Delphinium Culture 
Plants are safely moved throughout the fall and early spring. 
Except in very wet, cold soils, autumn planting is strongly rec¬ 
ommended. They are not checked when spring growth starts. 
After getting well-grown plants, allow a two-foot space for 
each and open the earth to same depth, and 18 inches m 
breadth, filling the lowest foot with a mixture of very old manure 
and garden soil, well mixed and tamped, with a sprinkling of 
lime added. 
Where the sub-soil is very heavy, dig the hole six inches 
deeper and fill that depth with coarse gravel to insure perfect 
drainage. If the soil is of a clayey nature, incorporate sand and 
peat moss with a little ground limestone. Then for the upper half 
add some leaf mold and a small amount of raw bone meal. The 
Delphinium prefers soil which leans to the limy side. Set crowns 
tw"o inches below the surface, the roots well spread and soil 
firmed against them before leveling. Avoid dense shade, roots 
of trees, and stuffy locations. 
When growth first starts in spring, dig around each plant a 
trowel of bone meal, mixed with an equal amount of hardwood 
ash. Cut faded spikes to prevent seeding. It is the nature of 
hybrid Delphiniums to bloom a second time in the season and 
as the second growth appears the old stalk yellows, is no longer 
required, and should be cut down. After a short resting period, 
give another supply of bone meal and ash, being careful not 
to destroy the fine surface-feeding roots, and water os needed. 
If the weaker growths are removed when plants are a few 
inches high, the remaining ones will benefit. Well-grown Del¬ 
phiniums will bloom the first season after planting and, being 
true perennials, should, with favorable conditions, increase in 
size and grandeur each year. 
In much heated sections, as the Southern States and South¬ 
ern California, the best time for watering Delphiniums seems to 
be in very early morning, as evening sometimes proves unsafe. 
As figs do not grow on thistles, no matter how we tend them, 
no more con you expect show spikes on your Delphiniums if 
stock is procured from unskilled growers. 
Page Seventeen 
