive warmth and moisture combined with too 
little light. Possibly you can modify your conditions 
in these respects. It may also be that your seedlings 
are planted too thickly. Thirdly, you perhaps leave 
them a little too long before transplanting. Frequent 
transplanting induces stocky, vigorous growth. 
Applying Commercial Fertilizer 
I am going to use a commercial fertilizer, 3-8-3. 
How should it be applied, in what quantities on vege- 
tables and fruits, and how should it be worked into 
the soil? How should dried sheep manure be applied 
to the lawn, and also bone meal on newly planted fruit 
trees?— E. H. S., Wis. 
— The manner of using a commercial fertilizer will 
vary according to the type and needs of the soil and 
the crops involved. The laiger crops, such as corn, 
potatoes, cabbage, etc., can have the application made 
in two ways; half to be worked into the trench or hills 
previous to planting, the rest to be applied as a top 
dressing just as the plants appear. In this case we 
would advise the use of from 500 to 800 pounds per 
acre for a soil of average fertility. A very poor soil 
might benefit by application of 1,500 to 2,000 per acre. 
For other crops it should be satisfactory to rake or 
harrow a similar application into the soil at the time 
of the final feeding before planting. Sheep manure can 
best be used on lawns as a top dressing at the rate of 
300 to 400 pounds per acre. Bone meal should be well 
worked into the soil at the rate of several quarts to 
each tree if of good size. 
The Pesky Sparrow 
Last year sparrows ate off the ends of the pea vines 
as soon as they appeared above the soil. How can I 
scare away the birds this year? — R. B. R., New Jersey. 
—We have never been able to discover an entirely 
satisfactory method of keeping sparrows, starlings, etc., 
away from peas. Our only suggestion is that you pro- 
tect the crop by means of cheap mosquito netting 
(cloth) which will, of course, be less durable than wire 
but it is also much cheaper. It is not difficult to erect 
a light frame work and drape the netting over the 
entire row or rows. 
Root or Crown Gall of Raspberries 
Our raspberries have developed a knotty growth on 
some of the roots, which I have been told is root gall. 
Is there any immediate cure for such a condition, or 
must the affected plants be pulled up to prevent the 
disease from spreading? — W. E. F., New Jersey. 
—Root or crown gall of raspberries, while known to be 
contagious, is by no means fully understood and no 
satisfactory cure or preventive is known. It is ad- 
vised that no affected plants be ever knowingly planted 
and that any plant found to be diseased be immediately 
dug up carefully and burnt. In Card’s “Bush Fruits” 
it is reported that Prof. Tourney found that a paste 
made of two parts of bluestone, one part of copperas 
and three parts of quicklime was fairly effective in 
preventing the spread of the same sort of disease on 
fruit trees if applied thickly over the cut surface after 
the knotty growth had been removed. We greatly 
doubt if this would prove equally effective in the case 
of bush fruits. 
Muslin Protection to Plants 
What is the practicability of white muslin stretched 
over vegetable plants to partially shade them from 
the sun? — M. C. N. 
— The use of muslin over growing crops is designed 
less to shade them than to protect them from possible 
hail storms and from infestation by insects and any 
diseases, germs of which might be carried by the in- 
sects. As the waterproofing of such cloth would pre- 
vent rain from passing through it is not advisable to 
attempt to treat the muslin in any way, especially 
since a cheap grade can be used and renewed each year 
at less trouble and expense than treating it. 
Nitrate of Soda 
How is nitrate of soda used for fertilizing plants, 
rose bushes, and vegetables? — E. T. P., Mass. 
• — The best way to use nitrate of soda depends some- 
what on the type of soil and its condition and also on 
that of the plants grown. In general it is most effec- 
tive when applied to crops that are up and already 
growing, that is, it is wasteful to use it previous to the 
planting of the seed. For rose bushes and flowering 
plants it is best used just after the buds are forming. 
For this purpose make a solution of one ounce to one 
gallon of water and apply a couple of quarts around the 
base of each plant once each week or ten days during 
the blooming season. For vegetables the material 
may be sprinkled along the rows or around the plants 
at the rate of one and one half ounces per square yard. 
In this case it should be broken up into a uniform 
powdery consistency. 
