Part 7

Large clump of Arundo Donax in centre. First row, three feet out, three Erianthus Ravennæ, six feet apart; second row, twelve Eulalia gracillima univittata, two feet apart.

Eight-foot Bed

A large clump of Setaria magna in the centre. First row, Coix lachryma, eighteen inches apart; second row, twenty inches out, Pennisetum Ruppellianum, eighteen inches apart.

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I cannot too highly recommend the planting of ornamental grasses on the lawn. They are extensively used in parks and in other public grounds, but not nearly so extensively as they should be on private grounds. Many of them are perfectly hardy, and once established grow in beauty from year to year; others in the Northern States may be easily wintered in the cellar, while still others may be cheaply and easily raised from seed each year.

Chapter TWO Soils

In every garden the matter of soil is of first importance. In case of an outdoor garden the existing conditions will largely determine the class of plants to be grown.

A good loam—that is a non-coherent mixture of clay and sand with a proportion of such decayed vegetable matter as leaves and the fibrous roots of grasses—is the best garden soil, being what is termed warm and early. Soil containing a good proportion of sand is warm, while a preponderance of clay makes what is known as cold or wet soil.

If there is good drainage, cold soil can be rendered lighter, sandier and more friable by the liberal application of manure, which in two or three years will quite change its character. But this is a long time to wait, and to get quick results it will be necessary, after laying out the garden and outlining the beds, to remove the earth to a depth of twenty inches or more, filling in with soil suitable for the class of plants to be grown in each bed. In the beds intended for Roses, however, the clay may be left, as Roses require this soil. Where it is not present it should be supplied and added to each year, as the heavy manuring which Roses require constantly reduces the relative proportion of clay. For the Pansy bed nothing better than leaf-mould from the woods can be procured. For this bed remove six or eight inches of earth, spade in a good supply of old, well-rotted manure from the cow-stable, top-dress with several inches of leaf-mould. You will have a bed that will give magnificent Pansies and few weeds. For the Salvia, Canna, Ricinus, Caladium and other strong-growing plants no soil is better than the muck or peat of swamps—soil composed of partly carbonised vegetable matter decomposed by the action of water. Leaf-mould consists of vegetable matter which has decayed without being submerged, and it usually contains a liberal quantity of sharp, white sand, to which it owes its friable, non-adhesive character. Leaf-mould is commonly found around decayed stumps and in hollow places in the woods, where the leaves have drifted and decayed. It is ready for immediate use. Muck or peat, however, which is found in bogs and swamps, is unfit for garden use when freshly dug—except for aquatic plants—being tough and fibrous. It should therefore be dug during the summer, thrown in a heap and left for the winter frost to rot and render tractable. For immediate use the best method is to place it in a deep hole in the bed and cover with several inches of loam, or old muck. If this is kept worked or mulched to exclude air and retain the moisture in the muck, excellent results may be secured. The bed may also be partly filled with muck and covered with loam, the whole object being to prevent the muck drying out into hard lumps, as it will, when green, on exposure to sun and air. The following spring the loam may be spaded into the muck, giving a warm, mellow, exceedingly rich soil that will grow anything. The importance of starting out with good soil cannot be too strongly urged. It seems at first sight to call for a considerable expenditure of time and money—especially where the earth must be purchased and the labour paid for—but in the long run it is a decided saving.

With unsuitable soil there must be many failures, resulting in loss of both plants and seeds, and this in itself is no small expense. The labour of caring for such a garden is many times greater, for the top-dressing of manure required produces an incessant crop of weeds, which must be removed, not once, but many times during the summer, while beds filled with leaf-mould or muck need but one or two weedings. The weeds which grow naturally in these soils do not flourish in the open ground. A few Smartweeds and Nettles may be expected in the one case, and Violets and Spring-beauties in the other. In the manured garden soil an endless procession of Purslane, Malice, Ragweed and the like must be constantly watched for. The presence of clay and gravel in the soil always renders it hard and given to caking, necessitating frequent cultivation; while muck-beds, after the preliminary spading in the spring, remain free and mellow throughout the season.

Replacing soil presents more difficulties to city dwellers than to those living in the country, or in small towns, but, as there are in the vicinity of most of our cities rich peat lands, it ought not to be difficult to obtain one or two loads of this useful material. Near the small towns are always to be found farmers who own or live near marsh-land, and can supply muck, especially where they have been ditching. A good waggon-load may be had at prices ranging from fifty cents to two dollars, according to the distance to be hauled. The cost in the city would, of course, be much greater.

It is well for the amateur gardener to learn early in her experience to keep her eyes open to all things pertaining to the success of the garden. When driving, note the marsh-lands easily accessible from the highway, especially where they have been ditched or partially reclaimed, and interview the owner or tenant. In the dull season on the farm the owner of such soil may be glad to earn an extra dollar or two, and it may also be suggested to the farmers’ boys, who have marsh-and wood-lands, that they may earn pocket-money by calling on people known to be cultivating flowers or building new homes, to solicit their orders. Many people who grow flowers do not know where to apply for earth, and an advertisement in a local paper would, doubtless, prove advantageous to customer and purveyor. On hillsides along the road, and places which the rain has washed, one may gather quantities of pure white or grey sand for potting. Yellow sand is not suitable for such use, as it contains much clay and cakes badly after watering, while the white or grey sand remains line and loose.

Leaf-mould is not so readily procurable, as it must be gathered from suitable patches through the woods, and the farmers do not like to bother with it. Besides, they are likely to dig up much undesirable under-soil. It is better to go one’s self for this. A still better way is to make your own leaf-mould. Thus: when sod is removed from the ground for any purpose, shake out the fine soil that adheres to it for future use; or slice off the fine roots with a sharp knife just below the crown of the grass. This is known as fibrous loam, and, in combination with leaf-mould, old manure and fine, sharp sand, makes the very finest potting soil. Throw the tops of the sods in a heap in some out-of-the-way corner and add the rakings of the yard in fall and spring, all weeds pulled during the summer, all vegetable refuse, potato-parings, apple-peelings, corn-husks, and berry-hulls—anything that has vegetable matter and will decay. All dish-water and slops that are not needed on the garden may be thrown on the pile, which should be turned over occasionally during the winter. By the following spring you will have the finest kind of leaf-mould. Not all of the pile will have decayed, but along the sides and underneath it will be found ready for use. Add to it every bit of available vegetable matter during the year, including the annual flowers pulled up after their season of bloom, the tops of such root-plants as Cannas, Caladiums, Gladioli, etc., and you will soon have a supply quite adequate to the needs of an ordinary garden. Where there are water-works the hose may be turned on frequently to hasten decomposition. If it is impossible to replace all poor soil in the garden with better, by the addition of leaf-mould and manure, much may be accomplished in the way of building up the old and rendering it suitable.

If the plot to be used can be ploughed up, well manured, and sown to clover, the clover turned under in the fall, a good top-dressing of manure given, and the whole turned again in the spring, the soil should be in good garden condition.

Where the soil is a good, warm loam the addition of fertilisers will always give excellent results, though there is the disadvantage of weeds and extra cultivation to consider. The first cost of suitable earth is great, but it pays in the end in the saving of fertilisers, labour, expensive seeds and flowers.

Chapter THREE Fertilisers

Fertilisers in the form of animal manures, chemicals or vegetable matter come next in importance to a good soil. Horse, cow, sheep, and poultry droppings are the cheapest and most direct in results. Of the four, cow manure is probably the best for the majority of plants, especially Pansies, Iris, Violets, Ferns and others which love a cool soil. Cow manure is known as a cool manure, and is suitable for a warm or sandy soil. Horse manure, which is more heating, especially when from young stock, is better on cold or clayey soil, as it has the effect of breaking up the adhesiveness of the clay and promoting the formation of sand. Hen manure is very warm and is therefore most suitable for cold soils. Sheep manure is especially desirable for Roses and house-plants, about one part manure to six of earth being the proportion.

Good results may be obtained by the use of any or all of these, if in the proper condition and judiciously applied. Manure is in proper condition when it has passed completely through the heating or fermenting stage. Fresh manure should never be placed where it, or the water that leaches from it, can possibly come in contact with the plants; manure should be six months or, better still, a year old before being used. Old and well-rotted manure has much the appearance of rich, black earth, and is readily assimilated by the plants. It should be fine and free from such rough litter as corn-stalks, cobs, and long straws, and should be thoroughly mixed with the soil. As manure is full of the seeds of weeds and grasses, it is better, when applying it in the spring, to remove a portion of the top-soil and work the manure into the subsoil by spading, and then to return the top-soil. This will prevent their germination and save a great deal of weeding during the summer.

Manure that retains its original form is too fresh to use and should be thrown in a heap and frequently forked over to hasten decomposition. It will be fit by another season, but older stuff must be procured for present use. Where there is room it is a wise provision to keep a pile of manure from year to year, in order to avoid the inconvenience of looking for it when you need it. No better expenditure can be made by the gardener than in purchasing several loads of old manure, when it is discovered in some neighbouring barn-yard. If one has no supply and must purchase, the matter should be attended to in the fall at latest, to allow ample time for saving it. Farmers usually draw the manure on the land as it accumulates, so that it is difficult to obtain in the spring.

Ashes contain a certain amount of phosphates, which tend to sweeten the soil. They are also beneficial in increasing the strength or stiffness of the stalks, and for this reason are valuable for Aster and Gladiolus beds; they should never be mixed with manure, as is frequently done, but should be strewn over the surface of the soil after the other fertilisers are worked in. Ashes mixed with manure release the ammonia of the latter, depriving it of one of its most valuable properties. Ammonia itself is not a fertiliser but a stimulant, creating in the plant a desire for the food stored up in the manure—in other words, an appetiser. Plants, like people, will not eat unless they have an appetite, and manure mixed with ashes is poorer and much less valuable in every way to the farmer and gardener. Soot is another excellent chemical fertiliser, adding much to the richness of colour in both flower and foliage. Apply either dry or mixed with the surface-soil, or in the form of a tea made by pouring water over the soot in a vessel. Draw off the liquid after the mixture has settled and apply it around the roots of the plants, taking care that it does not touch the foliage. It is especially good for Pansies and Roses.

Manure-water is a good way to apply animal fertiliser, as it is fairly free from the seeds of weeds, which constitute the chief drawback to the solid form. To prepare it take a water-tight barrel or half-barrel and put a spigot in the side near the bottom. Place three or four inches of clean straw in the barrel, letting it come well up above the spigot, then fill half full of manure. It is not necessary that the manure should be so very old; it needs only to have passed the fermentation period. Fill the barrel with water. Fit a tight cover over it and it is soon ready to use. As long as the liquid runs the colour of coffee or a strong tea the manure will not need renewing, and more water may be added from time to time, but when it shows signs of exhaustion empty the barrel, put the refuse on the compost heap and fill the barrel as before. If the liquid is to be used on pot-plants it will be better to use boiling water in the barrel to destroy the eggs and chrysalis of the white-worms and other larvæ that infest the manure; or add a half teaspoonful of Paris green to the water. The first drawings from the barrel should be well diluted before using, especially when applied to dry soil. If hen manure is used, it should be made much weaker than other manures, as it is very heating and likely to burn the roots of plants. A convenient way to handle the manure barrel is to carry a watering-pot of water to the barrel each time, emptying it in at the top and drawing off a corresponding amount at the spigot—in this way the barrel is kept constantly full and extra steps saved. Liquid manure may also be prepared by filling a pail half full of manure, adding boiling water, and dipping off the liquid when the sediment is settled.

After a heavy rain there will often be a pool in some corner of the barn-yard where sufficient liquid manure may be dipped up to fill a barrel or hogshead. Where the barn-yard is paved with cobble-stones—as all barnyards should be, for health and cleanliness—a catch-basin may be easily arranged which the natural slope of the land will fill when it rains. This will more than pay for the trifling outlay for its construction, as it need only be a depression in the soil, covered with cement. Even stiff clay will answer. It is surprising how carelessly farmers let such valuable property go to waste while they buy load after load of manure at the stables in town and haul it long distances. The yield of the strawberry-and asparagus-beds alone would be sufficiently increased to pay for such a catch-basin many times over.

Soapsuds furnish another excellent fertiliser, and every drop of water from the wash-room, bed-room and kitchen should be saved and applied around the roots of plants—especially Roses, Dahlias, and vines, which never seem to get enough of either moisture or nourishment. Slop-water should not be put on the foliage of plants, as it leaves a scum that is difficult to get rid of.

A very good substitute for commercial bone-meal may be manufactured at home by saving all the bones from the kitchen, throwing them into a stone jar, covering them with strong lye, and allowing them to remain until soft enough to be pulverised and dug into the soil. The lye that remains may also be applied to the soil after being diluted with water. Blood obtained at the slaughter-house is an excellent fertiliser, containing much easily assimilated plant food in a soluble form. Feathers contain much valuable material in the way of phosphates, but are not suitable for the annual beds. They may be applied to shrubs and hardy perennials by digging them into the ground at a little distance from the plants, where the roots will reach out and find them. Hoof-parings from the blacksmith shop are also valuable for the perennial bed. Indeed, with all the forms of plant food available there is no excuse for starving plants. There are, of course, many commercial plant foods and fertilisers on the market, bone-meal and guano being the most reliable among them, but many of them are expensive and uncertain in their action. Being highly concentrated they are likely to do harm in the hands of the inexperienced. The natural manures are the safest.

In using liquid manures either on the open ground or on potted plants, they should only be applied when the soil has been well watered the day before, never when it is dry. The plant, being supplied with all it needs to drink, absorbs only what it requires for nourishment and is less likely to be injured by an overdose. The moisture in the soil serves also to reduce the strength of the manure.

In applying old cow or horse manure to new beds a wheel-barrow load to every nine square feet is not too much for strong growing plants such as Ricinus, Cannas, and Salvias. Half that quantity of hen manure will be sufficient.

Chapter FOUR The Hotbed, Cold-Frame and Sand-box

The hotbed is an enclosure, affording bottom heat and protection from cold, for the propagation of tender plants unsuited to sowing in the open ground, and for starting plants too early in the season for open-air operations. The hotbed is usually started in February or March in the latitude of Philadelphia, while April is early enough in the latitude of Detroit and Chicago. Plants are transferred to the open ground when all danger of frost is past. With the exception of a few plants like Poppies, which do not bear disturbance, all seeds yield better results if planted where they have protection in their early stages from drying wind, burning sun and nipping cold. This protection the cold-frame gives, while the hotbed affords the additional advantage of artificial heat. Plants thus started will be ready to transplant about the time seeds could be started in the open ground—an important gain in northern latitudes, where, between the early and late frosts there is hardly time for the maturing of annuals.