1910. 
TH hC RURAL NEW-YORKER 
807 
Ruralisms 
PROPAGATION OF HOUSE PLANTS. 
,/. ii. T., Harrison, X. Y .—1 cultivate 
house plants, such as geraniums, Fuchsias, 
and heliotrope. How can I slip them for 
Winter and when? 
Ans.— Cuttings can be taken from out¬ 
door geraniums in August and Septem¬ 
ber, and these make nice plants for Win¬ 
ter, though commercial growers prefer 
propagating from indoor stock. The best 
plan is to take nice shoots, cutting be¬ 
low a joint, leaving a heel, and put in 
two-inch pots, in sandy soil without any 
manure or fertilizer; place the pots in 
the full sunlight in a cold frame. The 
cuttings must have very little water un¬ 
til callus is formed, though they must 
not be allowed to shrivel. If very dry 
syringe or sprinkle lightly. After they 
begin to root, treat like newly potted 
plants; do ncyt ov^r-watcr, and do not 
use too rich a soil. We have also rooted 
geraniums during August by taking the 
cuttings and sticking them in the soil 
around the old plant. This is a rough- 
and-ready method, but fairly successful 
in light sandy soil. You can also root 
geraniums at this season in the window 
garden. Fill a deep plate half or two- 
thirds full of sand, then fill up to the 
brim with water, and insert the cuttings; 
do not shade. 
2. Heliotrope cuttings can be taken at 
almost any time. The commercial propa¬ 
gator takes bis cuttings in the Winter, 
and starts them in a bench with bottom 
beat, but the amateur can start them in 
frame or window in Summer like ger¬ 
aniums. We have also rooted heliotrope 
in a small bottle of water in Summer, 
potting it carefully in sandy soil in a 
small pot as soon as a number of roots 
were formed. 
3. Fuchsias root very easily from the 
young growth, like the above; we have 
made Summer cuttings that were easily 
rooted in a plate of sand in the window, 
like the geraniums, in small pots in a 
frame, and in bottles of water in the 
house. Many years ago the writer stuck 
a spray of Fuchsia over the grave of a 
favorite doll, where it rooted promptly, 
and in after years became a handsome 
bush, but ibis was in a mild European 
climate; the extremes of American 
weather are less favorable to outdoor 
cuttings. With all these soft-wooded 
cuttings the novice must be careful to 
avoid excess of moisture, and strike the 
golden mean between drowning and dry¬ 
ing up. 
It is important that outdoor plants 
brought indoors in the Winter should 
be prepared early for their change in 
life. A geranium, heliotrope, or any 
other familiar soft-wooded plant that 
has been growing freely outside until 
frost threatens, then hurriedly bundled 
into a pot and brought inside, is pretty 
sure to lose its leaves, and otherwise 
protest against the treatment given it, 
and an ugly, “leggy” plant results. It is 
not usually convenient to dig up and pot 
such plants some time in advance, be¬ 
cause it injures the beauty of our flower 
beds, and it is always wiser to prepare 
young plants from cuttings for Winter 
blooming. Better a few thrifty young 
plants than a long array of veterans 
which- have been blooming all Summer, 
and are now entitled to honorable retire¬ 
ment. _ 
'Strawberry Questions; Potash for Trees; 
Liine and Sulphur for Potatoes. 
E. II., Massachusetts. —1. Would it in¬ 
jure strawberry plants to mow the leaves 
and when dry, burn them as they lie on 
the row? What kind of soil would you 
suggest for the Marshall strawberry to do 
best in? Does it require heavy fertilizing? 
2. l)o you think it advisable to put muriate 
of potash around peach trees in the Fall? 
Do they get the full value of it. if applied 
in the Spring? 3. Is the Summer lime and 
sulphur spray good for potato vines? 
Ans.— 1. There is some danger if the 
fire is hot and slow to run over the 
field, of injuring the plants. It would 
be safer to rake off and burn. The best 
time to burn over the patch is when 
a brisk wind is blowing. Marshall likes 
a strong loam well drained. It should 
be well fertilized, but not given too 
much nitrogen. 2. We see no advan¬ 
tage in using potash in the Fall except 
saving time, and the fact that fruit buds 
are made in the Fall. If the potash is 
applied in April the fruit will get the 
benefit. 3. We understand that the 
Summer lime-sulphur spray has not 
proved as useful as Bordeaux for pota¬ 
toes. 
Mrs. Newed: “Oh, John, I baked a 
cake this morning, and set it on the 
window sill and a tramp came along 
and stole it. 1 feel like crying.” Newed: 
“Oli, don’t cry. One tramp less in the 
world doesn’t matter.”—Chicago Daily 
News. 
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WANTE 
SPRING 
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ON 
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Seed Down to Grass 
• • • with • • • 
Bradley’s Fertilizers 
Are your mowing lands neglected? 
We often read in crop reports, when rainfall is small, that “grass 
in the old mowings is suffering and will be a very short crop.” Gen¬ 
erally these old mowings are neglected and their owners are relying 
on Nature unaided to give them something out of nothing. 
# 
The average yield of hay in the United States is reported to be 
but a little over one ton per acre. Good farmers know that if their 
hay crop does not yield two tons or more per acre of good hay there 
is something wrong. They also know that the best hay, as a rule, is 
grown on newly seeded fields which have been well fertilized. It is 
found that where the soil is well fertilized there is generally little 
trouble in getting good yields of hay,—even in an unfavorable season. 
If a short rotation of crops is not convenient before land is seeded to grass, old 
mowing 1 lands may be plowed after haying - , thoroughly harrowed and put in good con¬ 
dition to be seeded down in late August or early September. Before seeding, 600 to 
1200 lbs. per acre of 
Bradley’s Fertilizers 
should be sown broadcast and harrowed in, the amount to be used depending, of course, 
on the condition of the land. The fertilizer will aid in producing a good catch of the 
seed and a vigorous growth of grass which will escape winter killing. 
Well fertilized fields stand drought better than those which are run down. The 
grass on well fertilized fields gets a better start in the spring and gives a greatly in¬ 
creased yield of better quality of hay than can be grown on old worn out fields. One 
of our customers has recently written us as follows: 
“I am very much pleased with the results of the fertilizer for seeding down. 
I am now cutting the hay from the ground where I used the fertilizer and it is a 
very heavy growth. I have twenty-five acres of as handsome grass as you ever saw.” 
The best time for seeding to grass alone in the latitude of New 
England is in August and September, preferably from August 15 th 
to September lOtli. 
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BRADLEY FERTILIZER WORKS. 
92 STATE STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 
