June, 1920 
fields twice in both directions, and arrange 
to have the harrow lap each time. 
Each field is manured lightly every other 
year, the manure being plowed in and about 
two cords to the acre. Every third year 
Connecticut limestone is applied and har- 
rowed in, about 800 pounds being used to 
the acre. My plantation is divided in such 
a way that one-third is limed each year. I 
am strong for lime when growing Dahlias. 
It keeps the ground sweet and improves the 
flowers. While I do not use a great quantity 
of manure, I also plow in all of the stalks 
left when the Dahlias are dug in the fall. 
Nothing is burned, and the Dahlia tops help 
to keep the soil filled with humus. Con- 
stant use is also made of commercial ferti- 
lizer, either bone meal or a regulation potato 
fertilizer, about 1,200 pounds being put on to 
the acre. It is used in the furrows and is 
mixed with the soil by pieces ot brush to 
which a couple of horse shoes are tied. 
Boys pull this brush up and down the fur- 
rows. 
Furrows where the Pompom Dahlias are 
to go are three and one-half feet apart. For 
the other Dahlias, from four to four and one- 
half feet is left between the rows. When strik- 
ing out the furrows no line is used, but my 
plowman, who is an expert, can get them 
remarkably straight by his eye. The plow 
goes twice in each furrow. The tubers are 
dropped by hand, and my instructions are 
to have from three to eight inches between 
the crowns. The tubers themselves often 
lap if they are long, so that it looks as though 
the planting was very close. It is always 
the eye, though, that we are paying atten- 
tion to. The tubers are covered by culti- 
vators and by the time the planting is 
finished the first fields put in are ready for 
cultivation. Besides being cultivated with 
the horse, all the Dahlias are hoed by hand 
twice. 
In planting my fields I use many tubers 
which other growers would throw away. 
The cutting up of the clumps is begun in the 
fall and continued all winter, from ten to 
fourteen men being employed. All of the 
poorest tubers, those with broken necks, 
etc., which could not be sold are carefully 
saved and planted. I have found that often- 
times the broken necks will knit in the 
course of the winter and make good tubers 
to plant in the spring. 
The tubers are carefully stored in a cellar 
which is just damp enough to prevent shrivel- 
ing, and where the temperature does not go 
below 38 or above 44. One piece of ground 
on my farm has been used for Dahlias eleven 
years, and last year the flowers on this piece 
were better than ever.— J. K. Alexander in 
Horticulture. 
\ The American Dahlia Society. I 
A meeting of the Executive Committee of 
the American Dahlia Society was held at the 
Grand Hotel, New York, on Monday after- 
noon, May 10, 1920. 
A prize schedule for the fall Flower Show 
was partially prepared to be completed by 
the committee and presented at the next 
meeting, June 14th. 
More than half of the trade space has al- 
ready been taken for the Dahlia Show to be 
held at the Hotel Pennsylvania, New York, 
September 27, 28 and 29th, and many prizes 
have been contributed. The indications are 
that the total number and value of the prizes 
will be more than offered at any previous 
show. 
Quite a number of orders have also been 
received for trade tickets which are offered 
at $25 a hundred, the regular admission 
being 50c. 
It was finally decided that only exhibitors 
occupying trade space will be allowed to do 
business in the hall during the show and 
Slower (Brower 
that all competitive exhibits would be to- 
gether, separate from trade exhibits and not 
combined as was originally intended. 
The many obstacles appearing have been 
overcome and everything now points to this 
as being the largest and most successful 
show of any single flower ever held. 
Edward C. Vick, Sec’y. 
A Walk in the Garden 
of “ Josiah Allen’s Wife.” 
By Miss Marietta Holley. 
Note by the Editor— 
The writings of Miss Holley under the nom de plume 
of “ Josiah Allen’s Wife ” are known to an extensive 
circle of readers and we are pleased to present here 
an article from her pen which appeared in the“ Chris 
tian Herald " to which Miss Holley has contributed 
many articles. The article which follows speaks of 
Miss I lolley ’s own garden at Bonny View which is near 
Pierrepont Manor, which village is within easy motor- 
ing distance of the publication office of The Flower 
Grower. Miss Holley has for many years taken 
much interest in the attractive features of her own 
grounds and her delightful description of a morning 
walk in her garden will be welcome to many of her old 
friends and readers. 
What is more wholesome and delightful 
than an early morning walk among your 
flowers? The sun is still low in the eastern 
skies its bright rays softened by the over- 
hanging foliage of the trees. You walk down 
the gravel path blithely. Maybe in the house 
the years pressed down upon you, but here in 
the sweet morning air you are young again. 
Yes, under that Tea-rose is a coy new bud, 
holding in its tiny breast the secret of rosy 
life and sweetest perfume. Now, every morn- 
ing that baby-life will appeal to you till its 
full glory of bloom is reached. 
The Wistaria and Roses over the latticed 
arch vie with each other in making the arch 
triumphal. The long Lily-bordered path, 
which later will be full of beauty, has still 
some humble tenants smiling on you, rising 
early, as it were, while their stately neighbors 
are still asleep. Modest English Violets lift 
their blue eyes and greet you. In a corner 
the Snowball Tree is full of spheres of white- 
ness. The Syringas bend with their weight 
of perfumed whiteness. 
A walk on one side of the garden is bor- 
dered with Morning Glories and Nasturtiums. 
The Honeysuckle vine over the summer-house 
at the end of the walk is a mass of blossoms, 
and as you approach, two gay little humming- 
birds swing in the air and dart away. Too 
many flowers here to note the birth of a new 
bud ; as well count the dizzy movements of 
the humming-bird’s wings. 
What a freedom from cares and perplexi- 
ties one finds among the flowers ! They are 
never unkind ; you may be with them from 
morning till night and not have one bitter 
memory or disagreeable thought to take with 
you to your pillow. A Tiger Lily won’t dig 
its claws into your breast, the Calla Lily will 
not prolong her call indefinitely. The Sweet 
William’s honeyed personality is honest and 
sincere ; sweetness that will not under fancied 
provocation turn into vinegar revenge. 
The Snowdrops will not chill you with cold 
words and looks. The dogwood will not bark 
at you, or dog your footsteps. There is a 
clump of the beautiful variegated variety bend- 
ing over a quiet corner of the fish pond, its 
pretty leaves reflected in the water. It has 
no canine faults, but all the canine virtues; 
fidelity— no running away from its mistress 
to follow strange masters. 
Jack-in-the-pulpit does not preach too loudly, 
or make awkward gestures, taking your mind 
insensibly from the heavenly message he is 
striving to deliver, and which your soul ear- 
nestly desires to grasp, the mind being willing 
but the body weak. How sweet is that little 
bed of wild Blue Violets that covers the sunny 
corner between the Cedar tree and the Willow ! 
There is a ground-bird’s nest just beyond it. 
The bird felt safe in building its nest in that 
87 
sheltered spot— step lightly. Just a few steps 
farther, so near the path you can reach it 
with your hand, hidden away in the thick 
shade of an Evergreen, is a robin’s nest. The 
robin too felt it was with friends when it laid 
the slender foundation of its home. We feel 
flattered at the compliment. 
A little farther on we come to a rustic 
bridge arching over the water; an Ivy vine 
climbs along one of its latticed sides with its 
sprays almost touching the water. Beyond 
the bridge is a wilderness of green, beneath 
the shade of which tall ferns grow proudly. 
But you do not cross the bridge, but turn and 
follow another winding path through the 
overhanging trees, and come out into an open 
space where, between two grand old trees, 
hangs a hammock, hemmed in from intruding 
eyes by flowering shrubs. 
Just the thing! You sit down into its com- 
fortable embrace. You have had a long walk, 
but not too long, and as you rest in dreamy 
content you instinctively wonder what new 
phase of beauty your flowers will present 
when you take your evening walk, and what 
new message they will speak. 
The Concrete Manure Pit. 
Concrete is one of the things which 
has not advanced in cost in proportion 
to food products, and it is a big economy 
to care for all kinds of stable manures 
and composts by storing them in a liq- 
uid tight pit of concrete. 
Perhaps pit is a wrong name as it 
does not necessarily follow that the con- 
crete floor should be much if any below 
the ground. It would, in fact, be advan- 
tageous to locate it on a side hill so that 
materials going into it could be easily 
unloaded and the rotted compost be 
easily removed from the lower level. 
Where manure is stored in loose piles, 
especially if they are not maintained 
with a flat top, or depressed in the cen- 
ter, the loss of fertility from leaching 
and burning is very great. It may 
amount to as much as 50%. 
While the water-tight floor is impor- 
tant, it is also important that the solid 
material under storage should be kept 
pretty well saturated to prevent heating. 
A roof is not necessary, except where 
there is no water tight pit to hold the 
teachings. The ordinary rainfall will 
usually be sufficient to offset natural 
evaporation. 
It is estimated that cows and horses 
produce about a ton of manure a month 
per 1000 pounds of live weight ; the 
manure weighing from 40 to 60 pounds 
per cubic foot, depending on how sol- 
idly packed and how well saturated 
with liquid. Thus a ton will require 
about 50 cubic feet of space for storage. 
In constructing a manure pit a 3 or 4 
in. bottom, if laid on firm soil, and 6 or 
8 in. side walls should be sufficient. 
Reinforcement should be used both in 
the bottom and walls and it is estimated 
that the cost of a manure pit would be 
from $3.00 to $5.00 per ton of storage 
capacity, depending on site where built, 
and the cost of labor and materials. If 
good sharp sand or pit gravel is to be 
had nearby the cost need not exceed 
the lower figure, providing no skilled 
labor is employed. The value of ma- 
nure has increased much more in 
proportion than the cost of concrete 
construction, 
Madison Cooper. 
