Daily Kennebec journal., 1897-05-01
Timely Floral Notes.

Ii is time to start cuttings from car
nations for next winters garden. At
| ter they are well rooted and the
ground and weather are warm, plant
out in the border until September. They
should be kept growing, but not al
| lowed to bloom.
If the leaves on your SNOWFALL bushes
curl up almost as soon as they begin to
grow and the blooms are imperfect,
spray the plant (before il blooms) with
weak kerosene emulsion, or weak soap
suds, made If possible from some insec-
ticide soap, preferably tobacco soap,
taking particular pains to wet the un-
derside of the leaves, as there is where
the insect turks that is making the
trouble.
Potted plants that are to do duty in
the garden should be gradually accus-
toned to out door air, part of the day
on sunny sheltered veranda, or In
some sheltered place out of doors. being
returned to a cool room nights. Or, II
this makes too much work, they can be
kept in some shed or open room. all the
time leaving the windows open only
through the middle-of the pleasant days
at first. Later. as the weather grows
warmer and the plants harder. leaving
them open day and night except in
severe storms. Thus your plants will
be able to endure a'tranfer to the open
ground without so great a check.
1t is a great temptation to get to
work in the garden the first warm days
of spring But it is better to expend
ardor on removing the covering and
mulch from the hardy plants and vines,
than in getting the tender plants out
door, or in working the soil when 1t Is
wet and cold. Haste makes waste"
and Hurry makes worry" In nothing
do we find these old sayings truer than
in gardening. If we get our tender
plants into the ground too early. cold
winds and rains and frosty nights re-
tard our gardens bloom far more than
our early work forwards II. Working
the ground when cold and wet causes
the soil to back. forming crust that
chokes the roots of newly set plants.
and makes a covering tender seed can
not break. And what do nine out of
every ten people do when their seed
fails to germinate? Why, blame the
florist, of course.
l-oNtTS Va lIdl iO"Oi' ehe
sweet pea, will be interested in the fol-
lowing, by Rev. w. T. Hutchins. an au-
thority on the culture of this floral ia
vorite: We must abandon the trench
method of planting sweet peas. The
trench method was used to secure deep
planting. and the substitute for deep
planting is firming the soil. Since the
trench method apparently causes the
blight, we must stop 1t. Sweet peas do
best in a heavy soil, and you can get
very nearly the same effect. IL your soil
is light, by firming it. Plant, il posi-
bic, in your vegetable garden. where
the soil has been deepened and enriched
in past seasons And if where your row
comes it has been newly spaded, tread
it down considerably before planting.
This treading will hollow out the place
for your row about right-and 1t VIII
thus collect moisture. and by its COM
pactness will hold 1t. In this hollow
scratch the lines for your seed one inch
deep, covering it only one inch. and hrm
the ground above the seed. When the
seeds come up do not fill in any earth
about them for at least six weeks.
Every time you hoe, firm the ground
compactly about them, and don't lei
moles loosen it up. Vines that come up
in the well-trod path do not have tue
blight This method applies to light
soil in which the blight in troublesome
In the case of heavy soil it settles soon
IF itself, and the surface OF 1t must. o.
course, be kept from baking. In either
case, after the buds begin to appear.
put on a light mulching to shade the
ground"