104 
House & Garden 
THOMAS MEEHAN & SONS 
The Pioneer Nurserymen of America 
6740 Chew Street Germantown, Philadelphia 
Add the Finishing Touches to Your Grounds 
with Meehan Trees and Shrubs 
Y our property will not 
have reached its full de¬ 
velopment until you have 
beautified it thoughtfully with 
trees and shrubs. A row of 
evergreens in the bend of the 
drive or walks, a background 
of spiring Lombardy poplars 
behind the house, hedge rows 
bordering the road, or climb¬ 
ing roses on fence or wall— 
all these set off house and 
grounds as nothing else can. 
EXPERT ADVICE ON THE 
GROUND 
In order to obtain the best 
effects with trees and shrubs, 
etc., expert advice is gener¬ 
ally necesary. This will be 
given gladly by members of 
our staff, who are now plan¬ 
ning their visiting routes for 
the next three months. 
If you will write us at once 
and say when it will be agree¬ 
able, we can arrange for an 
expert plansman to call on 
you while in your vicinity. 
He will go over your prop¬ 
erty with you and talk over 
matters in detail. This puts 
you under no obligation or 
expense. 
Our 66 years’ experience as 
nurserymen is at your com¬ 
mand. It will be found in¬ 
valuable. 
- THOUSANDS OF CHARMING HOMES - 
all over the country owe their beautiful setting of Trees, Shrubs and 
Hardy Flowering Plants to Meehan advice and Meehan stock. This is 
planning time. Planting time will be here before you realize it. 
Better write us today. Let us send you Meehan’s Manual of Outdoor 
Plants, 1920 Edition. It is free. 
A field of Asters on one of the Seed Farms of James Vick’s Sons. 
Our Asters are recognized as the standard of quality everywhere 
Vick’c Rranrhinff Actor rnllortinn Acknowledged the leading variety in al-l 
VICK S Drancning aster V-Oliecuon markets and unsurpassed for 
home gardeners, White. Crimson, Carmine, Pink, Purple, Lavender, Dark Violet 
,nnd Rose. Eight full packets regularly selling for $1.20, in this collection 75c. 
Also VICK’S KOVELTY MIXTURE (Finest Varieties of Newest Asters) per 
packet 25c. 
Over 500 Acres VeRetahle^ _farm. anjl fliwer ^eeds^ rlants,^bulbs^ shrubs, etc. 
Send for 
AT.T, VICK QUALITY, THE BEST THE EARTH PRODUCES. 
VICK’S GUIDE irS FREE 
A worthwhile book for everyone interested in gardening. Lists all the old stand¬ 
bys and many splendid new varieties. Contains valuable instructions on planting 
and care, based on our experience as America’s Oldest Catalogue Seed Concern. 
This book, the best we have issued, is ABSOLUTELY FREE. SEND FOR 
YOUR COPY TODAY BEFORE YOU FORGET. A POSTCARD IS SUFFI¬ 
CIENT. 
JAMES VICK S SONS, 18 Stone St., Rochester, N. Y. *‘The Flower City * 
The “flat” for starting seeds indoors should have oyster-shells 
or broken crocks in the bottom to prevent the earth from 
clogging the drainage holes 
FOR THE GARDEN BEGINNER 
T he primary needs for successful 
vegetable gardening on a small 
scale are the same as those for 
gardening on a large scale. On limited 
plots, however, greater emphasis must 
be placed on intensive culture and care¬ 
fully arranged rotations so that every 
available foot of space may be made to 
produce the maximum yield. 
The essentials of all gardening are 
soil of suitable texture containing avail¬ 
able plant food, water to dissolve the 
plant food so that the plant rootlets 
may make use of it, seeds or plants 
which will produce the desired crops, 
sunshine and warmth to bring about 
germination and plant development, and 
cultivation. Much also depends upon 
the gardener and the care he bestows 
on his enterprise. 
Other factors—location and exposure 
—can not always receive much con¬ 
sideration in gardening small plots since 
there is ordinarily little room' for choice. 
Such spaces are located usually in yards, 
or the choice of location is restricted 
in other ways by the necessity that 
the spaces be accessible to dwellings. 
When a possibility for the exercise of 
choice does exist, however, several con¬ 
siderations should be kept in mind by 
the gardener. It should be recognized 
that frost is less likely to injure vege¬ 
tables planted on high ground than 
those planted in low places or valleys 
into which the heavier cold air com¬ 
monly settles; that crops will mature 
more rapidly on land that has a sunny, 
southern exposure than on other plots; 
that the garden should be fairly level, 
but well drained; and that a warm, 
sandy loam will produce an earlier crop 
than a heavier soil that retains more 
water and less heat. 
The soil is the storehouse of plant 
food and should, therefore, have a 
relatively open texture so that the root¬ 
lets of vegetables may extend them¬ 
selves readily in their search for sus¬ 
tenance. A high proportion of humus 
or rotted vegetable material is desirable 
in the soil, since it produces an open 
texture, adds nitrogen, insures the pres¬ 
ence of beneficial bacteria, aids in un¬ 
locking plant food from mineral par¬ 
ticles, and increases the moisture- 
retaining properties of the soil. 
About 50 per cent of ordinary earth 
is not soil at all, but consists of air 
and water. Water makes the soluble 
plant food that is present in the soil 
freely available, while the air in the 
soil makes possible bacterial develop¬ 
ment and facilitates chemical action, 
which makes additional plant food avail¬ 
able. 
Importance, of a Good Seed Bed 
The cultivation of crops is important 
because the stirring and loosening of 
the soil directly conserves moisture to 
some extent, kilts weeds, which draw 
moisture and plant food at the ex¬ 
pense of the crops, and incorporates 
air into the soil. 
Too much emphasis can not be laid 
on the preparation of a good seed 
bed. A seed bed of fine tilth—made 
such by deep plowing, careful har¬ 
rowing, and fining of the soil—is the 
foundation of good gardening. It is 
essential for the proper germination of 
seeds and growth of young plants. The 
soil must be friable and free from clods. 
A clod locks up plant food and prevents 
its utilization by the plant. Good soil 
and fine tilth furnish best conditions 
for root development. Upon the fine, 
hairy, fibrous, feeding roots, which are 
possible only in well-tilled soil, the plant 
depends for its stockiness and growth. 
The careful gardener will regard his 
whole garden as a seed bed and will 
cultivate and fertilize it accordingly. 
Fertilizers, the plant foods for the 
garden, should be carefully selected. 
Nitrogen, which stimulates leaf growth, 
is best supplied by turning under rich, 
well-rotted, or composted manure or 
rotting vegetable matter. Sheep ma¬ 
nure and poultry droppings will hurry 
plants along more rapidly than most 
chemical fertilizers. These substances, 
as well as bone meal, also a valuable 
fertilizer, usually may be obtained from 
seed stores. 
Planning the Small Garden 
With a little forethought a com¬ 
paratively small tract of land may 
be made to supply the average family 
with fresh vegetables throughout the 
growing season. Most owners of small 
gardens are content to raise a single 
crop on each plot of land at their dis¬ 
posal. It is quite possible, however, to 
grow two or three crops of some vege¬ 
tables in one season, and if these are 
properly selected the home-grown pro¬ 
duce should be both better and cheaper 
than any that can be purchased on the 
market. 
Just what vegetables are to be grown 
depends, of course, upon the individual 
tastes of the family. In general the 
aim of the home gardener should be 
to raise vegetables in which freshness 
is an important quality. Peas, string 
beans, Lima beans, asparagus, and sweet 
corn, for example, lose much if they are 
not cooked almost immediately after 
they are picked. On the other hand, 
as good potatoes usually can be bought 
as can be grown. Moreover, potatoes 
occupy a large area in proportion to 
their yield and consume in a back yard 
or small garden valuable space which, 
in most cases, could be put to much 
more profitable use. This may be true 
also, in some cases, of corn, cucumbers, 
squashes, and melons. 
{Continued on page 106) 
