The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1914-02-16
w. E. linsseY

m ~ - H&H green and thrifty"
tekza4 AlahMab L rather expect IL
w. II. Massey. Is bccause~y you have
been keeping II too warm. The Daphne
odorata thrives best in moist and
cool greenhouse, where 1t Is not over
40 to 46 degrees ut night. In dwell
ing 1t will do best in sunny window
In room without fire except In cx-
trcmeiy cold weather. l have always
found that young plants bloom better
than old ones. and as the plant roots
easily from cuttings one and two
year-old plants viii give more bloom
than after they get older. Still your
plant should bloom III you keep II out
OF hot and dry room. and keep 1t
cool
IIotbed Trnme-SuSsestions.
A correspondent. whose post Office
cannot make out from his letter or his
envelope. says that he is making
special scrapbook for these columns.
ana that 1T would he an Improvement
OF the week, dcvoting certain days to
different classes OF correspondents.
But the difficulty In this is that
wish to reply to each as coon as pos
sible. and what these columns arc in
tended to accomplish IL to reply an
speedily as possible. and tell farmcra
and gardeners just what they want to
know. ] have to seek to aid all az
speedily as possible. and II would not
be practicable TO classify tho various
correspondents. Ny correspondent
asks what should be the distance In
franc between the soil and the glass,
fsd says that his tomato plants grow
too tall and slim. and he supposed u
was because they had too much head
room In the frame. i make my frames
fourteen inches Mt the back and
twelve inches In front. The growing
of your tomatoes too tall and slim Was
not by reason of the height OF the
frame so much as from crowding and
deficient attention To ventilation. A
very small hotbcd will start plants
enough for "A large cold frame. into
which they ahould DO trnnsplantcd.
Letting tomato plants remain crowded
in hotbed and iransplauted directly
from the seed bed To the garden will
always result in tall, slim plants
My tomato plants. from seed sown the
middle OF February. arc twice trans
planted. being sown In shallow box
In the greenhouse and transphnted
there to other boxes and finally TO the
frames. where thcy are Get four inches
apart are about ten inches high.
and with stems stout as
thick lead pencil when they go
into the garden. You cannot make
good tomato plants by simply sowing
In hotbed and letting them stay
crowded there.
lie Cured the Pen Hay.
Cumberland County: 81 thank you
very much for your With the Farm
ers' In The Times Dispatch ] am an
old man, but young farmer. MS re-
Gently came into possession OF some
land and soon found that II did not pay
To rent II out, so concluded 10 build
IL up, and AIN charmed with the way
the WORKOUT land will respond TO
proper treatment. have n lot OF fne
pea vines. cured as near your direc-
lions as l could. and II has opened my
eyes az 10 pca-vine hay, for have
heard so iEany old farmers say that IL
was useless TO SOW peas for hay. as
1t was almost impossible to cure 1t.
But find Il an easy matter"
I print this letter to show that farm
ers arc hndinS out that the cowpeas
are not hard TO cure for hay. / have
been making cowpea hay for RAINY
years. and have never used any Of the
various contrivances stakes or scat
folds that merely dry il up and lose
the leaves. the best part of the hay.
! have told the farmers for years that
cowpeas are as easily cured as any
other hay, IL they simply let them cure
and do not expose them to bleaching
in the sun on the ground. but cure IN
winrow. cock and barn. Even rain on
the cocks does no great harm. as II
does with clover. 1t darkens the hay
some ii is true, but does very little
injury to itA quality. Still. it Is best
to protect 1t, and the farmer with a
large area in peas for hay VIII be
wise TO provide cotton hay caps for the
cocks. Years ago there We're com
pressed paper hay caps Introduced. but
these are worse than useless. They
shed the water off, Of course but they
shut down the moisture within and
NO AL To fn tim
makes the best hay cap
DiskinG Alfalfa.
Dinwiddie County: we have q piece
OF alfalfa, with right much foreign
matter iii il. and would like 10 know
If 1t will do To work 1t with an alfalfa
spike disk? This alfalfa was sown
Two years ago last September. Would
1t be safe to work 1T In the next thirty
or sixty days? We read your articles
In The Times-D ispatch with a great
deal OF interest" Alfalfa ut that age
will he greatly improved by disking.
The best time to do 1t is just before
1t starts a strong growth With you.
probably. I'm March.
Strawberries I'm BOTTOM I.nnd,
"Can L grow Strawberries success
fully on a we'll drained piece Of bot.
tom land?" The only danger In such
location is frost in spring. / have
grown large crops of strawberries on
the DolLoin lanuS OIL MechumS River, In
Albemarle County, and. while frost
sometimes damaged few blooms, a
fine crop wns made every year. For
tunately. about the best main crop
strawberry, the Chesapeake. liz cspe-
cially suited to such conditions. be-
cause of it's nabit OF late blooming.
The Geneva, y. Y, experiment sta
ton says: chesapeake Is one OF the
most promising of the comparatively
new berries 1t has several distinc-
tive characteristics, chief Of which is
the vigor and health OF the plants, and
the beauty and attractivencss of the
fruit Tho plants do not multiply so