66 
House & Garden 
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Paintings by American Artists il 
"October Day" by D. W. Tryon 
An illustration from the catalogue of 
our Annual Exhibition of 
Thirty Paintings by 
Thirty Artists 
If you are interested in the work of our best painters 
we want you to have this catalogue for reference. 
Mailed on request without obligation or expense. 
WILLIAM M \( LIM 1 I 
450 Fifth Avenue (m Fortieth street) NewYorlcGty 
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THE HOUSE OF THREE GABLES' 
3 EAST 52d ST., N. V. C. 
April Plantings in the Vegetable Garden 
{Continued from page SI) 
and making absolutely certain that the 
first row is perfectly straight. Make all 
the drills before you start sowing seed. 
After completing each one the line is 
moved to the next. A glance at the label 
or seed packet will tell you what kind 
of drill to make, as shown on page 50. 
Sowing the Seed 
There is more nonsense connected 
with the sowing of the seed than any 
other plain, simple operation that I 
know of. Forget all this twaddle about 
the full of the moon, the rising of the 
tide and various other old-time fallacies. 
A little sound common sense is worth all 
the jingles Old King Cole ever knew. 
Weather is always a factor in determin¬ 
ing the time for garden operations, of 
course. The date may vary to some ex¬ 
tent, but usually around April 1st in 
the latitude of New York you may begin 
outdoor sowing. Roughly speaking, for 
each 100 miles north or south of this 
latitude the date will be one week later 
or earlier, respectively. 
Seeds sown outside are custojnarily 
sown from the hand. Peas are taken 
from their container and scattered in 
the drill in about the quantities that will 
mature; the seeds of beets, carrots, let¬ 
tuce, Swiss chard, onions, parsley, par¬ 
snip, etc., are distributed rather thinly 
in the drills with the purpose in mind of 
thinning the plants out when the proper 
time arrives. 
The common error when sowing seeds 
is to plant too thickly; this causes the 
seedlings to be weak and thin, and 
‘•damping off” will often follow. It 
may be of interest to know that not 
many years ago some seedsmen consid¬ 
ered it a good practice to “kill” some 
seeds by the addition of a percentage 
of dead seeds. This was done to offset 
the danger of sowing too thickly the 
strong germinating sorts such as turnip, 
■ adish, etc. 
Pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, melons, 
corn, etc., are usually sown in hills be¬ 
cause they are heat lovers; they should 
not be sown until May in the latitude of 
New York. The reason for the hill is 
that it assures ample drainage and re¬ 
moves the danger of the seed decaying 
if the soil is a little cold and damp. 
These seeds are placed the required 
number to a hill and poked into the soil 
to the proper depth. Generally about 
six to eight seeds are sown to a hill, and 
when the young plants are large enough 
to handle they are thinned out to three. 
Do not make holes with a dibble when 
you come to planting the onion sets. 
The quickest method is to make a drill 
exactly as you would for onion seed, 
and press the bulbs into the bottom, 
using your feet to cover them with 
earth. 
The whole secret of successful garden¬ 
ing is in being able quickly to adapt 
yourself to conditions that are constantly 
changing. Do not do a certain task on 
the third day of April simply because 
you did the same thing on the same day 
last year—conditions may be different. 
What to Sow Now 
What seed to sow is always a very 
vital part of the garden problem, but it 
will be considerably simplified by elimi¬ 
nating those varieties or types from 
which you fail to get full value. The 
average home garden contains too much 
variety; it is more of an experimental 
bed, with some curious peppers from 
Brazil or cute little egg-plants more or¬ 
namental than useful. I am not trying 
to discourage anyone from trying new 
varieties, but do not let these new sorts 
interfere with the producing value of 
your garden until you are assured they 
are a real acquisition. 
The various seeds that can be sown 
now include English broad bean, aspara¬ 
gus, beet, celery, borage, borecole, cab¬ 
bage, carrot, cauliflower, celeriac, cher¬ 
vil, chicory, corn salad, cress, dande¬ 
lion, endive, horseradish, kohlrabi, leek, 
onion, lettuce, _ mustard, oyster-plant, 
parsley, parsnip^ peas, radish, potatoes, 
romaine, rhubarb, scorzonera, spinach, 
Swiss chard, turnip, and practically all 
the herbs. Now is the time to draw 
the blue pencil through those you do 
not want. 
A number of the types called for on 
the list should have been started from 
seed sown in the greenhouse. They in¬ 
clude cabbage, cauliflower, celery, let¬ 
tuce and en&ve. 
Vegetable Details 
As to some of the others listed: 
Chervil, corn salad, cress and mustard 
are catch crops; dandelion is exceptional 
in the garden, but you may like it. 
Herbs are generally grown in a side 
border and handled separately. Scor¬ 
zonera is an inferior oyster-plant. 
If there can be any such thing as a 
standard list for your garden, here might 
be the basis for it: 
Beets and carrots, which are true 
companion crops; turnip and kohlrabi 
as spring and fall root crops; and chic¬ 
ory, which is grown for the edible tops 
of the forced growth which are termed 
French endive. Leek and onions, in¬ 
cluding all the shallots and garlic; sec¬ 
ond crop sowing of lettuce, endive or 
romaine; celeriac, oyster-plant and 
parsnip — all-season root crops that are 
not ready until fall. Parsley, Swiss 
chard and New Zealand spinach are 
green crops that stand all season. In 
addition to these we have the quick 
maturing crops that require successional 
sowings such as peas, spinach and 
radishes. Potatoes are usually handled 
separately and the early varieties may 
be planted now. 
Arranging the Rows 
Proceeding with the actual planting 
of the garden, let us put in row 1, 
parsnip; 2, oyster-plant; 3, chicory; 4, 
celeriac; S, parsley; 6, Swiss chard; 7, 
New Zealand spinach; 8, onions; 9, 
onion sets; 10, beets; 11, carrots; 12, 
kohlrabi; 13, turnip; 14, peas; IS, spin¬ 
ach ; 16, a little 3' border for the herbs. 
This last space will also be useful for late 
plantings of Brussels sprouts, cabbage, 
celery, etc. Thus laid out, the space 
provides, of course, only for the things 
to be planted now; later crops which 
grow taller will go in other rows as 
explained in a previous paragraph. 
Vegetables for which you do not care 
drop entirely, while of those of which 
you are fond more than one row may 
be sown at a time. Proportion the 
garden to your needs; for instance, rows 
S, 6 and 7 may be combined into one 
row, giving a third of it to each kind. 
Plant several rows of peas and spinach 
for canning, as the first crops to ma¬ 
ture of these cool plants are the best 
for this purpose. If you are fond of 
oyster-plant sow several rows; and if 
you want onions for next winter sow 
a number of rows of them. 
The name of Irving l£ Casson, decora¬ 
tors, was unintentionally omitted from 
the views of the George Dobyne house 
in the February House k G.^rden 
