Evening star., 1924-08-11
THIS AND THAT
BY C. 4. TRAcEwELL.

| "A cow Is q very good animal in
the field. but we turn her out of q
| garden" said old Samuel Johnson.
| An amateur gardener can create
almost as much havoc in his garden
as a COW, however, until he finds out
for himself some of the things he
| ought to have done and some of the
things he ought not to have done.
| If only some kind friend had told
him before. 1t Is to act In q sense,
as this kind friend. that the follow
| ing garden hints are offered. culled
from the garden In midsumme2. 1t is
hoped they will have something OF
the worth of petunias. a bit of the
! sturdiness of the sweet aiyssum.
Old gardeners will read here be-
cause to them everything about
garden is interesting. Even a dis
| cussion of the potassium content of
fertilizers would arouse their enthu-
| siasm.
| Amateurs. like the writer. ought 10
be able to compare notes: and as for
the one who is yet dreaming of his
garden, he ia the very fellow this 10
| written for mainly. 1t is to him il
is chiefly addressed.
| Apartment house dweller. who
| looks forward to having a small
| garden next year, or next, cut this
| column out, then store 1t away.
| Later read it over and some day you
will thank me.
Here are my garden hints:
| I. Don't buy one-year-old rose
bushes.
| 2. Try for quality in roses. not
quantity.
3. Stick to the old standby flowers.
| 4. Don't be stingy with fertilizer.
| 5. Don't plant too close together
I G. Heed the tips Of experienced
2. Don't poster your grass
| s. Don't worry about "clashins
colors"
! Like in everything else in the
world, gardening has its full share OF
| bunk" One can wade through the
| scores of books on gardening that
| pile up in the book stores and yet
| not know much more about IL than
| when he started.
| A reader gets some idea Of what
| the preacher meant when he made his
classic reference to much reading be-
| ing u WEAKNESS of the soul No men
| ton is made of it, but undoubtly the
preacher had been reading gardening
| books.
| They tell you about hundred diff
| ferent roses, when what you are after
is the ten undoubted best. They name
| so many flowers that the head swims
| All you want to know is just exact
ly what to do, now that you have got
a plot of ground. Now that I've got
| it, what am l gonna do with IT.? Is
the despairing cry of every new
| gardener.
| In the first place. never buy year
old rose bush. Mind not the wiles OF
the catalogue. These little plants will
astonish you with their profusion OF
bloom the first year"
! At the end of the season, IL you
have been roped in on some of these
| tiny fellows, you will be willing to
! admit that the foregoing statement is
strictly true enough. If they have d
profusion of bloom, you surely will be
| astonished. Righto!
| For the beginning gardener, ambiti-
| Gus to become a rosarian, there is
nothing at all to buying the year-old
| roses. 1t is true they are cheaper.
| but cheapness in roses, as in most
other things, is a pitfall to catch the
unwary. The experienced rose grow
| er can take a year-old rose plant and
by careful manipulation bring it
| around, in a couple of years, to a
bush to be proud of.
| Not SO the inexperienced. If the
| aphids do not eat it up during its
Winter kill. The next Spfing will come
the renewed struggle with plant lice,
rose bugs, miidew. etc. Maybe there
| will be "a profusion of bloom"
| The main point, however, is that
| what the new gardener is after is
roses. By buying a few two or three
year old plants. and paying the top
notch price for them. he will get re-
suits right away. He will have quality
from the beginning.
Stick to the old standby flowers.
Instead of succumbing to the temp
| tations of the seed catalogues, sending
away in high hopes for various
strange and wonderful flowers that
| only the expert can grow, rest con-
tent with ordering the plants that are
household names.
Many wonder why IL is that certain
plants are known to everybody. Who
is there, for instance, who has not
heard of the nasturtium? Even it's
| Latin name is a household word on
| the tongues of thousands of men and
| women who would disclaim the abil-
| ity to speak even one word of Latin.
1t is not for nothing that the pansy,
the phlox, nasturtium, sweet alyssum,
! 1iHHid, pcluHid, IdThSpuT, SunHOW eF
and other well known garden flowers
| are so universal.
They are planted each year the
country over because they come up.
| because they thrive, because they re-
sist insects, because they bloom and
because they keep on blooming. What
does the amateur gardener want with
| delicate flowers, anyway, nice fellows
that are afraid to get their feet wet,
that turn yellow on the fence and
wilt at the slightest mistreatment?
| The amateur wants flowers, and
plenty of them. If he will stick to
| the old flowers that have gladdened
the hearts and eyes of millions adown
the centuries, he will be wise.
| X
| Don't be stingy with fertilizer. 1t
doesn't pay, in the long run. The
best time to put it on is in the Fall, if
you are going to begin on the new
| garden the next Spring. Turn your
| ground up, leaving the clods stand on
edge to weather, then spread your
manure. You can have flowers next
year, even if you don't, but not as
easily. If you expect to SOW grass
seed on new ground. the fertilizer is
| even more necessary.
| Don't plant your flowers too close
| together. This is one of the hardest
| things for the amateur to realize.
Thinning out is one Of the great
secrets" of successful gardening, so
hard for the newcomer to learn. be-
| cause he hates to part with his flow