50 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
YOUR ALL-YEAR 
GARDEN 
Are there any flower or vegetable garden 
problems or plain questions which trouble 
you? We shall be glad to answer them if 
you will write us, enclosing a stamped en¬ 
velope and addressing the Information Serv¬ 
ice, House & Garden, 440 Fourth Avenue, 
New York. 
F. F. ROCKWELL 
T HE "home stretch” in garden work comes 
with the advent of the Scorpion in the zodi¬ 
acal procession. The experienced gardener 
realizes that he has a great deal to do in a very 
limited time. It is only a question of a few weeks, 
or in the more northern States, fifteen or twenty- 
days, before the first killing frost may be ex¬ 
pected. Within that time there is much to do; 
and there is still a good deal of work to be done 
after the first hard frost for which preparation 
should be made before it comes. 
Get in Your Fall Orders 
daily among the Darwins and the Breeders, have 
within the last few years been revelations to many 
gardeners whose ideas of tulips have been formed 
from memories of their younger days. It is not 
necessary to buy these by the hundred; a dozen 
or even six of a kind will give very satisfactory- 
results, especially on a small place. 
When you are sending in your bulb order in¬ 
clude a few dozen extra bulbs which need not be 
of the fancy, high-priced sorts, but the old, reli¬ 
able varieties for forcing. Tlie work of putting 
these in pots or bulb pans and keeping them in 
a dark, cool cellar or a deep cold-frame for some 
weeks will not be great and it will mean for you a 
constant supply of flowers through late winter 
and early spring by merely bringing them into the 
greenhouse or house where favorable conditions 
of temperature and moisture can be given them. 
Fruit Trees: If you can get at the work in 
good season and do not live too far north, so 
that the fall planting of fruit trees is safe in 
your vicinity, now will be the best time to get that 
job out of the way. If you have any doubt as 
to trying fall planting or not drop a line to your 
State Experiment Station and ask for their ad¬ 
The very first thing on the program for Sep¬ 
tember is to get in your orders for the various 
things that you will want to plant between now 
and freezing weather. If you cleaned up on your 
fertilizing material with this spring’s planting, 
procure now an adequate supply of fine ground 
bone dust, which is a fertilizing agent that you 
will need more than any other for fall work. 
There need be no fear of buying too much, as 
it will keep in good condition over the winter 
and you will require it for your spring work 
and during the winter under glass. 
Check up your needs and in your order include 
some of the following good things: 
Shrubs: This is the ideal time for making 
plantings of all kinds of the hardy, deciduous 
shrubs, both flowering and ornamental. There 
are very few places, indeed, where a few more 
shrubs judiciously selected cannot be used to 
good advantage. Go through your nursery cata¬ 
logs and try some of the splendid new varieties 
of the old, satisfactory standard things, known to 
you possibly only in their old forms. In de¬ 
termining the number of shrubs you may be able 
to use, allow from 3’ to 6' space according to size. 
Bulbs: Without the least doubt the spring 
flowering bulbs constitute' the most important 
flowers of the early spring garden. They are 
neither expensive nor difficult to plant, and every 
place should be generously supplied with them. 
The various varieties of narcissi and daffodils, 
early-flowering, May flowering, and Breeder tulips, 
and hyacinths, are all handled in much the same 
way. Tulips are undoubtedly gaining more in 
popular favor than the narcissi and the hyacinths, 
and deservedly so. The many new varieties, espe- 
In preparing exhibits remember that overcrowding is a persistent foe to success. Neatness 
and cleanliness in staging are important factors in the appearance of any flower or 
vegetable show 
The number of exhibitions held by garden clubs and similar organizations has greatly 
increased during the last few years. Why not help to make your own local show a big 
success this season? 
vice. They can also give you valuable suggestions 
as to what varieties to order. 
The enthusiastic and efficient gardener always 
has glass under which to continue his gardening 
after Jack Frost has taken possession of his hills 
and trenches in the open; usually the gardener’s 
skill can be judged by the amount of "glass” he 
keeps. No place is too small for a frame or 
two, or a small greenhouse. Get busy with your 
frames, new or old, selecting a place for and 
putting in the former, or repairing the latter. It 
will be much better if they can be placed and 
allowed to settle and the manures and the fer¬ 
tilizers disintegrated for two or three weeks be¬ 
fore you have to put your plants into them. 
Double glass sash have worked wonders for home 
gardens. Should you never have tried them in¬ 
vest in one or two and be convinced. The pro¬ 
ductive capacity of your frames will be increased 
to a very great extent and the work lessened. 
Greenhouses and Exhibitions 
The most recent development in the way of 
winter gardening has been the manufacture of 
miniature ready-made greenhouses, which the 
home gardener can easily erect with no carpentry 
work and with little trouble, attached to or near 
the dwelling house. Great ingenuity has been 
used in perfecting these ready-made houses and 
they are making possible for hundreds of garden 
enthusiasts the continuation of their hobby 
through the winter months at a considerable 
profit. These little houses are by no means play¬ 
things, but have proved under the test of actual 
operation to be a very practical proposition. 
The development of the gentle art of gardening 
in this country has been marked by a very gen¬ 
eral increase in the number of flower and vegetable 
exhibitions held by various clubs and associations. 
It is rather difficult, probably impossible, to say 
which of the two ought to be called the cause or 
the effect, but there is no doubt that these ex¬ 
hibitions do a great deal to arouse interest and 
to stimulate intelligent thought about the whys 
and the wherefores of gardening of all kinds. 
You should do your share to make your local 
exhibit a big success this year. 
Get a copy of the premium list of your local 
show early and look it over carefully to see what 
you may have that could be exhibited. Things 
out of the ordinary in which other gardeners will 
be interested will prove of as much value in mak¬ 
ing the affair successful as will prize winning 
specimens. The fact that you are yourself ex¬ 
hibiting will make you take a more lively and 
intelligent interest in all the other exhibits, thus 
enhancing your store of garden knowledge. In 
preparing whatever you intend to show keep in 
mind that while the awards are presumably made 
upon the intrinsic value of the specimens shown, 
neatness, cleanliness and novelty in staging or dis¬ 
playing your exhibits of flowers or vegetables will 
count for more. Above all avoid crowding your 
things on the show table; scores of premiums are 
lost through ignorance or carelessness in this 
simple but highly important matter. 
(Continued on page 62) 
