House & Garden 
Th 
e GARDENER’S CALENDAR for MAY 
THOMAS MEEHAN 
Born in London in 
1826, Thomas Mee¬ 
han came to this 
country at 22 to 
become later one of 
its most influential 
horticulturists. For 
30 years he edited 
the “G a r d e n e r’s 
Monthly” and in 
1853 founded the 
Germantown nur¬ 
sery which bears 
his name. He died 
in 1901 
PATRICK BARRY 
A noted authority 
on fruits and the 
editor at times of 
such important 
periodicals of the 
past century as 
“The Genesee Far¬ 
mer” and “T h e 
Horticulturist,” Pat¬ 
rick Barry was also 
a well known nur¬ 
seryman. Born in 
Ireland, he lived for 
many years at 
Rochester, N. Y. 
SUNDAY 
MONDAY 
TUESDAY 
WEDNESDAY 
THURSDAY 
FRIDAY 
SATURDAY 
Then came ilie daisies, 
On the first of May, 
Like a banner’d show’s ad¬ 
vance 
While the crowd runs by the 
way, 
With ten thousand flowers 
about them they came 
trooping through the 
fields. 
SYDNEY DOBELL 
6. The edges 
of walks, flow¬ 
er beds, shrub¬ 
bery borders, 
etc., should be 
trimmed clean¬ 
ly and neatly 
with a- turfing 
iron every few 
weeks through 
the season. 
This finishing 
touch is neces¬ 
sary to com- 
plete your 
grounds. 
13. Make a 
small seed bed 
for the accom¬ 
modation of 
late cabbage, 
cau 1 i f 1 o w e r , 
kale, Brussels 
sprouts, etc. 
These should 
be sown now. 
Keep the 
young plants 
in separate 
beds until it is 
time to plant 
them out. 
7. The early 
sowings of 
vegetables 
must be prop¬ 
erly thinned 
out; plants that 
are unduly 
crowded be¬ 
come thin and 
spin dly and 
never develop 
into healthy 
vigorous speci- 
mens. Thin 
the plants when 
small. 
1. Formal 
evergreens and 
hedges should 
now be clipped. 
Hedge shears 
are the best 
tool to prevent 
any voids in 
the trees. 
Branches and 
tips that have 
been burned 
by the sun can 
be removed 
with the prun¬ 
ing shears. 
2. Do not 
delay cutting 
the lawn until 
the grass is so 
long as to ne¬ 
cessitate rak- 
i n g. Good 
lawns are the 
result of liberal 
fertili zation 
and frequent 
mowing, the 
latter in some 
cases twice a 
week in grow¬ 
ing we. ether. 
14. A fe w 
dead flower 
stalks will 
make an other¬ 
wise good gar- 
den appear 
very ordinary. 
Keep the tall 
flowers sup¬ 
ported with in - 
dividual 
stakes, the 
grass edges 
clipped, and 
remove old 
stalks. 
20. If the 
weather ap¬ 
pears settled, 
the bedding 
out of gera¬ 
niums, cannas, 
salvia, coleus 
and other bed- 
plants may 
be started. If 
a delayed cold 
spell should 
come along, 
cover the 
plantings with 
old sheets. 
27. Leaf eat¬ 
ing insects will 
also soon be 
working in the 
garden. For 
them a poison 
spray on the 
foliage is the 
thing to use. 
Cover the 
squash vines 
with nets sup- 
ported on 
stakes, to pro- 
tect from 
squash bugs. 
21. Crops that 
are more or less 
inactive and 
are not grow¬ 
ing well should 
be stimulated 
with an appli¬ 
cation of ni¬ 
trate of soda 
or some other 
strong fertiliz¬ 
ing element 
used in liquid 
form to bring 
about quick 
results. 
28. Winter 
celery may be 
sown now. 
Make a seed 
bed for it and 
sow broadcast. 
When large 
enough to 
handle, dibble 
the little plants 
off into well 
prepared soil. 
When they are 
4 inches tall 
you can plant 1 
them out. 
8. Do not 
stop sowing 
those crops 
that mature 
quickly, such as 
spinach, peas, 
radishes, let¬ 
tuce, etc. Fre¬ 
quent sowings 
in usable quan¬ 
tities are the 
first step to¬ 
ward success. 
If there is any 
surplus it can 
be canned. 
15. It is un¬ 
wise to post¬ 
pone potato 
planting any 
longer if you 
want good re¬ 
sults. Potatoes 
are a cool crop 
and late plant¬ 
ings of them, 
however well 
cared for, are 
rarely success- 
f u 1 . Usea 
fertilizer with 
4% potash. 
9. When 
the various 
fruit trees are 
in bloom they 
should be 
sprayed with a 
combination of 
Bordeaux mix¬ 
ture and arsen¬ 
ate of lead. 
This will de¬ 
stroy the vari¬ 
ous insects that 
ruin the fruit, 
catching them 
as they hatch. 
3. Just be¬ 
fore the general 
flowering sea¬ 
son begins in 
the perennial 
garden it is a 
good practice 
to top - dress 
the beds with 
bone meal or 
other concen¬ 
trated fertil¬ 
izer. Scatter it 
on the surface 
and rake it into 
the soil. 
10. Leaf 
beetles of vari¬ 
ous types will 
soon be at their 
destructive 
work. Spray 
the currant 
bushes, goose¬ 
berries, elms, 
cherries, etc., 
using arsenate- 
of lead as the 
most adhesive 
of any of the 
regular poison 
sprays. 
4. Dahlias 
may be planted 
out now. Make 
deep holes for 
them, setting 
the plants sev¬ 
eral inches be¬ 
low the grade 
to allow for 
filling in the 
soil as they 
grow. Use a 
little sheep 
manure or 
bone meal in 
the bottom. 
22. Now that 
the garden 
work is in full 
swing, invite 
yourself to get 
acquainted 
with the use of 
a wheel - hoe. 
These imple¬ 
ments do the 
necessary work 
of cultivation 
more efficiently 
and with less 
effort than any 
other. 
29. All the 
summer flower¬ 
ing bulbous 
plants may be 
set out now. 
To assure a 
continuous 
supply of gladi¬ 
oli, they can be 
planted at bi¬ 
weekly inter¬ 
vals. The rule 
is to plant all 
bulbs twice as 
deep as their 
diameter. 
16. If the 
weather is dry 
you will be 
troubled with 
the attacks of 
green fly and 
other plant 
lice. Peas, let¬ 
tuce, egg-plant 
and other soft 
foliage plants 
are especially 
susceptib 1 e . 
Spray with 
strong tobacco 
solution. 
23. Do not 
neglect to keep 
up succession 
sowings in the 
garden, as ad¬ 
vised elsewhere 
in this issue. 
Corn, beans, 
spinach, peas, 
radishes, let¬ 
tuce, beets, 
carrots, chervil, 
cucumber, 
cress, kohlrabi 
and turnip are 
all timely. 
30. Maple 
trees should be 
pruned just as 
the buds are 
bursting; there 
is no danger of 
their bleeding. 
Any large scars 
which may re¬ 
sult should be 
painted with 
proper tree 
paint to pre¬ 
serve the wood 
until the cuts 
heal. 
17. Tubbed 
plants of all 
kinds used 
around the 
grounds for 
decoration may 
be taken from 
their winter 
quarters and 
moved into 
place now. To 
maintain 
growth, these 
plants should 
be given liquid 
manure. 
11. Carna¬ 
tions intended 
for forcing in 
the greenhouse 
next winter 
can now be 
planted out in 
the garden. 
Have the 
ground well 
fertilized, keep 
them pinched 
back and see 
that the soil 
between them 
is cultivated. 
, 18. Weed 
killers are very 
necessary in 
stone gutters, 
blue stone 
walks and 
drives, and 
other places 
where it is un¬ 
wise to use a 
hoe. One ap¬ 
plication now 
will destroy all 
und e s i r a b 1 e 
growth for the 
season. 
24. Keep the 
ground b e - 
twee n t h e 
potatoes con¬ 
stantly stirred, 
and look out 
for the potato 
beetles. If any 
are in evidence, 
spray with ar¬ 
senate of lead. 
Bordeaux mix¬ 
ture along with 
the lead will 
prevent at¬ 
tacks of blight. 
31. A barrel 
of liquid ma¬ 
nure in some 
convenient 
corner of the 
garden will be 
a valuable ac¬ 
cessory for 
treating plants 
that are not 
doing well. Al¬ 
ternate appli¬ 
cations of this 
with solutions 
of nitrate of 
soda. 
25. Most of 
the more com- 
mon ann ua 1 
flowers may be 
started out of 
doors now. 
Have the soil 
in which they 
are to go well 
prepared far 
enough ahead 
so that it will 
pulverize when 
being worked. 
Sow the seed 
thinly in drills. 
5. If the 
weather condi¬ 
tions are set¬ 
tled the warm 
vegetable crops 
may be sown 
at this time. 
Beans, limas, 
corn, squash, 
pumpkins, 
okra, melons, 
etc., are all 
considered 
warm crops 
in this re¬ 
spect 
12. After 
they have fin¬ 
ished flower¬ 
ing, but not be¬ 
fore, the lilacs, 
syringes, deut- 
zia, forsythia, 
spirea, snow¬ 
ball, pearl bush 
and other early 
flowering 
shrubs should 
be pruned. Cut 
out the old, un- 
productive 
wood. 
19. It is un¬ 
wise to post¬ 
pone the sow¬ 
ing of farm 
crops any 
longer. Man¬ 
gels, sugar 
beets, carrots, 
turnips, etc., 
should be 
sown. As size is 
the important 
factor with 
these crops, 
early sowing 
is needed. 
26. Roses for 
flowering in the 
greenhouse 
next winter 
should be 
planted in the 
benches now. 
Use a rich, 
heavy soil for 
them, firm the 
beds thorough¬ 
ly after plant¬ 
ing, and top- 
dress occasion¬ 
ally with raw 
bone meal 
This calendar of the 
gardener’s labors is a 
reminder for undertak¬ 
ing all his tasks in sea¬ 
son. It is fitted to the 
Middle States, but it 
should be remembered 
that for every 100 miles 
north or south there is 
a difference of from 5 
to 7 days 
In looking back over the history of American horticulture and 
gardening during the lath century it is interesting to find that 
nearly all the men who followed these pursuits, either as 
amateurs, designers, tradesmen or cultivators, devoted a great 
deal of their time to writing about them. Times have changed, 
methods and tastes have been greatly improved, since Downing 
wrote his “Treatise on the Theory and Practice of Landscape 
Gardening” and Henderson his “Gardening for Profit,” but 
these u;ere revolutionary things then and they are still worth 
reading as books that came from men who were actually en¬ 
gaged in the things of which they wrote. It is this quality 
in our horticultural and gardening literature of the 19/7i cen¬ 
tury which gives it a peculiarly healthy tang, and if it ■is 
' out of date now it still carries with it the odor of the soil. 
MARSHALL P. WILDER 
An enthusiastic pomolo- 
gist and a generous patron 
of horticulture, Marshall 
P. Wilder did much during 
the early 19 th century to 
promote interest in fruits, 
especially, and flowers. 
He lived in New England 
from 1798 to 1886 
A. J. DOWNING 
The first famous landscape 
gardener in A m erica . 
Downing was also a dis¬ 
tinguished and influential 
writer on gardening sub¬ 
jects. His tendency was 
toward naturalistic design. 
He was born in 1815 and 
died in 1852. The por¬ 
traits on this page are re¬ 
produced through the 
courtesy of the Macmillan 
Co., publishers of the Cy¬ 
clopedia of Horticulture 
H. W. SARGENT 
A close friend of 
Downing and the 
father of Prof. 
Charles S. Sargent, 
director of the Ar¬ 
nold Arboretum, H. 
W. Sargent, by set¬ 
ting a fine example 
during a trying 
period, did much to 
develop enthusiasm 
for and good taste 
in gardening in 
America. He died 
in 1882 
PETER HENDER¬ 
SON 
Two books of Peter 
Henderson’s : “Gar¬ 
dening for Profit” 
and “P radical 
Floriculture”, have 
probably been the 
most influential 
native works on 
commercial v e g e - 
table and flower 
growing. Born a 
Scotchman he be¬ 
came a successful 
seedsman here. He 
died in 1890 
JAMES VICK 
Like many other horti- 
culturists of this period, 
James Vick zvas closely 
connected with horticul¬ 
tural journals. He was an 
editor of “The Genesee 
Farmer” and later the 
publisher of “The Horti¬ 
culturist.” He died in 1882 
