The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1884-05-15
LOYAL WOM4NS WORK
Flower Culture - Our Experience
Meeting Relief Corps News.
rconductod 5p Kate B. sherwOod.1

What a very pretty employment gardening
and flower growing is for women Why should
it be so greatly neglected? The few women
we have known who have made it business
have found enjoyment, with profit far beyond
their calculations; while those who simply
grow their own flowers and vegetables are
always devoted to their occupation and anxious
to renew it from year to year.
To successfully manage children, or animals,
one must have sincere affection for them
must know their peculiarities, study their
habits, understand where To restrain and where
to allow the natural bent full sway. So with
plants and flowers; and this must account for
the well-knOWn fact that with some persons
they viii pine and languish, or become wild
and unruly, do what they viii, while with
others they win bloom themselves almost to
death at a touch. Next TO languishing plants
are the unframed and leafy. You have all
seen hardy cuTraBt bushes that never have any
cuTTants. and luxuriant grape vines that never
bear grapes. You have seen thrifty rose bushes
without roses, and flowers and shrubs that run
al to leaves and viii not bloom or bear. The
strawberry is particularly reflected upon in
many cases because Of its tendency to strike
out runners and refuse to bear fruit.
Now, every one of these gardeners will tell
you il is not his Tor herr fault that he has no
currauts or grapes; that his roses do not bloom
or his strawberries multiply and blush with
sweetness. The rich, dark leaves viii prove
that he has not denied them loamy soil or
grateful water What, then, is the matter 2
II Is not neglect is strenuOusly maintained.
BHt if not neglect, what is it?
Nhat is it? Lack Of intelligence, of family
government in the kingdom of plants, if you
choose. The plants are nourished, but not
nurtured. They are q family of lawleSs chill
dren; they need the pruning hook and the
knife. The superfuous growths must be cut
away, that the buds may strengthen and un-
fold, the flower expand in all its beauty and
the iruit swell and ripen for the day of in
gathering.
Now. TO be practical, what shall you do?
Begin with your roses. 1t is not enough that
you dig around them every spring and enrich
the soil in which they grow. Cut them down
take on the long upper shoots and start them
from the strong, healthy buds. Your roses
VIII be large and rich and beautiful. With
berries do the same. Crop Off your raspberrics
and blackberries and tie them to stakes. Clip
the runners from your strawberries and nip of
the hrst buds that appear on your geraniums
OF other transplanted flowers.
Almost all garden plants are improved by
destroying the first buds; cucumbers especially
are finer if this is done Tomatoes should al
ways be stripped of their axilary growths.
Keep them from struggling by cutting off the
runners. Stake them and hold them down to
{ height Of two feet and a half, letting the
fruit fall over trellis. Lettuce, if allowed to
spindle, viii run to seed, but if kept clipped
VIII keep tender and sweet. Radishes grown
IN poor soil win be hard and pithy. Have
your soil very rich and they viii grow rapidly.
In short. study your plants and their habits.
Treat them with the same consideration you
extend 70 animate beings-your dog or your
cat, your horse or your parrot Apply the rule
Of common sense and your success as a gar
dener is assured beforehand.