Tne  RURAL  NEW-YORKER 
New  England  Notes 
Water  Glass  for  Tree  Wounds. — 
Water  glass,  which,  as  every  farmer’s 
wife  knows,  is  used  for  preserving  eggs, 
has  been  found  the  most  efficient  covering 
for  the  wounds  made  in  trimming  trees. 
The  discovery  of  this  fact  seems  to  have 
been  made  by  W.  J.  Young,  of  the  Ohio 
Experiment  Station,  and  so  far  as  I  have 
tried  it  out  the  water  glass  is  much  more 
satisfactory  than  paint,  at  least  when  the 
wounds  are  first  made.  'Sometimes  con¬ 
siderable  difficulty  is  found  in  making 
white  lead  paint  stick  well  while  there  is 
sap  and  moisture  on  the  cut  surface.  No 
such  trouble  is  found  with  water  glass, 
which  seems  to  form  a  perfect  coating 
immediately,  thus  excluding  air  and  mois¬ 
ture  and  protecting  the  trees  from  the  at¬ 
tacks  of  fungi,  which  cause  the  rotting  of 
the  wood.  I  presume  that  the  water 
glass  will  not  be  very  enduring,  so  that  a 
coating  of  paint  may  be  desirable  later 
on.  But  for  first  aid  treatment,  so  to 
Methods  of  Growing. — The  pansy 
plants  are  started  about  the  last  of  July 
on  most  of  the  farms.  I  was  told  that 
2  lbs.  of  seed  were  required  to  plant  the 
field  in  Winchester,  and  that  this  seed 
was  valued  at  $60  a  pound.  Florists 
who  aim  to  produce  particularly  high- 
class  plants  often  pay  considerably  more 
than  this  amount  for  seed.  Seed  beds 
have  to  be  kept  moist,  sometimes  being 
wet  down  three  or  four  times  a  day. 
After  the  plants  are  well  up  they  are 
transferred  to  beds  3  ft.  wide,  where  they 
usually  begin  to  bloom  before  Fall  comes. 
After  the  ground  freezes  the  beds  are  cov¬ 
ered  with  salt  hay,  which  is  left  on  until 
Spring.  Ordinarily  the  percentage  of  loss 
during  the  Winter  months  is  small.  For¬ 
merly  a  considerable  number  of  English 
daisy  plants,  Beilis  pereunis,  were  raised 
in  the  same  way.  The  call  for  them  seems 
to  be  growing  less.  Those  that  were 
planted  did  not  winter  particularly  well 
Digging  Pans y  Plants  for  Market 
speak,  the  water  glass  is  just  right.  As 
everyone  who  has  handled  water  glass  in 
any  way  knows,  it  is  very  smobth  and 
slippery.  It  is  applied  with  the  greatest 
ease  and  spreads  over  even  a  large  cut 
immediately.  As  a  rule  it  is  thin  enough 
to  be  applied  just  as  it  comes  from  the 
can.  but  if  found  to  be  too  thick  to  spread 
well,  may  be  thinned  with  a  little  water. 
The  Pansy  Trade. — I  happened  to  be 
Passing  through  the  market  garden  sec¬ 
tion  around  Woburn  and  Winchester  re¬ 
cently,  and  was  surprised  at  the  extent 
to  which  the  pansy  plant  business  has 
been  deveioped  there.  One  naturally  ex¬ 
pects  pansies  to  come  from  florists’  estab¬ 
lishments,  but  the  fact  is  that  the  great 
bulk  of  the  plants  reaching  the  Boston 
market  make  their  growth  on  market  gar¬ 
dens.  Lyman  Brothers  of  Winchester  are 
probably  the  largest  growers.  I  walked 
over  one  field  where  80,000  plants  were 
in  full  bloom,  making  a  sheet  of  color  that 
stretched  away  for  a  long  distance.  I 
the  past  season.  There  was  also  consid¬ 
erable  loss  of  forget-me-nots,  which  are 
also  grown  for  the  early  Spring  trade. 
E.  I.  FARRINGTON. 
Puddled  Clay  for  Aquatic  Garden 
I  have  a  scheme  for  an  aquatic  garden 
involving  the  use  of  a  concrete  hotbed 
frame  11  ft.  9  in.  by  5  ft.  9  in.,  inside 
dimensions,  walls  6  in.  thick  and  about 
3  ft.  6  in.  deep,  hut,  as  usual  in  such 
cases,  it  has  no  cement  bottom,  and  I  am 
quire  sure  that  the  nature  of  the  subsoil, 
which  is  yellow  in  color,  but  not  of  a 
clayey  nature,  would  not  hold  water. 
Could  I  put  in  a  bottom  layer  of  blue 
gravel  or  perhaps  clay,  or  should  I  at¬ 
tempt  a  concrete  bottom?  I  question 
whether  a  concrete  bottom  can  be  made 
tight  against  the  walls,  which  are  now 
four  years  old.  Will  you  advise  me  what 
is  the  best  course  to  follow  under  the  cir- 
Pansies  as  drown  on  a  Market  Garden 
was  told  that  Lyman  Brothers  owned  an¬ 
other  farm  some  distance  away  where 
fully  as  many  plants  were  being  pro¬ 
duced.  The  plants  when  dug  are  packed 
six  in  a  basket.  Then  six  baskets  are 
placed  in  a  market  box.  It  has  been 
necessary  to  revise  the  size  of  the  baskets 
to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  new  mar¬ 
ket  box  which  has  been  adopted  by  the 
trade  in  Massachusetts.  The  price  varies, 
but  evidently  is  always  large  enough  to 
give  a  good  profit.  When  a  market  gar- 
uener  has  a  central  location,  as  Lyman 
Brothers  have,  much  of  the  selling  can  be 
done  by  the  roadside.  Hundreds  of  auto¬ 
mobiles  stop  when  they  get  a  sight  of 
tne  sea  of  blooms,  and  ask  if  they  can 
buy  plants.  On  one  Sunday  over  $200 
worth  of  plants  were  disposed  of  in  the 
field.  Large  as  this  branch  of  the  busi¬ 
ness  is,  it  does  not,  of  course,  use  up  all 
the  plants.  The  rest  are  dug  bv  Italian 
women  and  sent  to  Boston  and  other 
cities.  Many  of  them  go  to  the  grocery 
stores  and  fruit  stands.  In  fact,  a  large 
proportion  of  the  pansy  plants  purchased 
by  the  public  are  bought  from  provision 
dealers  rather  than  from  florists  or  seed 
houses. 
cumstances?  I  want  a  place  to  grow 
aquatic  plants,  including  water  lilies, 
such  as  would  form  a  pleasing  garden 
feature  and  suitable  living  conditions  for 
goldfish,  tadpoles,  frogs,  turtles,  etc. 
Lexington,  Mass.  e.  p.  m. 
Puddled  clay  is  frequently  used  in  the 
bottom  and  sides  of  an  aquatic  garden 
pond  to  make  it  hold  water  effectively. 
The  method  employed  is  to  secure  clay 
fairly  pure  and  free  from  stones,  and 
puddle  it  in  a  shallow  box,  such  as  used 
by  masons  for  mixing  mortar.  Moisten 
the  clay  sparingly  and  work  it  into  a 
clayey  consistency  with  a  spade  or  maul 
or  by  trampling.  Then  cover  the  bottom 
of  the  pool  with  the  clay,  working  and 
beating  it  firmly  in  place  to  a  depth  of 
o  or  4  in.  Care  must  be  taken  not  to 
punch  holes  through  the  bottom  with 
tools  or  wheelbarrows.  It  is  well  to  put 
a  plank  across  the  pool  before  doing  work 
•n  If  the  a(luaties  are  to  be  grown 
in  tubs,  line  the  bottom  of  the  pool  with 
a  couple  of  inches  of  sand.  We  wonder 
however,  if  you  would  not  do  the  job 
quicker  and  better  "with  concrete. 
II.  B.  t. 
BATTERIES 
The  battery 
that  ended 
the  cranking 
of  cars 
The  first  electric  starter  put  on  an  automo¬ 
bile  as  standard  equipment  (in  1911)  depended 
for  its  power  on  the  Exide  Battery.  The  same 
fine  make  of  car  has  used  the  Exide  exclusively 
ever  since. 
More  automobiles  built  today  leave  the 
manufacturers’  hands  equipped  with  Exide 
Batteries  than  with  any  other  battery.  It  is 
natural  that  Exide  should  lead  in  the  auto¬ 
mobile  field  in  time  and  in  numbers,  because 
it  was  the  pioneer  and  dominating  battery  in 
other  industries  long  before  the  automobile 
was  invented. 
Long-lasting  power 
These  things  are  of  interest  to  you  only  as 
indicating  the  experience  back  of  the  Exide 
that  has  enabled  it  to  earn  the  title  of  the 
long-life  battery .  Rugged  power  is  built  into 
the  Exide.  It  lasts  so  long  that  it  saves  its 
owner  money. 
Your  safety  and  comfort  in  motoring  depend 
to  a  decided  degree  upon  the  worthwhileness 
of  your  battery.  Don’t  take  a  substitute  when 
you  need  a  new  battery,  but  go  to  the  nearest 
Exide  Service  Station  and  get  the  real  one  for 
your  car. 
The  Electric  Storage  Battery  Go. 
Philadelphia 
Service  Stations  Everywhere  Branches  in  Seventeen  Citiea 
Look  for  this  sign. 
Wherever  you 
see  it  you  can  get 
a  new  Exide  for 
■your  car  or  com¬ 
petent  repair 
work  on  any 
make  of  battery. 
For  farm  power  and  light 
A  great  majority  of  all  farm 
power  and  light  plants  have 
Exide  Batteries.  Make  sure  that 
yours  is  a  long-life  Exide. 
RADIO 
For  your  radio 
set  get  an  Exide 
Radio  Battery. 
The  long-life  battery  for  your  ca 
