HOUSE AND GARDEN 
36 
tonseed meal mixed in at the same time will prove a valuable 
addition. For the earliest plantings the hills should be raised an 
inch or so above the surface, to insure thorough drainage. The 
earliest results are, of course, to be had, however, by starting 
the plants under glass; and setting out after all danger of frosts 
is past. 
With all the vine fruits — melons, squashes, etc. — and also egg¬ 
plants, the insect pests are a serious consideration. Among these 
enemies the striped beetle, squash bug, squash borer and flea 
beetle are the worst. Remedies are more numerous than effective, 
but for the home garden, where only a few hills will be required, 
an easy and sure way of fighting them all is to provide bottom¬ 
less boxes, large enough to cover the hills, and covered with 
mosquito netting or light protecting cloth. In this way the vines 
will be kept immune until they begin to run, and if they are lost 
after that, it will be because you neglect to keep a watchful eye 
on them. 
The smallest of places affords opportunity for a satisfactory 
flower garden, and the flower garden is not nearly so expensive 
a luxury as generally supposed. In fact, to the home that has 
once planned and cared for one, it is no longer a luxury, but 
becomes a necessity. 
Almost all of the annuals and perennials described in the ac¬ 
companying table can be bought in five or ten cent packets, and 
are easily grown; even those which are better started under 
glass need cause little trouble, as six or eight different kinds may 
be started in a single box, say 13 x 18 inches. This should be 
about two inches deep, with an inch or so of rough material in 
the bottom to insure perfect drainage. Cover this to within half 
an inch of the top with fine sifted soil, made light by mixing with 
it sifted chip-dirt or leaf mold, and sand. Give a thorough water¬ 
April, 1912 
ing the day before sowing, mark off with a match or pencil-point 
rows about two inches across, sow the seed evenly, one row of 
each sort, and just barely cover the seed from sight. Keep the 
box covered with a pane of glass until the seeds sprout, to retain 
the moisture, and put it in a warm place. If it should get dry 
before the seeds come up, let the soil soak up water from the 
bottom by placing it in the sink or bathtub and putting in enough 
water to come half way up the sides of the box; or water with a 
fine spray through a cloth to prevent washing up the seeds. The 
soaking process is, however, very much better. 
For sowing seed in the open, make up a seed bed in a sunny 
sheltered position. It should be three or four feet wide, as many 
feet long as necessary, and elevated several inches above the level 
of the soil. Unless the soil where you make this bed is very light 
and fine, it will be well to sift and mix up enough to cover the 
surface of the bed two inches deep. In case you have some old 
windows lying about, place a narrow board on edge along each 
side of the bed, the right distance apart, and thus improvise a 
coldframe which will enable you to begin operations a couple of 
weeks sooner than otherwise. 
Mark off the rows three or four inches apart, and sow and 
cover as when using flats, having given the bed a good wetting 
down the day previous. If the seeds seem to come up too thickly, 
do not hesitate to thin out as soon as needed; a dozen good 
plants will give more satisfaction than a hundred poor strag¬ 
gling ones. 
When they are large enough to transplant, try to select a 
cloudy day, and give the seed bed a thorough watering several 
hours before taking the plants up. 
The most effective way of using a limited number of plants is 
{Continued on page 55) 
The Value of Ivy 
SOME OF THE POINTS OE FAVOR THAT THE ENGLISH IVY HOLDS BEYOND 
OTHER VINES — THE FALLACY OF ITS INJURING WALL SURFACES 
BY Harold Donaldson Eberlein 
Photographs by N. R. Graves and others 
P AGAN and Christian, both alike, have 
ever reverenced the ivy. In ancient 
Bacchic revel, at Yuletide in the church, 
entwined with bay and holly, it matters 
not, its grasp upon men’s fond attachment 
is the same. Whether we be pagan 
enough to attribute personality to plants 
and flowers, pagan enough to cherish all 
the legendary conceits and symbolism 
belonging to them, or whether we be so 
superior and enlightened, as we fondly 
flatter ourselves, that we value them mere¬ 
ly for their native grace, we cannot es¬ 
cape from the firm and steadfast claim 
the ivy makes on our regard. It winds 
its tendrils round our hearts and subdues 
us, all unconscious of its working, to its 
spell, that potent spell that all plants, each 
in its particular way, cast upon us. 
English ivy is a term of various inter¬ 
pretations, it might be said, a term much 
abused. A great deal of the English ivy 
is Irish and the Irish ivy is all African. 
Then there is the Asiatic ivy and it not 
infrequently is called English. Thus it will 
The leaves of the English ivy are generally 
three to five-lobed 
be seen that “English” ivy means ordi¬ 
narily “just plain” ivy. In some books 
about fifty species of ivy altogether are 
catalogued, but as a matter of fact the classi¬ 
fication may be reduced to two, or at the 
most, three. There is first, in this con¬ 
densed grouping, the European or English 
ivy (Hedera helix), a plant embi'acing a 
great number of sub-varieties of widely di¬ 
vergent forms and colors of leafage. Its 
tendency, however, is always toward a three 
to five-lobed leaf form when climbing and 
a regular ovate form when flowering or 
fruiting. Next there is a closely allied 
form, the Irish ivy, really African ivy 
{Hedera Canariensis). This is the com¬ 
mon large-leaved climbing sort. It also 
has some variation in leafage, but not as 
much as Hedera helix, from which its leaves 
differ in being larger, of a rich deep green 
color and a persistent tendency to the five- 
lobed form. Asiatic ivy {Hedera Colchica) 
displays some further variations, but as we 
are not so much concerned with it there is 
no need to enter here into Its discussion. 
