Evening star., 1936-05-30

beautiful as the old. In few years.
such seed will be available at moderate
prices.
While on the subject Of floral
diseases, the hollyhock rust is another
serious disease that offers great deal
Of trouble to home gardeners every
where. This disease defoliates the
plants even before they commence to
bloom. Persistent dusting with pre-
pared sulphur from the early Spring
onward will protect the plants. The
breeding Of immune hollyhocks and
gardeners may well hope for success
in this direction.
Wherever one travels in the North
eastern States, he may observe fire.
quent planting Of the yew as a
foundation evergreen. Its capacity
for holding its leaves and color
throughout the entire year seems to
make the yew very desirable. With
the new upright growing forms COM
ing into the market, there would ap-
pear to be an ideal hedge plant that
would be more beautiful than privet
and not require the incessant clipping
In Spring and Summer.
Rose of Sharon is sometimes used
as hedge with good effects. but Is.
of course, bare In Winter. This shrub
may be severely pruned in early
Spring for the flowers are borne on
the new shoots.
Porch boxes that hold water with
out leakage are apt to become Over
moist and foul and the plants fail
to grow properly. Practically, one
can overcome this defect by placing
one container inside another with
holes in the first to permit the out
flow Of excess water. Very few plants,
except purely aquatics, enjoy stand
ing In water all the while This Is
why there is hole in the bottom
of all flower pots and why many
plants will flourish on slightly slop-
ing soil. from which excess water can
easily flow. Where water stands, oxy-
gen cannot enter freely and the plant
actually may smother.
lTchcHHs the OdFucn.
MANY of the English and some Of
the American books on garden
ing devote considerable space to the
trenching of soil as necessary means
Of preparing the garden for flowers
and vegetables. Roses, in particular,
are said to require this treatment.
which essentially is Spading two or
more depths. The name trenching
Is derived from the fact that a trench
is first made by throwing out the top
layer Of soil and then working deeply
into the second layer At the same
time. manure or fertilizer is incorpo-
rated into the lower soil before the
trench is refllled. At once, the
gardener can realize that this is a
laborious operation and, frankly, one
that does not commend itself to
the busy home gardener who has to
do his own work. Too, many of our
local soils are relatively shallow and
if one digs into the subsoil, he is likely
to strike coarse gravel or equally
worthless material. Theoretically, If 1t
were possible to work abundant
manure down into the deeper layers,
it would be very desirable but, in
most cases, the manure, as well as
time is lacking. Having seen very
fine gardens developed without this
painstaking care. the writer is in
clined to doubt the practical need Of
such strenuous effort.
In planting individual shrubs and
trees. it is well to dig deeply and dis
card the lower layer altogether, work.
ing in good top soil. This is trench
ing in modified form and brings good
results, but is far different from
working over a whole garden.