Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-03-26
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

, the best plants possible. In other
than quantity. This Is one of the most
difficult points to drive through a be-
ginning gardeners head, but if he will
not receive it from admonitions he will
have to earn it through experience,
and sometimes such experience is Bit
ter. although always profitable
| Too many aspiring home gardeners,
for instance, want hundred rose
bushes--yes. sir, nothing less than a
hundred will do-instead of being sat-
isfled with 10 really first-class plants.
They search through the catalogues
and order one-year plants, which come
rather cheaply When the bushes ar
rive they are trifle disappointed with
their size, but they have heard that
rosebushes are prolific growers, and
so they put them all in the ground.
| There are so many Of them that
| they fail to dig up the bed properly,
and they become tired and so fail to
wash the water down around all the
roots, thereby leaving air pockets in
| which the roots wither away. Then
| the Spring and Summer goes by and
the bushes haven't grown much, and
they complain, and maybe it is two or
even three years before the bushes be-
come established and take hold properly
How much better off they would have
been. as amateur rosarians, If they had
| purchased 10 or a dozen tWo-year-
| old bushes, or even three-year-ol If
| they could get them! Then they would
have had some real blooms the first
season, and the next Spring the BUSH
| es would be "all sot to CO.
The same principle applies, although
not so theatrically, perhaps, to ever
green's, shrubs of all kinds, and vari
Gus plants and vines 1t is interesting
| to note that practically all the stores
largest and best; thus they help the
amateur despite himself.
Sometimes one is inclined to wonder
what becomes of all the bushes, shrubs.
evergreenS. etc, which are sold in the
National Capital every Spring. The
| purchasers flock forth to buy them at
| the first touch of warm weather, and
you will see any number of beautiful
ladies wagging homeward with large
bundles of them in their arms.
And still properties seem bare, and
back yards too often ugly. OF course, a
large city takes hundreds of thousands,
dIiO Oilc HllBHL say even mlIllOnS, Oh
| plants to make a show Then there en-
ter the speculations which we have con-
| sidered. A family lovingly plants and
cares for them, and then moves away,
and the next family which moves in
| cares nothing for roses, but digs them
up to make way for garage.
Despite these drawbacks, plant lovers
go right ahead planting. and tending,
| and reaping the harvest which comes
| from horticultural work, no matter
| how poorly done, for there is something
about playing around in the soil which
| supplies a want Of the human being
better than any amount of gadding
around to wild parties" unlimited
| bridge and poker. Happy are those
| who know this, and who do not permit
| themselves to be led far astray by the
| propaganda Of the restless ones of this
| earth.
The spectacle Of thousands Of city
people rushing up to the plant sales
every Spring is encouraging, because it
| shows that fundamentally the hearts
and minds of the people are sound,
caring for the calm, beautiful processes
| of Nature, and deriving mental and
| spiritual, to say nothing of physical,
benefits from the pleasing work of
gardening. Therefore, it is an inspir-
ing sight, after all, to watch the little
flappers selling rosebushes, and to see
how eagerly the people rush from their
homes to the stores to carry away with
them arnlloads of beauty in the making