The question of drainage, curbing, and gutters.



Thorough drainage, natural or artificial, is essential to hard and permanent walks and drives. This point is too often neglected. On the draining and grading of residence streets a well-known landscape gardener, O.C. Simonds, writes as follows in "Park and Cemetery ":



"The surface drainage is something that interests us whenever it rains or when the snow melts. It has been customary to locate catch-basins for receiving the surface water at street intersections. This arrangement causes most of the surface water from both streets to run past the crossings, making it necessary to depress the pavement, so that one must step down and up in going from one side of a street to the other, or else a passageway for the water must be made through the crossing. It may be said that a step down to the pavement and up again to the sidewalk at the street intersections is of no consequence, but it is really more elegant and satisfactory to have the walk practically continuous (Fig. 68). With the catch-basin at the corner, the stoppage of the inlet, or a great fall of rain, sometimes covers the crossing with water, so one must either wade or go out of his way. With catch-basins placed in the center of the blocks, or, if the blocks are long, at some distance from the crossing, the intersections can be kept relatively high and dry. Roadways are generally made crowning in the center so that water runs to the sides, but frequently the fall lengthwise of the roadway is less than it should be. City engineers are usually inclined to make the grade along the length of a street as nearly level as possible. Authorities who have given the subject of roads considerable study recommend a fall lengthwise of not less than one foot in one hundred and twenty-five, nor more than six feet in one hundred. Such grades are not always feasible, but a certain amount of variation in level can usually be made in a residence street which will make it much more pleasing in appearance, and have certain practical advantages in keeping the street dry. The water is usually confined to the edge of the pavement by curbing, which may rise anywhere from four to fourteen inches above the surface. This causes all the water falling on the roadway to seek the catch-basin and be wasted, excepting for its use in flushing the sewer. If the curbing, which is really unnecessary in most cases, were omitted, much of the surface water would soak into the ground between the sidewalk and the pavement, doing much good to trees, shrubs, and grass. The roots of the trees naturally extend as far, or farther, than their branches, and for their good the ground under the pavement and sidewalk should be supplied with a certain amount of moisture.



"The arrangement made for the removal of surface water from the street must also take care of the surplus water from adjacent lots, so there is a practical advantage in having the level of the street lower than that of the ground adjoining. The appearance of houses and home grounds is also much better when they are higher than the street, and for this reason it is usually desirable to keep the latter as low as possible and give the underground pipes sufficient covering to protect them from frost. Where the ground is high and the sewers very deep, the grades should, of course, be determined with reference to surface conditions only. It sometimes happens that this general arrangement of the grades of home grounds, which is desirable on most accounts, causes water from melting snow to flow over the sidewalk in the winter time, where it may freeze and be dangerous to pedestrians. A slight depression of the lot away from the sidewalk and then an ascent toward the house would usually remedy this difficulty, and also make the house appear higher. Sometimes, however, a pipe should be placed underneath the sidewalk to allow water to reach the street from inside of the lot line. The aim in surface drainage should always be to keep the traveled portions of the street in the most perfect condition for use. The quick removal of surplus water from sidewalks, crossings, and roadways will help insure this result."

These remarks concerning the curbings and hard edges of city streets may also be applied to walks and drives in small grounds. Figure 69, for example, shows the common method of treating the edge of a walk, by making a sharp and sheer elevation. This edge needs constant trimming, else it becomes unshapely; and this trimming tends to widen the walk. For general purposes, a border, like that shown in Fig. 70, is better. The sod rolls over until it meets the walk, and the lawn-mower is able to keep it in condition. If it becomes more or less rough and irregular, it is pounded down.

If it is thought necessary to trim the edges of walks and drives, then one of the various kinds of sod-cutters that are sold by dealers may be used for the purpose, or an old hoe may have its shank straightened and the corners of the blade rounded off, as shown in Fig. 71, and this will answer all purposes of the common sod-cutter; or, a sharp, straight-edged spade may sometimes be used. The loose overhanging grass on these edges is ordinarily cut by large shears made for the purpose.



Walks and drives should be laid in such direction that they will tend to drain themselves; but if it is necessary to have gutters, these should be deep and sharp at the bottom, for the water then draws together and tends to keep the gutter clean. A shallow and rounded brick or cobble gutter does not clean itself; it is very likely to fill with weeds, and vehicles often drive in it. The best gutters and curbs are now made of cement. Figure 72 shows a catch basin at the left of a walk or drive, and the tile laid underneath for the purpose of carrying away the surface water.



The materials.

The best materials for the main walks are cement and stone flagging. In many soils, however, there is enough binding material in the land to make a good walk without the addition of any other material. Gravel, cinders, ashes, and the like, are nearly always inadvisable, for they are liable to be loose in dry weather and sticky in wet weather. In the laying of cement it is important that the walk be well drained by a layer of a foot or two of broken stone or brickbats, unless the walk is on loose and leachy land or in a frostless country.

In back yards it is often best not to have any well-defined walk. A ramble across the sod may be as good. For a back walk, over which delivery men are to travel, one of the very best means is to sink a foot-wide plank into the earth on a level with the surface of the sod; and it is not necessary that the walk be perfectly straight. These walks do not interfere with the work of the lawn-mower, and they take care of themselves. When the plank rots, at the expiration of five to ten years, the plank is taken up and another one dropped in its place. This ordinarily makes the best kind of a walk alongside a rear border. (Plate XI.) In gardens, nothing is better for a walk than tanbark.



The sides of walks and drives may often be planted with shrubbery. It is not necessary that they always have prim and definite borders. Figure 73 illustrates a bank of foliage which breaks up the hard line of a walk, and serves also as a border for the growing of flowers and interesting specimens. This walk is also characterized by the absence of high and hard borders. Figure 68 illustrates this fact, and also shows how the parking between the walk and the street may be effectively planted.

Making the borders.

The borders and groups of planting are laid out on the paper plan. There are several ways of transferring them to the ground. Sometimes they are not made until after the lawn is established, when the inexperienced operator may more readily lay them out. Usually, however, the planting and lawn-making proceed more or less simultaneously. After the shaping of the ground has been completed, the areas are marked off by stakes, by a limp rope laid on the surface, or by a mark made with a rake handle. The margin once determined, the lawn may be seeded and rolled (Fig. 40), and the planting allowed to proceed as it may; or the planting may all be done inside the borders, and the seeding then be applied to the lawn. If the main dimensions of the borders and beds are carefully measured and marked by stakes, it is an easy matter to complete the outline by making a mark with a stick or rakestale.



The planting may be done in spring or fall,—in fall preferably if the stock is ready (and of hardy species) and the land in perfect condition of drainage; usually, however, things are not ready early enough in the fall for any extended planting, and the work is commonly done as soon as the ground settles in spring (see Chapter V). Head the bushes back. Dig up the entire area. Spade up the ground, set the bushes thick, hoe them at intervals, and then let them go. If you do not like the bare earth between them, sow in the seeds of hardy annual flowers, like phlox, petunia, alyssum, and pinks. Never set the bushes in holes dug in the old sod (Fig. 75). The person who plants his shrubs in holes in the sward does not seriously mean to make any foliage mass, and it is likely that he does not know what relation the border mass has to artistic planting. The illustration, Fig. 76, shows the office that a shrubbery may perform in relation to a building; this particular building was erected in an open field.



I have said to plant the bushes thick. This is for quick effect. It is an easy matter to thin the plantation if it becomes too thick. All common bushes may usually be planted as close as two to three feet apart each way, especially if one gets many of them from the fields, so that he does not have to buy them. If there are not sufficient of the permanent bushes for thick planting, the spaces may be tilled temporarily by cheaper or commoner bushes: but do not forget to remove the fillers as rapidly as the others need the room.

Making the lawn.

The first thing to be done in the making of a lawn is to establish the proper grade. This should be worked out with the greatest care, from the fact that when a lawn is once made, its level and contour should never be changed.

Preparing the ground.

The next important step is to prepare the ground deeply and thoroughly. The permanence of the sod will depend very largely on the fertility and preparation of the soil in the beginning. The soil should be deep and porous, so that the roots will strike far into it, and be enabled thereby to withstand droughts and cold winters. The best means of deepening the soil, as explained in Chapter IV, is by tile-draining; but it can also be accomplished to some extent by the use of the subsoil plow and by trenching. Since the lawn cannot be refitted, however, the subsoil is likely to fall back into a hard-pan in a few years if it has been subsoiled or trenched, whereas a good tile-drain affords a permanent amelioration of the under soil. Soils that are naturally loose and porous may not need this extra attention. In fact, lands that are very loose and sandy may require to be packed or cemented rather than loosened. One of the best means of doing this is to fill them with humus, so that the water will not leach through them rapidly. Nearly all lands that are designed for lawns are greatly benefited by heavy dressings of manure thoroughly worked into them in the beginning, although it is possible to get the ground too rich on the surface at first; it is not necessary that all the added plant-food be immediately available.

The lawn will profit by an annual application of good chemical fertilizer. Ground bone is one of the best materials to apply, at the rate of three hundred to four hundred pounds to the acre. It is usually sown broadcast, early in spring. Dissolved South Carolina rock may be used instead, but the application will need to be heavier if similar results are expected. Yellow and poor grass may often be reinvigorated by an application of two hundred to three hundred pounds to the acre of nitrate of soda. Wood ashes are often good, particularly on soils that tend to be acid. Muriate of potash is not so often used, although it may produce excellent results in some cases. There is no invariable rule. The best plan is for the lawn-maker to try the different treatments on a little piece or corner of the lawn; in this way, he should secure more valuable information than can be got otherwise.

The first operation after draining and grading is the plowing or spading of the surface. If the area is large enough to admit a team, the surface is worked down by means of harrows of various kinds. Afterwards it is leveled by means of shovels and hoes, and finally by garden rakes. The more finely and completely the soil is pulverized, the quicker the lawn may be secured, and the more permanent are the results.

The kind of grass.

The best grass for the body or foundation of lawns in the North is June-grass or Kentucky blue-grass (Poa pratensis), not Canada blue-grass (Poa compressa).

Whether white clover or other seed should be sown with the grass seed is very largely a personal question. Some persons like it, and others do not. If it is desired, it may be sown directly after the grass seed is sown, at the rate of one to four quarts or more to the acre.

For special purposes, other grasses may be used for lawns. Various kinds of lawn mixtures are on the market, for particular uses, and some of them are very good.

A superintendent of parks in one of the Eastern cities gives the following experience on kinds of grass: "For the meadows on the large parks we generally use extra recleaned Kentucky blue-grass, red-top, and white clover, in the proportion of thirty pounds of blue-grass, thirty pounds of red-top, and ten pounds of white clover to the acre. Sometimes we use for smaller lawns the blue-grass and red-top without the white clover. We have used blue-grass, red-top, and Rhode Island bent in the proportion of twenty pounds each, and ten pounds of white clover to the acre, but the Rhode Island bent is so expensive that we rarely buy it. For grass in shady places, as in a grove, we use Kentucky blue-grass and rough-stalked meadow-grass (Poa trivialis) in equal parts at the rate of seventy pounds to the acre. On the golf links we use blue-grass without any mixture on some of the putting greens; sometimes we use Rhode Island bent, and on sandy greens we use red-top. We always buy each kind of seed separately and mix them, and are particular to get the best extra recleaned of each kind. Frequently we get the seed of three different dealers to secure the best."

In most cases, the June-grass germinates and grows somewhat slowly, and it is usually advisable to sow four or five quarts of timothy grass to the acre with the June-grass seed. The timothy comes on quickly and makes a green the first year, and the June-grass soon crowds it out. It is not advisable to sow grain in the lawn as a nurse to the grass. If the land is well prepared and the seed is sown in the cool part of the year, the grass ought to grow much better without the other crops than with them. Lands that are hard and lacking in nitrogen may be benefited if crimson clover (four or five quarts) is sown with the grass seed. This will make a green the first year, and will break up the subsoil by its deep roots and supply nitrogen, and being an annual plant it does not become troublesome, if mown frequently enough to prevent seeding.

In the southern states, where June-grass does not thrive, Bermuda-grass is the leading species used for lawns; although there are two or three others, as the goose-grass of Florida, that may be used in special localities. Bermuda-grass is usually propagated by roots, but imported seed (said to be from Australia) is now available. The Bermuda-grass becomes reddish after frost; and English rye-grass may be sown on the Bermuda sod in August or September far south for winter green; in spring the Bermuda crowds it out.

When and how to sow the seed.

The lawn should be seeded when the land is moist and the weather comparatively cool. It is ordinarily most advisable to grade the lawn in late summer or early fall, because the land is then comparatively dry and can be moved cheaply. The surface can also be got in condition, perhaps, for sowing late in September or early in October in the North; or, if the surface has required much filling, it is well to leave it in a somewhat unfinished state until spring, in order that the soft places may settle and then be refilled before the seeding is done. If the seed can be sown early in the fall, before the rains come, the grass should be large enough, except in northernmost localities, to withstand the winter; but it is generally most desirable to sow in very early spring. If the land has been thoroughly prepared in the fall, the seed may be sown on one of the late light snows in spring and as the snow melts the seed is carried into the land, and germinates very quickly. If the seed is sown when the land is loose and workable, it should be raked in; and if the weather promises to be dry or the sowing is late, the surface should be rolled.

The seeding is usually done broadcast by hand on all small areas, the sower going both ways (at right angles) across the area to lessen the likelihood of missing any part. Steep banks are sometimes sown with seed that is mixed in mold or earth to which water is added until the material will just run through the spout of a watering-can; the material is then poured on the surface, which is first made loose.

Inasmuch as we desire to secure many very fine stalks of grass rather than a few large ones, it is essential that the seed be sown very thick. Three to five bushels to the acre is the ordinary application of grass seed (page 79).



Securing a firm sod.

The lawn will ordinarily produce a heavy crop of weeds the first year, especially if much stable manure has been used. The weeds need not be pulled, unless such vicious intruders as docks or other perennial plants gain a foothold; but the area should be mown frequently with a lawn-mower. The annual weeds die at the approach of cold, and they are kept down by the use of the lawn-mower, while the grass is not injured.

It rarely happens that every part of the lawn will have an equal catch of grass. The bare or sparsely seeded places should be sown again every fall and spring until the lawn is finally complete. In fact, it requires constant attention to keep a lawn in good sod, and it must be continuously in the process of making. It is not every lawn area, or every part of the area, that is adapted to grass; and it may require long study to find out why it is not. Bare or poor places should be hetcheled up strongly with an iron-toothed rake, perhaps fertilized again, and then reseeded. It is unusual that a lawn does not need repairing every year. Lawns of several acres which become thin and mossy may be treated in essentially the same way by dragging them with a spike-tooth harrow in early spring as soon as the land is dry enough to hold a team. Chemical fertilizers and grass seed are now sown liberally, and the area is perhaps dragged again, although this is not always essential; and then the roller is applied to bring the surface into a smooth condition. To plow up these poor lawns is to renew all the battle with weeds, and really to make no progress; for, so long as the contour is correct, the lawn may be repaired by these surface applications.

The stronger the sward, the less the trouble with weeds; yet it is practically impossible to keep dandelions and some other weeds out of lawns except by cutting them out with a knife thrust underground (there are good spuds manufactured for this purpose, Figs. 108 to 111). If the sod is very thin after the weeds are removed, sow more grass seed.

The mowing.

The mowing of the lawn should begin as soon as the grass is tall enough in the spring and continue at the necessary intervals throughout the summer. The most frequent mowings are needed early in the season, when the grass is growing rapidly. If it is mown frequently—say once or twice a week—in the periods of most vigorous growth, it will not be necessary to rake off the mowings. In fact, it is preferable to leave the grass on the lawn, to be driven into the surface by the rains and to afford a mulch. It is only when the lawn has been neglected and the grass has got so high that it becomes unsightly on the lawn, or when the growth is unusually luxurious, that it is necessary to take it off. In dry weather care should be taken not to mow the lawn any more than absolutely necessary. The grass should be rather long when it goes into the winter. In the last two months of open weather the grass makes small growth, and it tends to lop down and to cover the surface densely, which it should be allowed to do.

Fall treatment.

As a rule, it is not necessary to rake all the leaves off lawns in the fall. They afford an excellent mulch, and in the autumn months the leaves on the lawn are among the most attractive features of the landscape. The leaves generally blow off after a time, and if the place has been constructed with an open center and heavily planted sides, the leaves will be caught in these masses of trees and shrubs and there afford an excellent mulch. The ideal landscape planting, therefore, takes care of itself to a very large extent. It is bad economy to burn the leaves, especially if one has herbaceous borders, roses, and other plants that need a mulch. When the leaves are taken off the borders in the spring, they should be piled with the manure or other refuse and there allowed to pass into compost (pages 110, 111).

If the land has been well prepared in the beginning, and its life is not sapped by large trees, it is ordinarily unnecessary to cover the lawn with manure in the fall. The common practice of covering grass with raw manure should be discouraged because the material is unsightly and unsavory, and the same results can be got with the use of commercial fertilizers combined with dressings of very fine and well-rotted compost or manure, and by not raking the lawn too clean of the mowings of the grass.

Spring treatment.

Every spring the lawn should be firmed by means of a roller, or, if the area is small, by means of a pounder, or the back of a spade in the hands of a vigorous man. The lawn-mower itself tends to pack the surface. If there are little irregularities in the surface, caused by depressions of an inch or so, and the highest places are not above the contour-line of the lawn, the surface may be brought to level by spreading fine, mellow soil over it, thereby filling up the depressions. The grass will quickly grow through this soil. Little hummocks may be cut off, some of the earth removed, and the sod replaced.

Watering lawns.

The common watering of lawns by means of lawn sprinklers usually does more harm than good. This results from the fact that the watering is generally done in clear weather, and the water is thrown through the air in very fine spray, so that a considerable part of it is lost in vapor. The ground is also hot, and the water does not pass deep into the soil. If the lawn is watered at all, it should be soaked; turn on the hose at nightfall and let it run until the land is wet as deep as it is dry, then move the hose to another place. A thorough soaking like this, a few times in a dry summer, will do more good than sprinkling every day. If the land is deeply prepared in the first place, so that the roots strike far into the soil, there is rarely need of watering unless the place is arid, the season unusually dry, or the moisture sucked out by trees. The surface sprinkling engenders a tendency of roots to start near the surface, and therefore the more the lawn is lightly watered, the greater is the necessity for watering it.

Sodding the lawn.



Persons who desire to secure a lawn very quickly may sod the area rather than seed it, although the most permanent results are usually secured by seeding. Sodding, however, is expensive, and is to be used only about the borders of the place, near buildings, or in areas in which the owner can afford to expend considerable money. The best sod is that which is secured from an old pasture, and for two or three reasons. In the first place, it is the right kind of grass, the June-grass (in the North) being the species that oftenest runs into pastures and crowds out other plants. Again, it has been so closely eaten down, especially if it has been pastured by sheep, that it has made a very dense and well-filled sod, which can be rolled up in thin layers. In the third place, the soil in old pastures is likely to be rich from the droppings of animals.

In taking sod, it is important that it be cut very thin. An inch and a half thick is usually ample. It is ordinarily rolled up in strips a foot wide and of any length that will allow the rolls to be handled by one or two men. A foot-wide board is laid upon the turf, and the sod cut along either edge of it. One person then stands upon the strip of sod and rolls it towards himself, while another cuts it loose with a spade, as shown in Fig. 77. When the sod is laid, it is unrolled on the land and then firmly beaten down. Land that is to be sodded should be soft on top, so that the sod can be well pounded into it. If the sod is not well pounded down, it will settle unevenly and present a bad surface, and will also dry out and perhaps not live through a dry spell. It is almost impossible to pound down sod too firm. If the land is freshly plowed, it is important that the borders that are sodded be an inch or two lower than the adjacent land, because the land will settle in the course of a few weeks. In a dry time, the sod may be covered from a half inch to an inch with fine, mellow soil as a mulch. The grass should grow through this soil without difficulty. Upon terraces and steep banks, the sod may be held in place by driving wooden pegs through it.

A combination of sodding and seeding.



An "economical sodding" is described in "American Garden" (Fig. 78): "To obtain sufficient sod of suitable quality for covering terrace-slopes or small blocks that for any reason cannot well be seeded is often a difficult matter. In the accompanying illustration we show how a surface of sod may be used to good advantage over a larger area than its real measurement represents. This is done by laying the sods, cut in strips from six to ten inches wide, in lines and cross-lines, and after filling the spaces with good soil, sowing these spaces with grass-seed. Should the catch of seed for any reason be poor, the sod of the strips will tend to spread over the spaces between them, and failure to obtain a good sward within a reasonable time is almost out of the question. Also, if one needs sod and has no place from which to cut it except the lawn, by taking up blocks of sod, leaving strips and cross-strips, and treating the surface as described, the bare places are soon covered with green."

Sowing with sod.

Lawns may be sown with pieces of sods rather than with seeds. Sods may be cut up into bits an inch or two square, and these may be scattered broadcast over the area and rolled into the land. While it is preferable that the pieces should lie right side up, this is not necessary if they are cut thin, and sown when the weather is cool and moist. Sowing pieces of sod is good practice when it is difficult to secure a catch from seed.

If one were to maintain a permanent sod garden, at one side, for the selecting and growing of the very best sod (as he would grow a stock seed of corn or beans), this method should be the most rational of all procedures, at least until the time that we produce strains of lawn grass that come true from seeds.

Other ground covers.

Under trees, and in other shady places, it may be necessary to cover the ground with something else than grass. Good plants for such uses are periwinkle (Vinca minor, an evergreen trailer, often called "running myrtle"), moneywort (Lysimachia nummularia), lily-of-the-valley, and various kinds of sedge or carex. In some dark or shady places, and under some kinds of trees, it is practically impossible to secure a good lawn, and one may be obliged to resort to decumbent bushes or other forms of planting.



CHAPTER IV

THE HANDLING OF THE LAND

Almost any land contains enough food for the growing of good crops, but the food elements may be chemically unavailable, or there may be insufficient water to dissolve them. It is too long a story to explain at this place,—the philosophy of tillage and of enriching the land,—and the reader who desires to make excursions into this delightful subject should consult King on "The Soil," Roberts on "The Fertility of the Land," and recent writings of many kinds. The reader must accept my word for it that tilling the land renders it productive.

I must call my reader's attention to the fact that this book is on the making of gardens,—on the planning and the doing of the work from the year's end to end,—not on the appreciation of a completed garden. I want the reader to know that a garden is not worth having unless he makes it with his own hands or helps to make it. He must work himself into it. He must know the pleasure of preparing the land, of contending with bugs and all other difficulties, for it is only thereby that he comes into appreciation of the real value of a garden.

I am saying this to prepare the reader for the work that I lay out in this chapter. I want him to know the real joy that there is in the simple processes of breaking the earth and fitting it for the seed. The more pains he takes with these processes, naturally the keener will be his enjoyment of them. No one can have any other satisfaction than that of mere manual exercise if he does not know the reasons for what he does with his soil. I am sure that my keenest delight in a garden comes in the one month of the opening season and the other month of the closing season. These are the months when I work hardest and when I am nearest the soil. To feel the thrust of the spade, to smell the sweet earth, to prepare for the young plants and then to prepare for the closing year, to handle the tools with discrimination, to guard against frost, to be close with the rain and wind, to see the young things start into life and then to see them go down into winter,—these are some of the best of the joys of gardening. In this spirit we should take up the work of handling the land.

The draining of the land.

The first step in the preparation of land, after it has been thoroughly cleared and subdued of forest or previous vegetation, is to attend to the drainage. All land that is springy, low, and "sour," or that holds the water in puddles for a day or two following heavy rains, should be thoroughly underdrained. Draining also improves the physical condition of the soil even when the land does not need the removal of superfluous water. In hard lands, it lowers the water-table, or tends to loosen and aerate the soil to a greater depth, and thereby enables it to hold more water without injury to plants. Drainage is particularly useful in dry but hard garden lands, because these lands are often in sod or permanently planted, and the soil cannot be broken up by deep tillage. Tile drainage is permanent subsoiling.



Hard-baked cylindrical tiles make the best and most permanent drains. The ditches usually should not be less than two and one-half feet deep, and three or three and one-half feet is often better. In most garden areas, drains may be laid with profit as often as every thirty feet. Give all drains a good and continuous fall. For single drains and for laterals not over four hundred or five hundred feet long, a two and one-half inch tile is sufficient, unless much water must be carried from swales or springs. In stony countries, flat stones may be used in place of tiles, and persons who are skillful in laying them make drains as good and permanent as those constructed of tiles. The tiles or stones are covered with sods, straw, or paper, and the earth is then filled in. This temporary cover keeps the loose dirt out of the tiles, and by the time it is rotted the earth has settled into place.



In small places, ditching must ordinarily be done wholly with hand tools. A common spade and pick are the implements usually employed, although a spade with a long handle and narrow blade, as shown in Fig. 79, is very useful for excavating the bottom of the ditch.

In most cases, much time and muscle are wasted in the use of the pick. If the digging is properly done, a spade can be used to cut the soil, even in fairly hard clay land, with no great difficulty. The essential point in the easy use of the spade is to manage so that one edge of the spade always cuts a free or exposed surface. The illustration (Fig. 80) will explain the method. When the operator endeavors to cut the soil in the method shown at A, he is obliged to break both edges at every thrust of the tool; but when he cuts the slice diagonally, first throwing his spade to the right and then to the left, as shown at B, he cuts only one side and is able to make progress without the expenditure of useless effort. These remarks will apply to any spading of the land.

In large areas, horses may be used to facilitate the work of ditching. There are ditching plows and machines, which, however, need not be discussed here; but three or four furrows may be thrown out in either direction with a strong plow, and a subsoil plow be run behind to break up the hard-pan, and this may reduce the labor of digging as much as one-half. When the excavating is completed, the bottom of the ditch is evened up by means of a line or level, and the bed for the tiles is prepared by the use of a goose-neck scoop, shown in Fig. 79. It is very important that the outlets of drains be kept free of weeds and litter. If the outlet is built up with mason work, to hold the end of the tile intact, very much will be added to the permanency of the drain.

Trenching and subsoiling.



Although underdraining is the most important means of increasing the depth of the soil, it is not always practicable to lay drains through garden lands. In such cases, recourse is had to very deep preparation of the land, either every year or every two or three years.



In small garden areas, this deep preparation will ordinarily be done by trenching with a spade. This operation of trenching consists in breaking up the earth two spades deep. Figure 81 explains the operation. The section at the left shows a single spading, the earth being thrown over to the right, leaving the subsoil exposed the whole width of the bed. The section at the right shows a similar operation, so far as the surface spading is concerned, but the subsoil has also been cut as fast as it has been exposed. This under soil is not thrown out on the surface, and usually it is not inverted; but a spadeful is lifted and then allowed to drop so that it is thoroughly broken and pulverized in the manipulation.



In all lands that have a hard and high subsoil, it is usually essential to practice trenching if the best results are to be secured; this is especially true when deep-rooted plants, as beets, parsnips, and other root-crops, are to be grown; it prepares the soil to hold moisture; and it allows the water of heavy rainfall to pass to greater depths rather than to be held as puddles and in mud on the surface.

In places that can be entered with a team, deep and heavy plowing to the depth of seven to ten inches may be desirable on hard lands, especially if such lands cannot be plowed very often; and the depth of the pulverization is often extended by means of the subsoil plow. This subsoil plow does not turn a furrow, but a second team draws the implement behind the ordinary plow, and the bottom of the furrow is loosened and broken. Figure 82 shows a home-made subsoil plow, and Fig. 83 two types of commercial tools. It must be remembered that it is the hardest lands that need subsoiling and that, therefore, the subsoil plow should be exceedingly strong.



Preparation of the surface.

Every pains should be taken to prevent the surface of the land from becoming crusty or baked, for the hard surface establishes a capillary connection with the moist soil beneath, and is a means of passing off the water into the atmosphere. Loose and mellow soil also has more free plant-food, and provides the most congenial conditions for the growth of plants. The tools that one may use in preparing the surface soil are now so many and so well adapted to the work that the gardener should find special satisfaction in handling them.

If the soil is a stiff clay, it is often advisable to plow it or dig it in the fall, allowing it to lie rough and loose all winter, so that the weathering may pulverize and slake it. If the clay is very tenacious, it may be necessary to throw leafmold or litter over the surface before the spading is done, to prevent the soil from running together or cementing before spring. With mellow and loamy lands, however, it is ordinarily best to leave the preparation of the surface until spring.

In the preparation of the surface, the ordinary hand tools, or spades and shovels, may be used. If, however, the soil is mellow, a fork is a better tool than a spade, from the fact that it does not slice the soil, but tends to break it up into smaller and more irregular masses. The ordinary spading-fork, with strong flat tines, is a most serviceable tool; a spading-fork for soft ground may be made from an old manure fork by cutting down the tines, as shown in Fig. 84.



It is important that the soil should not be sticky when it is prepared, as it is likely to become hard and baked and the physical condition be greatly injured. However, land that is too wet for the reception of seeds may still be thrown up loose with a spade or fork and allowed to dry, and after two or three days the surface preparation may be completed with the hoe and the rake. In ordinary soils the hoe is the tool to follow the spading-fork or the spade, but for the final preparation of the surface a steel garden-rake is the ideal implement.

In areas, large enough to admit horse tools, the land can be fitted more economically by means of the various types of plows, harrows, and cultivators that are to be had of any dealer in agricultural implements. Figure 85 shows various types of model surface plows. The one shown at the upper left-hand is considered by Roberts, in his "Fertility of the Land," to be the ideal general-purpose plow, as respects shape and method of construction.



The type of machine to be used must be determined wholly by the character of the land and the purposes for which it is to be fitted. Lands that are hard and cloddy may be reduced by the use of the disk or Acme harrows, shown in Fig. 86; but those that are friable and mellow may not need such heavy and vigorous tools. On these mellower lands, the spring-tooth harrow, types of which are shown in Fig. 87, may follow the plow. On very hard lands, these spring-tooth harrows may follow the disk and Acme types. The final preparation of the land is accomplished by light implements of the pattern shown in Fig. 88. These spike-tooth smoothing-harrows do for the field what the hand-rake does for the garden-bed.



If it is desired to put a very fine finish on the surface of the ground by means of horse tools, implements like the Breed or Wiard weeder may be used. These are constructed on the principle of a spring-tooth horse hay-rake, and are most excellent, not only for fitting loose land for ordinary seeding, but also for subsequent tillage.



In areas that cannot be entered with a team, various one-horse implements may do the work that is accomplished by heavier tools in the field. The spring-tooth cultivator, shown at the right in Fig. 89, may do the kind of work that the spring-tooth harrows are expected to do on larger areas; and various adjustable spike-tooth cultivators, two of which are shown in Fig. 89, are useful for putting a finish on the land. These tools are also available for the tilling of the surface when crops are growing. The spring-tooth cultivator is a most useful tool for cultivating raspberries and blackberries, and other strong-rooted crops.



For still smaller areas, in which horses cannot be used and which are still too large for tilling wholly by means of hoes and rakes, various types of wheel-hoes may be used. These implements are now made in great variety of patterns, to suit any taste and almost any kind of tillage. For the best results, it is essential that the wheel should be large and with a broad tire, that it may override obstacles. Figure 90 shows an excellent type of wheel-hoe with five blades, and Fig. 91 shows one with a single blade and that may be used in very narrow rows. Two-wheeled hoes (Fig. 92) are often used, particularly when it is necessary to have the implement very steady, and the wheels may straddle the rows of low plants. Many of these wheel-hoes are provided with various shapes of blades, so that the implement may be adjusted to many kinds of work. Nearly all the weeding of beds of onions and like plants can be done by means of these wheel-hoes, if the ground is well prepared in the beginning; but it must be remembered that they are of comparatively small use on very hard and cloddy and stony lands.

The saving of moisture.

The garden must have a liberal supply of moisture. The first effort toward securing this supply should be the saving of the rainfall water.

Proper preparation and tillage put the land in such condition that it holds the water of rainfall. Land that is very hard and compact may shed the rainfall, particularly if it is sloping and if the surface is bare of vegetation. If the hard-pan is near the surface, the land cannot hold much water, and any ordinary rainfall may fill it so full that it overflows, or puddles stand on the surface. On land in good tilth, the water of rainfall sinks away, and is not visible as free water.

As soon as the moisture begins to pass from the superincumbent atmosphere, evaporation begins from the surface of the land. Any body interposed between the land and the air checks this evaporation; this is why there is moisture underneath a board. It is impracticable, however, to floor over the garden with boards, but any covering will have similar effect, but in different degree. A covering of sawdust or leaves or dry ashes will prevent the loss of moisture. So will a covering of dry earth. Now, inasmuch as the land is already covered with earth, it only remains to loosen up a layer or stratum on top in order to secure the mulch.

All this is only a roundabout way of saying that frequent shallow surface tillage conserves moisture. The comparatively dry and loose mulch breaks up the capillary connection between the surface soil and the under soil, and while the mulch itself may be useless as a foraging ground for roots, it more than pays its keep by its preventing of the loss of moisture; and its own soluble plant-foods are washed down into the lower soil by the rains.

As often as the surface becomes compact, the mulch should be renewed or repaired by the use of the rake or cultivator or harrow. Persons are deceived by supposing that so long as the surface remains moist, the land is in the best possible condition; a moist surface may mean that water is rapidly passing off into the atmosphere. A dry surface may mean that less evaporation is taking place, and there may be moister earth beneath it; and moisture is needed below the surface rather than on top. A finely raked bed is dry on top; but the footprints of the cat remain moist, for the animal packed the soil wherever it stepped and a capillary connection was established with the water reservoir beneath. Gardeners advise firming the earth over newly planted seeds to hasten germination. This is essential in dry times; but what we gain in hastening germination we lose in the more rapid evaporation of moisture. The lesson is that we should loosen the soil as soon as the seeds have germinated, to reduce evaporation to the minimum. Large seeds, as beans and peas, may be planted deep and have the earth firmed about them, and then the rake may be applied to the surface to stop the rise of moisture before it reaches the air.

Two illustrations, adapted from Roberts's "Fertility," show good and poor preparation of the land. Figure 93 is a section of land twelve inches deep. The under soil has been finely broken and pulverized and then compacted. It is mellow but firm, and is an excellent water reservoir. Three inches of the surface is a mulch of loose and dry earth. Figure 94 shows an earth-mulch, but it is too shallow; and the under soil is so open and cloddy that the water runs through it.



When the land is once properly prepared, the soil-mulch is maintained by surface-working tools. In field practice, these tools are harrows and horse cultivators of various kinds; in home garden practice they are wheel-hoes, rakes, and many patterns of hand hoes and scarifiers, with finger-weeders and other small implements for work directly among the plants.



A garden soil is not in good condition when it is hard and crusted on top. The crust may be the cause of wasting water, it keeps out the air, and in general it is an uncongenial physical condition; but its evaporation of water is probably its chief defect. Instead of pouring water on the land, therefore, we first attempt to keep the moisture in the land. If, however, the soil becomes so dry in spite of you that the plants do not thrive, then water the bed. Do not sprinkle it, but water it. Wet it clear through at evening. Then in the morning, when the earth begins to dry, loosen the surface again to keep the water from getting away. Sprinkling the plants every day or two is one of the surest ways of spoiling them. We may water the ground with a garden-rake.

Hand tools for weeding and subsequent tillage and other hand work.

Any of the cultivators and wheel-hoes are as useful for the subsequent tilling of the crop as for the initial preparation of the land, but there are other tools also that greatly facilitate the keeping of the plantation in order. Yet wholly aside from the value of a tool as an implement of tillage and as a weapon for the pursuit of weeds, is its merit merely as a shapely and interesting instrument. A man will take infinite pains to choose a gun or a fishing-rod to his liking, and a woman gives her best attention to the selecting of an umbrella; but a hoe is only a hoe and a rake only a rake. If one puts his personal choice into the securing of plants for a garden, so should he discriminate in the choice of hand tools, to secure those that are light, trim, well made, and precisely adapted to the work to be accomplished. A case of neat garden tools ought to be a great joy to a joyful gardener. So I am willing to enlarge on the subject of hoes and their kind.



The hoe.



The common rectangular-bladed hoe is so thoroughly established in the popular mind that it is very difficult to introduce new patterns, even though they may be intrinsically superior. As a general-purpose tool, it is no doubt true that a common hoe is better than any of its modifications, but there are various patterns of hoe-blades that are greatly superior for special uses, and which ought to appeal to any quiet soul who loves a garden.



The great width of the common blade does not admit of its being used in very narrow rows or very close to delicate plants, and it does not allow of the deep stirring of the soil in narrow spaces. It is also difficult to enter hard ground with such a broad face. Various pointed blades have been introduced from time to time, and most of them have merit. Some persons prefer two points to the hoe, as shown in Marvin's blades, in Fig. 95. These interesting shapes represent the suggestions of gardeners who will not be bound by what the market affords, but who have blades cut and fitted for their own satisfaction.

Persons who followed the entertaining writings of one who called himself Mr. A.B. Tarryer, in "American Garden," a few years back, will recall the great variety of implements that he advised for the purpose of extirpating his hereditary foes, the weeds. A variety of these blades and tools is shown in Figs. 96 and 97. I shall let Mr. Tarryer tell his story at some length in order to lead my reader painlessly into a new field of gardening pleasures.

Mr. Tarryer contends that the wheel-hoe is much too clumsy an affair to allow of the pursuit of an individual weed. While the operator is busy adjusting his machine and manipulating it about the corners of the garden, the quack-grass has escaped over the fence or has gone to seed at the other end of the plantation. He devised an expeditious tool for each little work to be performed on the garden,—for hard ground and soft, for old weeds and young (one of his implements was denominated "infant-damnation").



"Scores of times during the season," Mr. Tarryer writes, "the ten or fifteen minutes one has to enjoy in the flower, fruit, and vegetable garden—and that would suffice for the needful weeding with the hoes we are celebrating—would be lost in harnessing horses or adjusting and oiling squeaky wheel-hoes, even if everybody had them. The 'American Garden' is not big enough, nor my patience long enough, to give more than an inkling of the unspeakable merits of these weapons of society and civilization. When Mrs. Tarryer was showing twelve or fifteen acres of garden with never a weed to be seen, she valued her dozen or more of these light implements at five or ten dollars daily; whether they were in actual use or adorning the front hall, like a hunter's or angler's furniture, made no difference. But where are these millennial tools made and sold? Nowhere. They are as unknown as the Bible was in the dark ages, and we must give a few hints towards manufacturing them.

"First, about the handles. The ordinary dealer or workman may say these knobs can be formed on any handles by winding them with leather; but just fancy a young maiden setting up her hoe meditatively and resting her hands and chin upon an old leather knob to reflect upon something that has been said to her in the garden, and we shall perceive that a knob by some other name would smell far sweeter. Moreover, trees grow large enough at the butt to furnish all the knobs we want—even for broom-sticks—though sawyers, turners, dealers, and the public seem not to be aware of it; yet it must be confessed we are so far gone in depravity that there will be trouble in getting those handles....

"In a broadcast prayer of this public nature, absolute specifications would not be polite. Black walnut and butternut are fragrant as well as beautiful timber. Cherry is stiff, heavy, durable, and, like maple, takes a slippery polish. For fine, light handles, that the palm will stick to, butt cuts of poplar or cottonwood cannot be excelled, yet straight-grained ash will bear more careless usage.

"The handles of Mrs. Tarryer's hoes are never perfectly straight. All the bayonet class bend downward in use half an inch or more; all the thrust-hoe handles bend up in a regular curve (like a fiddle-bow turned over) two or three inches. Unless they are hung right, these hoes are very awkward things. When perfectly fit for one, they may not fit another; that is, a tall, keen-sighted person cannot use the hoe that is just fit for a very short one.... Curves in the handles throw centers of gravity where they belong. Good timber generally warps in a handle about right, only implement makers and babes in weeding may not know when it is made fast right side up in the hoe.

"There are plenty of thrust-hoes in market, such as they are. Some have malleable iron sockets and bows—heavier to the buyer and cheaper to the dealer—instead of wrought-iron and steel, such as is required for true worth."

Scarifiers.



For many purposes, tools that scrape or scarify the surface are preferable to hoes that dig up the ground. Weeds may be kept down by cutting them off, as in walks and often in flower-beds, rather than by rooting them out. Figure 98 shows such a tool, and a home-made implement answering the same purpose is illustrated in Fig. 99. This latter tool is easily made from strong band-iron. Another type is suggested in Fig. 100, representing a slicing-hoe made by fastening a sheet of good metal to the tines of a broken fork. The kind chiefly in the market is shown in Fig. 101.



Hand-weeders.



For small beds of flowers or vegetables, hand-weeders of various patterns are essential to easy and efficient work. One of the best patterns, with long and short handles, is shown in Fig. 102. Another style, that may be made at home of hoop-iron, is drawn in Fig. 103. A finger-weeder is illustrated in Fig. 104. In Fig. 105 a common form is shown. Many patterns of hand-weeders are in the market, and other forms will suggest themselves to the operator.



Trowels and their kind.

Small hand-tools for digging, as trowels, dibbers, and spuds, may be had of dealers. In buying a trowel it is economy to pay an extra price and secure a steel blade with a strong shank that runs through the entire length of the handle. One of these tools will last several years and may be used in hard ground, but the cheap trowels are generally hardly worth the buying. A solid wrought-iron trowel all in one piece is also manufactured, and is the most durable pattern. A steel trowel may be secured to a long handle; or the blade of a broken trowel may be utilized in the same way (Fig. 106). A very good trowel may also be made from a discarded blade of a mowing machine (Fig. 107), and it answers the purpose of a hand-weeder.



Weed-spuds are shown in Figs. 108 to 111. The first is particularly serviceable in cutting docks and other strong weeds from lawns and pastures. It is provided with a brace to allow it to be thrust into the ground with the foot. It is seldom necessary to dig out perennial weeds to the tips of their deep roots, if the crown is severed a short distance below the surface.

Rollers.

It is often essential that the land be compacted after it has been spaded or hoed, and some kind of hand-roller is then useful. Very efficient iron rollers are in the market, but a good one can be made from a hard chestnut or oak log, as shown in Fig. 112. (It should be remembered that when the surface is hard and compact, water escapes from it rapidly, and plants may suffer for moisture on arrival of warm weather.) The roller is useful in two ways—to compact the under-surface, in which case the surface should be again loosened as soon as the rolling is done; and to firm the earth about seeds (page 98) or the roots of newly set plants.



Markers.



A marker may often be combined with the roller to good advantage, as in Fig. 113. Ropes are secured about the cylinder at proper intervals, and these mark the rows. Knots may be placed in the ropes to indicate the places where plants are to be set or seeds dropped. An extension of the same idea is seen in Fig. 114, which shows iron or wooden pegs that make holes in which very small plants may be set. An L-shaped rod projects at one side to mark the place of the next row.



In most cases the best and most expeditious method of marking out the garden is by the use of the garden line, which is secured to a reel (Fig. 96), but various other devices are often useful. For very small beds, drills or furrows may be made by a simple marking-stick (Fig. 115). A handy marker is shown in Fig. 116. A marker can be rigged to a wheel-barrow, as in Fig. 117. A rod is secured underneath the front truss, and from its end an adjustable trailer, B, is hung. The wheel of the barrow marks the row, and the trailer indicates the place of the next row, thereby keeping the rows parallel. A hand sled-marker is shown in Fig. 118, and a similar device may be secured to the frame of a sulky cultivator (Fig. 119) or other wheel tool. A good adjustable sled-marker is outlined in Fig. 120.



Enriching the land.

Two problems are involved in the fertilizing of the land: the direct addition of plant-food, and the improvement of the physical structure of the soil. The latter office is often the more important.

Lands that, on the one hand, are very hard and solid, with a tendency to bake, and, on the other, that are loose and leachy, are very greatly benefited by the addition of organic matter. When this organic matter—as animal and plant remains—decays and becomes thoroughly incorporated with the soil, it forms what is called humus. The addition of this humus makes the land mellow, friable, retentive of moisture, and promotes the general chemical activities of the soil. It also puts the soil in the best physical condition for the comfort and well-being of the plants. Very many of the lands that are said to be exhausted of plant-food still contain enough potash, phosphoric acid, and lime, and other fertilizing elements, to produce good crops; but they have been greatly injured in their physical condition by long-continued cropping, injudicious tillage, and the withholding of vegetable matter. A part of the marked results secured from the plowing under of clover is due to the incorporation of vegetable matter, wholly aside from the addition of fertilizing material; and this is emphatically true of clover because its deep-growing roots penetrate and break up the subsoil.

Muck and leafmold are often very useful in ameliorating either very hard or very loose lands. Excellent humous material may be constantly at hand if the leaves, garden refuse, and some of the manure are piled and composted (p. 114). If the pile is turned several times a year, the material becomes fine and uniform in texture.

The various questions associated with the fertilizing of the land are too large to be considered in detail here. Persons who desire to familiarize themselves with the subject should consult recent books. It may be said, however, that, as a rule, most lands contain all the elements of plant-food in sufficient quantities except potash, phosphoric acid, and nitrogen. In many cases, lime is very beneficial to land, usually because it corrects acidity and has a mechanical effect in pulverizing and flocculating clay and in cementing sands.

The chief sources of commercial potash are muriate of potash, sulfate of potash, and wood ashes. For general purposes, the muriate of potash is now recommended, because it is comparatively cheap and the composition is uniform. A normal application of muriate of potash is 200 to 300 pounds to the acre; but on some lands, where the greatest results are demanded, sometimes as much as twice this application may be made.

Phosphoric acid is got in dissolved South Carolina and Florida rock and in various bone preparations. These materials are applied at the rate of 200 to 400 pounds to the acre.

Commercial nitrogen is secured chiefly in the form of animal refuse, as blood and tankage, and in nitrate of soda. It is more likely to be lost by leaching through the land than the mineral substances are, especially if the land lacks humus. Nitrate of soda is very soluble, and should be applied in small quantities at intervals. Nitrogen, being the element which is mostly conducive to vegetative growth, tends to delay the season of maturity if applied heavily or late in the season. From 100 to 300 pounds of nitrate of soda may be applied to the acre, but it is ordinarily better to make two or three applications at intervals of three to six weeks. Fertilizing materials may be applied either in fall or spring; but in the case of nitrate of soda it is usually better not to apply in the fall unless the land has plenty of humus to prevent leaching, or on plants that start very early in the spring.

Fertilizing material is sown broadcast, or it may be scattered lightly in furrows underneath the seeds, and then covered with earth. If sown broadcast, it may be applied either after the seeds are sown or before. It is usually better to apply it before, for although the rains carry it down, nevertheless the upward movement of water during the dry weather of the summer tends to bring it back to the surface. It is important that large lumps of fertilizer, especially muriate of potash and nitrate of soda, do not fall near the crowns of the plants; otherwise the plants may be seriously injured. It is a general principle, also, that it is best to use more sparingly of fertilizers than of tillage. The tendency is to make fertilizers do penance for the sins of neglect, but the results do not often meet one's expectations.

If one has only a small garden or a home yard, it ordinarily will not pay him to buy the chemicals separately, as suggested above, but he may purchase a complete fertilizer that is sold under a trademark or brand, and has a guaranteed analysis. If one is raising plants chiefly for their foliage, as rhubarb and ornamental bushes, he should choose a fertilizer comparatively rich in nitrogen; but if he desires chiefly fruit and flowers, the mineral elements, as potash and phosphoric acid, should usually be high. If one uses the chemicals, it is not necessary that they be mixed before application; in fact, it is usually better not to mix them, because some plants and some soils need more of one element than of another. Just what materials, and how much, different soils and plants require must be determined by the grower himself by observation and experiment; and it is one of the satisfactions of gardening to arrive at discrimination in such matters.

Muriate of potash costs $40 and upwards per ton, sulfate about $48, dissolved boneblack about $24, ground bone about $30, kainit about $13, and nitrate of soda about 2-1/4 cents per pound. These prices vary, of course, with the composition or mechanical condition of materials, and with the state of the market. The average composition of unleached wood ashes in the market is about as follows: Potash, 5.2 per cent; phosphoric acid, 1.70 per cent; lime, 34 per cent; magnesia, 3.40 per cent. The average composition of kainit is 13.54 per cent potash, 1.15 per cent lime.

The fact that the soil itself is the greatest storehouse of plant-food is shown by the following average of thirty-five analyses of the total content of the first eight inches of surface soils, per acre: 3521 pounds of nitrogen, 4400 pounds of phosphoric acid, 19,836 pounds of potash. Much of this is unavailable, but good tillage, green-manuring, and proper management tend to unlock it and at the same time to save it from waste.

Every careful gardener will take satisfaction in saving leaves and trimmings and stable refuse and making compost of it to supplement the native supplies in the soil. Some out-of-the-way corner will be found for a permanent pile, with room for piling it over from time to time. The pile will be screened by his garden planting. (Figure 121 suggests a useful cart for collecting such materials.) He will also save the power of his land by changing his crops to other parts of the garden, year by year, not growing his China asters or his snap-dragons or his potatoes or strawberries continuously on the same area; and thus, also, will his garden have a new face every year.



Lest the reader may get the idea that there is no limit to be placed on the enriching of the soil, I will caution him at the end of my discussion that he may easily make the place so rich that some plants will overgrow and will not come into flowering or fruiting before frost, and flowers may lack brilliancy. On very rich land, scarlet sage will grow to great size but will not bloom in the northern season; sweet peas will run to vine; gaillardias and some other plants will break down; tomatoes and melons and peppers may be so late that the fruit will not ripen. Only experience and good judgment will safeguard the gardener as to how far he should or should not go.



CHAPTER V

THE HANDLING OF THE PLANTS

There is a knack in the successful handling of plants that it is impossible to describe in print. All persons can improve their practice through diligent reading of useful gardening literature, but no amount of reading and advice will make a good gardener of a person who does not love to dig in a garden or who does not have a care for plants just because they are plants.

To grow a plant well, one must learn its natural habits. Some persons learn this as if by intuition, acquiring the knowledge from close discrimination of the behavior of the plant. Often they are themselves unconscious of this knack of knowing what will make the plant to thrive; but it is not at all necessary to have such an intuitive judgment to enable one to be even more than a fairly good gardener. Diligent attention to the plant's habits and requirements, and a real regard for the plant's welfare, will make any person a successful plant-grower.

Some of the things that a person should know about any plant he would grow are these:—

Whether the plant matures in the first, second, third, or subsequent years; and when it naturally begins to fail.

The time of the year or season in which it normally grows, blooms, or fruits; and whether it can be forced at other seasons.

Whether it prefers a situation dry or moist or wet, hot or cool, sunny or shady.

Its preferences as to soil, whether very rich or only moderately rich, sand or loam, or peat or clay.

Its hardiness as to frost, wind, drought, heat.

Whether it has any special requirements as to germination, and whether it transplants well.

Whether it is specially liable to attack by insects or disease.

Whether it has a special inability to grow two years in succession on the same land.

Having suited the situation to the plant, and having prepared the ground well and made a resolution to keep it well, special attention must be given to such matters as these:—

Guarding from all insects and diseases; and also from cats and chickens and dogs; and likewise from rabbits and mice.

Protecting from weeds.

Pruning, in the case of fruit trees and bushes, and also of ornamental woody plants on occasion, and sometimes even of annual herbs.

Staking and tying, particularly of sprawly garden flowers.

Persistent picking of seed pods or dead flowers from flower plants, in order to conserve the strength of the plant and to prolong its season of bloom.

Watering in dry weather (but not sprinkling or dribbling).

Thorough winter protecting of plants that need it.

Removing dead leaves, broken branches, weak and sickly plants, and otherwise keeping the place tidy and trim.

Sowing the seeds.

Prepare the surface earth well, to make a good seed-bed. Plant when the ground is moist, if possible, and preferably just before a rain if the soil is of such character that it will not bake. For shallow-planted seeds, firm the earth above them by walking over the row or by patting it down with a hoe. Special care should be exercised not to sow very small and slow-germinating seeds, as celery, carrot, onion, in poorly prepared soil or in ground that bakes. With such seeds it is well to sow seeds of radish or turnip, for these germinate quickly and break the crust, and also mark the row so that tillage may be begun before the regular-crop seeds are up.

Land may be prevented from baking over the seeds by scattering a very thin layer of fine litter, as chaff, or of sifted moss or mold, over the row. A board is sometimes laid on the row to retain the moisture, but it must be lifted gradually just as soon as the plants begin to break the ground, or the plants will be greatly injured. Whenever practicable, seed-beds of celery and other slow-germinating seeds should be shaded. If the beds are watered, be careful that the soil is not packed by the force of the water or baked by the sun. In thickly sown seed-beds, thin or transplant the plants as soon as they have made their first true leaves.

For most home-grounds, seeds may be sown by hand, but for large areas of one crop, one of the many kinds of seed-sowers may be used. The particular methods of sowing seeds are usually specified in the seed catalogues, if other than ordinary treatment is required. The sled-markers (already described, p. 108) open a furrow of sufficient depth for the planting of most seeds. If marker furrows are not available, a furrow may be opened with a hoe for such deep-planted seeds as peas and sweet peas, or by a trowel or end of a rakestale for smaller seeds. In narrow beds or boxes, a stick or ruler (Fig. 115) may be used for opening creases to receive the seeds.

The depth at which seeds are to be planted varies with the kind, the soil and its preparation, the season, and whether they are planted in the open or in the house. In boxes and under glass, it is a good rule that the seed be sown at a depth equal to twice its own diameter, but deeper sowing is usually necessary out of doors, particularly in hot and dry weather. Strong and hardy seeds, as peas, sweet peas, large fruit-tree seeds, may be planted three to six inches deep. Tender seeds, that are injured by cold and wet, may be planted after the ground is settled and warm at a greater depth than before that season. As a rule, nothing is gained by sowing tender seeds before the weather is thoroughly settled and the ground warm.

Propagating by cuttings.

Many common plants are propagated by cuttings rather than by seeds, particularly when it is desired to increase a particular variety.

Cuttings are parts of plants inserted in soil or water with the intention that they shall grow and make new plants. They are of various kinds. They may be classified, with reference to the age of the wood or tissue, into two classes; viz. those made from perfectly hard or dormant wood (taken from the winter twigs of trees and bushes), and those made from more or less immature or growing wood. They may be classified again in respect to the part of the plants from which they are taken, as root-cuttings, tuber-cuttings (as the ordinary "seed" planted for potatoes), stem-cuttings, and leaf-cuttings.

Dormant stem-cuttings.

Dormant-wood cuttings are used for grapes (Fig. 122), currants, gooseberries, willows, poplars, and many other kinds of soft-wooded trees and shrubs. Such cuttings are ordinarily taken in fall or winter, but cut into the proper lengths and then buried in sand or moss where they do not freeze, in order that the lower end may heal over or callous. In the spring these cuttings are set in the ground, preferably in a rather sandy and well-drained place.



Usually, hardwood cuttings are made with two to four joints or buds, and when they are planted, only the upper bud projects above the ground. They may be planted erect, as Fig. 122 shows, or somewhat slanting. In order that the cutting may reach down to moist earth, it is desirable that it should not be less than 6 in. long; and it is sometimes better if it is 8 to 12 in. If the wood is short-jointed, there may be several buds on a cutting of this length; and in order to prevent too many shoots from arising from these buds the lowermost buds are often cut out. Roots will start as readily if the lower buds are removed, since the buds grow into shoots and not into roots.



Cuttings of currants, grapes, gooseberries, and the like may be set in rows that are far enough apart to admit of easy tillage either with horse or hand tools, and the cuttings may be placed 3 to 8 in. apart in the row. The English varieties of gooseberries, considerably grown in this country, do not propagate readily from cuttings.

After the cuttings have grown one season, the plants are usually transplanted and given more room for the second year's growth, after which time they are ready to be set in permanent plantations. In some cases, the plants are set at the end of the first year; but two-year plants are stronger and usually preferable.

Cuttings of roots.

Root-cuttings are used for blackberries, raspberries, and a few other things. They are ordinarily made of roots from the size of a lead pencil to one's little finger, and are cut in lengths from 3 to 5 in. long. The cuttings are stored the same as stem-cuttings and allowed to callous. In the spring they are planted in a horizontal or nearly horizontal position in moist sandy soil, being entirely covered to a depth of 1 or 2 in.

Green cuttings.

Softwood or greenwood cuttings are usually made of wood that is mature enough to break when it is bent sharply. When the wood is so soft that it will bend and not break, it is too immature, in the majority of plants, for the making of good cuttings.



One to two joints is the proper length of a greenwood cutting. If of two joints, the lower leaves should be cut off and the upper leaves cut in two so that they do not present their entire surface to the air and thereby evaporate the plant juices too rapidly. If the cutting is of only one joint, the lower end is usually cut just above a joint. In either case, the cuttings are usually inserted in sand or well-washed gravel, nearly or quite up to the leaves. Keep the bed uniformly moist throughout its depth, but avoid any soil which holds so much moisture that it becomes muddy and sour. These cuttings should be shaded until they begin to emit their roots. Coleus, geraniums, fuchsias, carnations, and nearly all the common greenhouse and house plants, are propagated by these cuttings or slips (Figs. 123, 124).

Cuttings of leaves.

Leaf-cuttings are often used for the fancy-leaved begonias, gloxinias, and a few other plants. The young plant usually arises most readily from the leaf-stalk or petiole. The leaf, therefore, is inserted into the ground much as a green cutting is. Begonia leaves will throw out young plants from the main ribs when these veins or ribs are cut. Therefore, well-grown and firm begonia leaves are sometimes laid flat on the sand and the main veins cut; then the leaf is weighted down with pebbles or pegs so that these cut surfaces come into intimate contact with the soil beneath. The usual way, however, is to cut a triangular piece of the leaf (Fig. 125) and insert the tip in sand. So long as the cutting is alive, do not be discouraged, even if it do not start.



General treatment of cuttings.

In the growing of all greenwood and leaf-cuttings, it is well to remember that they should have a gentle bottom heat; the soil should be such that it will hold moisture and yet not remain wet; the air about the tops should not become close and stagnant, else the plants will damp off; and the tops should be shaded for a time. In order to control all the conditions, such cuttings are grown under cover, as in a greenhouse, coldframe, or a box in the residence window.



An excellent method of starting cuttings in the living room is to make a double pot, as shown in Fig. 126. Inside a 6-in. pot set a 4-in. pot. Fill the bottom, a, with gravel or bits of brick, for drainage. Plug the hole in the inside pot. Fill the spaces between, c, with earth, and in this set the cuttings. Water may be poured into the inner pot, b, to supply the moisture.

Transplanting young seedlings.

In the transplanting of cabbages, tomatoes, flowers, and all plants recently started from seeds, it is important that the ground be thoroughly fined and compacted. Plants usually live better if transplanted into ground that has been freshly turned. If possible, transplant in cloudy or rainy weather, particularly if late in the season. Firm the earth snugly about the roots with the hands or feet, in order to bring up the soil moisture; but it is generally best to rake the surface in order to reestablish the earth-mulch, unless the plants are so small that their roots cannot reach through the mulch (p. 98).



If the plants are taken from pots, water the pots some time in advance, and the ball of earth will fall out when the pot is inverted and tapped lightly. In taking up plants from the ground, it is advisable, also, to water them well some time before removing; the earth may then be held on the roots. See that the watering is done far enough in advance to allow the water to settle away and distribute itself; the earth should not be muddy when the plants are removed.



In order to reduce the evaporation from the plant, shingles may be stuck into the ground to shade the plant; or a screen may be improvised with pieces of paper (Fig. 122), tin cans, inverted flower-pots, coverings of brush, or other means.

It is nearly always advisable to remove some of the foliage, particularly if the plant has several leaves and if it has not been grown in a pot, and also if the transplanting is done in warm weather. Figure 128 shows a good treatment for transplanted plants. With the foliage all left on, the plants are likely to behave as in the upper row; but with most of it cut off, as in the lower row, there is little wilting, and new leaves soon start. Figure 129 also shows what part of the leaves may be cut off on transplanting. If the ground is freshly turned and the transplanting is well done, it rarely will be necessary to water the plants; but if watering is necessary, it should be done at nightfall, and the surface should be loosened the next morning or as soon as it becomes dry.



In the transplanting of young plants, some kind of a dibber should be used to make the holes. Dibbers make holes without removing any of the earth. A good form of dibber is shown in Fig. 130, which is like a flat or plane trowel. Many persons prefer a cylindrical and conical dibber, like that shown in Fig. 131. For hard soils and larger plants, a strong dibber may be made from a limb that has a right-angled branch to serve as a handle. This handle may be softened by slipping a piece of rubber hose on it (Fig. 132). A long iron dibber, which may also be used as a crow-bar, is shown in Fig. 133. In transplanting with the dibber, a hole is first made by a thrust of the tool, and the earth is then pressed against the root by means of the foot, hand, or the dibber itself (as in Fig. 131). The hole is not filled by putting in dirt at the top.



For large plants, a broader dibber may be used. An implement like that shown in Fig. 134 is useful for setting strawberries and other plants with large roots. It is made of two-inch plank, with a block on top to act as foot-rest and to prevent the blade from going too deep. In order to provide space for the foot and easily to direct the thrust, the handle may be placed at one side of the middle. For plunging pots, a dibber like that shown in Fig. 135 is useful, particularly when the soil is so hard that a long-pointed tool is necessary. The bottom of the hole may be filled with earth before the pot is inserted; but it is often advisable to leave the vacant space below (as in b) to provide drainage, to keep the plant from rooting, and to prevent earth-worms from entering the hole in the bottom of the pot. For smaller pots, the tool may be inserted a less depth (as at c).



Transplanting established plants and trees.

In setting potted plants out of doors, it is nearly always advisable to plunge them,—that is to set the pots into the earth,—unless the place is very wet. The pots are then watered by the rainfall, and demand little care. If the plants are to be returned to the house in the fall, they should not be allowed to root through the hole in the pot, and the rooting may be prevented by turning the pot around every few days. Large decorative plants may be made to look as if growing naturally in the lawn by sinking the pot or box just below the surface and rolling the sod over it, as suggested in Fig. 136. A space around and below the tub may be provided to insure drainage.



Tub-plants.



For the shifting of very large tub-plants, a box or tub with movable sides, as in Fig. 137, is handy and efficient. The plant-box recommended to parties who grew plants for exhibition at the World's Fair is shown in Fig. 138. It is made of strong boards or planks. At A is shown the inside of one of two opposite sections or sides, four feet wide at top, three feet wide at bottom, and three feet high. The cleats are two-by-four scantlings, through which holes are bored to admit the bolts with which the box is to be held together. B is an outside view of one of the alternating sections, three feet four inches wide at top, two feet four inches at bottom, and three feet deep. A one-by-six strip is nailed through the center to give strength. C is an end view of A, showing the bolts and also a two-by-four cleat to which the bottom is to be nailed. This box was used mostly for transporting large growing stock to the exposition, the stock having been dug from the open and the box secured around the ball of earth.



When to transplant.

In general, it is best to set hardy plants in the fall, particularly if the ground is fairly dry and the exposure is not too bleak. To this class belong most of the fruit trees and ornamental trees and shrubs; also hardy herbs, as columbines, peonies, lilies, bleeding-hearts, and the like. They should be planted as soon as they are thoroughly mature, so that the leaves begin to fall naturally. If any leaves remain on the tree or bush at planting time, strip them off, unless the plant is an evergreen. It is generally best not to cut back fall-planted trees to the full extent desired, but to shorten them three-fourths of the required amount in the fall, and take off the remaining fourth in the spring, so that no dead or dry tips are left on the plant. Evergreens, as pines and spruces, are not headed-in much, and usually not at all.

All tender and very small plants should be set in the spring, in which case very early planting is desirable; and spring planting is always to be advised when the ground is not thoroughly drained and well prepared.

Depth to transplant.

In well-compacted land, trees and shrubs should be set at about the same depth as they stood in the nursery, but if the land has been deeply trenched or if it is loose from other causes, the plants should be set deeper, because the earth will probably settle. The hole should be filled with fine surface earth. It is generally not advisable to place manure in the hole, but if it is used, it should be of small amount and very thoroughly mixed with the earth, else it will cause the soil to dry out. In lawns and other places where surface tillage cannot be given, a light mulch of litter or manure may be placed about the plants; but the earth-mulch (page 98), when it can be secured, is much the best conserver of moisture.

Making the rows straight.



In order to set trees in rows, it is necessary to use a garden line (Fig. 96), or to mark out the ground with some of the devices already described (Figs. 113-120); or in large areas, the place may be staked out. In planting orchards, the area is laid out (preferably by a surveyor) with two or more rows of stakes so placed that a man may sight from one fixed point to another. Two or three men work to best advantage in such planting.



There are various devices for locating the place of the stake after the stake has been removed and the hole dug, in case the area is not regularly staked out in such a way that sighting across the area may be employed. One of the simplest is shown in Fig. 139. It is a narrow and thin board with a notch in the center and a peg in either end, one of the pegs being stationary. The implement is so placed that the notch meets the stake, then one end of it is thrown out of the way until the hole is dug. When the implement is brought again to its original position, the notch mark's the place of the stake and the tree. Figure 140 is a device with a lid, in the end of which is a notch to mark the place of the stake. This lid is thrown back, as shown by the dotted lines, when the hole is being dug. Figure 141 shows a method of bringing trees in row by measuring from a line.



Cutting-back; filling.

In the planting of any tree or bush, the roots should be cut back beyond all breaks and serious bruises, and fine earth should be thoroughly filled in and firmed about them, as in Fig. 142. No implement is so good as the fingers for working the soil about the roots. If the tree has many roots, work it up and down slightly several times during the filling of the hole, to settle the earth in place. When the earth is thrown in carelessly, the roots are jammed together, and often an empty place is left beneath the crown, as in Fig. 143, which causes the roots to dry out.



The marks on the tops of these trees in Figs. 142 and 143 show where the branches may be cut. See also Fig. 152. Figures 144 and 145 show the tops of trees after pruning. Strong branchy trees, as apples, pears, and ornamental trees, are usually headed back in this way, upon planting. If the tree has one straight leader and many or several slender branches (Fig. 146), it is usually pruned, as in Fig. 147, each branch being cut back to one or two buds. If there are no branches, or very few of them,—in which case there will be good buds upon the main stem,—the leader may be cut back a third or half its length, to a mere whip. Ornamental bushes with long tops are usually cut back a third or a half when set, as shown in Fig. 45.



Always leave a little of the small bud-making growth. The practice of cutting back shade trees to mere long clubs, or poles, with no small twigs, is to be discouraged. The tree in such case is obliged to force out adventitious buds from the old wood, and it may not have vigor enough to do this; and the process may be so long delayed as to allow the tree to be overtaken by drought before it gets a start.



Removing very large trees.

Very large trees can often be moved with safety. It is essential that the transplanting be done when the trees are perfectly dormant,—winter being preferable,—that a large mass of earth and roots be taken with the tree, and that the top be vigorously cut back. Large trees are often moved in winter on a stone-boat, by securing a large ball of earth frozen about the roots. This frozen ball is secured by digging about the tree for several days in succession, so that the freezing progresses with the excavation. A good device for moving such trees is shown in Fig. 148. The trunk of the tree is securely wrapped with burlaps or other soft material, and a ring or chain is then secured about it. A long pole, b, is run over the truck of a wagon and the end of it is secured to the chain or ring upon the tree. This pole is a lever for raising the tree out of the ground. A team is hitched at a, and a man holds the pole b.



Other and more elaborate devices are in use, but this explains the idea and is therefore sufficient for the present purpose; for when a person desires to remove a very large tree he should secure the services of an expert.



The following more explicit directions for moving large trees are by Edward Hicks, who has had much experience in the business, and who made this report to the press a few years ago: "In moving large trees, say those ten to twelve inches in diameter and twenty-five to thirty feet high, it is well to prepare them by trimming and cutting or sawing off the roots at a proper distance from the trunks, say six to eight feet, in June. The cut roots heal over and send out fibrous roots, which should not be injured more than is necessary in moving the trees next fall or spring. Young, thrifty maples and elms, originally from the nursery, do not need such preparation nearly as much as other and older trees. In moving a tree, we begin by digging a wide trench six to eight feet from it, leaving all possible roots fast to it. By digging under the tree in the wide trench, and working the soil out of the roots by means of round or dull-pointed sticks, the soil falls into the cavity made under the tree. Three or four men in as many hours could get so much of the soil away from the roots that it would be safe to attach a rope and tackle to the upper part of the trunk and to some adjoining post or tree for the purpose of pulling the tree over. A good quantity of bagging must be put around the tree under the rope to prevent injury, and care should be taken that the pulling of the rope does not split off or break a limb. A team is hitched to the end of the draft rope, and slowly driven in the proper direction to pull the tree over. If the tree does not readily tip over, dig under and cut off any fast root. While it is tipped over, work out more of the soil with the sticks. Now pass a large rope, double, around a few large roots close to the tree, leaving the ends of the rope turned up by the trunk to be used in lifting the tree at the proper time. Tip the tree in the opposite direction and put another large rope around the large roots close to the trunk; remove more soil and see that no roots are fast to the ground. Four guy-ropes attached to the upper parts of the tree, as shown in the cut (Fig. 149), should be put on properly and used to prevent the tree from tipping over too far as well as to keep it upright. A good deal of the soil can be put back in the hole without covering the roots to get it out of the way of the machine. The latter can now be placed about the tree by removing the front part, fastened by four bolts, placing the frame with the hind wheels around the tree and replacing the front parts. Two timbers, three-by-nine inches, and twenty feet long, are now placed on the ground under the hind wheels, and in front of them, parallel to each other for the purpose of keeping the hind wheels up out of the big hole when drawing the tree away; and they are also used while backing the hind wheels across the new hole in which the tree is to be planted. The machine (Figs. 149, 150) consists of a hind axle twelve feet long, and broad-tired wheels. The frame is made of spruce three-by-eight inches and twenty feet long. The braces are three-by-five inches and ten feet long, and upright three-by-nine inches and three feet high; these are bolted to the hind axle and main frame. The front axle has a set of blocks bolted together and of sufficient height to support the front end of the frame. Into the top timbers, three-by-six inches, hollows are cut at the proper distances to receive the ends of two locust rollers. A windlass or winch is put at each end of the frame, by which trees can easily and steadily be lifted and lowered, the large double ropes passing over the rollers to the windlasses. A locust boom is put across the machine under the frame and above the braces; iron pins hold it in place. The side guy-ropes are made fast to the ends of this boom. The other guy-ropes are made fast to the front and rear parts of the machine. Four rope loops are made fast inside of the frame, and are so placed that by passing a rope around the trunk of the tree and through the loops two or three times, a rope ring is made around the tree that will keep the trunk in the middle of the frame and not allow it to hit either the edges or the rollers—a very necessary safeguard. As the tree is slowly lifted by the windlasses, the guy-ropes are loosened, as needed. The tree will pass obstructions, such as trees by the roadside, but in doing so it is better to lean the tree backward. When the tree has arrived at its new place, the two timbers are placed along the opposite edges of the hole so that the hind wheels can be backed over it. The tree is then lowered to the proper depth, and made plumb by the guy-ropes, and good, mellow soil is thrown in and packed well into all the cavities under the roots. When the hole is half filled, several barrels of water should be poured in; this will wash the soil into the cavities under the center of the tree much better. When the water has settled away, fill in and pack the soil till the hole is little more than full. Leave a depression, so that all the rain that may fall will be retained. The tree should now be judiciously trimmed and the machine removed. Five men can take up, move, and plant a tree in a day, if the distance is short and the digging not too hard. The tree should be properly wired to stakes to prevent the wind from blowing it over. The front part of the machine is a part of our platform spring market-wagon, while the hind wheels are from a wood-axle wagon. A tree ten inches in diameter, with some dirt adhering to its roots, will weigh a ton or more."