128 
A Suggested Garden House 
The little tool house shown in our August 
issue, which was used by Dr. Beal in his bot- 
anic Garden at East Lansing, suggests a sim- 
iliar one, with modifications, for the small 
yard garden. 
The enjoyment gotten from your garden is 
often discounted for lack of tools or, if you 
have them, for lack of a convient and handy 
place to keep them where they can be quickly 
gotten to. Besides, just having a place for 
the hoe, rake and shovel, is only a small part 
of the tool house. One wants a little raffia, 
or a stake, or the garden note book or may 
be a pencil to make a label, so many little 
things, if handy, increases the pleasure of the 
garden. You may want to give a small seed- 
ling to friend or visitor and if you can lay 
your hand on the trowel, a sheet of wrapping, 
paper, some damp moss and a string as 
well as a place to wrap it, without taking the 
rest of your spare time to locate them all, 
what an added pleasure your garden will be! 
My suggestion is to use a space on the 
north side of your garden, if at all possible, 
and build yourself a sort of cupboard! This 
need be only 142 feet deep, if space demands 
it but not over 3 feet at most. The width 
can vary, but 6 or 7 feet wide, will serve its 
purpose better. For height, at least 6 or 7 
feet. This can be built on a few blocks and 
of 2x4s. It should be sided with matched 
lumber, but the front should be made so as 
to open up, like any cupboard. For the 
top, make it to imitate a roof, just as if you 
had a little house and the eaves can be exs 
tended over the front 2 feet or so, to pro- 
vide a covering to work under. 
There are many variations, this roof part 
can take; even a false window can be put 
on hinges and be placed in the gable where 
light things can be stored. For the fiont, 
this can be made in various ways, but if the 
sides are carried around 6-10 inches on the 
front and a 2x4 put in for the frame, -on 
which the front doors can te hinged, you 
can hang such long tools as the rake, hoe and 
shovel, as well as bamboo stakes, etc. Two 
doors can be made to cover the front and to 
swing out from the center, that is the hinges 
should be at the sides. On the inside of the 
doors, small light things like stakes, raffia, 
etc., can be placed., as well as pruning sheers, 
saws, so often hard to find when you want 
them. 
Inside, you first want to make a work 
bench. This wants to be about 32 inches 
from the ground and made out of heavy 
Parsley will remove all traces of onions or 
garlic, from the breath, if eaten afterwards. 
lumber. or covered with sheet metal. On 
this you can do your potting, transplanting, 
etc., and under this bench you can provide 2 
or 3 bins for your soil. If your “house” is 2 
or 3 feet deep, you. can have quite a little 
space in which you can store, some good 
screened loam, some decayed manure or mix- 
ed compost. On a shelf, above this aad just 
under your work bench, some wooderi boxes 
can be set to hold lime and fertilizers. 
Above the work bench you will have shelv- 
es holding the various things needed to make 
your spare moments in your garden a pleas- 
ure. Your sprays and dusts should all be 
in quart glass jars ; your sprayer and duster 
in its place and various small items. 
When you find you have a half nour to 
spend amongst your flowers, all you have to 
do is to unlock the doors, swing them apart 
and there you are- Every thing right at your 
elbow! A small flat basket to hold gloves, 
note book, hand trowel, etc., will be handy 
and will also prevent them being left on the 
ground. 
Now, if you are fortunate to be able to 
place your “tool house” on the north side of 
your garden, you can extend the idea to a 
cold frame or even a hot-frame, by building 
them at the sides. Even a place with boards 
around it to serve as a cold frame, where 
your seedlings can be placed and where they 
can be covered with glass or lath. Even 
brackets can be placed above the doors of 
your ‘‘work house” on which you can place 
2 or 3 flats that are just germinating, where 
they can get the sun but be protected from 
hard rains by the eaves above. One of the 
little frames can be made into a little Tom 
Thumb greenhouse by adding the electric 
heating wires now sold and many early plants 
thus started. 
A small bed for cuttings can be added and 
no end to the many little conveniences that 
you can make. 
Last, but not least, is the covering for the 
“house” so that it will look like a real 
building built into the shrubbery or trees, 
with but the front in view. Some hardy 
vine should be planted at the sides and train- 
ed up over the roof to make this effect; even. 
a grape vine could be worked in here and 
what garden should be without one grape 
vine in it? 
We hope some of our readers already have 
such a “house” and that we may have pict- 
ures and discussions on it. 
JOHN INNES COMPOSTS 
Continued from Page 113 
it is recommended that the amounts should 
not be vared. This latter compost can also 
be used in flats for seedlings. Good garden 
soil gives just as good results as the best 
loams, providing it is in good physical con- 
dition. 
A clean sand and a good grade of peat 
moss need not be sterilized which leaves only 
the loam and garden soil. It is possible to 
get good results, even when the soil is not 
sterilized but one should use care to secure 
soil that is not liable to be diseased by former 
plants. 
Sift the loam thru a 42 inch seive before 
mixing. In storing, it is best to hold only 
two months; if longer, then store the soil, 
and mix later. 
On no account should hardy Fuchsias be 
pruned except in the spring when they should 
be given liquid manure. Best time to trans- 
plant them is in May. 
Annuals Under Glass 
Many annuals can be sown in September 
and October for flowering early in the 
spring. After the seedlings are large enough 
to transplant, move them to two inch pots 
and place them in a part of the greenhouse 
that is on the dry side, to avoid damping- 
off. They should also be watered carefully, 
not too much. When the roots have devel- 
oped well and fill the pot, liquid manure 
may be given them once a week. 
The following are suggested: 
Alonsoa Warscewiczii compacta, 10 inches 
high, and with pretty scarlet flowers. 
Antirrhinum or Snapdragon, use the inter- 
mediate type, sowing varieties seperate or 
mixed colors if you prefer. , 
Clarkia will grow to 4 feet; pinch back 
at the start; use the double flowered type. 
Godetia, either double or single and plant 
the taller type, 342 feet high. 
Mignonette should be planted direct to 
the pots as it resents being disturbed. Use 
the Machet or any special pot type. 
Nicotiana affinis grows to 3 feet and N. 
suaveoleus has smaller flowers, both sweetly 
scented. These can be grown in a shady part 
of the greenhouse and are especially fragrant 
in the evenings and early morning. 
Nemesia grows to one foot; use any of the 
large flowered sorts. 
Phacelia campanulata will bloom within six 
weeks from sowing. It is dwarf and showy. 
Petunias are always the favorite. The 
doubles and large single types are best for 
pot culture. Personally, I like the dwarf, 
compact small flowered kinds for pots, es- 
pecially where a neat compact plant is want- 
ed. The doubles and large flowered fringed 
types like the new Ramona strains are very 
popular and especially for later sales in the 
spring. 
For a low growing annual the Rhodante 
are good with their daisy-like everlasting 
flowers. 
Salpiglossus is another very popular pot 
plant. Its flowers are beautiful and for in- 
side growing get only the very best strain. 
It grows to 3 feet, 
Scabiosa grows to 3 feet and comes in sev- 
eral nice colors. 
Schizanthus or Butterfly Flower is a valu- 
able pot plant as it is always covered with 
its pretty flowers. 
Limonium sinuata and L. Suworowii make 
good pot plants; the latter especially is nice. 
In Stocks, either the Ten-Week, Beauty of 
Nice or Brompton types can be used. They 
come in several colors and it would seem 
that one color in a pot would be best. 
Ursinia is 9-10 inches high and with pretty 
orange flowers that close in the evening and 
on dark days. 
NOTE:Many of our readers have small 
greenhouses and only those possessing one 
can realize the pleasure it will afford its 
owner. We wish that any of our readers 
who have such a garden work house would 
write about it, that others may build one. 
GROWING PALMS FROM SEED 
The essential requirement in growing Palms 
from seed is a high temperature of 85 de- 
grees F. Seed can be sown any time. 
After they are potted, a summer temperat- 
ure of 60-65 degrees and a winter temperat- 
ure of 45-55 is necessary. ; 
They do not need repotting often but 
should be top-dressed with new soil and liq- 
uid manure can be given them twice a week 
during the summer months, especially if the 
roots are restricted. 
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