Country Parks For Country People

At our 1919 summer meeting at Fort Atkinson much of the program was devoted to a discussion of country parks. The Rural Planning Law, then recently enacted, contains provisions intended to aid in establishing such rural parks and, as always, the W. S. II. S. was the first association in the state to do something toward making the law more than mere legal palaver.

Your secretary has “viewed with regret” the tendency of country people to seek their pleasures wholly in the city. The movies and the flivver make a wonderful combination but it’s a combination that is utterly destroying the last remaining shred of rural social life. The city and village merchants as well as the movie men encourage this sort of thing and from a selfish standpoint they are justified in doing so.

But do we country people want the city people to feel that we have no capacity for amusement or diversion among ourselves, that we are satisfied with the shallow pleasures offered by the city. If so then we deserve the name of “Rube” or “Jake” or other contemptuous term that they may apply to us.

The community center work is well done by other departments and is not horticulture but this particular field of parks and playgrounds is one to which we as horticulturists should give most serious thought.

Farmers, gardeners and fruit growers would live longer and happier as well as make more money if they would knock off work Saturday afternoons in summer. This idea will be laughed to scorn by most farmers and put down as the raving of a city "agriculturist.” Very well, laugh if you will. The edi-’oi was born and reared on a farm and knows that most farmers keep their noses so close to the ground, grubbing for dollars, that they never see the sunlight above and around them nor hear the music of the woodlands; they rarely see their neighbors nor anything else in life worth while. If they would let up on the everlasting grind for a few hours occasionally, and it’s a mighty poor manager that can’t arrange to do it even on a farm, and drive over to the neighborhood park for a visit with the neighbors they would begin to realize soon that there is, or may be, a healthy social life in the country. If not on Saturday then Sunday afternoon is none to good for a picnic. The place for the picnic is the rural park. Please consider Miss McDonald’s plea, Mrs. Rasmussen’s concise statement of facts as well as Oldham’s plea for the country merchant.

The editor offers no apology for devoting so much space to this subject, it’s a big one.

Country Parks

(From Reporter’s Transcript)

Miss Ellen D. McDonald: When I was a little girl—and that is a long time ago—we had little autograph albums in which we wrote verses, and I remember one of these verses that ran like this:

Happy may you be,

Blessed with forty children,

Twenty on each knee.

1 have done better than that ; I have 8,713 by the last count, and that is quite a family for an old maid to adopt, so you will not mind while I am talking that I will keep my eye on the children, so to speak.

I am heartily in sympathy with all that has been said in regard to the community parks; I am very much interested, in fact. I am sure they are coming. I see them from the angle of the township as the unit of measure, however, and I think that in time to come very soon, we will have in every township a community park. It will perhaps be located in the most beautiful spot in the township, as near as can be to the center of population; it will consist of 10 or 12 acres, part of it woodland, native woodland if possible; it will be well cared for. there will be an open field in it. if possible a little brook, a lake or one of those wonderful bits of natural scenery that Wisconsin is noted for. We will try to have in the park all that we can of Nature in order to enjoy it; we will have, if necessary, a shoot-the-chutes and a merry-go-round, and the things the children will enjoy playing with; we will have a ball ground for the young men : and we will have the picnic grounds for the people who can bring their dinner, and we will have a hitching post for the people who still drive the old blackhorse. We will have some other things in the park, however. We will have a place where we can test out some things. Where the county agent can show in some of these northern counties how alfalfa grows, what it looks like, where he can have a few test

pints and interest the people in that part or the state.

We will have a place in the park where farmers can gather for their big picnic and have their Old Settlers’ picnic and New Settlers’ picnic. Let us have a building in the park, let us have a big one, with a big basement, one with a kitchen where the good cooks of the community can prepare their chicken dinners or oyster stew or something of that kind, let us have a table where 200 or 300 people can comfortably sit—no one has said anything about eating yet— let us have a big community hall with a nice floor, where, if the young people want to dance, they can do it under the best conditions, do it in a community spirit, instead of in the dancing hall over the saloon, a spirit that we have had in years gone by, but perhaps never to return.

Let us have in that hall upstairs a stage at one end; young people all have a liking for dressing up and acting on the stage; it is fun not only for those who are looking on, but for those who are acting. Let us have our own movie and let us get on the circuit of the slides that the university will send out to you every week, and let us have a gathering in this hall every week. Let us have all the outdoor meetings we can, but let us have a lot of indoor meetings; let us have this indoor hall and attract the whole community.

Now, since I warned you at the beginning that I was going to keep an eye on the children while I talked, I want to tell you that between the top floor that I have just spoken of, and the basement to be fitted up for the public eating place, I am going to have the middle story, and in that story there are to be rooms, a series of rooms each with a blackboard and some desks, and I am going to have school rooms in there, between the top and the bottom floor, a community building, in fact; I am talking about the consolidated or centralized school that is on its way very fast, and I am going to have this country school right there, off in one corner of the park. I am going to have another building, it is going to be the home of the teacher, it is going to be a home large enough so that he and his wife and little children can live there, he is going to be hired by the year and he is going to live there all the year around; he will take an interest in the boy and girl club, take an interest in the poultry and calf club, take an interest in all their projects, take an interest in baseball, perhaps. He may not do all these things, but he will be there, and I honestly believe that one of the finest parks is the 10 or 12 or 15 acre park containing the schoolhouse and the home for the teacher and the principal of the school, and a place where the young people from the time they are of kindergarten age up to the oldest grayhaired member of the community may gather together with the community interest. I do not want it in the town, I want it in the open, in God’s country. It will cost a whole lot, but you remember this little poem that I want to read:

GIVE THEM A PEACE TO PEAY Plenty of room for dives and dens, (glitter and glare and sin!)

Plenty of room for prison pens, (gather the criminals In!)

Plenty of room tor jails and oourts, (willing enough to pay)

But never a place for the lads to race, no, never a place to play!

Plenty of rooms for shops and stores, (mammon must have the best!) Plenty of room for the running sores that rot in the city’s breast!

Plenty of room for the lurees that lead the hearts of our youth astray,

But never a cent on a playground spefit, no never a place to play!

Give them a chance for Innocent sport, give them a chance for fun—

Better a playground plot than a court and a jail when the harm is done!

Give them a chance—if you stint them now, tomorrow you’ll have to pay

A larger bill for a darker ill, so give them a place to play!

Denis A. McCarthy.

Mrs. Rasmussen: Evidently there are differences of opinion in this matter. Some people think the idea of the country park is the coming thing, and others think perhaps it is not necessary. It seems to me that each conununity would have to work this out to fit its own particular needs. I can see why the gentleman living in the vicinity of Oregon, a small town, should not favor the country parks, particularly because that village could be the community center, but any one who lives near a large town, even the size of our town, Oshkosh, I think will find that some sort of community center is necessary. While we have no country park, nor as yet a real community center, a great many of us in our little neighborhood feel the need of a community center, and I am going to tell you about something that we have done in our neighborhood, and that we are hoping to continue in the good work. Years ago there was a little church in our neighborhood dedicated as a Methodist church. Since that time the older members have passed away, and there was no one to keep up the little church, we could not afford to engage a minister, and we were so near Oshkosh and Omro, that most of us went to either one or the other and heard a much better speaker than at the country church. So the neighborhood bought the church to use as a community center, and we find that this church is very inadequate to use as a community center, because it has not the upstairs that Miss McDonald spoke about, nor the kitchen and dining room, but having lived in this neighborhood all my life, I have built air castles, but I hope to see this church put on a foundation containing kitchen and dining room, so we can have our little country gatherings in our o»n immediate neighborhood.

Now, so far as the city parks are concerned, we country people all enjoy going to the city parks, and if the city people will come out to the country they will probably enjoy it. We have had several cattle breeders’ associations who have had picnics and invited the merchants to come out and in almost every instance the merchants have enjoyed it. But we have no public picnic grounds; we must ask of some particular person the privilege of going to his grove and have the picnic at that place, and it seems to me if we had some public ground as a park, as we might call it, we would always know where we could go without trespassing, or without asking favors of any onJ. In our particular neighborhood we have a place—perhaps most of you have heard of it—called Leonard’s point, the only place that I can think of in our neighborhood that we could use as a picnic ground. It is private property, and no doubt it could be purchased for not so great an amount but that the different townships, by getting together, could acquire this tract of land. It would seem to me that most of us in our neighborhood would favor acquiring that land as public property of either the townships or the county. Of course the country boys and girls all like to go to the city for band concerts and movies and all that, but at the same time, in our particular neighborhood we find that they are very much contented to stay at home to attend the local affairs. Neighbors in our locality open up their homes to the young people and also barns for dancing and games and we never yet had a country picnic and dances but what they have been very well patronized.

Mr. L. L. Oldham: I have in mind the good wishes of the good merchants and the leading progressive farmers in Walworth county, and I do not know just how this idea of getting people away from the city and out into the country to country parks would appeal to our merchants. We have in our county some 31 organizations, community organizations we call them, in which there are farmers as well as city folks listed as members. We are trying all we possibly can, and all the time we can, to get our people to think of the terms town and country and rural and city people as we would ordinarily think of the Siamese twins, we like to regard one as the other and the other as one.

I am wondering if we should think of the idea of a country park which will keep the rural people in the country. I do not believe that we would get very far in our county if we carried that idea very far. Now then, the history of parks in the country is as old as the cities themselves. We go back and we thiuk of the first thought in the minds of those men that set aside parks, and we naturally think of the seaside walk as the first park, and I believe the Battery of New York, Boston Commons and the Bay Park in Charleston, South Carolina were the first park ideas that were put forth by any people.

Later on the City Hall Park in New York, which was set aside exclusively for the use of the boys and the men employed in the city hall and the office administration of the city of New York. Later on we come to see the first park established in the country as Central Part in Nev York City, and that was established by legislative action, established with the idea that it was recreation grounds for all people. That idea is what led to the establishment of Prospect Park in Brooklyn and Independence, Washington, Logan and all the other beautiful parks in the East. The experience in the East led to the establishment, no doubt, of the parking systems in Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis. St. Paul and all our big cities.

Mr. Ames made mention of the thing that I said, I do not think our merchants would like the idea of getting people from the country to stay in the country. Then we have the idea of Miss McDonald, who wants hers out in the country, if you please. I am wondering whether it is not in line with the duties of a county agent to see whether a compromise is in order. That is what we generally do, a lot of us anyway, we have to compromise on a lot of different questions.

I firmly believe we may be able, some of us—I have some good friends here who camp around Lake Geneva,—and I believe we may, in the future, be able to get together and suggest for Walworth county a kind of park. That idea has come to me since this morning's discussion, and although I came here with another set of ideas, at the same time I think that it is a natural thing to think about right now, is to think about the compromise idea, and that is that it would be in the form of a county park; at least it would seem to me to be a mighty good place, to start on a county basis, and then if it works out, on the town committee basis, we may bring that out. In our community we have what we call a kind of picnic, it is a kind of fair, we held it last Thursday. Some five or six thousand people gathered together, brought their baskets, and very incidentally all members of the commercial, anl of the community or farmers’ club, listened to talks, watched the boys and girls ’ outdoor sports, watched an airplane do stunts in the air. If we are going to make that permanent, and do those stunts, we have got to change our ideas and get abreast of the times. Anyway, we had a good ball game and it all turned out very nicely, but it all works in with this idea of setting some place aside for the use of the people, maybe in a park, call it a park if you will. But I am wondering if we cannot go home, some of us that are here from that county, put it over as a park idea, a park for the county people, and then we will not be confronted with the thing that I was confronted with, and the thing that every one in our county is more or less confronted with, when we wanted to have a little picnic supper on one of our beautiful lakes, we found invariably we trespassed on somebody’s property, all the land was taken up by personal property and the people do not like to have us picnic. Now, friends, a good reason for that is that the careless person that does not think, does a lot of damage on private property, leaves a lot of paper, starts a fire, cuts his initials in the trees and the property owner does not like that, at the same time it is a pretty hard thing to warn off some of us who are residents of a county, but somebody has the claim of the land, we are not allowed to trespass; so it may be a good idea, and I think this thing has got to be worked out. I am inclined to believe that in the northern part of the state this question may develop into county parks for the rural people. In our county in the southern part of the state, in "Wai-worth, I do not know whether that will hold good. When the good old Yankee settiers came and settled in our county they had the idea of parks and the beauty of trees, and in every one of our cities we have a pretty good sized park. For instance, in Delavan tonight there will be a band concert, tomorrow night in Elkhorn there will be a band concert, Thursday night at Lake Geneva there will be a band concert, Saturday night in East Troy. I do not know whether we want the country park idea to go out; I think the merchant does not want the country people kept in the country, and the country boy wants the city amusement, and so it is a compromise, you see, and which idea will suit you is a question, and which idea will suit us is a question. The idea of having a recreation ground is a mighty good idea. I for one am mighty glad that Wisconsin State Horticultural Society has decided to set aside a half day’s time .for this discussion, and I hope the day will come when w’e can have a country park. I do not want it for the country people, I want the country park for all the people. I want the man in the city to come outside and enjoy the country parks, but I also want the country people to come in and enjoy the things the city people have to offer them in the city parks. Certainly we want to preserve all the good we have got and we want to march in the line of progress.

Leaves of endive should be tied up about the plant if white, tender growth is wanted.

Iris may be set out in September and October. There are many fine varieties to choose from now-a-days.

Few plants either for cut flowers or border plantings are prettier than wild tiger lilies.

Keep the lawn green and strong by putting on some sort of fertilizer occasipnallv.

Horticulture in France

By W. T. Tapley, Instructor in Veg. Gardening Minn. College of Agriculture.

His friends and' colleagues up at the Minnesota College of Agriculture call him “Tap.” He is much like our Dr. Kiett in many respects, both of quiet and unassuming demeanor which conceals at first glance remarkable force and the ability to do things. Tapley stood it as long as he was able then went to France in August 1917; served in the Mallet Reserve, a French Automobile Transportation organization. Enlisted in American Army at Sois-sons, France, Oct. 1, 1917. Attended French Sergeant School and French Officers (School Dec. 1917; Jan. 1918; Feb. 1918; returning to active duty in March. Commissioned 2nd Lt., later promoted to 1st Lt. and returned to the U. S. in command of Truck Co. 360, June 19, 1919.

In taking up the subject “Horticulture in France” it may be of value to mention brieflly some of the features of the geography and climate of the country. France is slightly smaller than the combined areas of Minnesota and the Dakotas or about one-third the area of Texas; has an average mean temperature ranging from 51 at Paris to 58 in the Southern part compared to about 41 at Minneapolis; an average annual rainfall of about 24 in. compared to 27 in. in Minn.; in addition she has, with the exception of our prairie regions, areas which compare topographically with any in our country and can grow commercially with the exception of cotton and corn all our agricultural crops. In regard to position North and South; if the map of France could be placed over that of Minn, it would be found that the Southern border of France would overlap some 30 miles into Iowa while her Northern border would fall 400 miles into Canada, the city of Paris coming directly on the Canadian border line. This means that France has long days and short nights during the growing season, this feature combined with a higher mean temperature, yet a temperature which rarely goes over 90, provides ideal growing conditions.

A study of the statistics of agriculture in France shows that of each 1000 acres 379 are occupied by woods, buildings, grazing grounds, mountains, etc. and 621 acres are cultivated. Of the latter 130 are under meadows, 257 under cereal crops, 33 in vineyards and 83 acres in orchards or vegetables. In all France some 1,075,000 acres are given over to market gardening and intensive fruit culture.

It was my privilege to travel considerably over France and observe in a general way her agricultural practices. A summary of observations would include; the intensive use of the land devoted to agriculture; the great variety of crops grown commercially and the high development of the specialized agricultural industries; the smallness of the individual farms and fields; the neatness of the gardens and vineyards; and the great care and skill shown in growing the various crops.

Of all the Horticultural crops the grape is most commonly grown and is cultivated in nearly every section of France from the level river bottoms to the terraced vineyards in the hilly regions. There are several centers for the industry, the Bordeaux, Normandy, or Burgundy sections, and the upper valley of the Marne taking first rank. However every part of France produces the so-called native wines from grapes grown in that vicinity. In seeing the vineyards one cannot help notice the skill shown in growing and training the vines. In the small home gardens the grapes are usually trained against a wall but in the large vineyards the vines are trained to wire trellises of the same form as can be found in this country.

In France instead of finding the tree fruits grown under the extensive system there are areas where a special fruit industry has been developed under forcing and intensive methods. Within 30 miles of Paris there are nearly 2000 acres raising peaches alone. One section contains about 750 acres where peaches and pears are grown by training against stone walls, the estimated total length of these stone walls is over 400 miles. Other sections specialize in apricots and cherries while between the rows early vegetables are grown. The valley of the Rhone for a 100 mile stretch is a rich garden where these crops are grown along the river land and on the hills sloping down into the valley. The bulk of the fruit crop is produced' in these special sections where every artifice is used to force the crop to early maturity.

In the small towns and cities one muBt notice the home gardens and how well they are arranged, the various fruits are trained against the walls, the bush fruits coming next and the vegetable garden in the center. It is a rare thing to see a single weed growing in the majority of these gardens. From a general survey it is easy to see that the owner is very much interested in his possession, he is always ready to show the visitor and usually has some section or specimens of which he is especially proud.

The larger cities as in this country take considerable pride in their parks. The visitor to Paris everywhere has his attention called to the beautiful public gardens and to one acquainted with such work the question comes up as to where all the plants come from that are put out each year. The Paris gardens are of two classes, State and City gardens. In the case of the city gardens all the plants are grown in central nurseries. These are separated into the nursery for tender plants, which are raised under glass, one of about 50 acres for trees, shrubs and hardy flowers, 20 acres devoted to herbaceous plants and 20 acres for conifers and rhododendrons. The entire establishment is really an enormous garden and contains a remarkable collection of Horticultural plant specimens. About 3:000,000 of the tender plants are grown each year for planting in the parks. The equipment for handling the plants is up to date and the sections arranged so as to utilize both labor and space to the best advantage. A large number of the laborers are students studying horticulture and learning plant materials and the methods of propagating and handling.

Another industry which is both unique and interesting is the perfume industry. This is centered in the southern part of France near the city of Grasse which is about 12 miles from the Mediterranean and which has an altitude about 1000 feet above sea level. The character of the ground is very hilly and most of the flowers are raised on terraced land. Flowers are raised both for shipment to the northern markets and also for the local perfume factories. Some 50,000 acres are cultivated annually from which about $5,000,000 worth of flowers are raised.

The vegetable gardening industry in France is most highly developed in the region of greatest production, near Paris, where some 50,000 acres are used for the .field culture and about 25,000 for the forced culture of vegetables. However as in our country every city has its section devoted to market gardening. The truck growing side has not been developed to the extent found in this country altho a large acreage in Britany near the coast raises vegetables for shipment to London and other English ports. Some 5,000 tons also reach the Paris market annually. In the truck growing areas the farms are typical of French gardens in that small stone walls are Greeted everywhere to protect against the cold winds. The crops grown are early potatoes, cauliflower, brus-sels sprouts, cabbage, melons, peas, onions, beans and strawberries. This area also contains the factories for preserving, and peas grown on a large scale for canning. Much of this coastal area has been reclaimed from the sea by building dykes and walls.

In the Paris section at first inspection one notices the extreme small size of the gardens, usually from one to three acres; the large amount of equipment used; the thoroughness and care given to the cultural operations and the amount produced on a given area. In order to gain a reasonable profit from such a small garden either special crops must be grown out of season when prices are high or a large yield must be secured by systems of intercropping and succession plantings. The French gardener combines a carefully worked out system of intercropping and succession planting, a warm rich soil supplied with abundant moisture and equipment to give as much shelter and protection to hia plants as possible. The vegetable farms are commonly surrounded by stone walls from 5 to 10 feet high, they keep out the cold winds and reflect light and heat. They are also used to produce a crop of fruit, as grapevines, peach trees, etc. are trained in various ways against their surface. The natural soil of the region would not be considered especially adapted to market gardening but that is no handicap as the French gardener realizes that the most fertile soils are not necessarily those of great natural fertility but rather those that have been built up by the hand of man. The soil then is really an artificial soil that is to say it has been so changed by continuous applications of manure that it has been entirely built over, is a black rich porous soil, what we might call a fine leaf mold. Large quantities of manure are used yearly not so much to further enrich the soil as to increase the soil temperature. Where manure is scarce some of the gardeners use pipes under the beds to furnish additional heat. The garden area is divided up into sections, for hot beds, cold frames, beds for bell jars, and sections for the ordinary field plantings. From year to year the hot beds, etc., are changed to different sections so that there is a regular rotation practiced, a new section being enriched each year by turil-

(Con tin ue<l on page 222 )

SUMMER MEETING

Racine, 'Wednesday and Thursday Aug. 18th and 19th. Hotel Headquarters, Hotel George. Make reservations early.

Convention Hall and exhibit rooms, the Commercial Club.

Program

Tiie Morning

Many people claim that they cannot grow outdoor roses. It's a mistake, they merely think they can’t. A successful amateur grower will tell just how it is done.

Up in Minnesota peony and iris enthusiasts have a society, the Northwest Peony and Iris Society. One of their officers will come to Racine to tell us about their flowers.

There is a nursery firm in, not near, but in Chicago which grows acres of peonies. The man who knows the most about the business will talk to us.

An anonymous writer in Wisconsin Horticulture has held the interest of hundreds of our readers since January with descriptions of his Neighbor’s Garden. Either he or his neighbor will be at the meeting. You will be pleased to meet him,—or his neighbor, they are much alike.

There arc hundreds of women in Racine who are flower lovers and successful flower gardeners: two of them will tell us about their gardens.

That's enough for the forenoon.

The Afternoon

The afternoon session will be devoted to fruits. A general discussion about varieties, culture and crops of strawberries, raspberries, currants etc. will be led by a competent person. This hour is for the amateur rather than the market growers. Come with questions.

Once upon a time Sparta was the leading small fruit center in the state. Then again it wasn’t. Now the local papers speak of strawberries by the car-load. Is Sparta Coming Back? A gentleman who knows will tell.

There are beasts that crawl and others that fly; there are various “humours and maladies” that affect our plants. There are those who live somewhat apart from common men and devote their days to a study of their enemies. They will also come.

It’s getting to be so very, very dry these days we need to know more about irrigation, the sprinkle kind. There will be some talk on that subject.

That’s sufficient.

The Evening

Masque: Ageless Beauty of The Wild.

The Second Day

It is said that economical house wives in Racine plan their menus according to the direction of the wind, if they desire dishes with an onion flavor these are prepared when the wind is south or west. However that may be there arc some onions near Racine, one hundred and fifteen acres in one field.’ There are other fields somewhat smaller.

Onions are grown for sets as well as for table use. There are buildings for drying and sorting, storage buildings for onions and for sets. There are also cabbage fields. A garden tractor demonstration i-s assured with three and possibly six different kinds of tractors.

A few years ago the cabbage raising industry was practically wiped out by the Yellows, a bacterial disease. A disease resistant strain, the Wisconsin Hollander, has been developed by Prof. L. R. Jones and his assistants on grounds near Racine. We will In told about it. There will be other things to see and we will see them.

Attendance at the summer meeting has grown steadily during the past ten years until it equals if not exceeds that of the winter meeting. Let’s make it bigger than ever this year. There will'be much of interest to the amateur as well as the professional gardener. Plan to come for one day, the first and we are sure you will stay all thru

My Neighbor’s Garden

My neighbor used to be a school teacher, and although, as he says, he reformed many years ago, some of the habits of the pedagogue cling to him still. Like most school teachers he likes to hear himself talk and he seems to like to underrate his subjects to what sometimes seems to others, unnecessary lengths. We were out riding last spring and were passing a field in which a farmer was plowing.

"There!” exclaimed my neighbor, "That illustrates what I was saying. There’s no use of talking a man can’t succeed in anything unless lie takes pains. If he is careless and slip-shod he can’t succeed. ’ ’

I didn't see anything which should have caused such an outburst and I said so as mildly as 1 knew how.

"You didn’t see anything out of the way.’ Look at those furrows! Why a snake would get dizzy trying to follow them!”

My attention being drawn to the furrows 1 was bound to admit that they did seem a little bit crooked. 1 noticed too that the furrow was not of uniform depth, here it was shallow, there it was deep ; here the i-ut was so narrow that the sod was nut turned, and there it was so wide there was an unturned strip. Inexperienced as 1 am in farming I could see that the work was being carelessly done.

My companion w a s fairly started and I looked for a discourse from him upon the general subject of taking pains. I wasn’t disappointed.

”1 can tell you as well now as I can six months from now that that farmer won’t have more than fifty per cent of a crop. Come back here in July and you will see that his cornfield will look as badly as his plowed field looks now. The rows will be crooked, hills will be missing, weeds will be more in evidence than the crop.”

To keep him going I asked him what the advantage was of straight rows, suggesting that the crook-eder they were, the longer they were, and the more hills. My companion evidently thought me flippant.

‘‘The length of the row hasn’t anything to do with it. It’s the mental condition of which the crooked row is only a symptom that is at the bottom of the difficulty. The man has no capacity for taking pains, and lacking that he will never succeed. If that’s his place ahead of us I can tell you just what you’ll find. You’ll find the house unpainted. Some of his barn doors will be off the track or lack a hinge. Ilis machinery will be out of doors exposed to the weather, possibly just where he used it last, last summer. His water tank will be leaky, and things generally will be at sixes and sevens. Probably he is on a rented farm, if not it is surely mortgaged.”

lie was now fairly started and 1 didn’t need to prod him to keep him going.

‘‘There isn’t anything so necessary to success as taking pains, and this is particularly true when you are growing anything in the earth. If you work with nature you have a wonderful ally, but she’s a jeaous mistress and you've got to take as much pains to please her as an impressario has to keep on the right side of a printa donna. You can’t do anything in a slipshod way. If you are preparing I he soil you must go down deep, you can’t fool nature by sticking your spading fork in two or three inches even if you smooth the surface. Nature is lavish and wasteful. To perpetuate itself a plant would need to have but one seed, if there were no waste and no accidents. Nature makes each plant produce hundreds or thousands and she can take a chance. The farmer or gardener must know the conditions under which the seed of each particular plant will germinate, and must furnish them, or he looses his seed and his time. It takes little or no more time to do a thing well than to half do it. So whatever you do at all you should do well. Prepare your soil in the best possible manner. Sow your seeds carefully. If the plant is a tender one or the native of a hot climate, don’t sow the seed till the weather is warm. If the young plant in natural conditions of germination needs shade, shade it. When your seed is up, care for the plant. In this way its plant and insect enemies do not get the better of it. If you let it die you have lost seed and time and perhaps the use of the soil for a season. Fungi and most insects can be destroyed by spraying. Weeds are injurious because they use up moisture and food. You stir the soil to conserve the moisture. If you have one weed you have diminished the moisture that is available for your crop. You have probably stirred the soil about the weed so that it grows more vigorously than it would otherwise have done, and so takes more food and more moisture from the soil. Never knowingly leave a weed. You have spent time and money on your crop, don’t fail to get the benefit of what you have heretofore done by neglecting it. Taking pains is what makes a farmer or gardener successful, and the

(Continued on page 22 1)

COUNTY ASSOCIATIONS HAVING 20 OR MORE MEMBERS

A few new members in several counties will place, them in the honor division.

• 1.  Dane Co..........56 members

• 2.  Fond du Lac Co. ..4 7 members

• 3.  Milwaukee Co.....44 members

• 4.  Waukesha Co......40 members

• 5.  Sheboygan Co......37 members

• 6.  Winnebago Co.....33 members

• 7. Chippewa Co......31 members

• 8.  Marathon Co......35 members

• 9.  T^anglade Co.......28 members

• 10.  Richland Co.......28 members

• 11.  Grant Co..........27 members

• 12.  Brown Co.........25 members

• 13.  Shawano Co.......25 members

• 14.  Manitowoc Co......23 members

• 15.  Jefferson Co.......20 members

• 16.  Price Co..........20 members

• 17.  Sauk Co ..........20 members

• 18.  Wood Co..........20 members

BEEKEEPERS’ FIELD MEET

Arrangements are being made to have a field meet of the beekeepers visiting the state fair on Thursday. September 2, in the vicinity of the bee and honey building. Beekeepers, who are planning to spend but a single day at the State Fair should try and make arrangements to be present at that time. This is going to be a very important meeting because of the marketing and price questions.

WISCONSIN STATE BEEKEEPERS’ CONVENTION, DECEMBER I. 2 AND 3. 1020.

BE EKEEPERS’ SCHOOL AND CHAUTAVQl’A WILL BE HELD AVGVST 16-21

Complete arrangements have been made for the beekeepers' Chautauqua to be held at Madison on the above dates. If you have not already done so. you should immediately make application for camping space or for room and board. Information concerning the Chautauqua will be furnished on application to the secretary. Do not forget that we will have swimming, boat tv'p;, fishing and other things which make for a profitable vacation.

Winter Losses and Disease: The important part of practically every report from local associations concerns winter losses of bees and losses by disease. Spring dwindling is also noticeably brought out. This means that our beekeepers have not been giving as careful consideration to winter care of their bees as they should, although we know that it is necessary to have good stores, plenty of young bees and a young queen for successful wintering.

Requeen Every Year: Requeen every year. This may be done any time after the honey flow begins but it is best done between July 15 and August 15. Young queens will produce enough bees during August and September to provide the colony with sufficient force to carry it over until next spring if the winter stores are good. Queenless colonies are probably brought about thru the death of old queens during the winter months. Queens more than one year old as a rule do not keep up the colony strength as well as the young queens.

Winter Stores: During the average winter in Wisconsin bees are compelled to go for a very long period without a cleansing flight It is therefore necessary to provide the best possible kind of stores in order to avoid dysentery. The digestive system of the bee is such that it can only digest pure sugars and any foreign substance such us gums or dextrins cannot be digested and cannot be thrown off while the bees are in confinement. These substances collect in the intestines and when too much has accum-mulated, the bees become restless and fly out of the hives. It is therefore necessary that the bees have pure honey of which clover is the best, or. pure sugar syrup made up with one part of warm water to three parks of sugar. Sugar syrup must be fed early in the fall. Do not wait until after the 15th of October because the bees may not have an opportunity to ripen it up thoroughly and if they do not, it will probably sour and is almost sure to cause dysentery.

B<x»s Must Be Protected: Tn order to winter bees well, they must have proper winter protection. Just what this protection should be when the bees are wintered out-of-doors, we will not attempt to say at this time. However, where bees are kept in the cellar, a cellar should be provided in which the temperature can be kept at 45 to 50 degrees for the entire period of confinement. Where the temperature is less than 45 degrees the cellar is too cold and the bees are bound to suffer. A cellar in which vegetables will keep well is very likely to be too cold for bees and a cellar that is right for bees cannot be used successfully as a vegetable cellar. The cellar must also be thoroughly darkened. It does not make a great deal of difference if a cellar is damp if the temperature is in the neighborhood of 50 degrees. A cool cellar is always a damp one. If frost or ice develops, in the cellar, then the cellar is entirely too cold and the bees must use up their energy in keeping up the temperature of the cluster.

Putting the Bees in the Cellar: It is much better to put bees into the able, the excess of drone comb and a week late. It is better that they be put in before the 15th of November unless the weather is unusually warm so that the bees can fly. It does not pay to wait for a flight if cold weather develops after the middle of November.

Taking the Bees Out in the Spring: Unless the bees become restless and need a flight, they should not be set out during the warm spell which ordinarily occurs Ln March. They should not be taken out before April 15 in the average season.

Spring Protection: From the time bees are set out in the spring until May first, they should be protected with outside covers and should have an abundance of room and stores for the building up of the colony.

H. F. Wilson.

MONTHLY NEWS REPORTS FROM LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS

July 7.—Condition of bees about 90 per cent normal. Condition of nectar secreting plants about 80 per cent normal. A very successful field meet was held at the home of Funrad Kruse, Loganville. Twenty b* t-keepers attended.

Reporter, J. E. Cooke, Baraboo Valley Bee. Assn.

July 3.—Bees doing fairly well with prospects of average crop. Have been having too much rain up in this section for bees to gather honey.

Reporter. E. A. Barlament. Brown Co. Bee. Assn.

July 7.—Condition of bees good. Condition of nectar secreting plants good. Spirit of beekeepers very much depressed. This section of the country is receiving too much rain fur bees to store much honey. This association held a meeting June 22 for the purpose of discussing a honey advertising campaign, and decided to institute a Honey cooking, baking. candy making, etc., contest to be held at Chippewa Falls a little later in the season.

Reporter, Emma L. Bartz, Chippewa Valley Bee. Assn.

July 5.—There are not many colonies of bees in this section due to heavy winter and spring losses. Condition of nectar secreting plants not in good condition because there has been too much rain.

Reporter, J. S. Sloniker, Clark Co. Dee. Assn.

July 14.—Colonies in strong condition where swarm control has been successful. Nuclei building up in excellent condition. Diseased conditions greatly improved as compared with July 1919. Extensive increase being made locally. White clover still yielding plentifully and Basswood yield rather light. Sweet clover coming on fine, also the second bloom of Alsike looks very favorable at the r sent time. The July 5th meeting at W. D. Williamson’s was a genuine “Bee Meeting.’’ State and county exhibits were planned and committees appointed to carry out the work. The next field meet will be held at G. M. Ranum’s Apiary near Mt. Horeb. Everyone welcome. The stamps for Honey grades are ready for delivery at Wisconsin Division of Markets, B. Jones in charge of Standardization. If you have not placed your order do so at once. Prospects for a normal honey crop seem good but do not forget to leave a great plenty of stores for the bees. SUGAR is SCARCE.

Reporter, Robert L. Siebecker, Dane Co. Bee. Assn.

July 5.—Bees in excellent condition and condition of nectar secreting plants very good. No honey yet removed but indications are that there will be a very good crop.

Reporter, J. H. Ridgeway, Fond du Lac Co. Bee. Assn.

July 5.—80 per cent of the colonies up to normal strength for this season of the year. Condition of nectar secreting plants 30 per cent better than the average season.

Reporter, Edward Hassinger, Jr., Fox River Valley Bee. Assn.

July 1.—Ln most cases there has been a large increase in the condition of the bees. Several members report lots of swarming. Weaker colonies have strengthened wonderfully with prospects for two or four weeks of heavy flow. White clover never more abundant than at present. Basswood showing a heavy bloom. Spirit of beekeepers aroused and requests were made for a field meet for the latter part of the month. No arrangements as yet. Have had some visits from N. E. France of Platteville, Wis. doing inspection work. Amount of honey can not be estimated at this time in this locality.

Reporter, E. A. Huffman, Green Co. Bee. Assn.

July 2.—Condition of bees since settled weather very good. Most of the bees wintered very well but owing to a few days of mild sunshine, many beekeepers got their bees out of their winter quarters and thereby suffered some bad losses on account of a spell of bad weather. Condition of nectar secreting plants very good. Somewhat later than usual. A meeting was held at the home of Hiram Wirth, town of Norwood, July 29.

Reporter, C. L. Leykom, Langlade Co. Bee. Assn.

July 12.—Condition of bees exceptionally good. Condition of nectar secreting plants never better. Much clover and basswood just beginning and very promising if weather remains suitable. Annual meeting of our association with a basket picnic for beekeepers and families was held at apiary of Lewis Francisco, Mosinee. H. L. McMurry and F. G. Swoboda were with us.

Reporter, I, C. Painter, Marathon Co. Bee. Assn.

July 14.—Condition of bees unusually good, what remains from spring dwindling. More swarming than usual. Foul brood still found in many yards. White and alsike bloom good. Sweet clover the best for years, though it is not abundant in some parts of the county. Beekeepers very enthusiastic about crop and future. Strong determination to overcome foul brood. Some Beekeepers are forced to extract already to make room for sweet clover crop.

Reporter, C. D. Adams, Milwaukee Co. Bee. Assn.

July 8.—Most colonies are in fair shape at this date. Alsike and white clover are yielding fair, but weather conditions for the last week have been such that bees could not work much. Field meet and picnic held July 22. Outlook for honey crop is good. Prices asked for honey 30c. for extracted and 40c. for comb. This is to hold good till July 22. These prices were set by the Board of Directors and shall be subject to change at Field Meet.

Reporter. Martin Krueger. North East Wis. Bee. Assn.

June 28.—Bees getting very strong. Seem to be doing very good. Condition of nectar secreting plants good so far. Price County claims the highest percentage of Up to Date beekeepers in the state, using standard hives and modern equipment. About 90 per cent.

Reporter, H. J. Rahmow, Price Co. Bee. Assn.

July 6.—Condition of bees just fair. Doing better. Bad spring lessened their number. Condition of nectar secreting plants good. Beekeepers are short of help and are doing two men’s work.

Reporter, Jas. Gwin, Richland Co. Bee. Assn.

July 13.—Condition of bees fair. Beekeepers are mostly building up their colonies to replace the heavy loss of the winter. Clover in full bloom and basswood just commencing to blossom. Honey secretion is not abundant on account of too much rainy weather. Beekeepers are building up colonies as fast as possible for the fall honey flow.

Reporter, John H. Pember, Rusk Co. Bee. Assn.

July 3.-—Condition of bees fair. A full crop of honey is not expected in this locality. Condition of nectar secreting plants good. A meeting was held June 16. very few attended. Beekeepers are working to get strong colonies for wintering as a great many were in very poor condition this spring. Now they are in fair condition and are working quite heavily on the clover. Quite a few members plan on making an exhibit at the State Fair. Members decided to retail extracted honey at 30c. per pound. Very little comb honey is made, so no price was set.

Reporter, Wm. Hanneman, Shawano Co. Bee. Assn.

June 29.—Condition of bees about normal so far as I can find by talking with other beekeepers. Some say they are a little weaker, others say a little stronger. White clover is in full bloom and plenty of it with fair weather will mean a large honey supply. The beekeeper who does not get a good honey crop can blame himself.

Reporter, L. E. Cass, Vernon Co. Bee. Assn.

July 5.—Condition of bees about 90 per cent normal. Condition of nectar secreting plants very good.

Reporter, W. T. Sherman, Walworth Co. Bee Assn.

July 5.—Condition of bees good at present, having built up in good shape. This applies to the bees in this county as a whole. My own bees wintered 100 per cent thanks to the U. S. Weather Bureau, having put them in the cellar before the cold weather filled them up on feces. Condition of nectar secreting plants good, but clover is not yielding as well as last year. Very little bloom on the basswood this year if compared to last year. A meeting and basket picnic was held at the apiary of W. M. Mayhew at Merton on July 30. H. F. Wilson of the University attended

Reporter, C. W. Aeppler, Waukesha Co. Bee. Assn.

July 14.—Condition of bees good. Some European foul brood in nearly every apiary, but serious in very few cases. White clover still yielding. I believe extracted honey will retail readily at 30c.

Reporter, H. E. Greenwood, Winnebago Co. Bee. Assn.

ECONOMICAL INCREASE AND INTRODUCTION OF QUEENS

By Arthur C. Allen, Portage, Wis.

Shall we keep more bees? This question may be answered by both yes and no. If we will keep our bees in good movable frame hives, and care for them according to the latest approved methods, it is well that we increase our holdings in apiculture: but if on the other hand, we hive them in any old box that we hastily pick up at swarming time, and without frames or even in the best of movable frame hives, allowing the combs to be built crosswise of the frames, as I often find them among the careless beekeepers, the less bees we keep the better.

In view’ of the fact that diseased bees cannot be treated for a cure and in the case of buying and selling bees, no correct price for them can be ascertained unless the frames are movable. the excess of drone come and other reasons places strong emphasis on the need of a law which prohibits the keeping of bees in such contraptions.

Present conditions such as scarcity and high price of sugar, as w’ell as the high price of and unprecentedented consumption of honey should stimulate the professional apiarist as well as all who will adopt the approved systems of production to put forth their best efforts now, but we strongly condemn a shiftless let-alone plan.

There an* scores of methods of increase. many of which are good, and it is well that we become acquainted with several of them for there are very few. who because of the varied conditions under which we live and labor, as well as crop and weather conditions will wish to confine themselves to one and only one way of increase.

The following described methods of increase which have been followed in my apiaries for several years. I consider among the best.

Any plan which deprives the newly made colony of enough nurse bees to can' for unsealed brood, if there be any. ami maintain sufficient heat is to be discouraged.

Wo can learn much from nature, and in natural swarming if allowed to follow their own course fully, it is the older bees, those* strong enough to care for themselves that make the new colony. By the following methods full or nearly full sized colonies may be made at once and where one wishes to make up for winter losses only, usually the required number may be made in one day.

No. 1. This is my favorite, and is accomplished as follows. When increase is wanted at the outyard. the required number of hives are prepared at the home yard by placing four empty combs, and one containing a little honey, in one side of each hive, spacing and wedging so they cannot swing while hauling, and placing a division board which does not quite reach the bottom of hive up close to the combs fastened securely w'ith nails. Cover with a cloth tacked to the division board so it may be turned back from the vacant part of the hive into which you will shake the bees. Tack screen over all entrances and all is now ready. Some time between nine and twelve o’clock in the forenoon go to strong colonies and from the upper stories which are above excluders, shake two or three quarts of bees, or more if you wish a very strong colony, into each prepared hive. These bees may be taken from one or more colonies to make one new one for they are in such a demoralized condition that there will be no fighting. Turn the cloth back over the vacant space and fasten the cover down securely, and after all your new colonies are made, set them down cellar until sundown when any kind of a queen may be run in, and 99 out of 100 will be accepted. Next morning take all to your outyard and remove the entrance screens. They will work just like new swarms and having no brood to care for will devote all their energy to honey gathering and it is surprising how quickly they will become the equal of your strongest colonies.

If increase is wanted at home yard make at outyard and move them home. If you have only one yard, move them one or two miles away and leave a week or ten days and then return them. In this case shake in some of your best drones if you use virgin queens.

No. 2. Kill as many hives as desired for increase with combs of sealed brood having placed these over excluders a week previous so all brood will be sealed. Shake most of the bees from these combs when making up your n«'w colonies, and be sure to have some honey in a part of them. Place over strong colonies with excluder between, and leave two or three hours, when enough young bees will go above to care for the brood when the new colony may be removed and placed on a new stand and a queen given.

No. 3. When a co’ony is getting to be so strong that it is likely to swarm. remove all the brood except one comb from the lower story, and shake the bees and queen in front; place a queen excluder on and then a super of empty combs, and above this place the brood in a third story and leave it here for ten days during which time all the brood will be. sealed and it is then ready to he removed to a new location and a queen given.

In all of the above plans no brood is lost. There is no nursing of weak nuclei, and in a few days the newly made colonies are nearly equal to any in the apiary.

Introducing Queens

liequeening should be done whenever a queen is found not doing satisfactory work whether it be in April or September, notwithstanding some of the instruction given by the present '•l>ee masters” that it should not be done while the colony is producing bees for the harvest and for the winter cluster. As we can now safely introduce laying queens and have them doing good business the next day I can see no consistency in such advice.

Below’ are given two ways of introducing queens which are as near 100 per cent sure as any thing known if directions are carefully followed and it pays well to go to the extra work in order to insure success.

No. 1. The Honey Bath Method. This may be done at any time of day at the home yard but it is better to do it at evening at the outyard if you return home that night for the reason that if done at evening the entrance will not have to be contracted to exclude robbers, as you would not want to leave so small an entrance until your next visit.

With a spoon dig out about one half cup of honey from the hive you wish to introduce your new queen to. catch and cage the old queen and lay the cage on top of the frames. Do th:s with each colony you are going to requeen using a separate cup for each hive, then the bath will give each queen the colony odor of that hive. See that the honey is as warm as the hive cluster, and if weather is cool, a little warm water should be added to the bath so it will not be too sticky. Now completely immerse the new queen in this honey bath, and after removing the caged queen from the hive gently pour the honey and queen over the top of the frames being careful to distribute the honey w-ell over all the frames. Close the hive and should you examine it the next day you would likely find the queen lay ing.

No. 2. Between 9 to 12 A. M. remove the old queen and shake the bees from aU the combs of the colony you wish to requeen into the hive, placing the brood on the adjo'ninsr hive to bi' cared for one week. Tack screen over entrance and top of hive containing the queenless and broodless bees and set them down cellar until sundo,vn and then run in the new’ queen. That evening or next morning replace the hive on its old stand and at the end of a week if the queen is found laying the brood may be returned. This last is the safest way of introducing that I know of.

BEEKEEPER’S Fl El J) MEET AT LYIN'D III' LAC

The Fond du I^ac B. K. A. held one of the most enthusiastic and best attended meetings of any organization this year at the home of Mr. William Sass.

The host and his family and the committee in charge had every thing in readiness and there was not a hitch nor an idle moment from the time of the first arrival until chore time when many were compelled to leave.

In the forenoon some interesting discussions were had on foul brood. A frame containing diseased larvae was passed around and after all had examined it each gave his opinion as to what it was. The answers included all of the diseases known and even chilled brood and wax moth were included so some wore bound to be correct. The committee brought along wiring devices and electrical em be riders and these were demonstrated.

A splendid meal was served by the "queens”, and the “drones” lived up to their reputation. Those who came without their breakfasts and hard feelings in their systems soon had all wrinkles of discontent smoothly ironed out.

The association at this meeting made tentative arrangements about holding a display at the county and state fair. It was also decided to apply for an area clean up, and a request was made for another 3 day bee school to be held this fall and p’anned for a second field meet to discuss the fall management of bees.

Fond du Lac County beekeepers are going to give the other counties a does run for first honors. They are determined to place beekeeping on a firm basis. Everyone has the interests of the association at heart and with such spirit they are bound to succeed.

MY NEIGHBOR’S GARDEN (Continued from page 217) habit of taking pains reveals itself in the erop and in the surroundings generally.”

And so my neighbor went on. lie practices what he preaches. He never plants anything without using a line. lie spaces his rows evenly. His bean poles are set plumb and are in line. His corn is so evenly spaced that he can run the cultivator through it diagonally. He keeps his tools under cover. Ilis spade, hoe and trowel are cleaned before he puts them away and shine like silver. He keeps them sharp. He takes pains and his garden shows it.

Head lettuce must be given plenty of room to develop in. It thrives best in cool moist weather.

HORTICULTURE IN FRANCE

(Continued from page 215)

ing under of the old hot bed soil. Each section will hold the same number of frames or bell jars.

The French gardener considers water one of his chief aids in maturing a crop. There usually is sufficient moisture in his soil for the early spring crops but those grown during dry weather are given daily soaking showers. The pipes are laid under ground and hydrants located so that every part of the garden can be easily watered.

The equipment used on a market garden increases in proportion to the degree of intercropping and forcing practiced. On the best equipped French vegetable farms for each acre, about 100, 3 light frames, 300 lights, 1500 cloches or bell jars, and the usual stock of cultural tools are required. The sash or lights used are smaller than our lights, the size most commonly found being 3 ft. 11 in. by 4 ft. 3 in., very nearly square. One man can handle them easily as they are provided with handles on two sides. The hot bed and cold frames instead of being any length required are of a definite size, being built to hold three lights. The frames are permanent structures and when not in use are stored by piling in an out of the way corner. Since the frames are for three lights the size is about 11 ft. 9 in. long and 4 ft. 3 in. wide, the height varies but is generally about 9 in. higli on the back and 7 in. on the front side.

In the glass bell jar the French gardener has a form of forcing equipment which is almost unknown or unused in this country. Tiie common size is about 15 in. high and the same diameter across the bottom. This type of small forcing house is always ready for use and when handled with care breakage seldom occurs; they can be stored easily by stacking four or five high putting a small piece of wood between the jars to prevent the glass touching. A special rack holding twelve jars is made to carry them about the field. When used over the plants they must be handled the same as hot bed sash and ventilation allowed by lifting one side slightly. About 25 can be used in a 3 light frame, when used in the field the crop is planted so as to allow 3 rows of jars, the plants in the middle row coming opposite the spaces in the outside rows. A narrow path is left between every three rows.

The same kind of straw mat is used in the French gardens as can be found in our market garden sections. The mats are used to keep out the cold and also for shade in the very hot weather. When there is frost danger and during cool weather both frames and jars are covered with mats, during very severe weather straw is scattered between the frames or bell jars and mats used to cover the whole area.

Because of his more or less mild winters the French gardener can hold over hardy cauliflower, lettuce, and cabbage plants, his year then may be said to begin in the fall with the starting of these plants. The soil both on the beds and in the field is first put in the best possible condition by working it over thoroughly and adding manure. Soil for surfacing seed beds is made by screening the old hot bed manure after it has been well broken up. After the seed bed is prepared seed of a quick growing compact headed variety of cauliflower is planted, this is usually late in September. When the young plants are large enough they are pricked out and set 3 in. apart in the frames. After the plants become established water is withheld, the only care during the winter months is in furnishing the necessary ventilation and covering. In the spring the plants that have wintered over are set in the frames or set under bell jars after the early crop of lettuce has been harvested. The larger, longer growing varieties are also often wintered over for planting in the field in the spring. During a mild winter it is sometimes necessary to transplant several times in order to check the plants. If the young plants are lost during a severe cold spell the crop is replanted in January.

Hardy cos and cabbage lettuce are also wintered over, the seed being planted under the bell jars. When the plants are ready for transplanting they are pricked out 30 under each jar. These plants remain under the bells until they are needed to fill the hot beds for the early crop.

The systems used for intercropping and succession planting are interesting and varied. Planting for the general spring crop is begun late in January or early in February. Frames are set over an especially prepared bed really making a 3 light hot bed. One method is to plant radish, carrots, and set in lettuce plants at the same time. First radish and then earrot seed is sown thinly and evenly over the entire bed. Forcing head lettuce, the plants of which have been wintered over under the jars, are then set on the same bed about 12 in. apart each way. After the radish and lettuce crop has been harvested the carrots are thinned and early cauliflower plants set in, about 2 ft. apart Four crops are therefore grown on the same bed. About the same system is followed using bell jars instead of frames. A seed bed is prepared as if for use with frames, jars are set on the bed and when the temperature is right radish or earrot seed is planted under the jars, a cos lettuce plant set in the center and 3 head lettuce plants set equidistantly around the head of cos lettuce. In addition cos lettuce plants are set in the open in the spaces between the jars. When the cos plant under the jar is harvested the jar is moved over to cover the plant set in the spaces and cauliflower or cabbage plants set where the original cos plants were grown. In addition to the crops mentioned, beans, turnips, peas, parsley, spinach, chicory, celery, and tomatoes are also forced along under various methods. Melons and cucumbers are forced on special beds, late cauliflower may sometimes be set among the vines before they are pulled up. Most of the crops grown early are planted again in Summer and forced along to maturity in late fall or early winter. Some of these gardeners grow flowers along with the vegetables. The greenhouse industry has not been developed as it has in this country. These forcing gardens however are models in respect to the arrangement of crops, care, and cultural methods used.

The secret of successful agriculture in France lies in using the land as extensively as possible and applying the highest skill possible in cultural operations. France produces food for about 170 out of her 190 inhabitants per square mile whereas England produces food for only 135 out of her 466 inhabitants per square mile. Ilorticukure in France is a highly specialized industry, instead of making a profit from a large acreage the French Horticulturist produces large crops on a small acreage and aims to force his product so that it reaches market ahead of or later than the bulk crop. Ilis garden receives great care, his system essentially is to create a nutritive and porous soil; containing the necessary decaying organic and inorganic compound:, and then to keep that soil and atmosphere at a higher temperature and moisture content, superior to those of die open fields.

Feeding Plants in Pots

The judicious feeding with liquid manures and chemical fertilizers is of the highest importance during the whole of the growing period with all plants in pots. But it must be done in an intelligent way or considerably more harm than good will result. Never feed a newly potted plant, or those that have not filled with roots, and, again, take care never to exceed the strength advised by the makers of artificial fertilizers; weak and often should be the rule.

Avoid using liquid manure when the soil is dry; water with plain water first until the whole of the soil is damp through, then give a little of the liquid manure. To use it for watering in the ordinary way is both injurious and wasteful—injurious because it burns the roots, and wasteful because so much runs away through the drainage holes.

Variation of food is most beneficial, and as wide a change as possible should be afforded, say, thus: soot water, liquid natural manure, then some good artificial, with, of course, plain water between each. It is a mistake to suppose that all classes of plants absorb nutriment equally readily. A few are better without it altogether, cacti and cyclamens being notable examples in this respect. Begonias, on the other hand, are gross feeders and will take a large amount.

With more delicate rooted subjects and annuals like sehin-zanthus, a weaker application should be employed, as the roots easily burn, particularly with chemicals. As to how often liquid manures should be applied, we must be guided by the plant’s capacity for absorbing; it is useless to overdo it, as it merely remains in the soil and causes it to become sticky and sour, the plants speedily lose foliage and fade.

Those subjects which flower all at once, so to speak, must not be fed after the color shows, but those which continue to throw up blooms in succession must be kept doing. Ferns and most foliage plants are best confined to soot water and nitrate of soda, quarter of an ounce to a gallon of water, but care must be taken not to use this oftener than once a week, and that none is spilled over the leaves.

Good deep rich soil and pure Kentucky blue grass seed make good lawns. Weedy lawns are a result of poor soil or sometimes too much shade. Spade up weedy patches, put in well rotted manure and if need new soil and resow with Kentucky blue grass; add a little clover and red top for quick growth.

The Cherry Louse

This is a blackish louse which gets on the undersides of the leaves and steins of the new growth until these places arc thickly covered with them. They spend the winter as shining black eggs which are attached to the bark of the smaller branches, mostly around the buds.

About the time the buds open the eggs hatch into wingless females which arc called “stemmothers.” These give birth to living young, and they in turn reproduce so rapidly that within a few weeks the tips of the new growth and the undersides of the young leaves are covered with the lice. This causes the leaves to curl and the tips cease growing, and in severe cases to cause the fruit to drop. The lice are especially annoying to pickers at time of harvest. Nursery stock is especially liable to be injured.

Later in the summer winged forms appear which fly to other plants or cherries and new colonies are formed. In the fall the true sexes appear and the eggs are laid in September or October.

Control Measures

This pest can easily be checked with a spray of nicotine sulphate, using about one part of the sulphate to a thousand parts of water, adding enough soap to make the spray spread easily. If this material is added to a Bordeaux spray, no soap should be used.

Chas. L. Fluke, Jr.

The Cherry Slug

The cherry slug, so called because the young look somewhat like garden slugs have been unusually abundant this year on the foliage of cherries and are reported as doing a great deal of damage. The adult or mother insect is a black fly which lays the eggs between the two surfaces of the leaf with a shaip-saw-like laying egg apparatus called the “ovipositor.” The young slugs hatch in about a week’s time and crawl to the upper surface of the leaves where they begin chewing on the leaf tisue and will in time completely skeletonize a leaf.

Control measures are very simple. Arsenate of lead used at the rate of 1 pound to 100 gallons of water will give efficient control.

H. F. Wilson.

Grasshoppers Do Not Like Too Much Poison

There is no one like the farmer who, when he knows a good thing, tries to make it a little better. For instance, two pounds of paris green or white arsenic with a little lemon extract and salt added arc recommended in fifty pounds of bran to kill grasshoppers. A few thought, and perfectly naturally, too, that if two pounds would kill the hoppers, four pounds would do the work just twice as quickly. But alas, this was not so; grasshoppers are rather particular and dont like the bait too strong with poison, so that those who followed directions carefully secured the best results.

Entire cooperation is the keynote to success in ridding a section of grasshoppers. See that your neighbor helps also.

Too much water in the mash makes it sloppy'—it should be just damp so that it scatters easily.

Sawdust as a substitute for bran in poisoned bait has proven quite good, especially' where the bran and sawdust have been mixed together, half and half.

Rainy' weather only stops the hoppers from feeding while the storm is on; as soon as the sun comes out they' are ready to feed with their appetites even greater Ilian before.

Some of the dry sandy section* of Wisconsin are very severely infested with the hoppers this year. The grasshoppers at this writing. July 12, arc already winged and are flying from the pasture land* into the oats, barley, and other like crops. Field peas seem to be the only' crop not attacked.

Chas. L. Fluke, Jr.

Pull Wild Cucumber To Save Pickle Crop

The pickle growers of Wisconsin have lost thousands of dollars because of the white pickle or mosaic disease.

“Researches conducted by plant pathologists for the government and state have shown that the wild cucumber harbors the disease from season to season,” says R. E. Vaughan, of the Wisconsin College of Agriculture.

“Pull these wild cucumbers now,” urges Mr. Vaughan, “before the disease has a chance to spread to the cultivated cucumbers. The wild cucumbers may be

found on damp ground along the streams, fence rows, and in many town gardens.”

Pulling the wild cucumber will remove the greatest source of infection for pickle and muskmelon vines and will reduce the heavy losses from warty and worthless fruit.

Summer Sprays For Codling Moth

Do not put your summer spray on the apples too early. Tests at Madison have shown that the eggs of the second generation of the codling moth do not begin to hatch until after the 12th of August. If you are north of Madison you should delay more or less according to the distance you live from Madison. It will vary from two or three days to three weeks.

Chas. L. Fluke, Jr.

Flowers for the Home Garden

The title chosen for this paper opens up such a wide field for discussion that it is obviously impossible to do justice to the many varieties of flowers and flowering plants that can be grown in our home gardens in this part of the county. Perhaps the best way to treat this subject would be to divide the different flowers to be considered into four- classes, annual, biennial, perennial and bulbous.

Annuals, as is well known, are those plants which grow from seed, flower, produce seed and die in one season. Biennials should be sown in the spring or early summer and will flower the following season. They are supposed to be of little use after flowering, but some varieties like Sweet William and Fox Glove may flower for two or three seasons. Perennials can be grown by division, from cuttings or seed, and will flower for several seasons.

In annuals we have some of our choicest flowering plants. Many of them are quite hardy and the seed can be sown in the spring where the plants are to remain, in this way being of great value to the amateur who has no facilities for growing plants in greenhouse or hot bed. But in order to get the full value of annuals, as well as other varieties of plants, I would strongly urge everyone who has a garden to have a hotbed or cold frame. There is sometimes a great deal of objection to the beds or cold frames because they need so much attention. The amount of care they need is usually magnified a great deal, and this is perhaps the reason why we find so few in our home gardens. They certainly need a good deal of care to bring the young plants along, and have them strong and healthy at planting out time, but is there anything in this life that is worth while that does not require a good deal of thoughtful care and perseverance ?

As already stated, a great many of the hardy annuals can be sown outdoors early in spring where the plants are to bloom. The ground should be well fertilized and dug in the fall so that it may be in first class shape for the sowing of seed. For flowers for cutting it is much better to sow the seed in rows rather than broadcast in beds. When sown in rows there is a saving of seed, and the weeds are more easily kept down and the ground kept cultivated. I have usually sown the seeds of such annuals as poppies, calendulas, marigold, scabiosa, larkspur, and many other varieties in rows from sixteen (16) to eighteen (18) inches apart. If the ground is fairly rich and kept well cultivated the plants will usually grow vigorously enough fort he rows to meet,'thus giving the effect of a solid bed. I usually try to get my seeds of hardy annuals in the ground early in Hay. They germinate well at that season when the ground is moist, and though we usually get frost the latter part of May or even early June I have rarely found it do any harm to the young plants. If the sowing of the seed is left until the ground is hot and dry a poor stand of plants will be the result, and they will not make such vigorous growth as those that get an early start, and get well rooted while the ground is cool and moist.

The varieties I have mentioned, and many others that are worthy of mention that can be grown this way, are all splendid for any purpose in the making of a garden or for cut flowers, yet there are other varieties, to get the best results from them, that require to be sown early, and it is in the growing of such varieties as Salvia, verbenas, asters, etc., that the hotbed or cold frame prove their worth. In fact all varieties of annuals that transplant well are improved by starting them in the hotbed or frame.

Salvias can be sown in a sunny window in the house about the 15th of March, and when the plants are large enough to transplant the weather will be mild enough to allow them to be put in the frame. A hotbed will not be necessary at that time of the year as a cold frame can be easily protected by banking up the outside with leaves or stable manure, and a few old rugs or anything that is handy thrown over the glass at night.

Asters can be grown in the same way, but need not be sown until about the beginning of April. In growing asters I think it is a mistake to sow the seed too early and then try to hold the plants in crowded flats until the weather is mild enough to allow them to be planted out. It is much better to delay sowing the seeds, and then keep the plants growing along vigorously without a cheek till the time to plant them out. Even if your plants are small at planting out time, they will start to grow right away, and be healthy and vigorous from the start, whereas if the seed has been sown too early the plants have to stand in the flats. They get drawn up, spindly and weak, making them more apt to be attacked later on by the deadly aster disease, a disease which is almost impossible to check or overcome. The only way to fight this disease is to pull up all affected plants and burn them.

Sweet Peas, for fragrance and loveliness of coloring, are incomparable and should be grown in every garden. To be successful in growing them the ground should be well manured and dug deeply in the fall. The old way of growing them was to sow the seed early in spring in a trench that had been specially prepared with plenty of manure dug in, but a much better way of growing them has been discovered, and is becoming more popular every year. There is no question that the results achieved are far ahead of the old method. Perhaps the best way to illustrate this new method is to tell you just how I manage my own.

On the 15th of March the seed was sown in flats of light sandy soil with plenty of leaf mould. When the plants were about one inch high they were potted into 2y₂ inch pots, and grown in a eool greenhouse until they were large enough to pot into 4 inch pots. They were then put out in the cold frame till the weather was mild enough to plant them out. When the plants get about three inches high the tip is pinched out, this makes them branch out at the base, and at the time of potting into four inch pots a few small dry twigs from spruce trees are stuck in around the edge of the pots to keep the plants from sprawling all over. When danger of heavy frost is over the plants are planted out in well prepared trenches. In making the trenches, we dig them a foot deep ana about eighteen inches wide. Several inches of well rotted manure is put in the trench and spaded in. The soil that was dug out is then put back until the trench is nearly filled, leaving a depression of tree or four inches. Stout stakes Sy₂ feet long are driven into the ground 18 inches, leaving four feet about the ground, at intervals of 10 feet, the end posts being well braced. Four foot wire netting is then stretched tightly and fastened to the posts with small staples. When the ground has been lightly forked up along the trench everything is ready for the plants. They should be planted alternately on each side of the wire so that they will not be closer than one foot apart, that is there should be two rows, one on each side, of the wire with the plants two feet apart. The ground should be kept well cultivated, and the plants kept close up to the wire till they come into bloom. Abundance of water should then be given, and the ground along the rows mulched with coarse stable manure, not too fresh or the ammonia will injure the plants. Keep close watch for green fly, and spray once or twice a week with nicotine, two or three teaspoonsfuls to a gallon of water. Perhaps you are thinking just now that all that means work, well it does, but if you love sweet peas (and who does not love them) you will be amply rewarded for all your pains. Think of picking an abundance of these lovely, fragrant blossoms, stems from 12 to 18 inches long with four or five large gorgeous colored flowers. Just try it for yourself next year, start your seeds in the house early in March and when your plants are big enough transplant them and put them out in your cold frame. Sweet peas are quite hardy and grow splendidly in a cold frame in the early spring-, care in watering and giving them plenty of air being their greatest requirements till they are planted out.

Some varieties of the biennial class can be made to flower the first season, but the seed must be sown in the early months of the year in the greenhouse. The best way to treat this class is to sow the seed in May and grow the young plants in boxes till they are large enough to plant out. Some

coarse stable manure, but varieties like Fox Glove, Canterbury Bells and Hollyhocks are better to have the protection of a cold frame. These varieties rot off so easily at the crown that they should not be covered over with manure that packs closely over them. If a cold frame cannot be obtained a few boards can be nailed together to form a frame, and when severe weather comes this can be covered over with boards and then a covering of stable manure, leaves or other material put over these, and around the outside.

Pansies can be grown also in this way, but the seed should not be sown till July or the plants get too large. It is better to have small compact plants of pansies when winter comes, as these winter much better than plants that are over grown.

In growing perennials from seed the advice is often given to sow the seed in August. This is far too late as it is impossible to get a plant large enough to come through the winter and flower the next season. Perennials should be sown any time from April to July. The larger the plant when winter comes the better chance it has to come through and flower well. Many of the perennials sent out by commercial firms are far too small to flower the first season, and consequently are a great disappointment to the buyer.

Some varieties are very hard to raise from seed unless the seed is fresh, and even then in some cases such as the Phlox it is hard to get the seed to germinate. Where it is possible for anyone to save seeds of perennials they should do so, as they will get better results from fresh seed. Of course where quick results are wanted it is better to buy plants, as it takes, in a great many varieties, at least two years before a good sized plant can be had from seed.

The varieties of perennials that are hardy in this part of the country are almost endless, and where one has room for a perennial border there is nothing that adds to the beauty of the garden so much as a well kept perennial border. Even before the snow has entirely left the ground the snowdrops, scillias and crocus begin to show their welcome flower buds. In the words of the poet, “They lay in dust through the winter hours. They break forth in glory sweet flow’ers.” After them come the different varieties of tulips and narcissus, and from then on we have a continued array of old. well known and well loved varieties that come and go in a lovely procession throughout the whole season. Even after the frost has nipped the tender varieties, and turned the leaves of the trees into glowing masses of color, we have the hardy chrysanthemums that still brave the chilly winds of autumn and brighten up the sheltered nooks of the garden.

In bulbous plants we have quite a variety that are hardy and add greatly to the beauty of the perennial border. Planted in clumps in rich deep soil they make a gorgeous display, and will give good results for several years. Lilium Candidum should be planted in August, as they make their foliage in the fall, which stays green all winter.