32 4 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
April, 1913 
Alphano Humus 
Barn 
Yard 
Manure 
These squares give you the comparative enriching values of 
best quality barnyard manures and Alphano Humus. When 
used freely, one application of Alphano lasts for years. 
phano Humus Gives to Your Lawns 
New Greenness; to Ail Soils a 
w Life and Enduring Fertility 
Used freely in your soil it will not only give it 
new life this year, but will continue its benefits for 
many years to come. 
For making worn out or naturally poor soil fer¬ 
tile and friable, it is highly satisfactory. 
The government has given it most exhaustive 
tests. 
We have numerous convincing letters from Al¬ 
phano users telling of its merits. You are heartily 
welcome to see them. 
This humus has none of the flashy temporary 
stimulating disadvantages of chemical fertilizers. 
Being in powdered form it is easily and quickly 
applied. Having no odor, it is neither an annoy¬ 
ance, nor in any way objectionable to handle. 
Order some—use it freely. 
Five bags $5. Per ton, $12.00. 
By the carload, $8.00 a ton — bulk. 
Alphano Humus is neither a dried animal 
manure mixture, nor a chemical fertilizer. 
It is an odorless black humus in pow¬ 
dered form. 
There is no mystery about it—no se¬ 
cret process of manufacturing. It is 
nature’s own vegetable make—extremely 
rich in humus and plant foods. 
This wonderful humus deposit is at 
Alphano, New Jersey, where you are welcome at 
any time to come and see us digging and preparing 
it. 
Nature has been thousands of years in the mak¬ 
ing. We furnish it ready for you. 
|| Alphano Humus Co. || 
|=f 936 Whitehall Building, New York tt 
_ H 
A BOOK THAT EVERY CRAFTSMAN NEEDS 
Dyes and Dyeing 
By CHARLES E. PELLEW 
A practical handbook on a craft that has had too little attention from competent 
authorities. Stenciling, batik and tied and dye work are thoroughly covered, as well 
as the dyeing of feathers, basketry, leather, silks, cottons, woolens, in fact, 
practically all materials that can be dyed. The illustrations include many that 
show just how the operations are carried out. Illustrated in color. $2.00 net; 
postage 15 cents. 
Your bookseller can supply you. Send for catalogue. 
McBRIDE, NAST y CO., Publishers, Union Square, New York City 
take care of its ordinary wants. This is 
a fairly comprehensive scheme: 
Wheel-hoe.$11.00 
Hoes . 1.20 
Spading fork. 1.15 
Rake .85 
Pruning shears . 1.50 
Trowel.50 
Weeder.20 
Tree pruner. 1.00 
Sprayer. 5.50 
Garden hose. 3.25 
These are the essentials. As not all the 
people desire a clipped lawn these things 
are mentioned separately. 
A good lawn-mower. .$8.50 to $9.50 
Roller . 9.00 to 12.00 
A medium-sized horse drawn grass- 
clipper will be $65.00. 
When the tools are bought in the basket 
as suggested the expense will be less. 
Spring in the Garden 
( Continued f rom page 269) 
were not aware of it till one July morning 
when it poked up above the sill. A few 
days later, when we came down to break¬ 
fast, there it was abloom, nodding in at the 
open window! 
Another spring excitement in the gar¬ 
den is the pea planting, both the sweet pea 
and what our country folk sometimes call 
“eatin’ pea.” No rivalry is so keen as 
that between pea growers. My neighbors 
and I struggle for supremacy in sweet 
peas at the flower show in July, and great 
glory goes to him who gets the first mess 
of green peas on his table. We have 
tried sweet pea sowing in the fall, and it 
does not work. So now I prepare a trench 
in October, partially fill it with manure, 
and cover it with leaves, which I remove 
at the first hint of warm weather in March. 
The earth piles on either side thaw out 
quickly, and I get an early sowing, putting 
in as many varieties as I can afford (my 
wife says twice as many as I can afford), 
jealously guarding the secret of their num¬ 
ber. The vegetable peas are planted later, 
usually about the first or second day of 
April, as soon as the top soil of the garden 
can be worked with a fork, and long be¬ 
fore the plowing. We put in first a row 
of Daniel O’Rourke’s, not because they are 
good for much, but because they will beat 
any other variety we have discovered by 
two days at least. Then we put in a row 
of a better standard early variety. How 
we watch those rows for the first sprouts! 
How we coddle and cultivate them! How 
eagerly we inspect our neighbors’ rows, 
trying to appear nonchalant! And doubt¬ 
less how silly this sounds to anyone who is 
not a gardener! Last summer we got our 
first mess of peas on June twenty-first, 
and after eating a handful we rushed to 
the telephone, and were about to ring, 
when somebody called us. .“Hello,” we 
said into the receiver. A voice on the 
other end of the wire, curiously choked 
In writing to advertisers please mention House and Garden. 
