The Garden Magazine, April, 1920 
127 
better plants for me than my paper pots, and last three or four seasons. 
Our Tomato plants are usually pretty tall when we set them out, be- 
cause we do not put them into the garden before the end of May. 
Instead of digging a very deep hole to dispose of the contents of the 
"pot” and surplus stem, we dig a long one, and lay the root and 
several inches of stem on its side in the hole, turning the leafy portion 
upright when we fill in. This gives opportunity for the development 
of a splendid root system in the best soil, and the results are fairly 
magical. Last year I picked ripe tomatoes on July nth. I have 
experimented a good deal with garden tools because so many of them 
seem quite unsuitable for feminine use. I have found a Warren hoe, and 
a smaller triangular hoe with a blade 4x4x5! inches, both much easier 
for a woman to use than the ordinary hoes. It may not be out of place 
to add that in my humorously inclined family The Garden Magazine 
is known as “mother’s Bible.” — Harriet L. Kutchin, Green Lake, 
Wisconsin. 
A S TO the old-fashioned Snowball going 
out of culture because attacked by blue 
Aphis aphis (page 1 1 1, October, 1919) I find that the 
circumstance is often a reminder that we do not 
do as well by it as we should. I have an old plant that has stood 
in shade and been much neglected a long time and I find that it is 
often attacked by the aphis and fairly crippled. Sometimes I have 
been on the point of pulling it up and throwing it away. One year 
1 found a small plant that had rooted from the old one — as they 
will do readily if the ends of branches are covered, much as the 
Forsythia does — and I took it up and set it in rich soil in full sun. 
The result was that it began to blossom when not more than a foot 
high and it gets many compliments for its beauty of leafage when out 
of blossom. I think we can raise it and the Japanese Snowball, too, if 
we give it proper care. — John W. Chamberlin, Buffalo, N. Y. 
Thp Tittle T*HIS wee immigrant from Transylvania 
' (referred to by others in recent notes) 
Arenaria found a place in my garden several years ago. 
It has shown approval and appreciation of 
its new home by spreading growth and gleeful yellow bloom in early 
May. To the lover of the tiny fairy-like representatives of any genus, 
it will appeal because of its excellent, if sometimes whimsical, qualities. 
It likes the hottest, driest, sunniest plain of the rock garden, demand- 
ing the whole of its diminutive domain and resenting sulkily any 
intrusion of overhanging plants. Within the week or ten days of its 
blooming period it makes amazing bursts of color. It seeds so 
abundantly that often the pods have to be removed in numbers for 
fear of exhaustion to the plant. When sown as soon as possible 
after ripening, the seeds germinate fairly well the following spring. A 
single seedling sheaf transplanted in August will by the next August 
have spread, in some cases, to the astounding number of thirty — a 
somewhat rambling tuft of slender foliage, rarely exceeding five or 
six inches. The shallow anchorage of the roots requires the protection 
of a mulch. Manure should not be used. A simple shading of the 
spot with pine boughs or a few cornstalks is the most satisfactory 
winter and early spring care. The bloom is somewhat fugacious, lasting 
in very hot sunny weather even less than a day. — Ella Porter 
McKinney, New Jersey. 
J READ with interest what R. E. Allen had 
Banana ' to say of his experiences with the Banana 
Melons Muskmelon on page 300 of the February 
Garden Magazine. But 1 take exception 
to the comment and here are my reasons for so doing: about 25 years 
ago I visited a friend at Calla, Ohio, in August. My friend went to his 
garden and brought back a large basket of various Muskmelons among 
which were several ranging from 12 to 13 inches long. I commented 
on this variety and he told me they were the “ Banana” melon. They 
were very fine eating, as Mr. Allen has said. For several years I have 
been trying to grow Muskmelons and found that the hungry bugs got 
most of them until I got some of the Banana seeds and grew them. 
For two years I have grown these and the bugs have not yet discovered 
that they are Melons — much to mv satisfaction. Some years ago I 
visited Southern California in early fall and got acquainted with the 
wonderful Casaba Melon. A little later the Honey Dew was intro- 
duced and now it is extensively sold in the city markets (Cleveland). 
But it is entirely different from Banana, which is a real Muskmelon 
while Honey Dew has light green smooth skin and a different texture 
of flesh, and with no furrows or ribs. I endorse all that Mr. Allen says 
for Banana Muskmelon. Honey Dew is mighty good too — yes, better 
than lots of Muskmelons and well worth a trial by any one having a 
long summer season. — F. A. Ganong, Ohio. 
— May I draw your attention to the foot note to the “Better than 
Bananas” paragraph on page 300 of the February issue? Mr. R. E. 
Allen’s description of the Melon precludes all possibility of its being 
Honey Dew; it is the true Banana Muskmelon which our firm (Burpee 
& Co.) has been offering for many years. The shape of Banana Musk- 
melon has been against the variety from the commercial growers’ 
viewpoint, but on account of its cropping qualities and fine flavor it 
has become quite a favorite in many home gardens. — Geo. W. Kerr, 
Penna. 
A Revised 
Opinion and 
Some Peas 
D OES your conscience ever trouble you? 
Mine does! 1 wrote recently that The 
Garden Magazine was not quite everything 
it ought to be, but after looking over back 
numbers, and comparing them with the recent issues, 1 apologize. 
The magazine is certainly great and growing better. I have grown 
garden peas very liberally for home use for years, some seasons for 
market and as I believe, the first Gradus ever sold in Binghamton. I 
found that Gradus does its best by being sowed very early, as early in 
fact as the smooth peas can be planted, also that the seed should be 
sowed much more freely than usually recommended. 1 have sowed 
peas when large chunks of frost or frozen earth were near the seed, 
resulting in splendid germination, sometimes quite a fall of snow and 
unseasonable low temperature occurring after planting with no bad 
results. Gradus never shows its best when caught by warm weather. 
I think Laxtonian and other wrinkled peas would stand the same treat- 
ment. The only trouble I ever had was from severe freezing after 
peas were above ground which turned the vines yellow, they never 
making a complete recovery. My soil by the way is a rather heavy 
loam, too heavy to get sweet corn real soon. — La Forest F. Brown, 
Binghamton, N. Y. 
— It is indeed surprising to learn of such results in view of the extraor- 
dinarily early planting of wrinkled peas. The garden must be unusu- 
ally well drained, and it must warm up quickly, which is exceptional 
on a clay soil. Since Mr. Brown likes Gradus, why not also try Thomas 
Laxton of the same habit of growth with pods uniformly well filled, 
and the peas of even superior flavor. Of the strictly dwarf peas give 
Buttercup and Potlach a trial. These are mid-season dwarfs; Butter- 
cup is of unrivalled quality, though not suitable for market because 
of its light color; Potlach on the other hand, perfects a pod like Thomas 
Laxton, and is a wonderful market pea maturing in eighty-five days 
on the clay soils of Western Pennsylvania. — A. K. 
rp, tt _ \ A 7 HEN I read the fine description of 
e orse VV t h e Horsechestnut (in February Gar- 
H Ah d 6re DEN Magazine) 1 wondered why Mr. Wilson 
an roa jjj nQt men tj on th e no ble double row of trees 
on the long waterfront at Lucerne, Switzerland, for 1 am sure that he 
must know of it. They shade the promenade in a most acceptable 
way. 1 recall sitting under the monster one on the terrace above pic- 
turesque Altdorf; and we found striking specimens in St.John’s College 
park at Oxford. I have never seen quite as fine Horsechestnut trees 
in this country as in Europe, though that may be on account of our 
considering them too common and neglecting them. Buffalo, N. Y., 
has had such a sad experience with the Horsechestnut that 1 have said 
1 would never plant one, or even let it come up as a weed from the nut, 
as it is inclined to, just as the Ailanthus will do as soon as it is once 
established. The tussock moth somehow marked the tree for its own 
a number of years ago and proceeded to devour its foliage entire, so 
that it stood from early July as nude as in winter, unless it had energy 
enough to leaf out again. As the insect has but one brood here the 
later leaves were not attacked. This circumstance has made the tree 
a nuisance here, though through no fault of its own. Finally the city 
had to set up a forestry department, chiefly to fight the worm and is 
making good headway against it, though if not persistently sprayed it 
will return year after year. Oddly enough the trees in surrounding towns 
are not molested. The worm will eat no other foliage generally except 
that of the Basswood, so 1 have thought that the only way of getting 
rid of it would be to cut down these trees and starve it out. In dry 
weather the Horsechestnut suffers and its leaves often become very 
ragged in appearance and sometimes fall prematurely, so that it is 
really not much of a success as a city shade tree here. We Easterners 
are sorry that the Sugar Maple does not succeed here, as it does in 
central and eastern New York, but there are varieties of it that flour- 
ish. Our shade trees are the Elm (not quite as good as in New England), 
Oak, in several species, Soft Maple, Sycamore and many others in 
