Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-03-12

results Most of us are satisfied with
Ear less and 1t is we'll for us that this
is So Often we have very fine plants
without giving them the least bit Of
fertilizer. We were reminded Of this the
other day in reading over an advertise
ment OF fertilizer. Many different
chemical substances, 1t said, must be in
fertilizer before the plants do well.
Photographs of different specimens were
shown, each with just one chemical re-
moved from the earth in which 1t grew
Every plant was puny except the one
which received all the elements.
Probably true enough-but we thought
back to some beautiful asters grown
years ago without any fertilizer whatso-
ever. The answer: The soil in which
they were grown, of course; it must have
held all the elements necessary.
The wholesome fact is that most
garden soils still contain enough of the
various elements to permit most sturdy
plants to do very well, thank YOU Many
persons who have gone to the trouble to
dig up new gardens dig down two feet
and mix In fertilizer, all according to the
best advice OF the experts have had the
little humiliation Of seeing some neigh
Dor, without thought, or labor, or ex-
pense, grow even better flowers, espe-
cially If the soil In which they were
planted was fresh soil. Most OF the small
gardens which people buy as part of
their home purchase are land which
never grew flowers before and thus the.
plants find all Of the elements they
need without too much worry on the
part OF their anxious grower.
rake on some Of the mulch around
plants, but not all Of it.
Rake the grass any time now and
plant grass seed as soon as possible.
But be sure to do one thing after you
put in fresh grass seed:
Water 1t. Keep on watering It,
II Spring is a normal Spring, with
plenty OF rain, this injunction is still
necessary. for watering plots with new
grass seed in them is to be done with the
1lne spray, so that the seed will not be
washed away. Between the birds and
heaVy rains, new grass seed has quite
time Of it. The birds probably get as
much as one-fourth OF all grass seed
: planted; often the rains wash awav
another fourth. So that only one-half
OF all planted has any chance to germi-
nate. Since not every seed will germi-
nate at the best in any mixture, it NAV
be realized that 1t is we'll to SOW about
two or four times as much seed as one
thinks necessary In other words, grass
seed should be sown four ways, completely
down, back, across and across the other
way.
So-called dormant sprays should be
used at this time on evergreens which
seem too brown, and on lilacs which
show small white spots along the trunks
and branches. The latter are scale
insects and must be cleared out with an
oil spray
There is not much need to spray
otherwise at this time. 1t is still too
early for most Of the insects to get into
operation.
We noticed starlings turning up the
SOIL in borders. The result was exactly
as II some one had done it with a rake.
What were the birds after? Undoubt-
eddy grubs Of some sort.
We wondered if it could be the larvae
OF the seventeen year-locusts. Their
progress down to their ultimate depth
OF about two feet is very slow, only a
few inches for year or two. In that
time many millions OF them must be dug
up, both by man in planting and by
the birds in search of food. Do not
ruthlessly destroy the locust larvae;
they are among the harmless wonders of
Nature,