Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1921-02-09

! a tlEtlF WoIu III hiIlultSS SpplNtIr
A motion or a tear
Has often healed the heart that's
broken
And made friend sincere. &
Whittier
Dear NJ. B. Friends;
The long-looked-fo letter from
Aunt Maria has arrived: Thanks
for telling us about potting plants
and everything else you have writ
ten.
Jan. &c, 1921.
Dear NJ BIS:
| greet you. This is cold night, but
the wind doesn't blow and for that I'm
very glad. We are here on the dear old
| farm, all snugged in for winter.
| We've had a few days of Shedding but
just now, mostly bare ground and we'd
| rather have it that way than have too
| much snow, like last winter.
| / have fine looking house plants,
| this winter to cheer me up-three
| large pals of geranums, gloxinia in
| full bloom, a pot of narcissus, four
| colors of coleus snapdragon, petu-
| mia, vinca. rose gerapium and
| shamrock (now called oxalis but
like the Old name best) The gerani-
| ums are in bloom. So you see we've
| had something to enjoy over and
| through the cold spells. / so wish
! you could see the gloxinia-biG pur-
pie bells. more than three inches
across, and long, with white mottled
| threats. 1t is early for them to bios
| som, it's an extra treat.
| Now about the giant oxalis-my
really big giant oxalis rests itself.
All summer they bloom freely; when
| it gets cold they die down and lie
| dormant It'll April, but they are so
| snowy and odd. l have quite lot of
| them for summer time. Ford didn't
notice the giants. No, l had such
large pail of just the small-leaved
| shamrock she spoke of it as gigantic
and 1T was. for it was in a fourteen
quart horse pail and it grew high and
| looked green and rich. 1t is down
cellar resting now. Shall bring it up
in March to have it big and pretty be-
| fore l put it out of doors.
Now about the geranium that didn't
blossom. 1t didn't get anything out
| of the earth it was put in to make it
| bloom. "dite" of ashes, a bit of
! SCOT off the underside of a back stove
| cover. a wee sprinkle of lime or
plaster, a teaspoon of fertilizer now
| and then, would cause it to blossom
| perhaps. But / should repot and
| prepare the plant soil like this:
| pail of rich dark soil, pail of brown
| soil, small pail of sharp sand a pail
| of real old barn dressing, a pail of
| we'll bleached horse dressing. Put all
| this in a pile on the ground and work
| it together-just mix and stir. and
! don't mind few small rocks. Put
| small rocks, like beans or acorns, in
| the very bottom of the pots, then fill
| the pots with this earth or soil and
your plants will grow and bloom.
| You want to have a pail or two more
| than you use at reporting time, for
winter use to refill the pots as the
earth settles, and to repot If the
! plants outgrow their pots. see? And
whatever you do, don't bake the soil
it kills all the gems and just spoils
it. Still, ] often see in papers and
magazines just that silly advice.
Yes, and this fall l saw this ad-
! vice: Always wrap your winter cab
bage in newspapers so they will keep
| better. l tried it. My cabbages
rotted badly so it is well to go
easy on lots of this advice.
Now, can any of you NJ B's tell me
| what to do when an indoors rose
| bush has spiders on it? l tried whale
oil soap, and all kinds of common
| soap, bug death, pepper, lime, ashes,
| tobacco smoke and sulphur l worked
| over that rose bush four whole weeks.
| and got beat And finally l put that
rose bush in the oven, pot and all,
| and baked it lovely brown, and
threw it over the wall, pot and all.
So. you see, l need help, for | must
| have another rose bush
Nov. 81 was our golden wedding an
| niversary and we spent the day alone.
| We had such a lovely time, talking
over the long years we'd lived to-
| gether, speaking of all the dear ones
of our families that had gone over
the great divide. living over our
counting days, till we were thrilled to
our toes Then we ate cream pie,
| creamed potatoes and creamed onions,
| and the mixture gave your Uncle
| NJ. w. the stomach ache, and he al
lowed that 1 must have just giz-
| zard. / agreed with him, so we
didn't get riled up. One couldn't on
such day, see?
The next day, the 28th, we had a
| houseful of company and callers, and
my niece thought 1t so sad not to have
something doing, when a couple had
been married fifty years, that she
wrote up a piece for the paper and
made it sound as if we entertained,
and so many folks said to us: why
weren't we invited to your golden
wedding?" We had some very pretty
anniversary cards. and I had few
presents, and M w. said folks didn't
seem to think he needed any fancy
articles; so you see he was jealous, a
little
! Last Saturday, Jan. %, we went to
our grange (New Century, Dedham)
and we had very enjoyable day.
Had a bit of excitement in the fore
noon, when some one. called out
"come out and see the moose" The
grange was topsy -turvy in an instant
A lot of them saw the moose. but
| 4 lx.p% Ill