Evening star., 1934-04-15

garden, 8 pounds per 100 square feet
of good grade complete fertilizer
is desirable. This should be broad
cast after spading and worked into
the soil in the smoothing processes.
After the plants have emerged and
are growing nicely, a light scattering
Of nitrogen fertilizer, such as nitrate
of soda or sulphate of ammonia, along
the rows will stimulate growth.
Pea vines vary in size at maturity
from only a few inches to several
feet. The shorter types do no re-
quire support, but the taller varieties
need wire fencing or brush. Other
wise, the vines mat on the soil, set
few pods and are practically WORTH
less. The pea Is one of those vege-
tables which is at its very best when
only an hour or two OF the vine.
Garden Soils.
ONE of the major problems that
the home gardener faces is that
Of putting the garden soil into
condition for gardening. It is more
than a simple matter of spading or
plowing, particularly for the new
garden that Is being prepared from
fromer forest soil, as is the situation
in many of our local suburbs. A stiff,
tenacious clay very often confronts
the new owner. One of the first
points in handling these clays Is to
time rather carefully the tillage. If
spaded while wet or again while too
dry the soil will turn up in Jumps
that refuse to crumble into workable
condition. This is especially true If
the clay soil is too wet, for the Jumps
will simply bake into temporary bricks
that stay unavoidable perhaps for sew
eral months. With experience the
gardener learns to time the spading
and cultivation quite carefully accord
ing to rainfall. A day or two after a
rain even the stiffest Of clays will
work rather easily into good form.
AS encouragement to gardeners it
may be stated that clays may be
greatly altered in texture by adding
certain materials, such as manure,
ashes, limestone or turned-under plant
growth. 1t is safe to say that many
local garden has been greatly i'm
proved by adding hard coal ashes in
large quantities. Let it be under
stood that these ashes add nothing
to the fertility of the soil They simply
modify its texture. Stable manure is
an ideal soil amendment because it
improves both texture and fertility
of any type of soil, whether sand or
clay in nature.
Many people attempt to Judge the
producing quality of a soil by its
color, usually associating fertility with
dark color. This is not a reliable
index, however, as some of the least
productive soils of the country are
black. 1t is the materials in the soil
and their availability that counts.
In low, wet location the nutrients
may be locked up in rather useless
form. However, it is true that one
Of the local yellow soils may be
changed into a dark hue simply by
adding manure or plant refuse in
large quantity for a few, years.
To sum up. the local gardener
should not become discouraged with
the first attempts and decide that
his soil Is useless for gardening, for
unless it Is matter of standing water
or complete loss of surface soil by
erosion, there is no reason why the
soil cannot be greatly improved. It
may be that the first year it would
be better to grow soil improvement
crops, such as COW peas, clovers and
Winter rye, but certainly there is no
need OF losing hope of successful end
results.
Fruit Blossoms.
TINE beautiful blossoms that are
beginning to show here and
about the city were all formed
last Summer and have simply been
awaiting favorable temperature de-
velopments to burst forth into dis
play. However, the appearance of
the colorfu blooms is no assurance
OF fruit. For instance, peaches may
bloom even though the embryo has
been killed by freezing. However, if
one takes a sharp knife and cuts a
cross section of the base Of the flower,
its real condition can be easily de-
tected. If the central portion or
ovary is black or dark brown, the
flower is dead and, if yellowish green.
alive.
With many fruits, insects are
necessary to transfer pollen from
tree to tree simply because the tree
cannot set fruit with its own pollen.
Hence cold, rainy weather during
blossoming time may be highly
critical.
Many landscape gardeners place
high value on fruit trees as landscape
material for larger homes. And, in
fact, it is hard to picture a more
beautiful sight than an old apple
tree in full bloom.
Gladiolus Novelties.
THE following list of new varieties
i of gladiolus was suggested by
Capt. Merle Davis at the March
meeting OF the Takoma Horticultural
Club: Louis Hemon, bright yellow and
red primulinus; Chameleon, smoky:
Roderick Dhu, Tobersum, yellow;
Nimrod, dark red; John T. Pirie,
smoky; Sword of Mahomet, dusky
brownish red; Brown Wings, brown
and tan; the Orchid, Persia, very
dark red, and Copper Bronze. These
were not recommended as the only
desirable novelties, but had sue
ceeded well in Capt. Davis garden
and had particularly attracted his
attention.
The Garden Clubs.
n KANY home gardeners were un-
lVl doubtedly interested in a re-
cent announcement that sew
eral of the fine old historic gardens
in the vicinity of Alexandria were to
be opened fo- public inspection dur
ing the Virginia garden week, April