There are a number of greenhouse crops which are easily within the reach of the amateur who has at his disposal a small glass structure. One is apt to feel that something much more...
12.--_Paris green:_--This is the standard remedy for eating-bugs and worms. With a modern dusting machine it can be put on dry, early in the morning when the dew is still on. Somet...
Plums have many enemies but fortunately they can all be effectively checked. First is the curculio, to be treated as described above. For leaf-blight--spotting and dropping off of...
The Night-blooming Cereus is an interesting plant, and excites much admiration when in flower, as it blooms at night-time only, the flowers closing up when exposed to the day-light...
Grafting is a simple art, that both old and young should become acquainted with and be able to perform. In my garden there had stood, for a number of years, away in a corner by its...
In the eastern United States, summertime rainfall can support gardens without irrigation but is just irregular enough to be worrisome. West of the Cascades we go into the summer gr...
Standard apple trees, fully grown, will require thirty to forty-five feet of space between them each way. It takes, however, ten or twelve years after the trees are set before all...
Do not spray peaches. For the curculio, within a few days after the flowers are off, take a large sheet of some cheap material to use as a catcher. For large orchards there is a co...
Carpet-Bedding is not the most artistic phase of gardening, by any means, but it has a great attraction for many persons who admire masses of harmonious and contrasting colors more...
Jan. 1st--Send for catalogues. Make planting plan and table. Order seeds. Feb. 1st--Inside: cabbage, cauliflower, first sowing. Onions for plants. Feb. 15th--Inside: lettuce, cabba...
There are other things of minor importance but worth considering, such as the shape of your garden plot, for instance. The more nearly rectangular, the more convenient it will be t...
Few persons who daily pass attractive homes in the suburban districts of our large cities and the outlying country, realize that much of their charm is due to effects which require...
Keep the garden clean from late weeds--especially purslane, the hot- weather weed pest, which should be always _removed_ from the garden and burned or rotted down. Sow spinach, rut...
Of the native gooseberries--which are the hardiest, Downing and Houghton's Seedling are most used. Industry is an English variety, doing well here. Golden Prolific, Champion, and C...
The day has gone, probably forever, when setting out fruit trees and giving them occasional cultivation, "plowing up the orchard" once in several years, would produce fruit. Apples...
For singularity and grotesqueness of form, as well as for the exceptional conditions under which they grow to the best advantage, no class of plants is more remarkable than the Cac...
Children are more or less observers of nature, and frequently far more so than their elders. This, perhaps, is in a great measure to be accounted for from the fact that childhood i...
_Sowing date:_ March. Parsley seed takes two to three weeks to germinate. _Spacing:_ Thin to 12 inches apart in a single row 4 feet wide. Five plants should overwhelm the average k...
_Frames_. Make deep hotbeds for winter lettuce and radishes. Construct frames for use next spring. See that vegetables in cellar, bins, and sheds are safe from freezing. Trench or...
For white-grub and cut-worm see pages elsewhere in the text. For rust, which frequently injures the leaves so seriously as to cause practical loss of crop, choose hardy varieties a...
The worst of these is the common currant-worm. When he appears, which will be indicated by holes eaten in the lower leaves early in spring, generally before the plants bloom, spray...
_Hotbeds_. A little early for making them until after the 15th, but get all your material ready--manure, selected and stacked; lumber ready for any new ones; sash all in good repai...
When watering plants avoid wetting the foliage as much as possible, as they will not bloom as freely as if the leaves were dry. Geraniums are known to bloom a great deal more freel...
Formerly it was the custom for gardeners to invest their labors and achievements with a mystery and secrecy which might well have discouraged any amateur from trespassing upon such...
Many growers argue that potatoes should be planted whole. The only plausible theory in support of whole seed is, that the few eyes that do start have a greater supply of starch ava...
Unwatered spring-sown bulbing onions are impossible. Leek is the only allium I know of that may grow steadily but slowly through severe drought; the water-short gardener can depend...
Maintaining topsoil humus content in the 4 to 5 percent range is vital to plant health, vital to growing more nutritious food, and essential to bringing the soil into that state of...
The little green insects so frequently seen on house-plants, are called aphis (plural aphides), plant-lice, or green-fly. They feed upon the tender growth of plants, especially the...
A very simple thing sometimes will look the most attractive. By driving two limber poles into the ground by the side of each of two gate posts, and bringing the two ends of the pol...
It is much more difficult to grow good roses than to grow either chrysanthemums or carnations. They are more particular as to soil and as to temperature, and more quickly affected...