The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1906-06-30
WHAT oNB AoRB YIELDS.
MIR. George E.:Waters Has Worked Out
1.-The Problem of Ecapomy- Of. Space =.
in Family Gardening.

A suburban place containing but one acre, and
yet 30 well managed that space IS found for a
large lawn, good sized garden and chicken run.
is not found at every turn, but such place is
owned by Mr.. George e. Waters, of Mount
washington, says the Baltimore NeaCs. Mr..
Waters is a prominent lumber dealer in this
city, and four years ago he heard the "call of
the soil" before he responded. His beautiful
home, on Highland avenue, is the result.
AS one approaches this property he is first i'm
pressed with the spaciousness of the lawn. and
he wonders why it looks so much larger than the
neighboring ones. 1t can't be all lawn, because
he has heard about the wonderful garden and
chickens and so forth in the rear-so gradually
the conclusion is reached that it is because the
house Is not placed in the centre of it, but quite
at one side. You tell your discovery to your
host and he smiles an assent.
The lawn consists of wide sweep of closely
trimmed grass with no shrubbery dotted over it
to break the appearance of space. One bed of
low ornamental foliage is near the centre, and
that Is all. Along the side Of the lawn farthest
from the house and forming division line be-
tween his property and his neighbours is what
Mr.. Waters calls his hardy border" Forming
background Is succession of large shrubs
mock orange, forsyth purple, white and pink
lilacs, four varieties of spirea, the oldfashoned
rose OF Sharon and magnolias. AS will be seen,
all these do not blossom at one time, and when
their blooming time is over they form dark
green background for the more brilliant smaller
shrubs and flowers. The low shrubs come next,
and one of the prettiest of these is a barberry
bush-a native of the Rocky mountains.
The Japanese maple is another bright shrub
which has its home in this border. Then come
the large perennial plants. for there are no an
nuals in this border. The peonies are there in
all the glory of 81 varieties also the iris and the
phlox. oolumbines, Japanese anemones, bleed
ing heart larkspur, digitalis, better known as
foxglove, and many other varieties, some old
friends, and sope new varieties, all living side
by side. There Is always something in bloom in
this border from early in the spring till late in
the autumn.
There are flowers and plants from many cor
ners Of the world, yet when one looks at this
border there is no sense of crowding The flow
ers which are not in bloom simply form green
setting for those which are. There are peoples
from Iceland which come and bloom and grow
dormant before the other flowers have their
heads well out of the ground.
A rhododendron which came all the way from
the Himalayan mountains lives in this border,
and close by it is pancratinni (Which resembles
our amaryllis, except that it is hardy peren-
niaD from the West Indies. A hydrangea is
there from Korea, and peoples from the Orient
bloom everywhere. A magnolia from China has
also been recently added to the collection. Close
by the border is one of Mr.. Waters most cher
ished possessions. This is a real Egyptian lotus,
straight from the Nile. 1t lives in piece of
terra Gotta pipe "a inches in diameter, which is
- 4al..1
in diameter and the leaves are two feet in diane
ter and last year this lilly had 10 blossoms on it,
1t is interesting to note that the Egyptian lotus
is the only plant known to science that abso-
lutely refuses to be improved by hybridising.
One of the most attractive features of this
lawn is the pergola, which serves to divide the
lawn from the garden in the rear. 1t is 80 feet
long, and at each of the six pillars on the front
side different variety of clematis has been
trained. On the other side grape vines COM
pletely shut off from view the vegetable garden,
although it is quite as wonderful place as the
hardy border" and should be the observed of
all observers
It is safe to say that Mr.. Waters comes nearer
to growing everything there is to eat than any
other suburbanite around Baltimore. To go
over the list of all the things which raised in
this garden is like reading catalogue sent out
by the professional gardeners and seed men.
The garden and fruits occupy but about a
quarter of an acre, but by the slkilful manage
ment of crops and knowledge of the length of
time 1t takes them to mature, a vast quantity OF
stuff is raised on the land. Here are some of the
combinations which Mr.. Waters uses:
Early peas are planted in rows about "a inches
apart, and between these rows, at the same time,
radish seeds are sown. These will mature at
about the same time the peas bloom-then plant
sugar corn where the radishes were. The corn
will be we'll started by the time the peas have
matured, and this will be the second early crop
of corn. When it is gone spinach is sown for
fall use.
Late peas are planted in rows about 80 inches
apart. Between these rows kohlrabi (known as
the cabbage turnip) and lettuce, which natures
about the same time the peas bloom, are plant
ed. Just before the peas mature, tomatoes are
started. These too, will be the second early
crop, and when they have ripened kale can be
sownfor winter use.
Early corn is planted SO inches apart, and be-
tween the rows string beans, which will mature
before the corn has grown enough to shade it.,
are sown. When this corn has matured the
ground is prepared for celery beds.
Cabbage and onions are begun in rows IS inches
apart, and just before these mature corn is
planted in alternate rows. This will be the late
corn crop, and when it is gone spinach can be
sown for spring use. String beans, radishes and
lettuce mature so rapidly that they are planted
in small quantities about every two weeks dur
ing the whole season, generally following some
thing Just mature or at times succeeding them
selves.
When the summer is over and cold weather
comes, it generally finds the garden full of win
ter vegetables-such as parsnips, carrots, spin
acb, kale and celery. Mr.. Waters insists that it
takes no particular art to produce all this-just
a knowledge of the different varieties and the
length of time it takes each one to mature. But
the usefulness of this garden is not yet over.
When all the winter vegetables are harvested,
the whole garden is planted in tulips, and these
bloom in the early spring before it is time to
SOW the garden seed.
Last spring this garden had 5000 tulip plants
in bloom at one time, and glimpse of it at this
time would make the visitor forget the work-a-
day world about him and almost make him look
for the windmills and wooden shoes of Holland.
There are the usual number of small fruits, viz,
strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and cur
rants, besides IA varieties of grapes, five plum
trees. all different varieties, eight pear trees
and ounce Cre0s 1ucu Jucro dIc IWO TOWS III
this garden devoted to 1owers-phlox and irises.
These flowers are great hybridisers, and to keep
the hardy border from becoming crowded and
to keep only choice varieties in it, they are
moved to the garden as they come up, are allowed
to bloom there, and all but the choice varieties
are discarded. Then, too, there is row of sweet
peas. the seeds of which were procured from
England from the collection of the world re-
nowned hybridiser-the late Henry Eckford.
The next thing to which one is attracted is the
chicken run. While not very large, the space is
so utilized that, at the present time, there are
225 chickens-150 of these being young ones, and
some of these are-broiling size. The breeds Mr..
Waters raises are Barred Plymouth Rock, Buff
Plymouth Rock and Partridge Cochins,and each
one of these breeds have separate runs.
b. -e-
J Prizes Won in Govanstown School.-The
closing exercises of Govanstown public school,
of which Mr.. Robert D. Mosner is principal,
were of an unusually interesting character.
Those who took part were Edwin Ruxton,
Ruth Cover, Gussie Cogswell, Lillian Hutch,
Mary Carter Elsie Andrea, Margaret Devices,
Alfred Denison, Mary Hughes, Walter Heis-
terman, Myrtle Henderson, Carl Andrea,
Gladys Cox, Dorothy Medinger, Evelyn Regis
ter, Samuel Devices, Bessie Rupert, Eleanor
Matthews, Allen Garter, Loretta Ammenheuser,
Lawrence Craig Spencer Smith, Margaret Bell