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New York

State College of Agriculture

At Cornell University
Ithaca, N.Y.

 

 

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SS
LAND TEACHING

A Handbook of Soils, Plants, Gardens and

Grounds, for Teachers and Cultivators

BY
H. E. STOCKBRIDGE, Ph. D.

Atlanta, Georgia
SOUTHERN RURALIST COMPANY
1910
Copyright
By
Southern Ruralist Co.,
1910.
PREFACE

This little book has been prepared in the hope that it might aid in
bringing the pupils of country schools close to the land.

Teachers should not be held wholly to blame if the instruction they
give unfits for the life most ‘of their pupils must live. Most teachers
know that the majority of the school puplis of to-day must become
the men and women of the farms to-morrow. They are not deliberate-
ly so educating them as to unfit them for success, or make them dissat-
isfied with farm life.

Teachers teach as best they may, with the knowledge they possess,
the things the courses call for. The mere official introduction of the
study of agriculture is but slight improvement. It would not be ex.
pected that a teacher ignorant of arithmetic should successfully teach
arithmetic simply because the study was prescribed and textbooks fur-
nished.

Yet this illustrates the present status of teaching agriculture in
many schools.

‘Many teachers would gladly fit themselves for better work in this
new field. ‘Hven agricultural colleges have hardly begun to meet the
new demand, and few normal schools have yet recognized its existence.
[It is moreover, expecting too much to suppose that teachers shall im-
mediately educate themselves for this new demand.

I am satisfied, however, that very many teachers would gladly wel-
come any source of information,—any practical guide or assistance,—
which would enable them to do effective work in this distinctly rural
field.

‘this is the demand I have tried to meet,—the help I now offer.

This book is not a textbook. It is not even a systematic presentation
of any single subject. It is merely a source of information, the pos-
session of which it is believed will enable teachers to teach success-
fully. Some of the principles of plant life, gardening, the fertilizing
of crops, combatting plant pests, pruning, grafting, the ornamentation
and care of school and home grounds, are the subjects presented.

Much of the material offered is rearranged from articles already pub-
lished in the Southern Ruralist. Parts I, III and V were originally
written by Professor T. H. McHatton, of the Georgia State College of
Agriculture, and Part IV by Professor H. P. Stuckey, of the Georgia
Experiment Station.

The book has been prepared by- teachers especially for the use of
teachers. It is hoped, however, that it may prove of practical value to
those who cultivate the soil. It is offered to the public in the sincere
hope that it may help toward making the public school a more active
agent in the advancement of rural life.

H. E. Stockbridge.

Atlanta, Ga., January, 1910. .
CONTENTS

Part I.
Page.
THE HOME GROUNDS.—Home.—As Index to Community.—
The General Idea.—Green Grass and Trees.—Nature’s Col-
or.—Kinds of Grass for Lawns.—Deciduous Trees.—EHver-
green Trees.—Hedges.—Shrubs and Flowering Trees.—
Flowers.—Old Fashioned Gardens.—Trees and Plants have
Character.—Follow Nature. 1

Part Il.

FIRST PRINCIPLE'S.—Object of Farming and Gardening.—
Soil and Air—THE SOIL.—Origin.—A True Soil.—Compo-
sition of Soils.—Properties of Soils.—Weight.—Structure
and Color.—Soil and Water.—Capillary Action.—Conser-
vation of Soil Water.—Soil and Heat.—Sources of Heat.
—Moisture and Heat.—Temperatures of Soil and Air.—Dew
Formation.—Kinds of Soil.—Sandy *Soil—Clay Soil.—
Loam.—Peat or Muck.—Gravel—Arable Soil.—Subsoil.—
Hard-Pan.—_THE PLANT.—Reproduction.—Sex of Plants.
Kinds of Mowers.—Action of Pollen.—Propagation.—Ger-
mination.— Heat Required.—Moisture——The Germ.—Act-
ion of Air.—Plant Growth.—Feeding.—How Plants Grow.
Stem and Root.—Leaves.—Buds.—Root MHairs.—How
Plants Feed.—Two Kinds of Food.—Soil and Atmospheric.
—Nitrogen from Air.—Atmospheric Food.—Organic Ingred-
jents of Plants——Using Soil Food.—Solution Necessary.
Means of Solution.—Selection of Food.—Assimilation of
Food.—Absorptive Power of Soils.—PLANT FOOD.—Needs
of the Plant.—Three Essentials.—Form of Supply .—Ferti- :
lizers and Foods.—Source of Supply.—Phosphoric Acid.
Nitrogen.—Potash.—Avaliability.—Proportions and Quan-
tities.—Fertilizer Calculations.—A Given Analysis.—To
Find the Analysis of a Mixture.—Calculating Value.
Converting Nitrogen and Ammonia.—Rules and Factors. 8
vi

LAND TEAOHING.

Part III.

SIMPLE BOTANY.—BOTANICAL DIVISIONS, PARTS OF A

PLANT.—Classification of Plants—THE VEGETABLE

KINGDOM.—Kinds of Roots.—Root Hairs.—How Roots
Feed.—THE STEM OR TRUNK.— Kinds of Stems .—Office
of the Stem.—Structure of the Stem.— Growth of the Stem.
THE BUD.—Kinds of Buds.—Growth of Buds.—LEAVES.
—Kinds of Leaves.—Structure of Leaves.—Functions of
Leaves.—Chemical Action of Leaves.—Purification of Air.
Transpiration—THE FPLOWER.—Parts of the Flower.—
Reproductive Organs of Flowers.—Inflorescence.—_REPRO-
DUCTION.—Sexual Reproduction.—Vegetative Reproduc-
tion.— Other Methods.—FRUITS IN GENERAL.—Structure
of Fruits—kKinds of Fruits.—Uses of Fruits.—THE SEED.
Structure of Seed.—Kinds of Seed.—Germination.—Distri-
bution and Number of Seed.—HORTICULTURAL PROPA-
GATION.— Grafting.—Principles—Kinds.—Methods. Bud-
ding.—Cuttings .—Layering—Bulbs.—ORCHARD FRUITS.
Clissification—A Pome.—A Drupe.—True MWBerries.—Other
Fruits.

Part IV.

SCHOOL GARDENS.—INTRODUCTION.—vValue of School Gar-

dens.—Phase of Nature Study.—Adaption to Environment.
MAKING THE GARDEN.—Selection of Site—Preparing and
Fertilizing —Kinds of Plants to Grow.—Seeds.—Siample Plat
of Garden.—Group and Individual Gardens.—Grades of Chil-
dren.—Tools FALL, WORK.— Hot Beds and Cold Frames.
WINTER WORK.—Laboratory Hxercises.—Study of Seed.
—SPRING WORK .—Course of Study for Different Grades.

Part V.

PLANNING AND CARH OF SCHOOL GROUNDS.—INFLU-

ENCE OF SCHOOL SURROUNDINGS.—Susceptibility of
Children—The School House.—The Past and Present.—

General Plan of Grounds.—Continuity of Plan—TREES.
Reasons for Planting Trees.—Kinds of Trees—dCare of

Page,

29

62
LAND THACHING.

Trees —SHRUBS.—Adaption of Shrubs.—Kinds of Shrubs.
VINES. Uses of Vines.—Adaption of Vines.—MLOIWERS.
Classes of Flowers.—Place of Flowers.—Kinds of Flowers.
Care of Flowers—-LAWNS AND PLAYGROUNDS.—Uses
and Adaptions of Grass—Grounds for Use.—Making of
Lawns.—Kinds of Grases—Play Space.—CARE OF
GROUNDS .—tInfluence of Climate—Definite Plan.—Tidi-
ness of Grounds.—fInfluence on Character.

Part VI.

HORTICULTURAL PRACTICE.CUTTINGS.—Principles In-

volved.—Kinds of Cuttings—As Related to Different Kinds
of Plants. PRUNING.—Relations of Pruning.—Why
Prune.—When Prune.—How Prune.—Trees and Vines.—
GRAFTING AND BIDDING .—Reasons for Grafting —Kinds
of Grafting—Methods of Grafting.—iBudding.—Objects of
Budding.—Relations between Buds and Cuttings.

Part VII.

CROP PEST DIRECTORY.—KINDS OF PESTS.—Insects.—

Fungus Diseases.—Different Kinds of Insects.—Sucking and
Biting — Methods of Protection—FUNGUS DISEASES.
Which Use.—Isecticides.—Fungicides.—Practical Formu-
las.

Appendix.

USEFUL TABLES.—Vitality and Germination of Seed.—Quan-

tity of Seed Required.—Distances for Planting.—Fertiliz-
ing Constituents in Garden Crops.—Fertilizer Composition.
—Fertilizer Ingredients.—Fertilizer Constituents of Crops.

90

111

121

128
 

 

 

 

 

N GRASS AND TREES.

GREI
Part I.

THE HOME GROUNDS.

Home! What a charm hangs around that name. It is never heard but
that the mind flashes back for an instant to the by-gone days; may be to
a palace, may be to a hut. How much more pleasant it is for that pic-
ture to be one of cleanliness, of flowers and green grass with the shad-
ows of majestic trees cast on the carpet of the lawn, than to see tin cans,
heaps of refuse, weeds and barren dirt, all in the blistering sun. It does
not take much work to make the grounds about the house attractive.
A tew judiciously planted trees and shrubs will lend an air of refine-
ment and repose to the most unsightly house. When we remember
that within the home lies the foundation of the nation, is it not
worth the while of patriotic mother and father to do everything
within their power to brighten the ideals of the American people?
Nothing so helps to mold youth into men or women of fine char-
acter as close contact with the beauties of Nature.

The homes of a country furnish the best index to the prosperity
and moral tone of the community. There was once an old gentle-
man who traveled a good deal long before the time of railroads, and
it was his custom, whenever he wished to stop for the night, always
to pick out a house that had flowers and trees about it, for, as he
said, he had no fear then of the kind of bed or food that he would
get as he knew that it would be the best obtainable. If one
stopped to think that most people, in passing a home, get a mental
impression of the owner, would there not be many more beautiful
homes than there are; for does not everyone wish his neighbor to
think well of him?

Space will only allow us to throw out a few suggestions and leave
each person to weave his or her individuallity into the surorundings
of the home. The ideas given are simple: The plants practically all
native, for after all, the local flora is generally the best adapted to
use by the majority of people.

The General Idea—Green grass and trees always look well; if
2 LAND THACHING.

there is not a flower or a shrub in sight the landscape is a joy to
the eye, provided it shows soft lawns and waving trees. Green is
most pleasing and restful to the sight. Had it not been so Nature
would have used another color. The best lawn grass, from middle
Georgia south is probably Bermuda; Kentucky Blue grass, also called
June grass, is excellent where it can be used. White clover is often
seen in lawns. It is objectionable, however, as it differs in color
from the grasses and therefore gives a patchy appearance. It is
good, nevertheless, to supplement grasses, cover bare spaces and
make a quick lawn.

Deciduous Trees—It is best to have the deciduous trees in the
planting predominate over the evergreens. There is nothing that
adds so much to a home as a large tree near the house, It makes
the building fit the landscape, and where the limbs extend over the
roof it lends an air of protection and comfort to the picture. The
easiest way to get this tree is to build under it, for it takes time
to produce an old, weather-beaten, age-worn monarch. Some of the
trees well adapted for home use are the hackberry or sugarberry
(Celtis occidentalis L.), the various species of oak, the American
elm (Ulmus Americana L.) and the maples. The poplars may also
be used where a quick growing tree is desired. Some of them, how-
ever, such as the Lombardy, are very stiff and formal.

Evergreen Trees—About the best evergreen we have, though a
very slow-growing tree, is the magnolia grandiflora. The live oak
(Quercus Virginiana Mill) is also good where it can be used. Ever-
greens make a place somber; therefore should be used with care.
The red cedar (Juniperus Virginia L) also makes a good tree.
There are numerous others which need no mention. One or two
evergreens judiciously placed help out the looks of things greatly
during winter.

Hedges—These should rarely be used and never close to the
house unless in a formal garden, and then they should be low. The
greatest use of a hedge is to form a wind-break, which we do not
need in the South, and, secondly, to shield unsightly objects, such
_ as the barnyard, servants’ house, etc. The common euonymus (Euony-
mus Japonicus L.) is quite a good hedge plant. Both the tree and
the dwarf box may be used, the latter especially in formal gardens.
Deodara (Cedra Deodara, Loud.) makes a good plant for a tall hedge
and wind-break. Personally I am not a great advocate of hedges;
in fact, think that a place can be made more beautiful without them.
LAND TEACHING. 3

Shrubs and Flowering Trees—A single specimen of euonymus, box
tree or holly makes a good shrub. Azalia japonica may also be used
when far enough south. The wild sweetshrub (Calycanthus Flodirus,
L.) and the cultivated banana shrub, sometimes called sweetshrub,
also add to a place. There-are numberless barberries and spiraeas
that can be used to advantage. Among the flowering trees may be
mentioned the dogwood (Cornus Florida, I.), the lilacs, both white
and purple. The latter, however, are generally considered shrubs.
In some sections the flowering crabapple may be used to advantage
and makes a beautiful tree for the lawn.

Flowers—First and foremost, do not cut the lawn up into geomet-
trical beds. Flowers should be around the foundation of the house,
or at least close to it; it is preferable to have a garden set aside
in particular for them. A rose garden, at one side of the house and
back of the lawn, is an unending source of pleasure. Flowers should
be where they can be fertilized and worked. Like any other crop
they need cultivation. It is needless for any special plants to be
mentioned, as every one has his favorites. Besides, all flowers ‘aré
pretty if not out of place. An old-fashioned garden is always attract-
ive around a country home. Old maids and such other flowers of
our grandmother’s day always bring up thoughts of the past and
create an atmosphere of reverie, in which one can spend an hour;
or so with the greatest of profit and pleasure.

Conclusion—In conclusion, it may be said that there is nothing
more beautiful than a natural tree or shrub, one that does not show
tne work of man. Every tree and bush has its own individuality
and grows in the fashion appointed by Nature. It is folly to try
to make all trees round-headed by bobbing off their limbs and
pruning them back to stumps. Let them grow as they list and
then rejoice in the beautiful specimens that Nature will give you.
A magnolia that has its limbs low to the ground far exceeds in
beauty one that is pruned up ten or twelve feet. Remember that
each plant is a problem unto itself, and if you seek long enough a
kind Nature will let you find the answer as to the why and where-
fore of its growth. ;
Part II.
FIRST PRINCIPLES.

The object of farming and gardening is to produce plants, Plants
grow, they are living things; they grow by consuming food. This
food comes from two sources, soil and air.

Agriculture, in its broadest sense, is the business of converting
Wfeless mineral matter of soil and air into living vegetable matter
in the form of plants. It is founded, therefore, on the intelligent
use of these materials. The properties of these two things should
be understood by him who hopes to successfully influence their use.

I-THE SOIL.

Origin—The soil consists chiefly of fine particles of rocks. The
original rocks were broken up and pulverized by action of several
natural forces. The combined action of these forces is called weath-
ering. Changes in temperature, earthquakes, running water, contrac-
tion of the earth’s surface, glaciers, frost, the chemical action of
water, air, and the action of animal and plant life, are the chief
causes resulting in the disintegrating of rocks.

Mere pulverized rock, however is not soil. Before this mineral
matter can become true soil capable of sustaining high plant life it
must contain a certain amount of organic matter. This latter ma-
terial must come from the decay of organized beings either animal
or vegetable.

The simplest forms of plant life, like mosses and lichens, adhere to
bare rock surfaces. By their death and decay a small quantity of
vegetable matter becomes added to the weathering surface of the
rock. Each generation of life adds to this accumulation. The sur-
face of the rock continues to disintegrate and in time becomes cov-
ered with a thin layer of soil.

A true soil,—a mixture of mineral and organic materials,—is thus
formed. The process continues with the lapse of time. As the
LAND THACHING. As
layer of soil increases the character of plants living on it changes
till the highest forms of plant life appear, and the original rock is
entirely buried beneath a depth of true soil capable of sustaining.
cultivated crops.

Composition of Soils—The actual amount of organie matter which
must become incorporated with disintegrated rocks: before true_ soil.
results is comparatively small. Certain cultivated plants, like rye
and buckwheat, thrive on soils containing only 1 to 2 per cent, of
organic matter.

Peat, or muck, has the highest proportion of organic matter, about
70 per cent, Fertile bottom lands-contain from 10 to 12 per cent.,
while average soils contain about 6 per cent. of such material.

‘The entire organic part of soils is called humus, This: contains
several different acids one of the ingredients of which is nitrogen,
which is an essential food of all plants. Humus, therefore, not only
exerts great physical influence on soils, adapting them to the growth
of plants, but is a source of actual plant food.

Properties of Soils—There are necessarily many properties, both
physical and chemical, peculiar to soils. A few are of the utmost
importonce in relation to the growth of crops.

Weight—This property varies greatly with different kinds of soils.
Tne heaviest soils are those containing the most mineral (rock)
material. The lightest ones are those containing the most organic,
(vegetable) matter.

The weight of soils, therefore, is practically proportional. to the
mineral matter present.

The weight of 1 cubic foot of different kinds of soil is as follows:

Peat, 30 to 50: Ibs.; Heavy clay, 75 lbs.; Loam, 78 lbs.; Average
arable soil, 80 to 90 Ibs.; Gandy clay, 96 lbs.; Sand, 110 lbs.

Structure and Color—The color influences soil chiefly as. related to
heat. Dark soils absorb heat, and, other things being equal, are warm
sooner and remain warm longer than the same soils when light.
colored.

The structure of the soil is chiefly a matter of fineness of its
particles. Other things being equal, the finer a soil. the more fertile
and more productive. It holds water better and dissolves plant faod
faster and more completely.

Soil and Water—Water is life to every living. thing. Cultivated
plants are practically capable of obtaining water only by means of
their roots through the soil. The relations of different soils to water,
6 LAND TEACHING.

therefore, are of the most vital importance. The water capacity of
soils varies greatly and determines to a great degree their crop pro-
ducing power. It is controlled by the amount of air-space in a soil,
or amount of room which water may occupy by driving out the air.

Common soils hold the following amounts of water: Sand 45.4 per
cent.; clay, 50; loam, 00.1; peat, 63.7; average arable soil, 69.

The property of soils for allowing water to pass or percolate through
them is called permeability. In common use this fact is called
drainage.

This action is closely allied to capillary action which is the up-
ward movement of soil water. In reality this is merely one manifesta-
tion of surface attraction. It is the movement of water upward from
one soil particle to another. It is the same force manifested by the
passage of oil through the lamp wick.

Permanent water exists at some depth in all soils. Wells always
reach water if made deep enough. It is only a question of how deep?
This fact is perhaps the most important in the whole realm of plant
growth. It is this water moving upward to the surface by capillary
action which supplies the demand of plants for life-giving water.

The nearer the soil particles are together the greater and more
rapid is the movement of water between the particles. Therefore,
capillary action is greater in con’pact soils and less in porous soils.

This fact gives the cultivator almost absolute control over the
quantity of water available to crops. Cultivation, by making the
surface soil more porous, interferes with capillary action. It prevents
evaporation and waste from the surface soil into the air in time of
drought.

The reverse of this practice, namely, allowing the soil to remain
undisturbed when too wet, increases the capillary movement of water
and hastens drying.

Goil and Heat—A certain amount of heat is necessary to all forms
of life. Each plant grows only within certain limits of temperature
of soil and water.

The heat of the soil comes from three different sources: The Sun’s
Rays, heat of Chemical Action or decomposition, and, least important,
Earth Heat radiating from the moulten interior.

Except under very exceptional conditions the last source of heat
is of little practical importance. The second source mentioned is of
value in hot beds, but the heat derived from the sun is the only source
of general interest.
LAND TEACHING. 7

Moisture and Heat—Water is converted into vapor by heat. The
direct action of heat on soil water is to cause it to evaporate
into the air. The greater the amount of water evaporated the greater
the amount of heat used. This fact is largely responsible for the
coldness of wet soils, since their heat is constantly being used for the
evaporation of excess of water.

The soil is not a good conductor of heat, and air temperatures have
comparatively slight influence on the soil.

Difference in heat of soil between day and night is but slight and
fg noticeable only to a depth of about 3 feet. Even differences
between smmer and winter in temperate climates penetrate only to
aw depth of about 70 feet.

The difference between the temperature of soil and air is of incal-
culable praetical importance. This difference is due to the difference
in the absorption of heat between soil and air.

Tho resulting difference in temperature is the direct cause of the
formation of dew. Dew is simply vapor of water condensed by con-
tact with a colder body and deposited as drops of water.

Contrary to common supposition the soil is the warmer substance
and the air the colder. A thermometer placed just below the sur-
face of the soll and then in the air just over the soil when the dew
ts betng formed will show that the air is several degrees colder than
the soil.

This fact 13 easily explained. During the day the soll absorbs heat
from the sun. After sunset the air cools very quickly while the solid
soil radiates heat slowly and therefore remains warm longer. Warm
vapor of water evaporates from the warm soil and comes in contact
with the overlying layer of cooler air. The immediate result is the
condensation of this moisture and the formation of drops of dew.

‘rhe fact is that dew comes from the soil rather than from the air
as formerly believed. The reason why crops do not suffer for mois-
ture when dews are abundant is because soils furnishing water
for such dew formation still contain water sufficient for the need of
plants.

Kinds of Soil—The different kinds of soil used in common descrip-
tions should be fixed in mind.

Sandy soll contains over 80 per cent. of actual sand. Clay soil
contains not less than 60 per cent. of actual clay. Loam ranges
petween sand and clay. Each of these latter ingredients may predom-
jnate and be used in describing the particular soil in mind. Thus
8 LAND TEACHING.

sandy loam and clay loam are common terms. Peat or muck has
the most humus of all soils. It contains the largest proportion of
decomposed vegetation formed under water. Such soils are always
wet till freed from this excess of water by drainage.

Gravel soil contains considerable quantities of unweathered bits of
water-washed rock, together with varying proportions of fine earth
up to 30 per cent. The larger this proportion the greater the agricul-
tural value of this kind of soil.

Arable soll is the surface layer which is cultivated. Subsoil is the
underlying layer penetrated by plant roots. Hardpan is the compact
layer found beneath the subsoil. By pressure and chemical action
it is again slowly assuming rock form.

Constant plowing at a certain depth is one of the most frequent
causes of hardpan, the breaking of which by deeper or subsoil] plowing
is often necessary.

II—THE PLANT.

REPRODUCTION.

The chief object for cultivating the soll is for the production of
plants. The particular object of each plant is the perpetuation of its
kind. The reproduction of plants, therefore, is the nature of plants.

All cultivated plants produce seed at some stage of their develop-
ment. Though other methods of reproduction may be followed in
practice the seed remains the great original means of plant propaga-
tion. A knowledge of the principles involved in the tramwsformation
of seed into plant is essential to intelligent control of crop develop-
ment,

weed formation begins with the flower differing for each kind of
plant. So far as the purposes of reproduction are concerned all pos-
sess one characteristic in common. All Flowers possess Sex.

Sex of Plants—Reproduction is possible only by the influence of
both sexes. In plants, however, both sexes may be united in a single
plant.

“Flowers are the reproductive organs,—the sex evidence,—of plants.
They are of three different kinds according to their single or double
sex‘ functions.

Biséxual' flowers have all reproductive organs present in the same
flower. Beans illustrate this class of plant.

‘Monoecious plants bear flowers of different sexes on the same
LAND TEACHING. 9

plant. Indian corn illustrates this form of development, the tassel
being the male and the silk the female organ.

Diesecious plants produce the two sexes on different individual
plants. Asparagus is of this nature.

The female organ of the flower is the stamen, and the male is the
istil. Therefore, staminate flowers are female and pistillate are male.
Flowers possessing both these organs in the same individual are called
perfect flowers. ,

Pollen is the male element developed on the pistils of either male
or perfect flowers. This is the yellow dust so lavishly produced by
corn tassels and other pistillate flowers. The carrying of this fertil-
izing burden is the special office of bees and explains their importance
in the development of so many fruits. This function is particularly
essential with all members of the melon family.

Another fact of the utmost importance is dependent on this matter
of the sex of flowers.

Some varieties of certain plants have flowers of only one sex. In
order to produce fruit, therefore, it is indespensable that another varl-
ety of this kind of plant, with flowers of the other sex, should grow
in close proximity to the former.

Strawberries are the best illustration of this condition. This fact
explains what seems a mystery to many people. They plant a single
variety and then wonder why plants which bloom freely never bear
fruit.

A few varieties of strawberries have perfect flowers; many more
produce either pistillate or staminate flowers alone. It is necessary
to know the sex of the variety. Then if its blossoms are of one sex,
one row of staminate plants should be set for every three rows of pis-
tillate that the blossoms of the latter may be fertilized and produce
fruit.

The seed is the direct product of the flower. Seed formation is the
object for which the flower develops. It contains the germ of life, the
embryonic plant. It is the direct means of most plant reproduction.

Propagation by Bude—aAll other forms of plant perpetuation depend
on some form of bud instead of seed for the purpose.

A bud is a part of the stem of a plant, which, when severed from
the parent plant, grows independently. This new plant may grow
either by developing its own root system in the ground, or by uniting
with the growing tissue of an already growing plant.

Propagation by cuttings illSutrates the former and by grafting the
10 LAND TEACHING.

latter method, of development. In all the various forms of bud propa-
gation the bud is the essential part of the plant used.

Various parts of the parent plant may be used. Stems furnish the
cuttings from roses, the layers of raspberries, and the runners with
strawberries. A part of the leaf may be used from begonias, a “slip”
from geraniums, and merely a bud from the orange tree. A bulb makes
the new plant in the case of hyacinth or onion set and a tuber with the
Irish potato. In the former the original stem continues to grow from
its centra] bud, in the latter the eye is really the bud of an under-
ground stem. In all cases the bud makes new growth and reproduces
the plant from which it came.

There are two important reasons for the common use of buds rather
than seed for plant reproduction. First, many plants do not produce
seed in one season. Onions illustrate this kind of plant. A second
year’s growth from the first year’s bulb is necessary for the develop-
ment of seed.

Second, the seeds of many plants do not “come true,” that is, when
planted, they do not produce plants like that from which they come.
This is particularly true of fruit-bearing trees, and is the cause for
the almost universal dependence on grafting for the perpetuation of
varieties.

The simple reason for the fact that seeds from so many plants do
not reproduce their kind is that seed often result from,—and repre-
sent the characteristics of—two very unlike parents. This fact is
demonstrated in the frequent presence of corn of several kinds and
colors on a single cob. This condition is equally true of a peach or
strawberry seed, though not apparent to the eye.

The bud, on the other hand, is a part of a single plant. It represents
only one parent and may be depended on to unfailingly reproduce the
characteristics of the parent plant.

GERMINATION.

The growth of a plant begins with the germination of the seed.
For this life-function three things are necessary,—heat, water and
air.

Temperature—The amount of heat required for germination differs
greatly with different kinds of seed. Radishes begin growing at com-
paratively low temperatures. Cucumbers, on the other hand, require
considerable warmth for the same process.

Tha germination of most common seeds takes place best at tempera-
LAND THAOHING. 11

tures ranging from 55 to 75 degrees. Within these limits temperature
affects the length of time required rather than the final result.

Moisture—The urst effect of water upon the seed is to cause it to
swell. This is because the seed absorbs water exactly like any other
dry porous substance .

The result of this absorption of water is that the seed is softened
so that the germ easily forces its way out of its close envelope as
soon as growth vegins.

The next function of this absorbed water is chemical. It starts, fer-
mentation, and this process is necessary to prepare the first food for
the living plant just beginning to develop.

The germ, heart or living part, of the seed Is but a comparatively
small part of the whole seed. The chief bulk of the seed, within the
hard envelope, consists of starch, as is easily seen in a grain of wheat
or kernel of corn. This starch is stored up food awaiting the demand
of the new plant. The tiny plantlet, however, cannot feed directly
on starch. This must be changed into glucose before it can actually
be used by the plant. Fermentation is the means by which this change
{gs effected.

When dry grain or meal is immersed in water bubbles of gas begin
to rise in a few hours and the water soon has a sour smell. Fermen-
tation has begun.

This is exactly what takes place in the moistened seed. The re
sult of the fermentation. is that the young plant is provided with food
to sustain life till it has developed to the point where its tiny rootlets
are able to begin the process of taking food from the soil.

Air—With the beginning of germination the seed has become a living
thing. To every living thing air is indispensable. The seeds of a few
plants which germinate under water contain considerable air within
themselves.

Young plants do not actually breathe air. Its chief office is to supply
oxygen for the process of fermentation just described. That it is
indispensable to this process is illustrated by the well known fact
that fermentable substances do not ferment when air is excluded by
hermetically sealing.

This necessity for air explains a fact often noticed. When heavy
rains fall and pack clay soil hard before sown seed have germinated
the stand is often very small. This is not because of difficulty of
young plants to come through the hard soil, but because the impacted
soil will not allow air to reach the sprouting seed.
12 LAND TEACHING.

The soil must lie close around the seed, but not so much so as to ex-
clude air. The amount of pressure needed to pack the soi] sufficiently
for supplying water must vary with the kind of soil, being greatest
with porous sand and least with dense clay.

PLANT GROWTH.

When the young plant, starting either from seed or bud, enters upon
its independent existence it begins to grow. Plants, like animals, grow
by the formation of new cells. These new cells are new plant sub-
stance formed by the assimilation of food.

Plant growth, therefore, involves two separate processes,—feeding
and growing. These are really cause and effect, since the result of
feeding is growth.

The process of plant feeding involves organs and parts of the plant
the functions of which are best understood through familiarity with
the processes of growth. The latter, therefore, will be considered
first.

HOW PLANTS GROW.

Stem and Root—When the seed sprouts it sends out two shoots.
One of these begins to reach up for air and light. The other immediately
goes down in search of moisture and soil food. The former becomes
a stem, the latter a root. From these two organs the whole system
of the plant is developed. +

The stem bears leaves, buds and fruit. It also provides the chan-
nel through which sap,— the life fluid of plants,—flows between root
and leaf. It is the life current which conveys prepared food to all
parts of the plant and supplies the material for new growth.

Leaves—These are the breathing organs of the plant. They are
attached to the stem at regular intervals and consist of a frame-
work of veins covered with thin cellular tissue. This tissue is nearly
transparent so that sunlight passes through with little obstruction.
Leaves are usually green in color and contain chlorophyl which is the
active principle in enabling leaves to consume air food,

The upper surface of leaves is more dense and darker colored than
the under surface. The latter is filled with infinitely small openings
or mouths called stomata. It is through these openings that leaves
draw their supply of air.

The pores of the leaf also perform the same function for plants as
the pores of the skin perform for animals. It is through the leayns
LAND TEACHING. 13

that water absorbed from the soi] through the roots is exhaled into the
air. This is a vital process of plants called transpiration.

Buds-—These form the tip of every live part of the stem. It is from
the bud that new growth develops. This new growth may produce
such different parts of the plant as stems, branches and flowers.

Root Hairs—The growing roots of plants are covered with delicate
fibres so fine as to often look like mould or finest down. They are root
hairs which are the feeding organs of plants for securing water and
food from the soil. Soil food enters the plant only in form of solution
dissolved by water which is drawn into the root by means of these
root hairs. Then by osmosis and other forces the solution rises through
the stem supplying the cells with food.

Growth is thus provided for.

HOW PLANTS FEED.

Two Kinds of Food—If any part of a dry plant is burned, smoke and
gas are given off into the air. Part of the plant is combustible, it goes
back into the air because it came from the air; it is air material.

If this burning is stopped soon the wood, or other vegetable matter,
is only charred; charcoal or carbon is produced. Carbon, therefore,
is the chief part of this air material of plants.

If the burning or combustion is allowed to continue the. charcoal
disappears. The carbon and other air materials all pass back into the
air whence they came and ashes alone remain behind. This is the
mineral or soi] material of plants.

It is therefore apparent that plants consist of two distinct kinds of
matter,—combustible, or air matter, and non-combustible, or soil mat-
ter. Since plants are made of the materials which they consumed as
food their food must consist of two classes of material, atmospheric

and soil.
It is known that these two groups are made up as follows: I.
Atmospheric: Water, carbonic acid, ammonia. II. Soil: Phos-

phoric acid, potash, soda, silica, lime, magnesia, iron oxide, sulphuric,
nitric and hydrochloric acids.

Certain plants contain a few other substances, but all cultivated
plants always contain all of the above named materials. Unless all
of these substances are available in the food of crops normal develop-
ment is impossible.

Mutual dependence of Animals and Plants.—All living things con-
sist of two classes of matter, combustible and non-combustible, organ-
 

 

 

 

 

COWPEA PLANT, SHOWING ROOT NODULES BY MEANS OF WHICH THE
PLANT TAKES NITROGEN FROM THE AIR.
LAND TEACHING. 15

I¢ and inorganic. Yet plants feed only on inorganic matter. They pos-
sess the power of changing water, carbonic acid and nitric acid into
organic matter. They are able to take water and carbonic acid which
not only will not burn, but which will extinguish fire, and recombine
them into substances which will burn.

Neither of these two classes of matter can alone produce plant
growth. The presence of each is indispensable to the use of the other.
The atmospheric ingredients of plants make the transformation of soil
material into vegetable matter possible. In like manner soil constitu-
ents are necessary to the change of atmospheric foods into anima] and
vegetable forms.

USING ATMOSPHERIC FOOD.

Food enters the plant through two different organs,—the leaf and
the root. Carbonic acid and a little oxygen are taken directly from the
air through the leaves. All other plant food is taken up by the roots
and dissolved in soil water.

Organic Ingredients of Plants—These are of air origin and consist
chiefly of starch, sugar, cellulose fat and albuminoids. The latter
contain nitrogen. The other substances consist entirely of carbon, hy-
drogen and oxygen.

The process by which these vegetable compounds are formed is sim-
ple. Sunlight is the active agent in their formation.

Air always contains carbonic acid. It is exhaled by all animals and
{s a product of all decay. Air containing carbonic acid comes into
contact with plant leaves and enters them through their stomata.

By the action of sunlight the carbonic acid is decomposed, broken up.
Its oxygen is liberated to pass back itno the air which is thus purified
by the growth of plants. The carbon remains behind and combines
with the elements in the sap of the plant to form the carbohydrates,
the starches, sugars, gums and fibre of which the plant so largely
consists.

For the formation of the Albuminoid,—or nitrogenous constituents
of plants,—which form so large a part of fruits and seeds, a further
process is necessary.

The action of nitric acid, taken from the soil, upon the ingredients
of the plant sap taken from the air, results in the formation of this
class of plant compounds. By these two processes the entire organic
mass of vegetation is formed. 3
16 LAND TEACHING.

USING SOIL FOOD.

Roots are the parts of the plant through which soil food enters the
circulation of the plant. Root hairs are organs directly engaged in this
food absorption.

Soil food enters the plant only in the form of solution.

Means of Solution—Water is of course the direct medium of solution,
but water alone is not responsible for all the dissolving action going on
in the soil. Soil waters always contain certain minute quantities
of mineral acids formed by chemical action in the soil itself. Ammonia
is a product of all decay. Carbonic acid, nitric acid, and ammonia
greatly increase the dissolving power of water.

By the presence of these active agents insoluble soil minerals are
either directly dissolved or are converted into soluble compounds.

Moreover the root itself secretes an organic acid exerting a great
dissolving power on soil minerals and enabling the plant, to a consid-
erable extent, to render its own food available.

Selection of Food—Though roots have no power of rejecting material
once in solution in the soil they possess a cerain power of selection
by being able to seek out places or localities containing the food of
which they stand in immediate need.

Plants are incapable of selecting the food actually required and re-
jecting that not needed. It is necessary, therefore, to show how differ-
ent plants, wholly unlike in nature and composition can grow side by
side in the same soil yet extract different foods from that soil.

The cell wall possesses osmose action; certain substances in solution
pass through the membrane while others do not.

Soil water continues to dissolve each mineral constituent until its
point of saturation is reached. This means that when the solution can
contain no more of any single food material the dissolving of that
particular substance stops. The root takes up the entire saturated
solution, which is the same strength inside and outside the cell.

The plant requires some of one or more of these materials. The
needed materia] passes through the cell wall and becomes a part of
the tissue of the plant.

The solution inside of the cell thus becomes more dilute than that
outside. Then more of this material enters the cell till the solution is
again saturated and the strength on both sides is again the same.

If the plant requires no more of this particular food it absorbs no
more and the solution being saturated no more can be dissolved. The
action does not continue and the use of this particular food ceases,
LAND TEACHING. 17

In this way any plant satisfies its own demands from the same soil
water.

Absorptive Power of Soils—Soil waters are constantly dissolving the
food materials of soils even when there is no immediate demand by
plants. It seems at first strange that all the nutriment in soils is
not washed out and wasted by draining away. This calamity is pre-
vented by the power of absorption possessed by all soils. This is not
mere mechanical absorption but a distinct manifestation of chemical
action.

All soils possess this property in some degree. Even coarse sand,
the most porous of soils, is used for purifying water because it filters
out and absorbs impurities. This absorptive power is the real secret

of soil fertility. Without it plant food once dissolved would pass
through and out of the soil if not immediately taken up by plants.

Not ali plant materials are absorbed alike. Ammonia, potash, soda,
lime and magnesia are readily absorbed. Silica, phosphoric, sul-
phuric, hydrochloric and nitric acids are absorbed to only a very slight
extent.

The all important fact is that most of the essential constituents of
plant food are absorbed and retained in the soil in forms available to
tne plant. Nitric acid is the one most important exception. As this is
the final product of organic decomposition before the plant actually
consumes its required nitrogen this fact is of less significance. It
explains the necessity, in practice, of applying nitrogenous fertilizers
only in quantities to meet the immediate needs of crops.

III—PLANT FOOD.

The material used by plants for making growth is plant food. Fer-
tilizers and manures are simply the materials used for supplying plant
food in excess of the supply provided in the soil itself.

NEEDS OF THE PLANT.

As already stated plants need for their normal growth fourteen
different substances. Each of these is equally important. The one
used in smallest quantity is as indispensable as the one used most
largely. Moreover, substitution of one food element for another is
not possible.

Most soils, however, contain very much more of certain materials
than of others. Plants also require certain food elements in very much
greater quantity than others.
18 LAND TEACHING.

The demand for certain plant foods is relatively very much greater
than for others,— far in excess of the capacity of most soils to supply.
The practical importance of five plant constituents is greater than for
a:]l others,

These five are phosphoric acid, nitrogen, potash, lime and magnesia.
The demand for the last two in excess of the natural supply is only
occasional, with certain plants or certain exceptional conditions of soil.
With the other three, however, the demand of cultivated plants is in
excess of the natural ability of soils to supply. Soils become rapidly
exhausted by these three elements so that continued productivity neces-
sitates constant supply by artificial means.

THREE ESSENTIALS.

For these reasons phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash are consid-
ered the three essential plant foods. They must be regularly returned
to soils by artificial means to make good the loss by cropping. They
are the valuable ingredients of all manures and fertilizers.

The reason why these three substances are really essential to the
continued production of crops should be fixed in mind.

Crops are removed from the soil; they are sold as the market prod-
uct of the soil. Plant food is the raw material from which crops are
made,

If crops remain on the soil which produced them exhaustion of
the supply of plant food would be impossible. When corps are
sent away, as cotton or fruit or milk, the return of the three food
constituents,—in some form or by some means, is essential to con-
tinued production.

FORM OF SUPPLY. —

Plant food cannot be supplied to crops in the form in which the
plant must finally use it. Nitrogen in its pure state is a gas. Phos-
phoric acid and potassium never exist in pure state in nature, nor re-
main pure long after artificially produced.

Commercially, therefore, they must be purchased, shipped and ap-
plied in some one of the different forms in which they can be pro-
cured,

The case is identical with that of animal foods. Animals need
protein, but there is no way by which pure protein can be practically
supplied. Even could this be provided animals would not find it pala-
table and would not eat it. We, therefore, provide beef or wheat
bran as a source of protein for animals.
LAND THACHING. 19

Commercial fertilizers and manures occupy the same place with
plants that bread, beef, vegetables, hay and grain do with animals.

Nitrogen for plants is supplied in the form of animal and vege-
table wastes, and chemicals. Phosphoric acid comes from animal
bones and mineral] phosphates. Potash is used in the shape of ashes
and: potash salts.

In each case the form is merely a matter of convenience and
economy. The real object and value lies in the supply of one of the
three plant food essentials.

SOURCE OF SUPPLY.

Several forms of fertilizers contain more than one plant food es-
sential. This is noticeably so of farm manures which contain all
three in varying proportions. Most fertilizing materials of animal
or vegetable origin contain two of the essentials, though often the
phosphoric acid is not in a form to be immediately available to
plants.

Phosphorle Acid is used chiefly as phosphate of lime. The largest
supply comes from animal bones and mineral phosphates. The chief
deposits of the latter used in America are the petrified remains of
prehistoric animals found in South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee.

The phosphate of lime in these sources of supply is insoluble and,
therefore, not available to plants. It is converted into soluble,
or available, phosphate by being treated with sulphuric acid.

The product is super-phosphate, or acid phosphate, by which name
it is known commercially.

Nitrogen exists as one of the constant ingredients of the air.
Plants, however, are not able to take this essential directly from this
inexhaustible source.

Certain plants of the pea and bean family, known as legumes, have
the power of fostering bacteria] action in the soil by means of which
nitrogen is taken from the air and incorporated with the soil where it
becomes available to plants.

Nitrogen is a constituent of all animal and vegetable matter. By
decomposition of the latter ammonia is found and this in turn be-
comes changed into nitric acid, in which form the nitrogen contained
{s used by plants.

Animal manures, blood, tankage and cottonseed meal supply nitro-
gen by this process.

Nitrate of soda is a mineral salt found in large deposits, and sul-
20 LAND TEACHING.

phate of ammonia is a product of gas manufacture very largely used
for fertilizing purposes.

Potash is the essential most restricted in sources of supply. It -is
a constituent of all wood ashes, but this source is now of little com-
mercial importance. Nitrate of potash, or saltpeter, is a natural
deposit in tropical countries, The natural supply is so limited as to
be of little agricultural] importance. It is produced artificially in
certain industries in a form used for fertilizing purposes.

The great source of agricultural potash is found in the Hartz
Mountains in Germany. Several of these salts of potash are used as
fertilizers. The sulphate, muriate, kainit and double-manure salt are the
best known. Each has its special adaptions.

fhe muriate is the most economical for general use. The sulphate
is particularly adapted to fruit and crops like hops, where aroma and
flavor are important qualities. The double-manure salt seems to meet
the particular demands of citrus fruits.and tobacco, while kainit is a
specific for cotton in sections where the crop is subject to the yellow
rust.

AVAILABILITY.

It {gs important to bear in mind that plants consume food only
in solution. This fact has particular significance in connection with
two of the three essentials. Phosphoric acid and nitrogen both exist
in forms practically useless to plants because so extremely and
slowly soluble in the soil as to. be practically unavailable.

Natural phosphates are all unavailable until treated with acids.
Organic nitrogen,—the form existing in leather, horn and peat,—
though very abundant, is practically useless as plant food. The most
unfortunate condtion in this connection is the fact that the chemist
is unable to detect the difference in the forms of nitrogen of animal
origin.

Potash in all its commercial forms is immediately available as
plant food.

PROPORTIONS AND QUANTITIES.

The basis for determining what and how much fertilizer to use is
found in the composition of the crop to be grown.

In practice this must naturally be modified by the conditions of
growth of the crop in question. Two such conditions would be
une ability of procuring nitrogen from the air by bacterial action and
the presence of tap roots capable of securing food from great depths.
LAND TEACHING. 21

The old idea that analysis of the soil could show the food demands
of the crop it was to produce is now discarded.

The crop not the soil is the thing to be supplied with plant food,—
fertilizer. Even were this not so true, analysis of the soil can only
show what is present at the time the analysis was made. Yet air.and
rain, heat and cold, are all the time at work on soil constituents.
Plant food is constantly being dissolved, so that no analysis can pos-
bly show what may be available during the entire growing season.

FERTILIZER CALCULATIONS.

This matter is really very simple though looked upon as a mystery
by many people to whom it is of most importance.

Any person who can correctly calculate the number of acres in a
fleld can calculate the formula, analysis, or value of any fertilizer.

It is not necessary to know the properties of the different fertilizing
materials. It is not necessary even to know the meaning of terms or
words ususally found on fertilizer sacks or tags.

Never mind about “potential ammonia,” “citrate soluble,’ and the
other confusing expressions.

The valuable part of any fertilizer consists of three things only:
Available phosphoric acid, nitrogen and potash; K20. is simply a
short way of saying potash, just as Mr. is short for Mister. To the
chemist the letters “K20. convey a little additional information, of no
practical value to you.

The term per cent. is simply short for parts in a hundred. One per
cent. simply means 1 part in 100 parts—1 pound in 100 pounds.

To Make a Given Analysis—The most common query from farmers
wishing to mix fertilizer is: “How can I make this analysis?”

We will show how to proceed by taking an actual case. Suppose
we would mix an 8—3—38 formula. .

This analysis means that 100 pounds of the mixed fertilizer con-
tains 8 pounds of phosphoric acid, 3 pounds of nitrogen, and 3 pounds
of potash.

One ton contains twenty hundred pounds, Therefore one ton con-
tains twenty time sas much of each ingredient as 100 pounds contains.

Multiply the per cent. by 20—This gives the number of pounds of
each ingredient in one ton. This is the first and indespensable step
in calculating a formula. In the above case, 8 multiplied by 20 equals
160; 20 multiplied by 3 equals 60; 20 multiplied by 3 equals 60.
One ton of this fertilizer, therefore, contains 160 pounds of phosphoric
acid, 60 pounds of nitrogen, and 60 pounds of potash.
22 LAND THACHING.

To make a fertilizer analyzing 8—3—3 it is simply necessary to use
enough of each of the raw materals at hand to supply the above
number of pounds.

For phosphoric acid we will use acid phosphate containing 16 per
cent. of available phosphoric acid. We need 160 pounds of this avail-
able acid. To find the quanitty of raw material needed to supply the
per cent of the ingredient desired divide the number of pounds of the
Ingredient in question in one ton of the mixed fertilizer, by the number
of pounds of that ingredient in 100 pounds of the material to be used.
‘sae result will be tae number of hundreds of pounds of the raw ma-
terial used to give the percentage desired in the formula.

In the case in hand 160 pounds divided by 16 equals 10. Therefore,
1,000 pounds of acid phosphate gives 8 per cent of available phos-
phoric acid in one ton of 8—3—3 fertilizer.

For nitrogen we will use cotton-seed meal, This contains 6.18
per cent—pounds per hundred—of nitrogen. We need 60 pounds of
nitrogen to furnish 3 per cent. in the finished fertilizer.

Now follow the rule: 60 pounds divided by 6.18 equals 9.6. There-
fore we must use 960 pounds of cotton seed meal to supply the 3 per
cent. of nitrogen in the proposed mixture.

We now require 60 pounds of potash to complete our formula.
Part of this is supplied by the cotton seed meal which contains 1.8 per
cent of potash. The 960 pounds of meal used, therefore, contains 17
pounds of potash, which leaves 43 pounds to be supplied.

We will use muriate of potash for this purpose. This contains 61
per cent. of potash. Following the rule we find that 43 divided by
51 equals 0.84. To supply the full amount of potash, we therefore,
need 84 pounds of muriate.

Our complete formula would now contain—

Pounds
Acid photphate ..........c cece ccc ce cee ences 1,000
Cotton seed meal ........ aig aot Maeve vacuole eae 960
Muriate of potash .......... ccc cece cece eee ee 84
Total sccsinavecs tedoes ree s essing ceaarews Cane 2,044

It is now seen that we have mixed a little more than 2,000 pounds.
In home practice this is immaterial. The figures given are, however,
rather inconvenient for weighing and figuring. It must be remem-
bered that we have taken the guaranteed composition of the raw
materials used. These are the minimum or lowest content. In order
LAND TEAOHING. 23

to be on the safe side most raw materials, and fertilizer chemicals,
acutally run over the guarantee. It is, therefore, perfectly safe, and
more convenient, to use even quantities in mixing.

Our practical formula would, therefore, best be made up as follows:

 

Pounds
Acid phosphate ........... xara avsvoreieveaoh Sie hadoos 970
Cotton seed meal ..............-.005 iveveusae BOC
Muriate of potash ...........00. eens sisters s. wesdiands 80
One (ON wesc oeweer sciwarcwens Bins s sivletee's o wine 2,000

Analysis: 8—3—3.
HOW TO FIND THE ANALYSIS OF A GIVEN MIXTURE.

It is very common for a farmer to have certain materials on hand
or available, which he thinks of using in certain proportions. He would
however, like to know the composition or analysis of the proposed
mixture.

Let us take a common mixture: Acid phosphate, 16 per cent, 1,000
pounds; cotton seed meal, 800 pounds, and kainit, 200 pounds. One
thousand pounds of acid phosphate, 16 pounds of phosphoric acid per
hundred, contains 160 pounds of available acid. Eight hundred pounds
or meal, 6.18 pounds o1 nitrogen per hundred—contains 50 pounds of
nitrogen. Two hundred pounds of kainit, 12.5 pounds per hundred,
contains 25 pounds of potash. The 800 pounds of meal contains 1.8
pounds per 100, or 14.4 pounds of potash.

We have therefore, in this mixture: phosphoric acid, 160 pounds;
nitrogen, 60 pounds; potash, 39.4 pounds.

To find the per cent. of each of these amounts in one ton we divide
each by 2,000, with the following result: Phosphoric acid, 8 per cent.;
nitrogen, 3 per cent.; potash, 2 per cent—analysis, 8—3—2.

Calculating Value—We mean the commercial or market value, as
crop, season and price of crops must determine the agricultural or
real value to the user.

The average wholesale price of the materials used is the basis for
this calculation. This varies with trade conditions, but the average
vaiue of the three essentials may be accepted as about 4 cents per
pound each for phosphoric acid and potash, and 18 cents per pound
sor nitrogen.
24 LAND THACHING.

The value of the above formula would, therefore, be as follows:

 

160 pounds phosphoric acid, at 4c ............ $ 6.40
56 pounds nitrogen at 18c.................... 10.08
39 pounds potash at 4¢ .......... ce eee eee ee 1.56
Tax, mixing and bagging ...................- 2.60

Value: per’: tOn; » dita deieviecs 2 a6 es oie Smee oe. sec $20.64

The last item is allowed by most States as a fair charge. To it
must be, added the cost of transportation from place of manufacture
to consumer.

Converting Nitrogen and Ammonia—These terms: are used so inter-
changeably that it is necessary to be able to convert each into the
equivalent of the other.

To change per cent. of ammonia into nitrogen, multiply by 0.8235.

To convert per cent. of nitrogen into equivalent in ammonia, mul-
tiply by 1.214.

Here is the way: 3 per cent. of ammonia multiplied by 0.8235 equals
2.47 per cent. nitrogen; 2 per cent. nitrogen multiplied by 1.214 equals
2.44 per cent. ammonia.

To change nitrate of soda into an equivalent amount of ammonia,
divide the per cent. of nitrate of soda by 5.

To change nitrate of soda into an equivalent amount of nitrogen,
divide the per cent. of nitrate of soda by 6.

To change nitrogen into an equivalent amount of nitrate of soda,
multiply the nitrogen by 6.

To change sulphate of ammonia into an equivalent amount of
ammonia, divide the per cent. of pure sulphate of ammonia by 4.

To change ammonia into an equivalent amount of sulphate of
ammonia, multiply the per cent. of ammonia by 3.9.

To change nitrate of potash into an equivalent amount of nitrogen,
divide the per cent. of nitrate of potash by 7.2.

The principles and methods of calculation are the same whatever
the materials to be used or the formula to be made. Careful study
of these examples will adapt them to all conditions.
Part ITI.
SIMPLE BOTANY.

BOTANICAL DIVISIONS: PARTS OF A PLANT.

Botany is the study of all plant life. The field is so large that the
subject must be divided into special branches. No one can hope to
be master of them all. To-day we have men devoting their entire time
to the study of plant physiology; others working on the classification
of plants, the diseases of plants and so on, through the numerous
phases of the subject.

There are four great divisions in the vegetable kingdom. The name
of each division is a Greek word of which the ending, phytes, signifies
“plant;” and the beginning, the kind of plant. The first division con-
sists of vegetation of the simplest structure and the last takes in the
most complete plants,

(a) Thallophites—This group takes in the one-celled plants, as
algae and also the fungi. Among the latter we find many of the
causes of plant disease.

(b) Byrophites—Moss plants. The group consists of mosses, liver-
worts and allied forms.

(c) Pteridophites—Fern plants. The horsetails and other forms
are also within this group.

(d) Spermatophites—Seed plants. This is the highest and most
complex group, consisting of all the forms that produce seed, as apples,
peaches, berries, etc. This group may be divided as follows

(1) Anglospermes— Seed borne in closed ovary.

(x) Dicotyledons or Exogens—Plants having hard woody stems as
most trees, leaves netted, veined and the seed always has two cotyle-
dons (halves).

(y) Monocotyledons or Endogens—Plants with soft stems and par-
allel veined leaves as corn; the seed has only one cotyledon.

(2) Gymnosperms—Seed borne naked on an aborted leaf or scale,
as in the pine family.

sec. 2
 

 

1,

PARTS OF

Root ;

Stem ;

A PLANT.

3,

Leaf ;

 

4,

Flower.

|

 
LAND THACHING. a7

The dicotyledenous group is the most important one in the study
of fruits. In floriculture, however, the monocotyledons assume great
importance,

The Parts of a Plant—A single plant may be divided into the follow-
ing parts Root, stem, bud, leaf, flower, fruit and seed. Each of the
these parts furnishes the subject for separate consideration. We will
then take up reproduction, horticultural methods of propagation and
special fruits,

THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM.

The world about us is commonly divided into three kingdoms—(a)
the animal, (b) vegetable, and (c) mineral. The component parts
of the animal kinguom have ilfe, and all at some time the power of
free movement. Among the vegetable we have the power of growth
and life, but not free movement. The minerals are inanimate, being
placed in position by Nature, and forced to remain there until dis-
integrated or otherwise changed by some higher power. It would
have been better, no doubt, to have named the mineral kingdom
the inanimate kingdom, as there are many inanimate substances that
are not mineral, among which may be mentioned gases and water.
Growth in animals and vegetables is entirely different as the
ends to be attained differ so widely; so also do the food substances
and likewise the resulting products of growth. Many of the same
chemical elements found in animals exist also in plants, but in a dif-
ferent form. A good example of this is the element carbon, chemical
symbol being C. Animals get their C. mostly from vegetable substan-
ces, as sugar and starches. They give off from the lungs, as a product
of the life process a gas composed of two parts oxygen and one part C,
called carbon dioxide, chemical symbol CO-2. This gas is taken up
by all green-producing plants and the C of it used, being made again
into sugars and starches for the animals.

The above paragraph serves to show, in a general way, the close re:
lation existing between the animal, vegetable and inanimate kingdoms.
The bodies of animals and plants are in the main made up of the third
class of material; while the products of life processes of animals
furnish food for plants, and vice-versa. We will now leave the first
and third divisions taking up for special consideration the second.

Il. THE ROOT.

Function—The root functions are to hold the plant in place and to
28 LAND TEACHING.

gather food. Not all roots, however, serve to hold plants firm for some
have aerial roots that dangle about in the air and are attached to
nothing; neither is all of the food of a plant obtained through the roots
for some of it is taken in by the leaves. The root system—that is,
the entire mass of roots—is generally supposed to take up as much
space under the ground and to extend as far as the tree does above.
This is not always the case though, for the roots of some trees ex-
tend a great deal farther on one side than on the other, for they travel
the path of least resistance and often go around under and over rocks
to continue their growth. The roots come into close contact with the
soil and in that way anchor the plant. Every one knows that it is next
to impossible to pul! a plant from the ground and not break some of
its roots.

Kindz of Roots—There are numerous kinds of roots, among which
may be menioned underground roots, water roots, air roots, clinging
roots and prop roots. Underground roots may be divided in two main
classes:

(a) Tap-rooted Systems. These have a main, leading root that
goes straight down into the ground; cotton is an example.

(b) Fibrous-rooted Systems. These have the tip, while the stem
grows in length for some distance behind the terminal portion.

Root Hairs—Just back of the tip of a growing root are numerous
little hairs. They are very small and often cannot be seen without a
magnifying glass. It is tarough these that the major part of the
plant food is taken in. They are very delicate and do not live long.
As the root increases in length the old hairs die and new ones are
formed nearer the tip. The old roots do not absorb but simply carry
material. The small hairs near the growing tip do most to maintain
the life of the plant. These little tube-like sructures weave them-
selves around the grains of soil and cling tenaciously to them; in
this way they get in closer contact with a greater soil area and obtain
more food and moisture. A seedling grown in sand when pulled out
will bring a number of grains tightly held by the tender roots, show-
ing how close the contact is with the soil.

How Roots Feed—Al] the water and most of the food elements are
taken in by the roots. The food materials must be in solution as the
Toots cannot take them up in a pure form. Carbon and oxygen are
obtained mainly through the leaves; the other elements, as potassium,
phosphorus, nitrogen, calcium, magnesium, sulphur, iron, chlorine and
hydrogen, are taken through the roots.
LAND TEACHING. 29

The process by which the food solution is taken into the plant is
called Osmosis. To understand osmosis we must first know that two
salt solutions when mixed together diffuse one into the other until
both are of the same specific gravity; that is, the whole mass event-
ually becomes of the same weight throughout. Now, the separating
of the original solutions by a permeable membrane does not prevent
the diffusion; and the weaker liquid always passes into the stronger
at a more rapid rate than the stronger does into the weaker.
Take a sugar solution and separate it by a hog bladder from pure
water, The water will pass through the bladder into the sugar faster
than the solution will pass into the water. That is the sugar solution
will be increased in volume while the water decreases; therefore,
the space originally occupied by the sugar solution will become too
small and pressure will result; this pressure if a tube is attached to
the sugar in such a way as to show it, will cause a rise of liquid in
the tube. Osmosis is therefore the diffusion of liquids through a per-
meable membrance.

The roots and root-hairs are filled with cell-sap which is generally a
stronger solution than the surrounding soil solution, therefore, the soil
solution, which contains the food elements, diffuses through the outer
‘cells into the root; gets into the vascular axis and is then conducted
to the stem. If the soil solution is stronger than the cell-sap the
greater diffusion is from the plant instead of into it, and it loses its
sap, thereby dying. This can be easily shown by putting a plant into
a solution of nitrate of soda that is too strong, and the stronger the
solution the quicker the death. It is evident, then, that the soil solu-
tion must be extremely dilute in order not to overpower the cell-sap
and extract it from the roots,

After the food is in tne plant it is then conveyed, by root pressure,
osmotic pressure and other methods that are not well understood,
into the stem or trunk.

lil. THE STEM.

The Stem or Trunk is that part of a plant that bears the leaves
branches and flowers. It is the stem that generally gives character
to a plant: we can recognize a pine at a distance by the looks of its
trunk and general shape; a Lombardy poplar is easily told by its
peculiar habit of growth, and so on through numberless varieties of
p'ants

Kinds of Stems—We have numerous kinds of stems. There are
rigid aerial stems that stand erect and bear great weight of branches
 

 

 

 

KINDS OF STEMS.

i, Twining; 2, Upright; 3, Creeping) 4, Underground.
LAND TEACHING. 31

and leaves, as in trees; then we have the twining type as in many of
the vines such as the morning-glory, these stems are not able to sup-
port themselves but must twist about some object in order to get their
leaves to the light. There is also a recumbent type that grows up
and then bends over, and the creeping stem as in the strawberry, its
Tunners being stems. And as we have roots that live in the air,
so also do we have stems that live underground and send up shoots
into the air; these root-stocks or underground stems are found quite
often among the grasses, our common Bermuda having that. Some
underground stems are used as food store-houses; such an one is the
Irish potato.

Stems always bear leaves or some modification of them; the un-
derground stocks have little scales that are true leaves though not
green. Buds are also borne on the stem; by these characters stems
are easily distinguished from roots, Sometimes stems are so short
and abortive that it is dificult to make a strict separation; but usually
the region where the root stops and the stem begins is quite plainly
marked and is called the crown of the plant.

Office of Stem—We might say that the main office of the stem is
to bear leaves and hold them to the sunlight, Everyone has seen
plants in a window and noticed how the stems were often bent towards
the light. ‘This is caused by an effort to obtain as much sunshine
as possible. Underground stems are of course, controlled by gravity,
they, however, often send up leaves into the air and light. Another
function of the stem is to conduct unelaborated, or simple food, from
the roots to the leaves and then to distribute the complex, or elaborated
food materials from the leaves to other parts of the plant.

Structure of Stems—We will confine ourselvse to the endogens and
exogens with just a word about the gymnosperms.

Endogens—Monocotyledons, as corn and palms. In this class the
vascular bundles (these are the bundles of tissue through which
food is conducted) are scattered irregularly throughout the fundamen-
tal tissue of the stem. They are not parrallel or arranged in circles
about a common center and are c:osed. On the outside of these stems
there is a hard rind or epidermis; they do not have the corky bark as
in the exogens, The trees belonging to this class are found only in
the tropics, with us there are examples in the Indian corn grasses
and other small plants. Endogenous stems do not increase in diam-
eter from year to year and are usually a straight shaft.

Exogens—Dicotyledons, as maples, oaks and numerous other plants.
32 LAND TEAOHING.

In these the vascular bundles are about a commo ncenter which is
generally filled with pith. On the outside of the bundle is found the
cortex of fundamental tissue and then on the outside of the cortex
comes the epidermis; this latter disappears as the tree grows and the
cortex becomes a corky layer which is principally part of a bark,
being very thick in some trees as in the cork oak. Just under the
bark is found the camblum or growing layer of the stem; and it is here
that new growth is put on from year to year . The gymnosperms, trees
like the pine, are much the same as the exogens except that they have
numerous resin ducts which are not found in the latter; the method
of growth, arrangement of bundles etc. is practically the same.

Other Stems—It must not be thought that the above mentioned
stems are the only kinds, as we have the fern type and numerous
others, which, however, we lack space to describe.

Action and Method of Growth of Stem—The following refers to the
exogens and gymnosperms. The crude food material, or sap comes
from the roots and upon entering the vascular system of the stem
is carried up to the leaves. It makes its ascent in the sapwood that
is the growth of the last few years; as the tree grows older the heart-
wood conducts less and less material until finally there is no food
carried through that part of the tree at all. After the leaves have
elaborated the sap into food available for use it is then distributed by
the layer of the stem under the bark. This is the growing layer, the
cambium: it is the increasing in thickness of this layer, stopped by
some climatic condition that causes the rings in the trunk of a tree,
commonly called the annual rings. The age of a tree may be estimated
by these, though sometimes there is more than one formed in one year.

The cambium makes two kinds of growth. It forms the bark on the
outside and another on the inside. The inner part made this year
becomes sap-wood next; the bark formed this year is pushed out by
that formed following and must crack and split, being made into corky
‘patches by the pushing out of the new bark thus allowing the tree to
increase in diameter. As the cork becomes old it falls away leaving
new bark to protect the cambium. This cambium is very important
in grafting, as will be shown later; it is the cutting of this
layer in ringing or girdling that causes death, for though in a
girdled tree the sap can go from the roots to the leaves the elaborated
food cannot get back to the roots, and therefore they starve to death
and the tree dies the year after is has been girdled. In the cells of
this layer may be found chlorophyll which gives the greenish color
LAND TEACHING. 33

to the new bark. This substance will be treated more fully under the
subject of leaves; the cambium will be referred to again in Horticul-
tural Methods of propagation.

Stems grow in length for some distance behind the tip. In this they
differ from roots, which elongate only at the tip.

IV. THE BUD.

A bud is a covered resting, growing point; that is, a winter bud in
climates where the seasons are well marked is always covered; how-
ever, in tropical countries, where there is no fear of cold or drought,
the buds may be naked. Through unfavorable climatic conditions,
plants ,especially trees, are often forced into a period of inactivity, and
for the same reason that food is stored in tubers and other plant
parts; so also are embryo branches and flowers formed by the plant.

A Winter Bud is a shortened branch surrounded by leaves or flow-
ers, sometimes both ,and the whole protected by a covering. This cov-
ering is formed of leaf scales closely wrapped about one another.
The outer scales are really leaves, comparable to the leaves of the
underground root-stocks mentioned in Chapter III. Sometimes under
the leaf scales are found rudiments of true leaves and in fruit buds
may be found the embryo flower.

When spring comes the shortened branches begin to elongate, the
outer scales fall away and if embryo true leaves are in the bud they
expand. If a fruit bud the flower comes out and opens up ready for
fertilization and the setting of fruit.

Buds are always found in the axils of leaves; that is, in the ang’e
made by a leaf stem with the branch of a tree. When frost comes
the leaves fall away leaving a scar which can be easily seen, while the
bud remains. Sometimes there is more than one bud above the leaf,
as many as three are quite common. Buds are found on the sides of
branches and in many plants at the end of the twig. A bud on the
end of a branch is called a terminal bud, and its purpose is to continue
the growth of the stem in a straight line the next season. The side
buds are known as lateral buds,

There is a struggle for existence between the buds on the limbs
just the same as there is a struggle for existence in every kind of
life. Some buds are weak or not in a good position to obtain heat and
light and therefore do not grow. They may live for several years,
however, producing no growth. These are known as dormant buds,
and if at any time during their existence it becomes necessary for the
 

 

 

 

 

1. TERMINAL BUD. 2. LATERAL BUD,
LAND THACHING. 35

welfare of the tree they spring into perceptible life. This type of bud
is usually found near the base of the limb.

Sometimes buds appear on unusual parts of the plant as along the
branches not above a leaf or on the roots. These buds are never in
any definite order and are known as adventitious buds. They are
formed at unusual times as when a limb is cut or injured or even when
the whole top of a tree is killed. Then sprouts are put forth, known
as water sprouts. This growth comes from buds made for the occas-
ion; they did not already exist.

As mentioned above, buds may produce only branches and leaves
or simply flowers; still, on the other hand, they may produce all three
—leaves, branches and flowers: then they are called mixed buds. Ex-
amples of the latter kind may be found upon the pear and apple. These
two plants bear their fruit on much sortened branches known as fruit
spurs; the peach, on the other hand, bears its fruit laterally on the
wood of last season's growth. The knowledge of these facts helps
greatly in pruning. Examples of separate fruit and leaf buds occur
on the apricot, almond, peach and many other early flowering fruits.

Within the fruit buds of a plant, we might say, is contained the crop
of the coming season. The scales act as a protection from the cold of
winter; they are assisted in this by a mucilaginous substance given
off by the plant. This helps to hold the scales close together and
keep down the loss of moisture. The protoplasm or living substance
of the tree being dormant can withstand quite a bit of cold. Some-
times, however, the temperature goes too low for even the dormant
protoplasm and the buds are injured, oftentimes being killed. If this
happens the crop for the coming year is blasted. Possibly the whole
tree is not killed; if so, then adventitious and dormant buds come
into play and through their growth sustain the roots.

The buds that put out in the spring are formed the previous grow-
ing season by the tree. This is why oftentimes trees skip a year in
bearing a crop. Heavy fruiting trees take so much of the plant’s
vitality that it cannot form suffiicient fruit buds for the coming year;
therefore puts its energy into the forming of leaf buds to sustain its
life. On the off year the food that would have gone to fruit is used in
the making of flower buds.

V. LEAVES.

A leaf is that part of a plant that is borne just below a bud. In the
angle made by a leaf stem with the limb or twig a bud is always found;
take, for example, the leaf of a honey locust, the small little green
 

 

 

 

 

KIND OF LEAVES.
Compound leaf of clover. 4. Compound leaf of hickory.
Palmately compound leaf of a bram- 6. Primately compound leaf of
Japanese wainut.
3. Simple, primately, netted veined 5. Palmately veined leaf of cotton.
leaf of Elm.

 
LAND THACHING. 37

blade commonly called a leaf is not one, for where its stem joins the
stalk there is no bud; now follow that stalk till it joins the next, you
do not find a bud, therefore that is not a leaf; follow the next stem and
where it joins the limb there is a bud, so all above that point is the
leaf, a compound one, to be sure, and the little green blades are leaf-
lets, A leaf is composed of three parts, stipules, petiole or stem, and
blade. The stipules are at the base of the petiole where it joins the
branch, sometimes they are large and easily seen, at others they are
small and fall away early, leaving a scar that is so small that it can
hardly be seen, The petiole is the leaf stem, the part that holds the
blade. The blade is that portion above the petiole, usually flattened
and the most showy part of the leaf.

Leaves have various shapes; some are cordate or heart shaped, oth-
ers oval, round, lancelate or long and narrow like a lance, etc. The
blades may have their margins, or outer edges entire, that is even, or
toothed and lobed in many ways. Sometimes the lobes are so deep
that the blade is broken up into numerous little bladelets known as
leaflets. All degrees from entire margins to separate leaflets can be
easily seen in the woods. When the lobing is so great that separate
leaflets are formed we have a compound leaf. This leaf may be com-
posed of some two or three leaflets, as in the clover, or it may be twice
compound; that is, the leaflets may again break up into more and
smaller ones, as in the honey locust which has a twice pinnately com-
pound leaf.

On all leaves one easily sees the little veins or ridges running
through the blade. Sometimes the veins are parallel and have no small
cross-veins connecting them; these leaves usually have entire margins
and are common to endogenous plants like corn. At other times there
is one main vein that sends off branches on the sides, and these
branches run out to the margins, making the latter irregular: between
these lateral branches are numerous little connecting veins, giving the
leaf the appearance of a piece of net-work; leaves of this type are
known as netted pinnately veined, an example is the Elm. Then again,
instead of one main nerve, there may be several starting at the point
where the petiole joins the blade and running to different lobes, these
veins also give off laterals which are connected by cross-veins. A
leaf of this type is palmately netted veined. Palmate means hand-
like; a maple leaf is a good example of this type. Netted veined leaves
are common to exogenous plants in the same way that parallel veined
ones are to endogens. The veining of the leaves often helps to distin-
38 LAND TEACHING.

gv. tween the two kinds of plants, though occasionally it does not
hold true. :

Leaves are influenced by light, more than any other part of the
plant, and it is necessary for the life of the plant that the leaves re-
ceive plenty of sunshine. Whenever it is impossible for a leaf to get
the light it dies and falls off; for instance, looking up into a tree from
directly underneath one sees naked limbs with a canopy of waving
leaves; on the other hand, if one looks down a tree from
above he sees nothing but leaves. Plants have many methods of keep-
ing their leaves from being shaded. The largest laves are
near the bottom and the higher up one goes, as a_ general
rule, the smaller the leaf. Especially is this true with herbaceous
plants and shrubs. Another way of obtaining light is for the plant
to form a rosette, having the petioles shorter on the top leaves and
the whole bunch close to the ground. The lengthening of the petiole
on the lower leaves is quite a common method of preventing shading.
All shading cannot be prevented and sometimes the light is too strong
so some plants have means of regulating the surface exposed; a com-
mon one is the prickly lettuce, which has its leaves on edge so that
in the middle of the day the sun will not strike them directly. Other
plants have the power of folding their leaves to protect them from
light and transpiration; this latter subject will be spoken of later.

Functions of Leaves.—These are numerous; we, however, will con-
sider only three. One of the principal actions of the leaf is photosyn-
thesis, meaning literally, putting together by light. This function may
in part be described as the taking in of carbon dioxide, CO2, retaining
the carbon and giving off the oxygen in the presence of sunlight.
Photosynthesis does not go on in the dark, though it has been noticed
to take place under an electric arc light. Leaves tak ein the CO2
given off by animals and by the energy of the sunlight break it up,
using the C in building up food and returning the O free to the air.
The energy necessary for this work is obtained from the sun. The
green color of the leaves is caused by chlorophyll; this substance ab-
sorbs the sunlight and turns the energy thus obtained to use for the
life processes of the plant. Plants that have no green color and parts
of plants that lack chlorophyll do not perform photosynthesis. Sub-
stances from the roots and the carbon from leaves are made into
starches, sugars, etc.; these are the elaborated food that are distri-
buted throughout the plant and stored in tubers, etc.

A second leaf function is transpiration. This is the giving off of

vater into the air. The roots take food in solution and therefore ab-
LAND TEACHING. 39

sorb more water than is absolutely necessary for the plant; a great
part of this water is given back to the air by the leaves. Transpira-
tion increases in wind and hot weather. There is always a certain
amount of water being given off through the stomata, openings in the
leaves, to see which a compound microscope is necessary; and some:
times, as during a drought, the roots cannot take in enough water to
keep life in the plant and supply transpiration, so the leaves wilt.
If this condition continues for too long and becomes worse and worse
the tree finally dies. Transpiration goes on at night as in the day, so
some plants have the power of folding or drooping their leaves, de-
creasing the surface exposed to the action of the air, and in that way
lessening the loss of water: this position is often called the sleeping
position of plants.

The last function of leaves that we will take up is respiration. This
is the reverse of photosynthesis, that is, the taking in of oxygen and
the giving off of carbon dioxide, CO2. For a long time it was not
known that plants carried on respiration as animals do, yet they do,
though not to as great an extent. The leaves are not the especial or-
gans of respiration as the lungs of man; other parts of the plant, not
always green, also have respiration. Though this is one of the leaf
functions, photosynthesis and transpiration are looked upon as the
main ones.

Vi. THE FLOWER.

Every one is more or less familiar with flowers; their beauty attracts
the eye, and in many cases their odor pleases the sense of smell. Yet
most of us have a very indefinite idea of how they are formed, and why
the plant produces them. They are one of the most important subjects
in botany, as a great deal of classification is based upon the make-up of
the flower. Plants producing the same kind of flowers are placed in the
same family, though one may be a tree and the other a shrub not over
two feet high. It will be out of the question for us to take up or even
mention all the different kinds of flowers in this small space. If any
are sufficiently interested to wish to study further a couple of good
books to get would be L. H. Bailey’s Botany and Plant Relations, by
Coulter.

Parts of the Flower—A stem bearing a single flower at the top is
called a peduncle; also the main stem of a cluster of flowers has the
same name; the stem of each separate flower in a cluster is known as
a pedicle. Sometimes plants, such as the dandelion, send up 2 straight
   
    
  
 
 
 
 
  
   
  
 

- — ~— Petals
3 x Corolla

   
  

-— Pistil /
alice — Stamen a ZA
P< _ _ ~ sepal Leder, Lip
, Torus Zp
~ = wnvolucre 2
~ peduncle

Q Flower.

- — — Sepal
mon
(ae *- - - Petal

&

t+ > STamen
im ~ Pisti\
Plan of Flower

Showing how pars

AYevn ate
a A
Compound J
An Umbel = =

KINDS OF FLOWERS,
LAND TEAOHING. 41

stem from the crown and on top of this is found one or more flowers;
such a stem never has any leaves though it may have bracts, and is
called a scape.

All parts of a flower, except the enlarged head of the stem, are really
modified leaves. Just before reaching the real flower there is some-
times a whorl of little green leaves. This is known as the involucre
and is more often absent than present. The next part seen is the

calyx. It may be a green cup, variously toothed and lobed, or com-
posed of numerous separate parts known as sepals. Inside of the

calyx the corolla is found; this is usually the showy part of the flower.
It may be of one piece and variously lobed or made up of distinct
parts; when separate the parts are known as petals. Within the co-
rolla are the stamens. They are little organs composed usually of two
parts, the filaments, or the part which supports the head, the latter
being known as the anther. This last is often seen covered with a yel-
low powder called pollen. Wiathin the whorl is found the pistil; this
may be simple or compound, and is usually composed of three parts.
The bottom is the ovary. It is here that the seed is produced. Com-
ing from the ovary is a protuberance, sometimes short, at others long,
known as the style, and on the end of this is generally a little enlarge-
ment called the stigma.

Stamens and pistils are the reproductive organs of flowers. A flower
to be perfect must have both; if it has only the pistils it is a female,
or pistilate flower; on the other hand, if it has only the stamens it is

a male or staminate. Some plants bear perfect flowers; others bear
male and female flowers on the same plant, and in some species the

male flower is borne on one plant and the female on another; therefore,
it is seen that there is sex in plants the same as there is in animals.

Any part of a flower may be lacking. Usually when either the calyx
or corolla is gone we say that the corolla is missing and call the flower
apetalous (without petals). A part still unmentioned is the torus.
This is the enlarged head of the peduncle upon which the floral parts
are borne. Sometimes, however, parts are attached to one another.
We often find the corolla or stamens born on the calyx tube. The
torus is sometimes called the receptacle, but the former name is the
more proper of the two and should be used.

The parts of flowers usually alternate with one another; that is,
the calyx is placed in a certain way upon the torus and instead of the
petals being opposite the sepals they are placed between them. When
the sepals or petals exceed three or five in number they are usually in
two whorls, and then they alternate with one another; that is, sepals
42 LAND TEACHING.

alternate with sepals and petals with petals. It is hard, sometimes, to
distinguish the different parts of a flower as they grade into one an-
other to such an extent. Flowers double by having their stamens
change into petals. In some all stages of this evolution can be seen
from true stamens to true petals. Flowers that have their calyx and
corolla just alike are said to have a perianth. Lilies are a good exam-
ple of this.

Inflorescence—In botany inflorescence does not mean the kind of
flower but the manner in which the flowers are borne. When there is
a single flower on the peduncle the inflorescence is said to be solitary.
Besides the above mentioned form there are two general methods of
flower arrangement. The first, cormybose clusters, and second, cymose
clusters. In a cormybose cluster the lower flowers open first and the
inflorescence is said to be indeterminate. In the cymose clusters it is
just the opposite, the older flowers are at the top of the cluster and the
inflorescence is said to be determinate.

In the corymbose form we find the following types: 1st racemes,
an unbranched open cluster in which the flowers are born on short
stems and open from below up. Wistaria is a good example. 2nd, the
spike, in which the flowers are sessile on the elongated peduncle and
close together. Example Timothy. 8rd. Head, being a very short and
dense spike, This type of inflorescence is found in the sunflowers.
4th, panicle, a compound raceme. Because of the lower branches be-
ing older and longer the panicle is usually conical. Example, orchard
grass. 5th, Umbel, formed when branches of the flower cluster arise
from a common point like the frame of an umbrella. A good example
is the parsley. Sometimes umbels are compound and the little umbels
are called umbellets.

Amongst the cymose cluster there are not as many types. A dense
cymose cluster like that found in the apple, pear and cherry is known
as acyme. A head -like cymose cluster is called a glomerule. Some-
times a flower cluster may follow in part the cymose type and in part
the corymbose cluster; such an inflorescence is said to be mixed.

This series of articles was not intended to go fully into all details of
botany, so none must fee] that we understand all about flowers and in-
florescence, but must content ourselves with what little we have
learned and pass on to the next subject.

Vil. REPRODUCTION.

We have now come to the study of a most important and interesting
LAND TEACHING. 43

period in the life of plants, reproduction; it is for this that the plant
lives and grows; after it has made provision for the propagation of the
species the main work of the season is over. Annuals, plants living
one year ,after producing their seed die, they cease to exist, having pro-
duced in embryo numerous children. Perennials, plants that live
for many years, as soon as their seeds are produced, give their energy
to prepare for next season. Plants have but one object in living and
that is propagation; all of their time and all of their energies
are spent to obtain but that one thing; they have no other object
in life, Reproduction is carried on in the main by two methods: (a)
sexually or by seed, and (b) vegetavely, or by the use of parts of the
parent plant.

Sexual Reproduction—Many people do not know plants like animals
have sex; that whenever a seed is formed it is done through the
fusion of a male and female element. Let us see how this fusion is
brought about and by what agencies. When looking at a flower a yel-
low powder is often seen on the anthers, the head of the stamens
mentioned already. This powder is composed of myriads of little
yellowish, usually roundish bodies, which are known as pollen
grains. These are the male elements.

Now call to mind the pistil; remember it is composed of three parts,
the stigma, the style and the ovary. The stigma is the receptive sur-
face upon which the pollen grain must find its way; this organ ,when
ready for the pollen is covered with a sort of sticky substance. The
grain of pollen gets upon it and in a short time germinates; that is,
sends out a tube which grows down through the style to the ovary.
within the ovary are found ovules, or female elements; with these
the tube from the pollen comes in contact and a fusion of the two takes
Place; only one pollen grain acts on each ovule. This is the beginning
of the seed; it now grows and matures until it is so well formed that
in the future it will be able to reproduce the arent plant,

This fusion of the pollen and ovule is called fertilization, and with-
out this process a species that produces sexually would cease to
exist unless it also had vegetative methods of propagation; therefore,
plants have many methods to facilitate and make fertilization easy.
Large numbers of pollen grains are produced and plants that depend
upon the wind to distribute their pollen produce much more than other
species. Sometimes ons hears that a given place has had a rain of
sulphur or a yellow snow; this is nothing more than pollen produced
by some pine forest and blown many miles by the wind before it is
allowed to settle and cover the whole landscape with golden yellow dust.
   

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f me 1h soe how Aes tissue ¥ structures chan é
LAND TEAOHING. 45

Grasses also depend largely upon the wind for carrying their pollen; the
greater number of plants, however, have other means of obtaining fer-
tilization, about the most prominent being insects. Flowers are often
showy, filled with honey and have sweet odors; these things
attract insects and they come to sip the nectar and in so doing brush
the pollen off of the anthers and get it scattered over their bodies
and in moving around are pretty sure to get some of it on the stigma,
if not in the flower from which they got the pollen, at least in some
otoer that they visit.

When the pollen of one flower gets on the stigma of another
we have what is known as cross fertilization; if the pollen gets on
the stigma of the same flower it is said to be self- or close-fertilized.
Some plants are normally cross fertilized, others self-fertilized. Some
species to prevent close fertilization have their anthers and stigmas
ripen at different times ,so there is no chance of ‘pollen getting on the
stigma of the same flower. It is impossible to tell of all the different
methods used by plants to obtain the kind of fertilization desired.
Such a discussion would fill a book of itself. Suffice it to say that
cross-fertilized seed are considered more vigorous and healthy than
self-fertilized ones; and also that the probability of pollen from one
tree finding its way onto the pistil of another is one of the reasons why
seed do not often come true. That is the pollen from a tree producing
little yellow peaches may fertilize the stigma of a flower on a tree
which bears large red fruit; the seed is a cross between a little yellow
and a large red peacu, the resulting seedling takes after both varieties
and so there is no telling what it will produce.

Vegetative Reproduction—This is simply the use of some part of
the plant to reproduce itself. Sprouts directly from the roots or under-
ground stems are methods, The strawberry produces by its runners
as well as from seed. Cuttings are another way. Willows growing
along the banks of a stream drop their young branches; these are car-
ried along by the water and getting lodged somewhere on the bank
take root and produce a tree; there are many vegetative methods of
reproduction in use among plants. They will however, be treated
more fully under Horticultural Methods of Propagation,

Other Methods—Among the fungi and lower plants we have repro-
duction by spores, single cells which germinate and reproduce the
plant; another method is budding and still another fission. Budding
is where the parent cell sends out little buds which themselves become
plants; yeast cells reproduce this way. Many bacteria, micro-organisms
of an odd shape, so small that they cannot be seen without the use of a
powerful microscope, reproduce by fission; that is the cutting in two
46 LAND TEACHING.

of the parent cell, forming two indivduals. Many of these bacteria also
produce a spore form. The reproduction of the lower forms, though
simple in some respects, is even more varied than among the higher
plants.

We will next take up a study of the fruit and seed, the two periods
of a plant’s life which are of especial importance and interest to the
horticulturist and farmer.

Vil. FRUITS IN GENERAL.

Definitions—A ripened ovary with its various attachments is a fruit.
A one-celled ovary containing seed is the simplest kind of a fruit;
and from this type we have all gradations up to the very complex
structures. The cells or compartments in the ovary are known as
Jocules, and as stated above, the least complex kind of a fruit is a one-
loculed ovary containing one seed; the next in complexity is a two or
many-celled ovary ripened up. Other parts of the flower often adhere
to the ovary or change in some way as the fruit matures thus, increas-
ing the complexity of the structures. The style of the pisti] may re-
main, forming a barb or beak; the calyx often persists or the whole
fruit may be imbedded in the recepticle or torus, or again the torus
may be fleshy and have little separate and distinct fruits on its surface;
the involucre may also become a part of the fruit as the husk of the
hickory nut or the cup of the acorn,

A ripened ovary is known technically as a pericarp, and when other
parts adhere to the pericarp it is known as an accessory or reinforced
fruit. Some fruits at maturity split open, liberating the seed. This type
is known as a dehiscent fruit. Those that do not split or crack open
are called indehiscent. In the latter type the seed are liberated by
the decay of the enveloping structure.

Kinds of Dehiscent Fruits—A dehiscent pericarp is called a pod,
and the parts into which a pod breaks are valves. The simplest form of
a dehiscent fruit is a follicle; that is a one-loculed pericarp, which de-
hisces along the front edge, the edge toward the center of the flower.
The next form of dehiscence is the legume. This type opens along both
sutures into two distinct valves; legumes are found in peas, beans
and clovers, in fact, the name of our great nitrogen-gathering family of
plants is leguminosae, A compound fruit consisting of several dehisc-
ing pods bound together is called a capsule. There are several methods

‘by which capsules open to let out the seed; when they split along
the cepta between the pores it is known as septicidal dehiscence, when
opening in this manner the locules composing the fruit remain entire
and then themselves dehisce as if they were follicles. If the compart-
 

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KINDS OF FRUITS.
48 LAND TEACHING.

ments forming the capsule split in the middle and not along the septa it
is known as locilidical dehiscence. The opening may take place at
different parts of the capsule, that is near the top, when it is known
as apical dehiscence, or near the bottom when it is called basal.

Indeshiscent Fruits—A dry, one-seeded, indehiscent pericarp is the
simplest form of this type and is called an akene, example, the dande-
lion. Winged indehiscent fruits as in the maples and ash are known
ag samarus, or key-fruits.

We next come to the fleshy fruits in which the seed is liberated by the
decay of the envelops. Botanically a berry is a fleshy pericarp with
seeds imbedded in it: the horticulturist, however, calls any small edi-
ble fruit a berry: the tomato is an example of a true berry. A fleshy
fruit containing one rather large hard stone or pit is a drupe or stone
fruit. Examples are the peach, plum, etc. <A blackberry is a collection
of small drupelets. Aggregate fruits are formed by the union of several
pistils, the carpels being more or less fleshy; raspberries and black-
berries are examples of this class of fruits. The pomes, drupes, ber-

ries, etc., will be taken up more in detail later.
Usés of fruits—The main end to be attained by a fruit is to assist

in disseminating seed. The dehiscent ones often open with such force
that the seed are shot to considerable distance; the fruit of the violet
and witch hazel are good examples of this. Some fruits are barbed
or covered with hairs which make them adhere to passing objects such
as men and animals, thus they are spread. The winged fruits are blown
about by the wind; and still others are made in such a way tnat they
are capable of withstanding moisture for a considerable length of time
without the seed germinating, thus they can be floated long distances
by water. The small fleshy berries and drupes are eaten by birds
and the seeds being hard, are not injured by the digestive juices and
are voided, drop to the ground and sprout, The pomesand large drupes
are juicy and pleasant to eat, being quite liable to be plucked from the
tree by any animal that can get them. Though we like to think that
fruits are especially for man, yet after all they serve a purpose to the
tree, otherwise they would not be borne. They are intended to be
eaten; they grow to be plucked, they attract attention by their color,
and are usually easily seen as they occupy a prominent position on the
tree simply because they contain the seed and upon the scattering
of this seed depends the welfare of the species.
VII. REPRODUCTION BY SEED.

The production of seed for the propagation of species is the ultimate

aim of every plant; some grow for years, flower, produce their seed
LAND TEACHING. 49

the succeeding summer. In the fall of the year after the rush of'
spring and the work of summer the plants are content to rest from
their labors, having accomplished the task of starting thousands of a
like Kind on their way.

The Seed.—BHach seed is a miniature plant. Locked up within it
is laid the foundation of a plant. The outer coverings of the ovule
harden and form what is known as the seed-coats; within this and
often surrounding the embryo, is a food substance, composed
mostly of starch, which when it surrounds the embryo is called endo-
sperm; sometimes, however, the food may be stored in parts of the
embryo as in the cotyledons of the bean and peas. The embryo is the
miniature plant and several of its parts have received names; the
little stem is called the caulicle, the seed-leaves the cotyledons, and
the bud the plumule.

In a former chapter it was stated that the number of cotyledons
in the seed was one of the difference between exogens and endogens;

the exogenous plants being spoken of as dicotyledonous plants and the
endogens called monocotyledonous; it is seen now that one of the first
differences between these two great groups of plants lies within the
seed; one having two seed-leaves and the other only one. Some plants,
as the pines, have many cotyledons in the seed.

Just over the point o1 the caulicle there is a minute little hole going
through the endosperm and seed-coats, this is called the micropyle,
it is through this that the caulicle breaks at germination, also through
here that water is absorbed in the beginning of germination, the pol-
len tube likewise entered the forming ovule through this opening. The
scar left on the seed when it broke from its attachment to the plant is
known as the hilum; sometimes the hilum and micropyle are close to-
gether at others they are at opposite ends of the seed. On some
seeds as in the bean there is an elevation along the edge known as
raphe, through this food passes into the developing embryo but when
the seed ripens and is detached from the parent plant the raphe
becomes functionless.

Germination—Some seeds need a rest of considerable time before
they germinate, others will spring to life in a few days. Some species
will grow after twenty years or so while others will die in a week or
two.

Heat, air (oxygen) and moisture are necessary to make a seed be
come active. Moisture is ‘first absorbed then oxygen enters and the
two make the food substances of the seed soluble so that they can
be used by the little plant; warmth hastens activity and gives a
50 LAND TEACHING.

stimulus to growth. During the process of awakening the seed gives
off carbon dioxide and uses oxygen; germinating seed also give off heat,
showing that there is some chemical process taking ‘place. The caulicle
bursts out of the covering and from it comes the first roots; in some
plants it then becomes fixed and its further growth forces the cotyle-
dons out of the ground as in the bean; in other species the seed leaves
remain underground; from the plumule or bud come the first true
leaves, As soon as the plant is established and no longer depends upon
the food stored in the seed by the parent plant, but is able to take
care of itself, germination is considered over.

Distribution and Number of Seed Produced—lIf all the seed produced
by any one species of plants should take root and live there would be
no place on the earth for anything else. Why do plants produce so
many seed? Animals nurture their young and protect them, and those
species unable to give good protection produce large numbers. Nature
expects numerous rabbits to be killed every year but there are enough
born to leave some to continue the species the coming season. So it
is with plants; they must depend upon numbers to sustain their ,kind.
Think how many seed are eaten destroyed or otherwise prevented
from germinating; how many little plantlets, even after they have
obtained a footing, are browsed off by animals. The higher up in the
scale of plant life a series stands the better its methods of scat-
tering seed. One of the families of plants standing highest in the
plant kingdom is the compositae., sunflowers, thistles, etc. Have
you ever noticed how many weeds belong to this family, dais-
jes, dog-fennel, thistle, dandelion, and many others? They are
weeds because they have the power of scattering the species
over large areas, the winds can blow their seeds for miles,
and though most of the old plants are killed in the fields,
still the few left in the fence corners will produce enough seed and
succeed in scattering them to such an extent that the whole neighbor-
hood will become infested. There are other things that help to make
up a weed, which however, we have not time to mention here.

IX. HORTICULTURAL METHODS OF PROPAGATION.

It has been seen why confidence cannot be put in a seed; in other
words, why it cannot be told what a seed will produce; therefore, the
horticulturist avoids the use of seeds as far as possible; the florist
must in many instances use them, where the plants used are annuals
and where cuttings cannot be taken. For garden vegetables seeds must
be used; that is why garden varieties run out in a few years and
   

 

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PARTS OF SEED.
52 LAND THACHING.

others have to be bred up to take their places. It would hardly be too
broad an assertion to state that any variety of vegetables that has
been in use ten years is very different from the original first stock.
To insure propagating the correct variety, where possible, the horti-
culturist does so by the use of division or the use of a portion of the
orginal plant. The following are seme of the methods used: grafting,
budding, layering, cutting, stolons, corms, etc.

Grafting—This is mainly used with trees, and in the propagation of
fruits. It is the cutting of a scion or short twig, from the tree one
wishes to grow, and inserting it in a stock, usually of the same species.
A union takes ‘place and the stock furnishes food for the scion, which
grows and bears fruit after its kind. Unions may be expected when
plants of the same variety are grafted one upon the other; family unite,
beyond this, however, we cannot hope for union. In grafting it is
absolutely necessary to have the cambium of the scion in contact with
the cambium of the stock, and through it a union between the stock
and the scion may take place; no other part of a plant will unite with
another. There are numerous kinds of grafts, named after the manner
of the cutting of the stock of scion or the portion of the plant used.
There are top-grafts, root-grafts, shield-grafts, etc.

Budding—This is simply the process of inserting a single bud of a
chosen variety into a stock. This operation is performed at any time
that the bark will peel readily. An incision having the shape of a T
is made in the stock and the bud is cut so that its cambium will be ex-
posed; it is then inserted under the bark of the stock and securely
fastened in. If the bud is put in in June a growth is obtained that
year, whereas if the bud is inserted towards the close of the season
it remains dormant and grows the following summer. Usually in the
South the budding is done in June and the following season or during
the winter a part of the stock above the bud is removed and we have a
plant budded to a known variety. ‘The bud is placed as near the rgound
as it is possible for a man to work.

Cuttings—Some plants may be propagated by cuttings. This method
is extensively used—with roses and with several greenhouse plants,
A cutting may be made from a leaf as in the begonia, or made from
the wood; it will vary in length from one to several inches. The cut-
ing is inserted in sharp sand or in the ground; it puts out roots
and eventually becomes a plant like unto its parent. Willow trees, figs,
carnation, grapes and many other plants are propagated by cuttings.
The time to cut, the place from which to take, the shape of the cutting
LAND TEACHING. 53

and the methods of planting vary with the various plants and cannot
be described here.

Layering—This is the covering with earth of a given portion of
a plant; this portion then takes root at the different nodes and when
it is able to support itself it is cut from the parent plant and the
several new plants separated. This method of propagation is used
extensively with the scuppernong.

Stolons—A plant that bends over one of its branches, which branch
takes root at the tip and becomes a self-sustaining plant, is said to be
propagated by stolons. Such a plant is the raspberry. The stolon is
cut from the old parent and there is a new plant of the given variety
which can be transplanted as desired.

Other Methods—Tubers as in the potato; these can be planted whole
or cut into small portions each having an eye or bud. Bulbs are also
used to continue a variety. In many instances little bulbs, or bulblets,
are formed by a plant and these will produce full-grown large bulbs
in from two to three years or more. Plants producing corms are propa-
gated much in the saws way as those having bulbs. Other plants pro-
duce bulblets as the onion, these bulblets are little bulbs produced
.. above ground, others are propagated by bulb scales, offsets, crowns
and various methods.

The underlying principle of horticultural methods of propagation is
the taking of some vegetable portion of the plant, and avoiding as far
as possible the use of seed which cast a doubt upon the character
of the resulting roduct.

X. ORCHARD FRUITS.

After having traced the plant through the various steps in its life,
and having made a study of each of the principal parts, we are 'n a
position to take up the study of some of the more important type or
horticultural fruits. First, however, let us pause a moment and see
exactly what horticulture is.

Horticulture comes from “hortus,” Latin for garden, and is the art
of growing fruits, flowers, vegetables and decorative plants. The great
science of agriculture is divided into several parts, one of which is
horticulture. The latter division is subdivided as follows: Pomology,
or fruit-growing; Olericulture, or the growing of vegetable:; Green-
housing and Landscape Gardening. Forestry is a division of agri-
eulture, co-ordinate with horticulture,
54 LAND TEACHING.

The most prominent and best known division of horticulture is
pomology, or fruit growing. This takes in the production of all the
orchard fruits, such as the apple, pear, plum, cherry and peach, and
also the small fruits as blackberries, raspberries and numerous others.
The word pomology is derived from the botanical name of, possibly
the most universal type of fruit; in other words the apple, which
potanically is known as a pome.

A Pome is a fleshy receptacle or torus, into which is sunk the one
or more carpels composing the ovary. The best known examples of
this type of fruit are the apple and the pear. The accompanying il-
lustration will give a better idea of their parts than a description.

Apples and pears both belong to the same botanical family and
genus, but are of different species. The family is the Rosaceae or the
rose family and the genus is Pyrus; the species of our common apple,
is however, malus, and of the pear communis. The development of the
pome is easily understood. Ovary is inferior, that is, below the calyx.
After fertilization the calyx sometimes drops off, but in most cases
persists or remains on the fruit the torus begins to develop around the
ovary which usually in the apple and pear is of five divisions. The
torus eventually becomes fleshy and forms the greater portion of the
edible fruit. The core, or hard center is the ovary, and in the center
of this core are found the seeds. Let us now look into the botany of the
drupe.

A Drupe is a fruit in which the outer portion of the ovary becomes
fleshy and the inner portion becomes hard, forming the pit or stone,
in which is found the seed. A drupe is usually a one-celled and one-
seeded fruit, being formed from a one-loculed ovary. Examples are the
peach, plum, cherry, almond and apricot.

All of the above mentioned fruits belong to the rose family, as the
apple, but are of a different genus; their generic name being Prunus.
Though belonging to the same genus they are all of different species
and of some, as the plums, there are numerous species. There are
probably more apples grown than any other individual fruit, but taken
collectively one would be like to find the production of drupes greater
than that of pomes.

A Drupel or Drupelet is a small drupe. There are several fruits com-
posed of drupels, but they are mostly classed with the small fruits
and will be treated of in the following chapter. The berries will also
be taken up.

Other orchard or tree fruits are the orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit,
Livro te)
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PARTS OF FRUITS.
56 LAND TEACHING.

banana, guava and numerous others, but lack of space makes a detailed
botanical description out of the question. Those mentioned above are
either torpical or subtropical, some being found only in the torrid
zone. Another fruit that might be classed amongst the large or orchard
fruits is the pineapple, though it does not grow on trees, still it is
large and extensively planted, especially in Florida. It is a multiple
fruit that is, a congregation of fruits, as each of its oblong, somewhat
pointed divisions is a perfect fruit in itself.

Xl. BERRIES AND OTHER FRUITS.

A Berry is a fruit in which the entire pericarp, excepting the skin,
is fleshy, the seeds being sunken in the flesh; examples are the grapes,
currants, bananas and tomatoes. Horticulturally, however, any small
fruit as the strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, etc. is spoken of as a
berry.

The grapes belong to the family Vitaceae and to the genus Vitis,
there being several species within the genus, among which are fox
grapes, muscadines and European grapes. The plants are climbers,
flowering in the late spring; the leaves are simple, rounded and heart
shaped; the fruit is a true berry, borne usually in bunchs, though in the
muscadines it is often a single fruit. Grapes are generally classed
among the orchard fruits and not looked upon as a small fruit.

Gooseberries and currants are both berries and considered among
the small fruits. They belong to the Saxifragaceae family and to the
genus Ribes; the two, however are of different species. There are
two types of gooseberries ,the plants are thorny and have only from
one to three flowers in a cluster. Among the currants there are some
three or more species and in contrast with the gooseberries the cur-
rant bushes are not thorny and bear numerous flowers in the cluster.

The banana is a good example of a true berry only the seed through
long disuse have become abortive, This plant has been propagated so
Jong by suckers that the seed are now of no use to it and it has
stopped producing true ones. One of the best and most easily
recognized berries is the tomato; though not an orchard fruit, still
it holds a prominent place in horticulture.

The brambles, though not true berries are classed among the small
fruits. The blackberries and dewberries belong to the rose family
and are all of the genus Rubus. We have the red, black and European
raspberries, two species of blackberries and two of dewberries.
All of these fruits may be called aggregate, that is, they consist of
 

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KINDS OF BERRIES.

sec. 3
58 LAND TEACHING.

many separate and distinct little fruits; in the case of the brambles
these little fruits are drupels or drupelets. In the blackberries and
dewberries the drupels adhere to an enlarged torus, whereas in the
raspberries the drupels are so insecurely attached to the torus that
they easily pull away from it and are seen in the market as a
collection of little fruits hollow in the center, giving rise, in the
black species, to the name “black cap.”

The strawberry also belongs to the rose family, but the genus is
Fragaria, fragrant. There are four species of the strawberry, two
from Europe, one from Chile and one from the United States. The
species from Chile is commonly supposed to be the parent of most of
our garden kinds; though the progeny of the others are found in
many cases, Like the brambles the strawberry is not a true berry
but an aggregate fruit. The red, juicy, edible part is an enlarged
torus and the real fruit is found in the so-called seeds, which, how-
ever, are akenes; that is, the simplest form of indehiscent fruit. It
has been said of the strawberry that: ‘Doubtless God could have
made a better fruit but doubtless God never did.”

Horticulture also takes in nut culture, in which class of
fruits may be found hazel nuts, hickory nuts, pecan nuts, walnuts,
both English and black, and chestnuts; by some the almond is con-
sidered a nut but really it is a drupe, like the peach, and the part
eaten and thought nut-like, corresponds to the pit of the peach or
plum. Nuts are true fruits; the husk found on them, before frost
makes it give up its treasure, is the involucre, fleshened and ripened
up.

The cranberry is another one of the small fruits, but need only be
mentioned as it is not cultivated in the South. MHuckleberries also
find a place here, but are not cultivated, those found in the markets
being the product of the wild plants: this fruit, however, should be
improved and cultivated in localities suited to it as it would undoubt-
edly prove a paying crop.

In glancing over the last two divisions, one will likely be impressed
with the number of fruits that belong to the rose family; within its
ranks we unquestionably find the major part of our fruits as well
as many of our flowers, especially the king of them all, the rose it-
self. The vine family is also important in horticulture, not for the
great variety of fruits but for the one great fruit, the grape; the other
families, though of less importance, nevertheless, receive our homage,
as each and every one gives to us of its bounty to make life the more
enjoyable.
Parr IV.
SCHOOL GARDENS.

INTRODUCTION.

we ail know the general complaint that boys and girls leave the
farm. We know how serious is the promblem of interesting young
folks in farm work and farm things.

The garden is a part of farm and country life in which children
are most easily interested. Garden work is the easiest and most
attractive of farm occupations,

Recognizing these facts, and that the country school should help
in the great effort toward holding young people close to the land,
“School Gardens” have become a part of the regular school work in
many sections of the country.

Great good has already resulted from this movement. Thousands,
of young folks have become interested in nature, in plant life—in
country and land—who were never reached in any other way. One of
the most serious difficulties in the way of greatest success has been
the lack of teachers and books adapted to leading children along
this path.

No such book exists adapted to Southern conditions. Very few
Southern teachers have had opportunity themselves for learning how
to teach school gardening, however desirous they might be of helping
in this great movement.

We hope to provide the missng instructor of teacher and pupil.

The illustrations are from photographs of actual work and scenes
in school gardens under the supervision of Professor Stucky while in
charge of this work in South Carolina.

We are sure this new effort will be appreciated, but we hope partic-
ularly that it will interest the young folks.

We want our young readers to feel that part of the Ruralist belongs :
to them. The future of this country is in the hands of the young
people of to-day. We hope to have some little influence in shaping
that future.
60 LAND TEACHING.

VALUE OF THE SCHOOL GARDEN.

In this age of so many studies the addition of any new subject re-
quires serious thought.

The proposed subject must prove its: right to be. If it does not
fill a place unoccupied by any other subject, it should be denied
admission into the school course.

The most casual observer must be aware that there has been a
great awakening all over the United States, and other countries,
with regard to the teaching of agriculture.

School gardens are bursting into bloom and fragrance in many of
the hitherto waste places of the earth. This is well, for He whose
first creations centered around a garden, inspired the prophecy
that the “wilderness shall blossom as a rose.” This result is best
attained by keeping the child close to nature, by awakening in him
a love for nature so profound that he shall not rest satisfied until he
becomes a factor in that transformation of the wilderness into the
blossoming-place of the rose.

The School Gardeni—A Phase of Nature Study.

The value of nature study has become so generally recognized that
it is now a part of the course of study in the best schools in every
country. Professor C. F. Hodge, in his ideal book, Nature-Study
and Life, says: ‘“Nature-study is learning those things in nature
which are best worth knowing, to the end of doing those things
that make life most worth living.” Viewed in the light of this
definition, the school garden is a most important kind of nature
study. Its place, moreover, in the course of study is easily assured
without any squeezing or over-crowding, for it furnishes a center
for correlation, providing much admirable subject matter for other
studies.

The School Garden—Factor in Adaptation to Environment.

Education in its broadest sense means adaptation to environment.

School gardens are helpful in bringing about this adaptation, for a
perfect and complete enviroment cannot take place within the four
walls of a school room, The child must get outside, he must see,
and study things in their natural surroundings. Bring as much of
nature inside as you can, but take the child out to nature as much
as you can.
 

 

 

 

KINDERGARTEN CHILDREN AT WORK IN GARDEN.
62 LAND TEACHING.

In the school garden the child sees nature at home—he watches
the silent wonderful unfolding of her laws. The skilled and tactful
teacher knows many ways of aiding nature in her teachings—from
leading the child from the reverential study of nature to nature’s
God.

The adaptation to the physical or material environment fostered by
this nature study carried on by means of school gardening is readily
seen. The child learns to master forces and conditions—he learns
to work in accordance with established laws. He becomes adapted
to his surroundings, to the end that he may master it—no
slave of nature, but the conqueror of nature by possessing her sec-
rets, and making the soil yield rich harvests. He has learned to
“dig,” hence to the shame of “begging” he will ever be a stranger.
He is filled with a lasting confidence that in any stress of circum-
stances he can always make a livelihood from the soil.

The ethical value of the school garden cannot be over-estimated,
The child who produces something, who prepares the soil, plants
tne seed, tends the plant with daily care, and at last harvests the
results, realizes that he is a co-worker with the higher laws of na-
ture.

‘One who is himself a producer has greater respect for the pro-
ductions of others, thus fellow sympathy is developed in the only
Way really open to the child.

It is claimed that school gardens have transformed slum districts
in our large cities, morally, physically, and aesthetically. “School
gardens teach among other things,” says Dr. Jerrell, “private care
for public property, economy, honesty, appreciation, concentration,
justice, the dignity of labor, and a love for the beauties of nature.”
A habit of industry is by no means an unimportant result, when one
considers the number of lazy loafers hanging around every street
corner, shop and depot—a menace truly to the life of the community.

The economic value of the school garden is easily demonstrated.
It is this which has materially increased, and in many cases doubled
or tripled the amount produced by the same land. The business
experience which comes as the result of harvesting and disposing
of the products which are grown is not to be despised.

School gardens furnish the best possible motor education recognized
as so indispensable in these days. In rural schools, where other
forms of natural training are sometimes impossible, it is an indis-
pensable means of giving expression of thought through action.
LAND TEACHING. 63

The co-ordination of the senses and motor brain brought about
by means of school gardening quickens all other lines of school work.
The intellectual development resulting from the best use of the
school garden has been established by the comparison of work done
in other studies by grades which have taken this course and those
which have not. Those having the advantages of gardening do much
better work in their other studies than do other children in the
same school who have not taken the garden work. Quick discrimi-
nation is one of the pronodnced intellectual results.

The study of agriculture, the planning, arranging, etc., of a school
garden, has its important artistic phase. “The problems of the farm
and farming demand as true and as artistic an expression of well
ordered thought as do the arts and crafts.”

In ennumerating the advantages of the school garden for the pupils
co. our public schools, one of the more evident, and emphatically one of
the most important, is the physical benefit. More than any other
phase of school work it promotes the health of the pupils. This
would be sufficient reason, if there were no other, for making it a
part of our educational system, Incipient tuberculosis, as well as
other organic diseases, may be overcome by the safest of all physi-
cians, nature, in the best of all sanitariums—the garden.

MAKING THE SCHOOL GARDEN.

Selection of the Site.

In selecting a site most schools have no choice, as the areas are
usually very limited; however, where the teacher has a number of
types of soils and elevations to select from, it is preferable to choose
a well-drained, sandy loam soil gently sloping towards the south or
southeast.

Preparing and Fertilizing the Land.

The success of any school garden will depend to a great extent.
upon the thoroughness and skill in the preparation of the soil. If
the ground is rough and hard, and if a large area is to be worked,
it should be deeply broken by a man with team and plow. Then it
may be turned over to the pupils for further preparatiou. if the
area is small and the number of pupils very large, in order to give
the pupils some physical exercise, along with the knowledge gained,
it may be well to have them spade the soil from the beginning. The
“MUOM LY SHAVUD ACU LSulel

 

 
 

 

 

alae ste 1A AA IO ho ta aN eae s |

 

 
LAND TEACHING. 65

length of the work periods each week will usually decide this ques-
tion, Too much stress can scarcely be laid upon the preparation of
the soil. Every clod should be crushed so far as possible, and the
first eight or ten inches should be left thoroughly pulverized and well
mixed.

Fertilizers.

The chemical improvement of soils embraces the use of fertilizers
or manures, the application of which depends upon the type of soil
and the kind of plants to be grown.

Plants derive an essential part of their food from the soil. This
includes all the inorganic mineral elements found in the ash when
the plant is burned, and a very variable quantity of those elements
which go off as gas (volatile).

Knowing that different kinds of plants require a special supply of
different kinds of plant food, and that most soils are deficient in a
number of these elements, we should investigate the needs of the
soil and add those elements in the form of barnyard manure or com-
pounded fertilizer. While the soil contains several elemenis of plant
food, most soils are usually more or less deficient in phosphoric acid
nitrogen and potash. Due to this common deficiency, almost all com-
mercial fertilizers are valued according to one or more of these three
three elements which they contain.

Fertilizers are usually divided into three main classes, namely,
those of plant, or animal, and of mineral origin; the two former
being organic, while the latter is inorganic. Fertilizers of plant
origin include cotton seed meal, leguminous plants (like peas and
clovers), or any plant refuse which may be used as a manure. Those
of animal origin include the residue of slaughter houses, such as dried
blood, bones, scrap, fish scrap, or any other animal refuse which
may be had in quantity. Mineral fertilizers are those which are
mined from the earth, such as phosphates, kainit, and nitrate of soda.

Commercial fertilizers can be bought and applied separately or in
combination. It should always be remembered, however, that they
should never be placed in contact with roots or seeds, but should be
well mixed with the soil.

The effects of the’ different elements in a fertilizer upon plants
may be mentioned briefly as follows: Nitrogen stimulates the growth
of the stems and leaves, and too much nitrogen has a tendency
to cause the plant to “run to leaves” at expense of flowers and
66 LAND TEACHING.

fruit. Potash builds up the woody tissue, and stimulates the produc-
tions of plump seeds and fruit, and intensifies the color of the bloom.
Phosphoric acid aids materially in developing the seed.

For school gardens it is admissable to use commercial] fertilizers
at the rate of 800 or 1,000 pounds per acre. In addition to this, if
available, the soil should have a good dressing of stable manure,
which is one of the best fertilizers for a garden. The fertilizers
should be spread broadcast and then be thoroughly worked into the
soil, with harrow, rake, cultivator or hoe.

Where the parents take a lively interest in the school garden the
teacher will often be able to secure a number of loads of stable man-
use free of expense to the school.

KIND OF PLANTS TO GROW IN A SCHOOL GARDEN.

The location and size of the garden, the length of the school ses-
sion, and the methods of managing the gardens during the summer,
will, to a great extent, decide the type of plants selected for the
school garden. Generally speaking, early maturing, dwarf or bush-
form type of plants are preferred for the main part of the garden,
while climbers and tall growing plants may be used for covering
fences or screening unsightly objects.

The main reason for growing bushy or dwarf varieties is, that it
enables the pupil to grow a greater number of plants on a small area,
thus giving him a larger acquaintance with plant life. Again, dwarf
varieties are as a rule earlier in their development, which gives the
pupil the opportunity of making the harvests and recording the re-
sults before school closes. As to whether vegetable, flowering
plants, or field crops should be grown in the school garden will de-
pend on the knowledge and the need of the pupils to be taught. For
general educational purposes however, a combination of these
plants will usually prove to be most satisfactory. Children of the
lower grades are usually inclined to plant large quantities of seed in
each row; therefore, plants with large seed should be used for small]
children. Care should be taken also to select plants easy to cultivate,
simple in structure, and those common to the locality.

As children advance they may be .given a greater variety, and a
more complete type of plants. '

THE PURCHASE OF SEEDS FOR THE SCHOOL GARDEN.

A limited amount of school garden seed may be had free by the
LAND TEACHING. 67

teacher applying to the Congressman of the district in which the school
is located. However, this source of supply should not be depended
upon. The teacher should get catalogs from some reliable seedsmen,
select the desirable varieties, and order the seed in bulk. Then, of
course, before planting, small envelopes should be purchased, the
necessary amount of seed for each small garden be put into these en-
velopes and the name and variety of plant be plainly written thereon.
Then when planting time comes the envelopes should be distributed,
each child being given the necessary amount and the right variety
for the day’s work.

In each packet should be placed a few more seed than is necessary
to plant the given row; still the surplus should not be too great, as
there will be a danger of developing a lack of accuracy and economy
on the part of the child; for it is the natural inclination of the child to
plant, in one row, all the seed that have been given him.

The purchase of seed in small packets is very expensive where a,
purchase is to be made for a great number of children, unless special
reduction has been made on these packets for school purposes.
Teachers may consult the following seedsmen for prices: T. W.
Wood & Sons, Richmond, Va.; Alexander Seed Co, Augusta. and H.
G. Hastings & Co., Atlanta, Ga.

FOURTH GRADE PUPILS’ NOTES ON PLANTS OF SINGLE
GARDEN PLAT.

Rows Nos. 1-2—English peas, Lightning Excelsior; planted March
3; ready to use April 28.

Row No. 3—Irish potato, Irish Cobbler; planted March 3, ready to
use May 6.

Row No. 4—Irish potato, Sir Walter Raleigh; planted March 3;
teady to use May 10.

Row No 5—Cauvoage, Charleston Wakefield; seed sown October 10,
1907, plants transplanted March 3, 1908; ready to use May 20.

Row No. 6—Bush squash; planted April 2; ready for use May 30. |

Row No 7—Corn, Early Adams, planted March 10; ready for use
June 8.

Row No. 8—Beans, Stringless green pod; planted March 17; ready
to use May 20.

Row No. 9—Beans, Kidney Wax, planted March 17; ready to use
May 23.
Saadvuyo WWI ANV WLIO

 

 

 

 
LAND TEACHING. 69

Row No. 10—Beets, Blood turnip; planted March 8; ready to use
May 22.

Row No. 11—Radish, Rosy Gem; planted March 38, ready to use
April 12.

Row No. 12—Radish, Mixed turnip; planted March 2; ready to use
April 15.

Row No. 13—Dwarf Nasturtiums! planted April 10; bloomed May 20.

Row No. 14—Mixed sweet pea; planted March 10; bloomed May 23.

GROUP AND INDIVIDUAL GARDENS.

Most experienced teachers in this line of work recommend the
individual garden, This is all right providing sufficient time, area
and implements for culture are provided; but where the supply of
tools is very limited, the area very large, and.only thirty minutes -
per week given for the work, as is the case in some schools, the
child would not have time to cultivate his garden. At the same time,
four or five children could do the work satisfactorily. Again group
gardens enable the children to have larger gardens in which is
given more room’for using standard size implements, which should
always be used as soon as the child has suffiicient strength to man-
age them.

The group garden has some distinct ethical advantages over the
individual garden, but it must not be forgotten that the individual
garden teaches the child better business methods, accuracy in indi-
viduality, rights of ownership, and respect for the property of others,
than does the group garden.

GRADES OF CHILDREN TAKING SCHOOL GARDENING.

As school gardening is one phase of nature study, it has been
’ given, in some of our best schools, from the kindergarten through
the ninth grade, the work being regulated to suit the ability of each
grade.

The children of the kindergarten, of course, can do none of the
heavy work, such as soil preparation, etc., but they can plant seeds,
set out plants, water plants, pull up weeds, and have daily oppor-
tunities of observing plant growth and other important phases of
oature study. If conditions in any school be such that it is impos-
sible for all grades to have gardening, it is recommended that the
work be given to the Fourth, Fifth and Sixth grades. Grades younger
than these may profitably use the garden for observation work along
 

 

Plan of Single Garaen Plar for 4” rade Pumls.
LAND TEACHING. 71

with other phases of nature study. Grades older have had enough
practical experience in the garden to be able to use a text-book on
the subject with advantage.

TOOLS FOR THE SCHOOL GARDEN.

The tools for the school garden should be principally the same
as those recommended for a home vegetable garden. Light tools
are recommended for small children, but toy tools are very unsatis-
factory and should never be relied upon.

Each individual garden plat should have one rake, one hoe, one
garden or push plow, one hand trowel, one 50-foot measuring tape,
one garden line, and a watering pot. By skillful management, on
the part of the teacher, however, many of these implements may be
used in common, thus avoiding the expense of buying so many full
sets.

These implements can usually be purchased at almost any hard-
ware store. For the purchase of garden plows teachers may save
expense by ordering them from B. F. Avery & Co., Atlanta, Ga., as
this company makes a reduction on implements sold to schools.

FALL WORK IN THE SCHOOL GARDEN.

In the South, where the climate is mild, and where many plants
can stand outdoor conditions during the winter without serious
injury, school gardening can be successfully carried on during the
entire year.

When the period opens in the fall, the soil should be fertilized
and well prepared, then the pupils may set violets, plant narcissus
bulbs, and fall onions. Sow such seeds as winter radishes, spinach,
lettuce and endive,

These vegetables will endure ordinary frost, and some of them wil]
remain in good condition, and ready for use, in the open garden all
during the winter.

A little later in the fall, say about the 10th of October, it may be
well to sow cabbage seed in the open garden, in order to have plants
for early spring setting. Sweet peas may also be sown, rather
aeeply and continuous in the drill, for early spring blooming. Fall-
sown sweet peas may be expected to bloom a month earlier than
spring-sown peas.

The fall season being the best time to sow lawn grasses, it is well
for the teacher to have the pupils design walks, locate places in
“‘SNUGUVSD WOU STOOL GNVH GNV SMOTd NUGUVY

 

 

 
LAND THACHING. 73

which to set trees, prepare the soil and sow grass seeds for the
lawn, thus giving them some practice in landscaping, as well as the
regular school garden work,

HOTBEDS AND COLDFRAMES.

By the proper construction and management of hotbeds and cold-
frames vegetables and flowers may be successfully grown during the
entire winter. The sash for covering these frames may often be
secured, at little or no cost, from some patron of the school, who
may have old sash removed from a building. For structure and
management, Professor J. S. Newman, in his “Southern Gardeners’
Practical Manual,” says: ‘“‘Excavate to the depth of eight inches an
area three feet three inches wide by five feet eight inches long.”
(As many of these as is necessary for the school may be made in
one continuous bed, letting the long way of the sash extend across
the bed.) “Fill this excavation with fermenting stable manure and
green cotton seed mixed in equal parts, moisten it and stamp down
smoothly, moisten the material as it is mixed, and again when put
into the pit if it seems dry.

“Construct a close frame of one and one-half inch heart lumber to
fit over this pit. Have this two feet high at the north end and one
foot high at the south end, the sides sloping uniformly. The heat
will be retained better, and the cold air excluded, if soil is banked
around the lower part of the plank. When the frame is completed
and placed over the manure, fill in to the depth of four inches with
sifted dark sandy loam and put on the sash. In three or four days
remove the sash, sow the seeds, water gently, and replace the sash.
When the temperature in the hotbed gets above 70 degrees Fahren-
heit ventilate by placing a block of wood under one end of the sash,
and during warm days the sash may be removed entirely, Keep the
surface of the bed moist, but not wet, for such crops as lettuce try
to let the temperature range between 45 degrees Fahrenheit at night
and 65 degrees Fahrenheit during the day. It should be remembered
that a hotbed loses its heat within about six or seven weeks and
should be refilled where continuous planting is desired.

“The coldframe is made the same way as the hotbed, excepting
that rich earth is used instead of the thick layer of manure which
supplies the heat for the hotbed. If glass is too expensive for the
coldframe, white cloth may be substituted, as a cover, with fair re-
suits,
74 LAND TEACHING.

“The hotbed is used for growing lettuce, radishes, nasturtiums,
etc., during the winter, and for starting tender plants such as pep-
Pers, egg plants and tomatoes for early spring setting.

“The coldframe is used for hardening off rather tender plants
for setting to the open ground, and for growing rather hardy plants,
such as winter radishes, lettuce, beats, carrots, endive, etc., during
the winter and early spring.”

Many other lines of work, such as the study of flower structure,
window gardening, the construction of hotbeds and coldframes, may
be begun in the fall and continued throughout the winter.

WINTER WORK.

This being a season when weather conditions are usually unfavora-
ble for outdoor work, the most of the time may be consumed with
laporatory exercises—the production of plants in hotbeds, cold-
frames and window boxes.

LABORATORY EXERCISES.

While it is essential and best to take the children out of doors to
do much of their practice work, some of the important principles
of agriculture do not lend themselves to this method, There is need
of some laboratory work which can easily be performed in doors,
during the winter season.

Much material for these exercises may be collected by the pupils
free of cost. Some good experiments can be performed with a col-
lection of empty tin cans, buckets, bottles, wooden boxes, the differ-
ent types of soils, etc. Then with a small appropriation from the
school board for the purchase of a few dairy thermometers, test
tubes, a set of metric weights, an alcohol lamp, some cork bottle
stoppers, glass tubing, rubber tubing, etc. the teacher will be able
to perform more interesting and profitable experiments.

With the above-mentioned material the teacher can perform labo-
ratory experiments showing the escape of moisture from ‘plants, that
the soil contains plant food, the habits of plant growth, that plants
require air to form roots, the capacity of soils for taking in and
holding water, the rise of moisture in the soil, the effects of light on
plants, and the different methods of plant propagation.

It is essential that the pupil know something of the structure of
the common plants; that they should know the names and under-
stand, to some extent, the functions of the essential parts of the
 

 

 

 

SCHOOL CHILDREN TESTING SEEDS.
76 LAND TEACHING.

common plants. This study may be made in the early fall, or, if the
fpeclimens can be had from window boxes, it may be done in mid-
wibtel.

Ditujie pulls should be selected for the lower grades, and only the

+. puits, Such as roots, stems, leaves and flowers: studied.
While technical terms in this work should be avoided as far as pos-
sibie, yet Scientific lacts should be adhered to.

The higher grades should be given a more technical and detailed
study of the plants, laying special stress on the names and functions
of the different organs of the flower, such as stamens and pistils,
anthers and stigmas.

This study will interest the child and induce him to make a further
study of the needs and environment of plants.

THE STUDY OF SEEDS.

The majority of our garden vegetables, flowering plants, and field
crops being propagated by means of seeds, it is very important that
the child should be made as familiar with the names, structure and
uses of these seeds as may be possible.

(a) Germinating Seeds—Take a tin plate, two circular pieces of
cloth, preferably cotton flannel, cut to fit into the plate, and a pane
of glass large enough to cover the plate. Then count out fifty or a
hundred of the seeds to be tested, spread them on this cloth, and
cover them with the other piece of moistened cloth.

Next place the pane of glass over the plate, to prevent evaporation
of moisture, and set it aside where it will remain at ordinary living
room temperature. When these seeds begin to sprout, have the
children to count out those germinated and make such calculations
as the children are prepared to make. This is one good method of
teaching percentage, and other practical lessons in arithmetic.

Many of these plates may be had and let the children make several
tests as regards:

Maturity of seeds, Age of Seeds, Size of Seeds, Temperature Re-
quired for Germination, Moisture Required for Germination, Plant
Food in Seeds, Position of Seeds—germ end up or down, Color and
impurities in seeds, as grass and weed seeds, ;

Some of these experiments will give better results if the tests are
made in pans of moist sand. ;

(b) Depth of Planting.—A further study of seeds may be made
by securing a few big mouthed bottles, or pint jars, and planting seed
LAND TEACHING. 99

at various depths in these bottles filled with moist loamy soil. This
will show the best depth for planting, the habit of root growth (this
May be seen through the glass), and the depth of soil through which
the germ of the seed is able to come.

SPRING WORK.

School gardening should be begun during the latter part of Febru-
ary or the first part of March.

After the soil has been thoroughly prepared and well fertilized,
seeds of such plants as spinach, garden peas, endive, and radishes
may be sown, onion sets may be planted, and cabbage plants either
purchased or from tue fail sowing, may be set, Sweet peas, for
bloom, may also be planted very early. The sowing of these may not
be necessary, however, if a sufficient amount was planted the pre-
seding fall. Next in order may be planted the seeds of such plants
as corn, lettuce, turnips, and Irish potatoes.

During this time it is well to have seeds of the common flowering
plants, and some of the more tender garden vegetables, sown in win-
dow boxes or hot beds where they will be protected from frost. thus
enabling the school to have flowers and vegetables earlier in the
spring.

Where many children are to be instructed in the garden at one
time, it is well, so far as posisble, to have all the garden plants
to ve worked by these children extend in one continuous line, then
one long garden line may be stretched across the entire number of
plats and the children or child of each plat be required to lay off the
row to this line, wuich makes the garden look more attractive when
uae seeds germinate. When the first row has been completed the
entire line may be moved over and the second row laid off, and so
on for any number of rows. Other grades working together may
have their garden plats parallel with and joining those first laid
out, and by the time all are given plats the whole area will be in the
form of a square or a parallelogram; this, of cource, depending upon
the available ground.

Bach child above the third grade should be required to keep a note
book and record such facts as dates of planting, methods of planting,
dates of germination, when ready to harvest, the yield, etc.

While the commercial or monetary side of school gardening should
never be stressed, still the children should be taught the best methods
of procuring the most and best vegetables on the given area, and
78 LAND TEACHING.

should be allowed to sell the garden products to obtain funds for a
good cause, such as improving the school room or the school grounds.

COURSE OF STUDY.

{n preparing a course of study for nine or ten grades, it will be
found a difficult matter to make clear-cut distinctions between the
work of one grade and that of the next higher. In fact the subejct
matter of the primary grades is pretty much the same only there is a
deepening and widening of the subject and more independent work
on the part of the pupils. In schools where conditions do not favor a
very close grading, the primary grades can very well be taught to-
gether: An able and efficient teacher who understands the differences
in the development of the children can so plan the work that. all will
be interested, while each child is required to do such work as he can do
successfully. In garden work the children of the third and fourth
grades can plan and lay off their own garden beds—children of the
first grade can lay off rows in beds which have already been prepared
for them,

It will usually be found not only beneficial, but essential, to have
the sixth and higher grade use some good elementary text books,
such as “Agriculture for Beginners,’ by Burkett, Ginn & Co., New
York, and “Agriculture for Southern Schools,” by Duggar, sold
by Macmillan Co., New York.

FIRST GRADE—FALL WORK.

1. Seed gathering (a) Flower seeds, (b), garden seeds, (c), tree
seeds, (d), seeds of wild plants.

2. Bulb Planting—(a) Soil type, (b), distance, (c), depth .

3. Making of Window Gardens—(a) Boxes sloping towards sun,
(b) Planting of common plants, such as (1), Geraniums, coleus, as-
ters, sweet peas, etc.

4. Fall Gardening.

WINTER WORK.

1. Raising vegetables in hotbeds and coldframes for winter use.
2. Study of soils—clay, sand, loam, ete.

3. Seed testing.

(a) Count seeds, (b) Apparatus, (c) Number Germinated, (d)

Number failed.
Sowing seed indoors for spring transplanting.
 

 

 

SIXTH AND SEVENTH GRADES.
80 LAND TEAOHING.

SPRING WORK.

1. ‘Soil preparation (a) Plowing or spading, (b) Fertilizing, (c),
Laying off rows with garden line, (d), Sowing seeds, (e), Thinning,
(f) Cultivating, (g) Gathering.

SECOND GRADE—FALL WORK.

1. Seed gathering continued.

2. Classification of seeds according to natural methods of distribu-
tion as by (a) Wind. (b) Animals, (c) Water.

3. Fall gardening. (a) Some ornamental plants as, (1) Violets),
(2) Bulbs, (b), Study of bulb structure, (c), Planting a few fall and
winter vegetables, such as (1) Lettuce, (2) Spinach, (3) Turnips, (4)
Radishes, (5) Endive), etc.

WINTER WORK.

1. Similar as for first grade, more stress being put on independent
work of pupils.

1. Similar to first grade, using a greater variety of plants and
requiring more individuality in the work.
THIRD GRADE—FALL WORK.

1. Seed gathering and classification according to economic value
of ‘plants.

2. Fall gardening continued.

8. Window gardening, the influence of light. heat, and moisture
on plants studied.

‘WINTER WORK.

1. Raising of vegetables in hotbeds and coldframes—(a) Culture,
(v) Uses, (c) Value.

2. Study of soils continued, giving demonstrations of,—(a) Cap-
pillarity, (b) Porosity, (c) Texture.

3. Seed testing continued.

4. Sowing seeds in hotbeds, coldframes or window boxes for spring
transplanting to gardens.

SPRING WORK.

1. Gardening continued—(a) Preparation of soil, (b) Fertilizing,
(c) staking out gardens and drawing plan, (d) Planting seeds, (e)
LAND TEACHING. 8i

Transplanting plants from Hotbeds (f) Depth and distance of plant-
ing, (g) Cultivating ,(h) Harvesting and yield.

FOURTH GRADE—FALL WORK.
1. Seed gathering.
2. Classification and methods of storing and preserving seeds.
3. Fall gardening continued—(a) Testing adaptability of vegeta-
bles to low temperatures.
4. Window gardening—(a) Fertilizer experiments with different
plants. (b) Depth of planting seeds.

WINTER WORK.

1. Hotbeds and coldframes (a) Construction, (b) Calcualting di-
mensions of covers,
2. Seed testing acording to,—(a) Size, (b) Color, (c) Maturity,
(d) Age, etc.
SPRING WORK.

1. Similar to work of third grade, using a slightly more complex
type of plants.

FIFTH GRADE—FALL WORK.

1. Seed gathering continued—-(a) Classification, (b) Identifica-
tion, (c) Preservative materials for winter storage of seeds.

2. A collection and the study of a few of the common insects.

3. Fall gardening continued, as—(a) Preparation of soils and
Designing beds for bulbs and violets.

4, Window gardening continued with a comparison of indoor with
outdoor grown plants.

WINTER WORK,

1. Hotbeds and coldframes continued as,—(a) Management with
reference to controlling the temperature, (b) Best soil for, (c) Kinds
of vegetables suited for forcing.

2. Soil continued—indoor experiments. (a) Drainage, (b) Water
holding capacity of the different types of soil, (c) Effects of humus
on texture of soils, (d) Influence of water on temperature of soils.

3. Seed sowing for spring transplanting continued.

4, Pot experiments with fertilizers.

SPRING WORK.

1. Similar to fourth grade work, more stress being put on the

keeping of accurate and neat records of all work done.
82 LAND TEACHING.

SIXTH GRADE—FALL WORK.

1. Harvesting and recording winlgs of all erops found on gardens
at beginning of session.

2. Removing of old plants from garden, (a) Sowing seeds so as to
practice crop rotation. (b) Designing walks and sowing grass seeds
for lawns.

8. The collection and study: of insects continued.

4. Pruning begun.

WINTER WORK.

1. Study of animals begun, (a)- Horses, (1) Draft, (2) Trotting;
(b) Cattle, (1) Dairy, (2) Beef; (c) Poultry, (1) Eggs, (2) Meat.

2. Fertilizers——source of and how valued. (a) Nitrogen, (b).-Phos-
phoric acid, (c), Potash. é

3. Plant propagation by, (a) Bulbs, (b) Corms, (c). Cuttings, (d)
Grafting, (e) Rootstocks, (f) Seeds, etc.

SPRING WORK.

1. Plant structure, (a) Cells, (b), Stems, (c) Roots, (d) Leaves,
(e) Inflorescence.

2, Gardens continued, stressing the plants and seed selection for
improving the varieties.

SEVENTH GRADE—FALL WORK

1. Fall gardening continued, stressing the importance of adding
humus and plant food to the soil.

2. The collection and the classification of insects according to
beneficial and injurious species.

3. Make landscape plans for the schoo] grounds, (a) Locate places
for trees, shrubbery, drives, etc.

4. Pruning continued.

WINTER WORK.

L The study of animals continued.

2. Animal products, as their value, preservation and management.
(a), Meats, (b) Eggs, (c) Butter, (d) Milk, (e) Cheese, (f) Care of
dairy products in general.

3. Grafting. (a) Whip or tongue, and cleft grafting.

4. Budding. (a) Shield, and annular budding.

6. Cuttings. (a) Hard wood, soft wood and leaf cuttings,
LAND TEACHING. 83

6. Commercial fertilizers continued, (a) Composition and value.
7. Indoor seed sowing for spring transplanting continued.

SPRING WORK.

A

1. General classification for economic plants. (a) Cereals, (b):
Legumes, (c) Grasses, (e) Roots, (f) Fiber plants, (g) Oil plants,
etc. ;

2. Preparation and application of insecticides and fungicides. (a)
Bordeaux mixture, ('b) Kerosene emulsion, (c) Paris green, etc.

3. Spring gardening continued, requiring the pupils to grow a
more complex type of plants.

EIGHTH GRADE—FALL WORK.

1... Landscape plans for school continued. |

2. Seed selection with introducmtion to plant breeding in con-
nection with fall gardening.

3. Study of insects continued.

4. ‘Study of the plant continued, (a) Composition, (b) Structure,
(c) Physiology, (d) Heredity, (e) Environment, (f)- Pollination, (g)
Hybrid. (h) Cross, etc.

WINTER WORK.

1. Spring gardening continued. In this, some special crop of the.
locality: should be grown and studied. (a) Variety tests, (b) Soil
and climatic influences. : a

This work should be done with.the constant aim in view of improv-
Ing the plants by systematic methods of plant breeding.

NINTH GRADE—FALL WORK

In this grade more elective work may be allowed, and more stress
placed on those subjects best adapted and most needed to meet the
local conditions and necessities of the school and community.

WINTER WORK.

More laboratory work should be planned and performed by the
students, which will prepare them for doing more effective spring
work in the gardens,
84 LAND THAOHING.

SPRING WORK.

The study of individual crops, varieties of plants, the soil, and cli-
matic conditions should be continued, stressing those points which

are most upbuilding to the pupils and to the community in which the
school is located.

WORKS OF REFERENCE.

Teachers should apply to the Agricultural Experiment Station and
ask that the school receive copies of all the bulletins issued by the
station. They should also write to the United States Department of
Agriculture, Washington, D. C., for the following:

1. List of bulletins and circulars for free distribution, Division of
Publications, Circular No. 2.

2. ‘farmer’s Bulletin, Subject Index, Division of Publications, Circu-
lar 4,

8. Bulletin No. 160, School Gardens, Office of Experiment Stations.

4. Bulletin No. 186, Exercises in Elementary Agricu'ture, Office of
Experiment Stations.

Books for reference:

1. Hemenway, H. D., “How to Make School Gardens,” Doubleday,
Page & Co., New York.

8. Hodge, C. E., “Nature Stury and Life,” Ginn & Co., New York.

4. Newman, J. S., “The Southern Gardeners’ Practical Manual.”
“his is the best and most indispensable reference book on growing
vegetables and small fruits under southern conditions. It may be ob-
tained from Professor J. S. Newman, Clemson College, S. C.
 

 

 

 

PRODUCTS OF THE SCHOOL GARDEN.
Part V.

PLANNING AND CARE OF
SCHOOL GROUNDS.

Introduction.

It is in the school house with its surrounding grounds that the
foundation of America’s future greatness is laid. The sensitive chil-
dren, some of them leaving home with eagerness to enter this new
world, others in fear and trembling of the unknown difficulties
that lie within the school gate, are the material of which the teacher
must make future citizens. During this plastic state of childhood
impressions are easily made and ideas quickly formed either for bet-
ter or for worse. It is easier to favorably impress, or otherwise, the
seeking mind of the child than it is to erase the impressions after
they have been made. It is plainly the duty of the teacher, the Board
and the parents, to influence the rising generation to higher ideals,
higher standards of honesty, higher desires for an education, a great-
er love for beauty and nature so that eventually the ideal American
citizen shall be formed.

It is too often the case that some progressive young teacher with
a large stock of energy and the desire to better her or his pupils,
is held back by an unsympathetic and unresponsive Board or parent.

In many Sections it is necessary to start the planning of the school
grounds by a systematic canvass of the community, and stirring the
public opinion in favor of the betterment of the school. In many
localities the educating of the public is almost as important as that
of the child and is attended by many more difficulties. Even though
the teacher does not think it possible to so stir the minds of the
adults in the community as to immediately obtain the desired funds
and cooperation, he or she should not be deterred from starting the
campaign. There should exist a bond between all rural school teach-
LAND THACHING. 87

ers so that one might continue the well thought out plans of the
other and carry to success a project which should be desired by all
alike,

The expense attendant upon the decorating of the school grounds,
though very little in itself, may deter many Boards from taking hold
of the work as they should. If, however, the one in direct charge
of the school building and its surroundings makes efforts to beautify
and improve them, they will doubtless find that within the course
of a few years some money will be found available for the purchas-
ing of plants and the care of the property. Many localities will not
believe a thing until they see it, and if through the hard work of
the instructor the forbidding and uncongenial grounds surrounding
a district school gradually take on a charactr of beauty and refine-
ment, there will be some neighbor or some member of the Board
sure to notice the change and be willing to start a campaign in
favor of the ‘School Beautiful.” There is assuredly some person in
nearly every neighborhood who understands the influence that trees
and flowers, well kept lawn and gravel paths exert upon the up-coming
generation of youths, who will be able to realize that as the expendi-
tures for the school increase, those for jails, poor-houses, and other
buildings of like character decrease.

There is nothing that so appeals to the developing child as the beauties
of nature. It is the teachers duty to keep children who begin
school with joy and gladness in that condition throughout their
school career, so that they may carry into the world a remembrance
of happy school days and be better men and women for the same,
Likewise, it is also incumbent upon the teacher to so handle the
child who first comes to him or her with fear and dread that such
feelings shall be removed, and the pupil continue in school with joy
and gladness, so that the little fearful youngster may eventually
go out into the world and fill his or her place to the best advan-
tage of the country and community. There is nothing that will
so add to the ease of teaching, to the increase of learning, and the
joy of living as a well planned and beautifully kept school ground and
a comfortable and attractive school house.

THE SCHOOL HOUSE.

Of necessity the school house must be the central object within
the school grounds. Figure 1 shows a type of country school that has
been and is too often met with within our rural district. A more
‘SVM LI SV—~TIOOHOS TVuOAYM ‘T

 

 

 

 
LAND THACHING. 89

forbidding building, a more uncongenial place in which to study and
improve could hardly be picked out. The school house in a great
Measure gauges the prosperity and the intellectuality of the com-
munity, A building in which the windows are broken and dilapi-
dated, the sides of which are open to wind and rain, of which the
floors are full of holes and made of undressed boards, might be a
well ventilated building but could scarcely be considered an up-to-
date school house. One of the first points to be desired in a school
building is simplicity. Avoid all “jim crack” types of architecture
and make the building appear in keeping with the surroundings. If
an opinion upon the subject had to be given it would probably not be
incorrect to state that the school house should be the best building in
the community. The money, however, should not be put into fancy
gables, odd shaped windows, and poorly constructed rooms, but should
be saved and used for good heating, comfortable desks and chairs,
solid tables and good equipment in all lines. It should be expended
to secure good ventilation, to keep the building painted and in good
repair.

Figures 2 and 3 show the types of school houses that we are glad
to say are rapidly taking the place of the former kind. Figure 2 is a
particularly good type of rural school as it is not expensive and is
pretty, being substantially built and serving all the purposes of a
school house. Figure 3 also is a good type though possibly not so
attractive in appearance as Figure 2. In planning the house care
should be taken to give good light to all the recitation rooms, as the
eyes of the children must be protected for they are to be used exten-
sively if an education is to be obtained.

Ventilation is also an important factor. Children can not study
in the heavy atmosphere of a poorly ventilated room; but in
procuring fresh air we must be careful not to make the room too
cool, for though poor work is done in vitiated air poor work is also
done when the room is too cold or too hot.

GENERAL PLAN FOR SCHOOL GROUNDS.

It is too often the case that a rural school is placed in a most
forbidding situation, and the grounds are entirely too small for the
healthly, romping exercise of the growing boys and girls. Baseball
and football cannot be played on a small lot, and school without
sports is almost no school at all. It has often been a riddle why
school houses in the county were not surrounded with ample ground.
It can be understood in the city where land is very valuable and

sec. 4
90 LAND TEACHING.

is sold by the foot, but why the district school should be built in
some old forsaken corner or on top of some cold, drear hill with prac-
tically no ground surrounding it, is hard to understand. Land in the
country is comparatively cheap and no better use can be made of it
than to turn it over to the future farmers for their enjoyment while
they are young.

The rural school teacher always has a great opportunity of plant-
ing and improving the school grounds. It is almost safe to say
that the mere request will obtain for the school sufficient ground for
all purposes. Therefore, let us avoid as far as possible the cramping
of the school ground, but expand them so that there will be room
for both work and play. The school house must of course be the cen-
tral figure. The exact position that it should hold must be determined
by the shape of the lot. Where practical it is advisable to move the
school house as far back from the road as possible, putting most
of the play ground in front, also removing the building from the
dust and dirt of the highway and the children from the distraction of
the ever-passing teams and people. It is also well to separate the yard
into divisions—one for the boys and one for the girls. This may be
done in several ways, either by the use of hedges, walks, strips of
grass, or any other way that would make a good distinguishing
mark, for invariably the boys and girls are slipping back and forth
across the line. The boundary of the school grounds may be well
marked with shrubs, trees or even hedges. The out-buildings should
also be screened with plants. Flowers are not always desirable or
essential in the landscaping of the school. Often they are more of a
detriment than otherwise, but out of the way corners which are little
used or frequented may be turned into flower beds. The walks on the
school grounds should be straight, going directly from one point to
another and should follow the paths made by the pupils going to
and from school or from one frequented point to another on the
scnool ground. Generally speaking, it is not advisable to have too
much planting; too many fancy bushes and trees; too many flowers
around the school that often get in the way and are seriously injured
do not tend to form a love for them in the breast of the boys, but
rather a dislike. In the general planning of the school ground, every-
thing must be done to bring the children to a realization of the beau-
ties and pleasures attendant upon a knowledge of plant life or by
being surrounded with plants. Likewise everything must be avoided
that will tend to raise a dislike or repugnance for nature and her
trees and flowers.
LAND TEACHING. 91

Many have found trouble in making the boys, particularly, of a
school protect and iook after the plants about the building. One can
almost fancy that where such troubles happen there were many plants
in the way of the games and with the placard on them “Do not touch,”
or “Do not pull,’ or that some boys have been punished for accidentally
falling over a sapling and injuring it. Such accidents happen, and
instead of punishment it would be far better to make pupils repair
the damage done, and nurse the plant to health, rather than give them
demerits or make them learn lines of poetry because the plant has
been injured.

The uses, kinds, care and ways for planting of the different mater-
fals that may be used in landscaping of the school will be discussed
in detail under the following heads:

|. TREES.

Around every school house there should be some trees. If you are
unfortunate in having no native forest trees in the school yard it be-
comes necessary to plant them. A great many schools follow the
custom of having an arbor day and numerous trees are set out and
protected by stakes and in other ways. The small trees usually are
fallen over, torn up or broken down during the school year or die
from neglect during the summer, and at the next arbor day they all
have to be replanted. It would be far better instead of planting a
lot of small saplings to plant one or two trees of good size. These
should have good, substantial root systems and be set well into the
ground so that they could take care of themselves and within a few
years begin to lend their shade and beauty to the school grounds.

Mr. J. H. Prost, City Forester of Chicago, gives the following reasons
for planting trees:

“1, Trees are beautiful in form and color, inspiring a constant
appreciation of nature.
“2. Trees enhance the beauty of architecture.

“3. Trees create sentiment, love of country, State, city and home.

“4, Trees have an educational influence upon citizens of all ages,
especially children.

“5, Trees encourage outdoor life.
_ “6. Trees purify the air.
‘SGNQ0UD GHL NO MYOM YOU ACVAU—SI LI SV

 

 

 

 

 
LAND TEACHING. 93

“q. Trees cool the air in summer and radiate warmth in winter.

“8. Trees improve climate, conserve soil and moisture.

“9. Trees furnish resting place and shelter for birds.

“10. Trees increase the value of real estate.

“11. Trees protect the pavement from the heat of the sun.

“12. Trees counteract adverse conditions of city life.”

All of these reasons are not applicable to the rural school but many
of them are, Nos. 3, 4, 5, 9 and 10 especially. As a rule trees should
be grouped instead of planted in rows. It might be preferable to
bound the property with trees, or better yet to plant groups in each
corner of the yard and possibly one or two groups near the building.
Specimen trees, that is, those planted alone, are not very desirable in
the ordinary school yard, but are more often used upon a College
campus and in parks. Be careful in planting trees near the building
not to interfere with the light, but so arrange them that they do
not come in front of the windows, except upon the sunny side of the
building where their shade is desirable. Also in using trees about
the school do not put them in the center of the playground, as they
obstruct the games of baseball, basket ball or football. A large shel-
tering tree, however, in the corner makes a fine place for the spinning
of tops, the shooting of marbles, or the pitching of quoits.

it may be of advantage just here to say something of the evergreens.
A few of these trees judiciously used in the school yard will lend
color during the winter months, but too many of them give a dark,
gloomy appearance to the property that is not advantageous to the
pupils. Some of the best trees for use in our section for planting
around the school are as follows:

KINDS OF TREES RECOMMENDED.

Norway Maple. e226 dee Moe tee sinad 2a arin do emaniey Acer Platanoides
Red Maple ..........+.6. pistes a Geigy i easapavte se se ava sabe atdda here a. rubrum
LOCuUSt. 2 setccewasee ce neds ess mee esa pews os Hanae Robina preudacacia
China-Berny 6 ssccaaiwsad. nse gees on Seas ews o4< Melia Azedarach
Japanese Varnish tree .......... cc cece ee eens Herculia platanfolia
Sweet-gum ...... seaibsrhnselaceSanea Sie seeeees. Liquidambar Styracéflua
White Oak ........ cece c cece reece oe gi fieeses Deeneiteaness seo Quercus alba
Live O&K ...... ccc eee eee eee neces eee eee renee eee eeees Q. Virens
GYCAMOTE 2... cece eee tee eee eteee Platanus occidentalis
Carolina Poplar ....... 0... sees eee cence rene eeee Poplar Carolia
Tulip tree, erroneously called poplar ....... Tiriodendron tulipifesa,
*Large Flowered Magnolia .,...ssseeseeeeeres Magnolia grandiflora\
94 LAND TEACHING.

‘Juniper or Red Cedar .............. seeecese. Juniperus Virginiana
*Deodara ‘Cedar «.sasisccc cnedduauuar ssacicavinaee ovate Cedrus deodara
American: HM ess isa veed sare sd ane oaa cing Bees sete Ulmus Americana
*Evergreen.

These trees, all except the evergreens, should be transplanted during
the fall and winter. It is advisable to take them up with as many
roots as possible and with as large a trunk as can conveniently be
handled. The hole should be dug and some soft dirt, well mixed
with decomposed barn-yard’ litter, should be placed in the bottom.
The tree should then be planted and have the dirt well stamped down
around the roots. The top should be pruned back to correspond with
the loss of root area. Do not fear cutting back the top of a transplanted
tree too much. As a rule it is hard to get people to prune a newly
planted tree sufficiently; they usually leave too many branches upon
{t and it makes a poor and sickly growth the following year.

The care of forest trees is not of great importance. There is noth-
tng much to do to them except to remove limbs that have been
vroken by storms, apply white lead to the splits, cracks and all
injured or broken places in the bark. The tree in the school yard re-
quires very little attention after it has become securely established.
Evergreens should be transplanted just as the new growth is begin-
ning in the spring.. Pruning is also necessary when transplanting them;
however, they are not usually cut back so much as a deciduous tree.
Their after care amounts to very little unless some accident should
happen.

Il. SHRUBS.

Shrubs may be used to great advantage around the school. They are
small, and, therefore, do not cut off the view. They are inexpensive,
grow rapidly and give good effects in a short time. The places in
which they may be used are innumerable. The division line between
tne boys’ and girls’ playground may be formed by clumps of shrubs,
and they should be used to screen out-buildings on the school ground;
they serve a great purpose in bringing the school house, itself, in
contact with the ground; that is, by being planted around the base
of the building. They may be grown under the trees, in the corners
of the yard, may be used to hide unsightly fences, to take the places
of trees where these would be too high, and if desirable the yard may
tbe bounded by shrubs and hedges. Care should be taken not to plant
shrubs where they are apt to be run over or brushed against as they
are small and offer but little resistance to the fierce rush of boys after
LAND THACHING. 95

the football or in some other game. A judicious selection of shrubs
will give a wealth of beauty and bloom from the early spring through
the summer into the fall. These plants are so numerous that it seems
a hopeless task to mention those that should be used. Some of those
that grow to advantage are as follows: Dog-wood, Japanese quince,
Hydrangea, mock-orange, the sumach, elder, the bridswreath, spiraea,
Thunbergs spiraea, Van Houtt’s spiraea, lilacs, Japanese snow-balls,
the various roses, the banana shrub, the gardenia or cape jasmine,
the tea-olive, California privet, Euonymus and others. Some of these
are grown mainly for their flowers, others for their foliage, and some
such as the California privet and the Euonymus are mainly used as
hedge plants. There are numerous others which are evergreen such
as the arbor vitae, biotas, and other coniferous ones, which, however
do not do so well in southern sections, but may be used to advantage
in the northern parts of Dixie land. Shrubs, as a rule, need very little
care and live from year to year. If, however, some of them become
infected with plant lice or insects it may become necessary to spray.
The Japanese quince is quite a host for the San Jose scale, and, there-
fore, in fruit growing sections it might not be advisable to use this
shrub around school houses.

These plants had best be put in groups and not singly. The great-
est use for the shrubs will probably be found as screens around out-
buildings and around the base of the house, and possibly along the
fence. In setting out these plants, it is advisable to have the ground
in fairly good tilth, and where it can be obtained, stable litter can be
worked to in good advantage. The pruning of shrubs at setting out
time is like that of the trees. After that the bushes and the trees are
only pruned to keep them within bounds.

LIST OF SHRUBS.

Dog-wood ..... agabh earlaeect Soo Wuaneito er aasPniatie Roto lapiotal grand elas Cornus Florida
Japanese: QUINCE: sic. sss seeas os Wwe sd cae eee Cydonia Japonica
Hydrangea ........... see id dewu ees Wher nag wear eee Cone Hydrangea
MOCK-OTange 2... ccc c cc ccc cece cee nerecencneces Gig ae -achare Philadelphus
Sumach ..........- Ri ecdieue: es aeayaiere 8 Sauer eS, wit a ae ES a5 Rhus Glabra
BOLQOD « osasececoxs wiatans e-ecatevenes CREE ROR PRS OES Sambucus Canadensis
Bridalwreath Spiraea .........-..06. Nes’ eucb: Svouane seevececscesee Spiraea
Thunbergs Spiraca .........0. cee eeeee a shbiereSereeragdine Sialewia Ur ote . Spiraea
Van Houtt’s Spiraea ............... ph gb abaredh weet: Seis eee «.se.. Spiraea

Lilac ..... SS a Gutasdi sce si usee nae MR Oe Chater eas sears dete Syringa vulgaris
% LAND TEACHING.

Japanese Snow-Ball ............c sec eeeeeees Viburnum Tomentosum
FROSOS #559: cinco So Shei enie eteeiear pee o apera eRe agua tice: Bem rater testers Rosa
*Banana Shrub ............ scadanitraslehadeva Seuane taerearere Magnolia Fuscata
*Gardenia or Cape Jasmine .........-...00065 Gardenia Jasmenoides
*Tea, Olive ivscsseiesencev ewer’ {Kaeeeroudls he a stele Olea fragrans
*California Privet ............ Sea a oe aee Ligastrum Japonicum
*Huonymous ...............- ehacbus: Se ayetiars eavwdnionede Euonymus Japonicus
III—VINES.

There are no other plants which will make a building appear
more a part of the landscape than vines. They cover up unsightly ob-
jects, clothing them with beautiful blooms and shimmering foliage.
If the school house is of brick, stone or concrete, it may be completely
covered with vines; if on the other hand, as most of them are, the
building is of wood there are some few of the deciduous flowering
vines that may be used to advantage.

Nothing so much obliterates the objectionable character of a high
board fence or unsightly object as vines. It is also in good taste
and makes them more a part of the surrounding shrubbery and trees.
As a rule, the care of vines is simple; they may be planted and allowed
to grow as they will, except where they interfere with the windows;
then they should be pruned back. If it should happen that in some
out of the way corner there is a dead or dying stump of unnecessary
height, such an object makes a good support for a vine. Those that
may be used to advantage around the school building are as follows:
Virginia creeper, the trumpet creeper, the wistaria, the ivy, the scup-
pernong and the honeysuckle.

The Virginia creeper, (ampelopsis quinquifolia) is especially well
adapted to stone and brick structures. It also loses its leaves dur-
ing the winter, and in that way cleans out all birds’ nests and other
fitter that accumulates during the growing season. It is a fairly
good grower.

The trumpet creeper (Tuoma radicans), one of our local runners,
may be used to cover fences or stumps and even be trained up by the
side of a wooden house. It has very pretty trumpet shaped flowers
during the season and forms a large pod about the end of the
summer. Incidentally it is a good vine to study botanically as it
has well defined aerial roots.

The wistaria (wistaria frutescens and chinensis) is the king of
*Evergreen.
 

 

 

 

 

3. A CHANCE FOR WORK ON GROUNDS.
98 LAND TEACHING.

our flowering vines for early in the spring it gives a wealth of large
purple blossoms that beautfy the most drear of landscapes, and tell
of the coming of the glories of spring and summer. This vine is
well adapted to the south; both varieties, the white and purple make
2qually good growth. It may be used to advantage over fences,
stumps and all wooden structures, making a most beautiful protec-
tion for the various out-houses around the school grounds. Its foliage
fs also pretty and of a pleasing shade of green.

The ivy (Hedera helix), which is evergreen, is a very slow grower,
and is adapted only to covernig stumps and stone or brick structures.

The scuppernong (Vitis rotundifolia), may be used to advantage
over some of the outhouses or trained along the fences.

The honey-suckle (sonicera japonica and sempervirens), is about

the easiest of any to grow and fills the atmosphere with sweetness
when in bloom. It may be well used along wire fences, over old
stumps, on trees, and even about the house and buildings.

When using vines avoid building a trellis for them and making
them ‘prominent in the landscape; they should not be grown as
specimen plants, but should be used to cover things that are un-
sightly.

IV—FLOWERS.

Flowers are divided into two classes, the perennials and the an-
nuals. As a frule, flowers are not desirable around the school ground
as they are usually in the way. However, if there should be a nook,
corner, or strip along the fence in some out of the way place
where pupijs go little, but which may be seen from some of the
windows of the school house, it may be advisable to plant flowers
there. They should, however, be segregated and not scattered all
over the premises. Where the ball is apt to get into the flower bed
or some boy is likely to fall over a tiny plant and be punished for the
offense which was accidental, there grows a tendency to dislike such
useless objects instead of a love for the beauties of nature. Where a
school garden is cultivated, flowers can be grown to advantage, but
in the genera] landscaping of the school ground it is best to confine
flowers to little frequented spots.

The perennials are those that grow from year to year without
replanting. Among them may be mentioned peonies, phlox, holly-
hock, English daisy, cannas, poppies, violets, lilies, dahlias, narcissus,
and some of the pinks. The perennials may well be banked against
LAND TEACHING. 99

the green of the shrubbery along the back fence or in some like
place.

The annuals, consisting af nasturtiums, sweet peas, bachelor’s
button, sun flower, salvia, morning glory, gourd vines, and numerous
other old-fashioned plants are dear to the heart of the true South-
erner. They always speak of the colonial gardens the only type
of landscape architecture that the South has given to the world, and
which type is so fast disappearing from sunny Dixie.

LIST OF FLOWERS.

Perennials.
PeONY 654 xcecees eed 244 MEO NS BEER CCA SESE awe dae ee awe es (Paeonia
PHIOX? daw ssa isis Share! w SOS RRORS NA See ae A GRE SS Phlox
FVOUYMOCK: wise eracg Sioeasdck Stttes: btu evauenae se baad a Mane aan eeles Althaea rosea
Canna. ceisiecvs wocies % Siaileud Savarcnowroranccum: ERA rayaea vena Gceveniua sents arauens Canna
PODDPICS: sei ieanieecaaniesawseesad, waegegsd cae cet eue as eas Paparer
VIOIOU) iw cravenneieost cas Soc Waa oh Hada b.8 6G GS SR. Lenk a eas BIE Wierecoere Viola
Lilies) scasa ve ivdase dssvewtdawiaed See uyek wade vew Ree eee ee Lilium
GPNOS Gyaed Woe Saw eee Ewe ERNST SD bade a BONS Ob we Ee Dahlia variabilis
INAGRCISSUS 5 6.anauct a acdtnd dies Gee SS. i ekprtasane nd Sao aA one Narcissus
BUNS cease oi peen se eae aya stan Dianthus plumarius and others

Annuals.
Nasturtiums: 5 .ssscss0e0 6255 804508 as o Ytaodewees atewin ae Troparolum
Gweet: Peas’ csw-ss citar heaieeaes sawed het aacacaaae Lathyrus adoratus
Bachelor’s button ........... 0... cee cece ee eee Centanrea cyannus
SUD. “AOWET aaiincnoutletd NAWhs ha ame eae Sraaiguis os Pome Helianthus
GIVI! cts k SOULE A wade Ra ge aainn HAIN Ca uated Glin Gelman detalles Salvia splendens
Morning: Glory. ..ciaecseniwiceaae <eeew av oaaey Fesal aslo ‘,, Ipomoea
Gourd ‘Vines: <asiisesvevsnen tanedewseus ue vege esi weavess Gayenaria

Little need be said concerning the care of flowers for ‘practically
every school teacher is more or less interested in these plants.
They hold in the family of decorative plants much the same position
as the butterfly does among the insects. When a beginner first starts
a cojlection of insects the butterflies make up the greatest portion
of it because their flashing colors and large expanse of beautiful
wings are attractive to the uninitiated: so also, when one begins to
think of improving the grounds, flowers come in immediately for a
large share of attention because they too give color to the landscape,
100 LAND TEACHING.

and the shrubbery and foliage are thought of later as they appeal
to the more educated sense of beauty.

V—LAWNS AND PLAYGROUNDS.

There is quite a diversity of opinion as to the best type of play-
ground for the school; whether it should be of grass, sand or
gravel is a question that has bothered many school improvers. Each
method has its advantages and disadvantages. The lawns will be-
come trodden down by the tramp of many joyful feet, yet it is more
beautiful than the bare playground of sand or cinders. The grass
will become wet and ocasionally the children will have to stay off
of it for days at a time or suffer from colds and wet feet. If a play
ground is of clay and sand it may become muddy, and then the
work of the janitor and the teacher is increased as unthinking feet
track mud into the school room. If it is possible the playground may
be of sand and. gravel, that is probably the best type, especially for
the boys’ yard. These playgrounds, whether of grass or some other
material, must be unobstructed. There must be room in them for
games. They should not be cramped, for the spirits of youth need
space in which to expand. A strip of grass may be grown along the
fence or between the two playgrounds to serve as a dividing line,
and then shrubs may be planted in this grass.

Some parts of the grounds where the boys or girls find enjoyment
in sitting under the trees or lolling about may well be sodded down.
Should the main playground be at the side of the building, then it
might be well to have a lawn in front. On the other hand, should
the playgrcund be in front, the lawn should be placed at the back.
Beaten and trampled down grass is not beautiful; it must be soft
and green and deep and thick to add its full share of beauty to the
landscape. Whether grass should be used at all, or whether it
should compose the main part of the picture depends entirely upon
circumstances. If the children are small and do not seem to enjoy
rough games, it might be well to have the whole yard in a lawn, but
as the pupils iencrase in size and age and the boys become more rough
ana find vent for energy in all kinds of manly sports, the poor grass
stands but little show and it may well be replaced by some hard ma-
terial as sand or gravel.

In making a lawn, we should first be careful to have the surface
smooth. It is considered good policy to cultivate some fertilizer-giving
crop, as peas, vetch or other legume upon the area to be grassed.
 

 

 

 

 

 

IMPROVEMENT POSSIBLE BY SHRUBS OR FLOWERS CLOSE
TO BUILDING.
102 LAND TEACHING.

This crop should then be turned under, and if obtainable, a good coat-
ing of barn-yard litter may be turned under with it. This litter, how-
ever is apt to introduce weeds into the lawn, and if that much dreaded
and deservedly condemned plant, “nut grass,” should get into the
lawn it is very, very hard to eradicate. After the surface has been
well worked, levelled down, and rolled and rolled again, then a spike-
tooth harrow or some other like implement of the farm may be run
across the area to roughen it, and either in the fall or early spring
the grass seed shou.d be sown.

For localities in north middie Georgia and Alabama there seems to
be no finer turf-making grass than the Kentucky Blue Grass, and it
is well to sod the whole lawn to this. A mixture may be used if de
sired, but whatever is put on, do not be skimpey with the seed. If
Blue grass alone is sown, 3 to 4 bushels should be used to the acre.
After the first year, the lawn mower should be kept running; of
course, it is impracticable to mow a school lawn as often as should
be, but lawns that are cut every forty-eight hours are very superior to
those gone over once in a week or two.

Below northern Georgia and Alabama the old reliable Bermuda
grass must be depended upon. After the ground is put in good con-
dition and levelled off, either in the fall or early spring the under-
ground root stocks of Bermuda grass may be planted in rows two
to two and one-half feet apart. If the ground is rich and the season
good, with plenty of water, by the end of the year a fairly good lawn
will have been secured. Bermuda will stand the rought feet, the
tramping and ill uses probably better than any grass we have. It
may be considered a weed in the field, but it is preeminently the lawn
grass of the south. It also should be cut frequently to make it
thicken up and form a good sod. Small areas of lawns, where money
is available, may be sodded; that is, strips of sod taken from some
old pasture: they should be cut about a foot wide and in long
strips, as it is easy to roll them up and pile them on a wagon
and then when laying them, they are easy to unroll again. The
ground where the sod is laid should be roughed up to receive the
roots: the sod should then be placed upon it and thoroughly tamped
down and rolled. When possible, it is well to give it a good
drenching as soon as it is planted. This latter method is more

expensive, but is tae quickest way of getting grass. Where it is
desired to make playgrounds of gravel and sand in many sections
{t is only necessary to grub up the weeds and remove the stumps
LAND THACHING. 103

and you have a fine sand-clay surface that makes an excellent pleas-
ure yard, If it is desirable to work gravel into the surface and
there is a creek near by from which the gravel can be easily pro-
cured, it would be well to roughen up the soil, haul the gravel upon
it, and thorougu.y scatter it then roll it in. For the average school
probably the most’serviceable and cheapest playground is the one
of sand and clay, the natural surface of the earth.

VI—GENERAL CARE OF GROUNDS.

Before planting a tree or shrub, it would be well for the teacher
to draw a plan on paper. This plan should be handed down from
teacher to teacher, so that even though the teaching force of the
school was changed frequently, the plan would remain and eventually
be worked out. All can not be done at one time. It is a process of
evolution, and every teacher should start the wheel to rolling and
let each succeeding one give it another push in the desired direction
Finally all the school yards in our sunny land would be beautified
with roses, wrapped with the purple and white of wistaria, and
be sweet with the odors of many flowering shrubs and beautiful
Puants peculiar to our climate and southern homes.

After the plan is made and we are working to its ultimate com-
pletion, we will find that the plants which are first set out will
need more or less care, and it is well to select those for planting
around the school that are hard and tough. The trees should be
kept free from nails, horse shoes, broken limbs and other objec-
tionable objects. If a storm of sleet should come along and break

the topmost boughs, tney should be cut out, and where the wound
is more than two inches in diameter a coat of good white lead paint.
should be applied to protect it from fungi and insects. In pruning
or cutting a tree do not leave long unsightly stumps but cut the
branches as close to the trunk as possible, and in a few years the
wound will be unnoticed. Should a stub be left, it decays and finally
eats to the heart of the plant and kills it.

The Shrubs need only to have the long objectionable branches cut :
‘away, or should they grow too tall, it may become necessary to
ee prune them back within bounds, especially those around the house: -

: otherwise their care is small unless it becomes necessary to make
a light application of chemical fertilizer or a mulch of barn- -yard lit-
ter now and then. 3

_ The Vines need only slight pruning to keep them also within ‘the -

~~ destred bounds. ~ '
    
       
     

 

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LAND TEAOHING. si 105

Flowers, ‘especially the perennials, should be mulched with barn-
yard litter ee fall to feed and protect them from the cold of
winter. Many of these die down to the ground and the old rotted
remains should be removed and burned. They will come up again
in the spring after the ground has been worked around them, and
flower, lending their beauty to the landscape. The annuals have to be
planted every year. Many of them are small growing plants, pro-
ducing most beautiful blooms. The flower beds should be well fer-
tilized and if the plants appear not to be doing well, a small
application of quckly available food, as nitrate of soda, or some chem-
ical fertilizer may be made. This should be worked into the ground
with a hand rake or small hoe. Flower beds, of course, will need
weeding and it is strange how many papers, letters and old exercises
will collect in these beds and under the shrubs. These, of necessity,
will have to be picked up, removed and destroyed. Where pupils
take pride in their school and surroundings the trash is reduced to
a minimum, but where the rules prohibit the throwing of paper and
the like upon the ground, it is strange how much material will
collect under the bushes. z

‘We must control the pupils, we must improve the school through
the love of the child, we must appeal to his pride and his love of
nature. We can not force cleanliness and enjoyment of natural
beauties upon. The best care of the school property lies in producing
the correct attitude in the pupils toward the school.

The lawns should be frequently cut and where possible watered at
least once a week. If they become yellow and seem to be doing poorly,
then light applications of nitrate of soda should be made, and if they
are so large that they can not be watered, we will have to wait for
the rains to carry down the food, but if they should be small and
water is available for applications, after the nitrate of soda is
applied, water may be given. This, however, will seldom apply to
any except city schools, as in the country we have to depend upon
nature for our water supply. The greatest care of the grounds
lies in keeping them clean. This may often be done by the janitor,
but when it is possible it should be done by the pupils, for if they
prevent or lessen the making of trash there will be but little to
clean up.

The planting of the annuals may be done by classes or individuals.
This, however, often brings up class and individual troubles, as in
competition, the success of one and failure of another breeds bad
blood among pupils as well as between men in after life,
106 LAND TEACHING.

To handle a district school well and through the use of plants
and natural objects to give an interest in surroundings, to educate
unresponsive children up to the enjoyment of the beauties of nature
is not any easy thing to do. Yet, if all things in life were easy, there
would be no use in living, and the teacher who can decorate the school
grounds and protect tnem through the love of the child is doing a
great deal towards the production of good citizens and men, who
at some future time must bear the responsibilities of a greater
America.

Let us hope that the future rural schools of this great country
of ours will be beautified through the use of the natural and native
trees, shrubs and flowers that grow at the very door-yards for the
asking. They need only to be taken from the woodland surroundings
and used to beautify the buildings in which are being produced the
future American men and women.
ParT VI.
HORTICULTURAL PRACTICE,

CUTTINGS.

Let us first consider the conditions necessary for the growth
of cuttings. Having no roots, a cutting can take in but little mois-
ture from the soil; nevertheless evaporation continues from its sur-
face. In order, then, to start growth, the loss of water must be re-
duced to a minimum until the roots have taken hold of the soil. This
reduction of evaporation brings up a discussion of climate. Warm,
moist atmospheres reduce the loss of water from cuttings and make
rooting an easy affair. In tropical climates many plants can be
raised from cuttings which we would be unable to propagate by that
method in this latitude. The necessary conditons for success from
cuttings may be summed up as follows: Have an abundance of
water; the ground warmer than the surrounding atmosphere and a
relatively cool temperature of the air.

Deciduous hardwood cuttings should be allowed to mature on the
plant; they should be taken during the dormant season and generally
the best wood is that of last season’s growth. With herbaceous
plants immature or growing parts are often used. The wood used
should be neither too old nor too young, too large nor too small.
Large pieces have, usually, too much distance between the joints
and those too small are apt to be immature. Cuts from the lower
end of the branch usually root better than those from near the tip.
Lateral branches are preferred to those near the top of the plant;
often, however, the lower laterals are too large. A good length for a
cutting is from six to nine inches; the greater the number of nodes
on the cut the better the chances of success; two nodes with one
internode will, though, often root without trouble.

In taking cuttings from herbaceous plants, that is, taking immature
parts the leaves must be redced in size by cutting them in two or
108 LAND TEACHING.

removing most of them; it is not a good plan to remove all the
leaves; simply reduce the number and size.

Hardwood cuttings may be taken any time after the plant becomes
dormant. It is probably best to make them before the severe cold
weather comes on; they can then be bound in bundles and buried,
butt uppermost; after that it does not matter how cold it gets; the
cuttings callous over at the butt and are in good shape to be planted
next spring. In cutting, however, the lower end should be square
and the cut should be made just below a bud; the top may be cut on
a slant and allowed to extend some distance above the node. If
made as above recommended it is an easy matter to distinguish be-
tween the top and bottom of the cutting at planting time.

For cuttings easily rooted any soil. except a stiff clay, will serve
the purpose, but for those that are hard to root, as the conifers and
herbaceous plants, a good clean sand is desirable and in many in-
stances a necessity. Where cuttings are long they had best be
planted on a slant; short ones may be put in straight, but taking it
all in all the slant method is probably the best. With some kinds
it is essential to have bottom heat. This may be secured by the use
of a hot-bed where green-houses are not to be had. Where cuttings
are set on a large scale in the field they should be from four inches
to a foot apart in the row and the rows far enough apart to allow
cultivation with a cultivator.

Plants commonly propagated by cuttings are as follows: Willows,
figs, grapes, LeConte pears, Carolina poplars, pomegranates, etc. The
cuttings from the above are usually easily rooted and may be set in
the open or put out where the tree is desired to grow.

Herbaceous plants, as carnations, tomatoes, fuchsia, coleus, geran-
1ums, etc., are also propagated by cuttings, but are harder to root
than the hardwood ones mentioned first and are usually put out in
green-houses devoted entirely to the business of propagation.

Besides cuttings of mature and growing parts above ground there
are some plants propagated by root cuttings, Here are the approved
methods for propagating citrus fruits.

Orange—Named varieties are budded.

Lemon—Named kinds usually budded. but may be grown from
cuttings set in open field. The ponderosa lemon is usually grown
from cuttings.

Lime—Seeds, and some are budded.

Grapefruit—Seeds; may be budded upon orange or grapefruit stock.

Kumquat—Worked on orange stocks.
 

ae cuthing be Grape. = Grape Malle Jorm., D- Rose cutting one nfernode,,

—

EwF~ Herbaceows Oates Ss
110 LAND TEACHING.
PRUNING.

Pruning is one of the six main orchard practices; the others are
tillage, fertilizing, spraying, harvesting and marketing. Without pay-
ing close attention to all of these the orchard is apt to become an
unprofitable investment. Tillage provides the general care of the
soil and the conservation of the moisture; fertilization pertains to
the food of the plants; spraying takes care of the diseases affecting
the plants and fruits; harvesting pertains to the picking and packing,
while upon marketing depends the profit or loss for the year. Prun-
ing is that practice which removes surplus wood opens up the
tree to the tight, decreases the bearing area, thereby preventing a
great deal of thinning in spring, and removes all dead or otherwise
objectionable limbs. We might here stretch a point and call thin-
ning a division of pruning, for after all, taking off surplus fruit is
nothing more nor less than pruning.

Why Prune—The best answer would probably be to give the reasons
for and the effects of taking out wood. (a) Pruning is done to
remove all crossing or otherwise interfering wood besides all dead
and undesirable branches as those affected with blight of the apple
or pear, black knot of the plum, or curl leaf of the peach. (b) By
pruning some thinning is accomplished and the trees are prevented
from bearing too heavy a load of fruit. (c) Too luxuriant a growth
is checked by cutting out the wood and heading back the tree; check-
fng growth induces fruitfulness, therefore pruning induces fruitful-
ness. (d) By opening up the head of the tree more sunlight is
made available for coloring the fruit and holding diseases and pests
in check; thinning out the top also gives a freer circulation of air,
which is desirable in an orchard. (e) In the South trees are pruned
and headed low to keep them within easy access of the pickers
and to protect them from the heat of the sun. (f) Fruits on a pruned
tree are usually larger than those on an unpruned one.

When Prune—It depends largely upon the plants to be worked with
and the object of the pruning. Generally the best season is after
the leaves have fallen and before the seeds begin to swell in the
spring; just before or just after Christmas is probably the best time,
though peaches and apples may be pruned later in the year than
grapes. It is not advisable to prune grapes much after the first
of February; the scuppernong and other rotundifolias should be
pruned before Christmas, as they bleed profusely and if pruned later
are apt to suffer materially. Summer pruning is advocated by some;
\

LAND TEACHING. 1

trees making an excessive growth may be pruned in the summer as
the plant suffers considerably through the loss of its leaves and its
growth will be greatly checked. Also, if one is cutting out blight
it had ‘best be done in the summer while it is easily perceptibl.e.

WW ip

[ —_——

Peach Tree Un prone AL Same rPrewened

How Prune—Remove all branches that cross or will at some future
time interfere with one another; take out a!l surplus wood, water
sprouts or suckers; dead, injured or badly diseased limbs, and in
peaches cut back from a half to a third of the past season’s growth;
it is not advisable to cut back apples so severely. With grapes, cut
pack the past season’s growth, leaving: spurs with some three or four
buds on them; the number of spurs left is determined by the type of
training and the number of bearing canes desired the following sea-
son. With the small fruits thin out all the canes that are old or dead,
leaving only those that will produce fruit the following summer.

In pruning old trees, or trees that have been left alone for several
years, be ‘careful not to take too much wood off the first time, as too
heavy a cutting causes a severe shock which injures the tree. The
size of the tree and the time it has been allowed to grow “ad libitum”
wil] determine the time necessaryto get it into shape. If the tree
is large and has not been pruned in several years from a third to a

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LAND TEACHING. 113

half of the desired wood should be removed the first season till the
desired amount oas been taken out; it may take some three or four
years to get the tree into good shape. It is well to remember that
Rome was not built in a day, nor can an old tree be put back into
shape in one season. Time and stick-to-it-iveness will work won-
ders in an old orchard and continual care will keep a young one in
good condition.
GRAFTING AND BUDDING.

There is always great interest taken in the process of budding
and grafting, especially by those who are unfamiliar with plant
growth. They seem to think it one of the most wonderful things
in the world that two pieces of wood will unite and form a plant.
When the nature of plants is understood, there is really nothing
more simple than grafting. It is possible for any one to perform
the work successfully.

Grafting is simply the placing of a scion on, or into a stock so that
a union is formed and thus the desired plant is propagated. Dr. L.
H. Bailey divides the uses of grafting into three parts:

1—To Derpetuate a variety.

2 To increase the ease and speed of multiplication.

3.—To produce some radical change in the scion or stock.

A definition or two may not be amiss; the scion is the vebetative
part; it is to bring forth the variety that we wish to perpetuate.
The stock is the portion which furnishes the root and nourishment
for the plant.

To be a good grafter and make a success of the business, it is ab-
solutely necessary to know something of the botany of the subject.
The great point in grafting is to have the cambium of the stock in
direct touch with the cambium of the scion. Unless this is the case,
no union will take place and the time spent making the graft is
tnrown away. The cambium is the growing part of the tree;
on its inner side it forms wood and on the outer it makes
bark. The new cell formation takes place between the wood
and bark. We also know that when a tree is injured it throws
out a new tissue called a callus. This callus is the healing tissue
of the tree as the scab is the healing tissue in man. Therefore, if
you bring two wounded surfaces together they grow fast and, if the
cambiums are touching, a connection is formed so that food can be
taken up to the leaves and returned again to the roots.

Though grafting is a simple thing, there are some limits to it.
114 LAND TEACHING.

A‘l trees and plants will not unite; there must be some similarity
between them before they will grow together.

(1) Plants of different varieties and of the same species always
unite. This means that an apple scion can be grafted onto an apple
stock and will take or form a union.

(2) Plants of different species but of the same genera almost al-
ways unite. That is, a peach can be grafted onto a plum and Will
usually take.

(3) Plants of different genera but of the same plant family,
sometimes unite. This latter type of union is very seldom seen.

Let us now consider the three uses of grafting. First, to perpetuate
a variety: It is well known that seed will not come true, so when we
find a plant we wish very much to continue we have to do so by
buds, as we can pretty well depend upon the bud producing the kind
of plant that it was taken from. Second, to increase ease and speed
of multiplicaton: We can graft a new variety into the top of an old
tree and find out what kind of fruit it is going to produce long before
it would bear fruit on its own stock, Third, to produce some
radical change in the scion or stock: dwarf trees are obtained by
grafting a rapidly growing scion into a slow growing stock, thus the
scion is prevented from attaining its normal height. Stocks resistant
to a given disease are used in sections where such troubles are prev-
alent. In many other ways adaptabilities and modifications may be
secured by a judicious use of scion and stock.

There are three kinds of grafting: (1) Budding; (2) Scion grafting,
and (3) Inarching or approach grafting. The latter is simply bringing
two trees or twigs together. wounding them and tying the wounds one
to the other. After a union has taken place, the top is cut away from
the one desired for the stock and the stock cut away from the one
wished for the scion and the graft is complete. This is th kind of graft-
ing that is seen in the woods and is sometimes called a natural graft.

Budding is the inserting of a single bud into a stock, and after the
bud has grown the original top is cut away and the bud allowed to
form the top of the stock. Reference to the illustration will show
how the bud is cut and how the work is done. There are two kinds,
annular or ring-budding and T-budding. In the first, a ring of bark is
cut out with the bud and the whole ring put onto the stock. In the
T-budding a cut like a T is made on the stock and a bud with a bit of
bark adhering to . is inserted and then tied in. Budding is done
either in the fall or spring. The latter is called June budding with
us.
Seren,

Stock

 

 

 

/

Whip and Tongue Sil oe
"amp Spee Grape Cleft Graft

 

 

 

GRAFTING, BUDDING AND CUTTINGS.
116 LAND TEAOHING.

Scion grafting is divided into four parts: (1) Root grafting, when
the scion is put into the root; (2) Crown grafting, when the scion is
inserted at the crown of the plant; (3) Stem grafting, when the
scion is inserted into the stem of the plant; that is, between the crown
and the place where the limbs come out ,and (4) Top grafting, when
tne scion is put into the limbs of the tree. The methods of uniting
the stock and scion are numerous, but those mainly used are the Whip
eraft, the Splice and the Cleft, all three of which are figured in the
illustration. The first two mentioned are used extensively in root
grafting, while the latter is mostly used for top working or top
grafting.

Scions should be cut while trees are dormant and before severe
freezing; they should be kept in moist sand in a cool place, and
if root grafts are made, they should also be kept in sand until they
have calloused over, then planted out in the open. Bud sticks are
usually taken just about the time the budding is done and budding can
be done at any time the bark will slip easily. Grafting is usually
done during the dormant season, the scions being taken from last
year’s growth. At the time of grafting they are cut in lengths of
four or more inches, there being from four to six buds on a scion. A
scion with a termina: bud on it usually has the terminal cut off in
order to induce a lateral growth. Bud sticks are also takea from the
young growth; that is, the youngest growth on the tree at the time of
cutting the sticks.

There is another use of grafting that often comes in handy. It is
Bridge grafting. Often a tree is injured or girdled by mice or rab-
bits and it is possible to save it by bridging over the injured portions
with scions sharpened at both ends and slipped under the bark of the
stock. These scions make it possible for the sap to flow both ways
in the tree and in a few years will have completely cured it of the in-
jury. When grafts are made out of doors they should be covered with
grafting wax to protect them until the union is made. All cions
should be tied securely into the stock before the wax is put on.

There is no reason why one peach tree should not have several
kinds of peaches on it, or why there should not be a rose bush in the
yard that bears pink, red, white and yellow roses. Try grafting a little
while and after some practice you will be able to get a good union
most of the time.
ParT VII.
CROP PEST DIRECTORY,

Crop pests are chiefly of two kinds:
1. Insect Pests.—Preparations for their destruction are known as
“Insecticides.”
2. Fungus Diseases.—Preparations for their destruction are known
as “Fungicides.”
INSECTS.

1. Biting Insects, (or Chewing Insects) which bodily devour vege-
table tissue, subsisting largely on the foliage of plants. As they
take the food material into their stomachs they may be readily
destroyed by violent poisons, as the arsenites. To this class belong
the Colorado potato beetle, most caterpillars, and in general, all
leaf eating insects.

For them Paris green is the principal remedy, applied in liquid
form by means of a spray pump, through the nose of a watering pot,
or sprinkled with a broom, in the proportion of one ounce to ten
gallons of water, or five ounces to the barrel of fifty gallons.
When used on orchard trees, and especially on peaches, whose foli-
age is very sensitive, it should be reduced to four ounces and three
ounces respectively.

in the dry form it may be mixed with thirty times its bulk of flour
or lime, and, in default of a dust sprayer or blow-gun, dust on the
plants in early morning, while the dew is on, through a meal sifter or
a perforated can of any sort.

2. Sucking Insects. They have a sucking apparatus which they
insert into the soft vegetable tissue and extract the sap. To this
class belong all scale insects, plant lice and the “true” bugs, such as
the pumpkin or squash bug, the harlequin cabbage bug, etc.

These insects cannot be reached through their stomachs. They
must be destroyed through external applications. Kerosene, (pref-
erably as an emulsion,) is found to stop their breathing pores and in-
118 LAND TEACHING.

stantly smother them, and in the past has been the chief weapon

against these insects. Whale oil soap, though not so effective, is pref-
erable whenever it can be substituted.

2. FUNGUS DISEASES.

Fungoid and bacterial affections are more numerous and wide-
spread than insect pests, and usually more insidious. Effective rem-
edies, while many, may, for all practical purposes be reduced to one:
Bordeaux Mixture. This, if a fungus is capable of control, will
generally prove more effective than any other fungicide. It may be
superceded, when it is desirable not to stain the fruit, by Ammoniacal
Carbonate of Copper. (Formula 10.)

Which Use?

The two necessary insecticides are Paris Greeen for all Chewing
Insects, and Kerosene or its substitutes for Sucking Insects,—with
the Lime Sulphur Wash for Scales. Additional or auxiliary prepa-
rations will be notea under the head of “Insecticides” in the next
division.

The one universal Fungicide is Bordeaux Mixture, reinforced by
Ammoniacal Copper Carbonate. Additional or auxiliary preparations
are enumerated under head of “Fungicides.”

‘The Lime Sulphur Wash is of almost equal value as Insecticide
and Fungicide.

There are, of course, other minor materials and preparations,
many of them; but, fortified by Bordeaux Mixture, and Paris green
in the same preparation, for all Fungi and Chewing Insects, and
with Kerosene or its substitutes, for sucking insects, and with Lime
Sulphur Wash for Scales, the grower may confidently bid defiance to
nearly every plant malady.

The fight is thus greatly simplified. The horticulturist need not
attempt to identify the particular agency from which he is suffering
injury. He may take it for granted that he is going to be attacked
by both classes of insects,—Chewers and Suckers,—and that one or
more, probably a varied assortment, or fungous affections will every
season pay him their respects.

Therefore, forewarned is forearmed. He prepares his ammunition
for the battle in che shape of a plentiful supply of Bordeaux with
which he mixes five ounces of Paris green to every barrel of fifty
gallons and sprays regularly, knowing that thereby he protects him-
LAND TEACHING. 119

self from ail kinds of Fungi and Chewing Insects that may chance to
visit him.

The Sucking Insects are more readily discoverable. On the appear-
ance of aphids, (or plant lice), squash bugs, or any other form, he
has his. Kerosene Emulsion, (or Whale Oil Soap), with which to
meet them. In the case of those pests which cannot be fought with
kerosene or. whale oil, on account of damage to the edibility or market
value of the product, he must rely on Tobacco Infusion, Pyrethrum
Decoction or Tobacco Pyrethrum Tea.

The chief remedy for Scale is Lime Sulphur Wash. A preparation
o1 soluble oil known as “Scalacide” is now recognized as a very effec-
tive spray for San Jose Scale. It is thoroughly effective and particu-
larly convenient.

FORMULAS.
1. Insecticides.

1. Parls Green,—Applied Dry:
Paris Green, 8 ounces
Flour, (or Lime), 15 pounds.
Sprayed:
Paris Green, 5 ounces
Lime, 6 pounds
Water, 50 gallons.
With Bordeaux:
Paris Green, 5 ounces
Bordeaux Mixture, 50 gallons.

For the Colorado Potato Beetle, Foliage Destroying Caterpillars,
and all Chewing Insects. May be applied every ten days, or oftener
if necessary. For orcnard spraying in general, use four ounces to
fifty gallons, instead of five ounces, and with peaches three ounces.
Paris Green costs about twenty cents a pound retail. It is a violent
poison; handle with care. Paragrene and Disparene are two other
arsenites that are reliable and may be substituted in same proportion.

London purple is inferior to either, dangerous to foliage and is not
recommended.

2. Arsenical Bran Mash.

White Arsenic, one ounce, or Paris green, one pound; syrup, two
quarts; bran fifty to seven-five pounds. Thin the syrup with water,
then mix well with the other materials and add enough more water
120 LAND TEACHING.

to make a wet but not sloppy mash; two or four pounds of dissolved
sugar may be usea instead of the syrup.

For grasshoppers, cut-worms and crickets. Scatter mash where
grasshoppers are abundant, and for cut worms put a teaspoonful near
the base of each plant. If on the first night after plowing the field
the bait is scattered and left for two or three days, the cut-worms,
waving nothing else to feed on, will come to the surface, devour it,
and be practically exterminated before the crop is planted. Scattered
upon the cabbages it is good to destroy the cabbage worm. Wire
worms may be poisoned to some extent by putting Paris green or
White Arsenic on slices of Irish potato, or some similar vegetable,
and using for a bait.

3. Kerosene Emulsion:

Kerosene, 1 quart

Whale Oil Soap, or other good hard soap, as Babbitt’s, Ivory, or
Glory, % pound.

Rainwater, or water known to be soft, 1 gallon.

Shave soap, dissolve it in the water, heat to almost boiling and then
add the kerosene and churn through a cheap force pump until emul-
sified. Dilute with two and a half gallons of water, making one part
kerosene to fourteeen parts of water. This produces about a seven
per cent. mixture. Diluting with two gallons water about eight per
cent. is obtained; nine per cent. with one and a half gallons, about
eleven per cent. with one gallon, and some fifteen per cent. with two
quarts. This is sufficiently strong for most purposes. Yet it is well
to begin with the standard seven per cent. till its effects on foliage
has been personally observed.

Mechanical Mixture.—Temporarily emulfisied by the Kero-Water
sprayer. A lever regulates the per cent. of kerosene admitted to the
nozzle. As the delivery, however, is not always exact, the Emulsion
is decidedly preferable. Kero-Water Sprayers, indeed, if used at all,
should be carefully watched.

Kerosene may be used for all Sucking Insects, Plant Lice, the softer
Scales, Squash Bugs, etc., where the edibility of the product is not
affected by the kerosene.

4. Whale Oil Soap:

Whale Oil Soap, 1 pound
Water, 6 gallons

Dissolve and spray for aphids on foliage in summer, or concentrate
to one pound to three gallons water for wash for the softer scales in
winter.
LAND TEACHING. 121

5. Tobacco Infusion:
Tobacco Stems, 1 pound
Boiling water, 4 gallons

Cool and strain. For Plant Lice, Flea Beetles, etc.

6...Pyrethrum Decoction:
Pyrethrum powder, 1 ounce
Water, (warm), 2 gallons

Dry application:

Mix one part, (by weight), of Pyrethrum with four parts of flour.
Keep closed twenty-four hours before dusting, that the flour may be
permeated by the essential oil of the Pyrethrum.

7. Tobacco Pyrethrum Tea:

Tobacco Stems, % pound,
Pyrethrum powder, %4 ounces
Boiling water, 1 gallon

For obdurate cases of Plant Lice on young apple trees. Dip the af-
fected branches in the tea.

2. Fungicides.

8. Bordeaux Mixture.
Copper Sulphate,, (bluestone), 4 pounds,
Quick Lime, 6 pounds
Water, 50 gallons
Dissolve the bluestone in two gallons hot water; strain through the
copper sieve of the sprayer or through a gunny sack into a fifty gal-
lon barrel. Slake the lime slowly in a wooden bucket and when
ebullition is over dilute to a thick whitewash. Strain slowly into the
bluestone in the barrel, stirring thoroughly. Fill the barrel with
water. Always stir well before filling the sprayer. The cost of this
mixture is less than one cent per gallon. For the first spraying
before the buds swell, the lime may be omitted, and a simple blue-
Btone solution prepared.
In case the mixture is not to be immediately used, it is well to. make
a stock solution, in separate barrels, of both bluestone and lime, one
pound of each to the gallon of water. A gallon of either mixture
will thus represent one pound of bluestone and one pound of lime,
respectively, and the two may be readily combined in any desired
proportion.
For application to peach foliage, (for brown rot, leaf curls, etc.,}
a 3- 9-50 mixture, (three pounds bluestone, nine pounds lime, and fifty
gallons water), must be used instead of the normal 4-6-50 formula.
122 LAND TEACHING.

reach foliage is extremely sensitive. When Paris green is combined
with the Bordeaux it should not be stirred in until just before spray-
ing.
9. Ammoniacal Copper Carbonate:
Copper Carbonate, 6 ounces
Aqua Ammonia, (strong, 26 degrees), 2 quarts,
Water, 50 gauons
Make a paste of the copper carbonate with water, dilute the am-
monia with one and a half gallons water and stir in the paste until
thoroughly dissolved, making two gallons stock solution. Keep the
stock solution in a glass vessel stopped with glass or rubber, and on
using dilute each quart with six gallons water.
Use whenever the Bordeaux stain would prove objectionable.
10. Formaldehyde (Formalin):
One pint to thirty gallons water.
for potato scab, and for purposes of general disinfection.
‘the tubers should be suspended in a gunny sack and immersed
fn a barrel of the liquid for two hours before cutting and planting.
When used for Smut in grain dilute to one pint to fifty galons water.

11. Corrosive Sublimate, (Mercuric Bichloride):
Corrosive Sublimate, 2 ounces
Water, 30 gailons
For Potato Scab. Soak as directed with Formalin, but for three
instead of two hours. This is a.violent poison, internally, and great
care should be exercised in its use.

12. Lime Sulphur Wash:
Lime, (unslaked), 21 pounds
Sulphur, (flowers of), 18 pounds
Water, 50 gallons
Make a paste of the sulphur and stir same into fifteen gallons of
boiling water. Add the lime and stir thoroughly while slaking. Botl
violently for thirty-five or forty minutes, or until the mixture is a
yellowish-green color. Dilute, before the boiling closes, to fifty gallons
For winter application for San Jose scale and also an effective fun-
gicide for Plum Pocket, Leaf Curl, Black Knot, etc. The original
Lime-Sulphur-Salt compound has now been almost entirely superceded
by the foregoing, which proves equally effective and more economical.
13. Hellebore:
White Hellebore, 2 ounces.
Water, 10 gallons.
LAND TEACHING. 123

This may be dusted in powdered form. For Chewing Insects on
cauliflower, or where ever it is not desired to risk the arsenites. Not
so effective as the latter, but harmless.

14. Carbon Bi-Sulphide:

One teaspoonful to each cubic foot of bin space. For all weevils
and insects attacking stored grains and seeds. Expose in open saucers
or pour down gas pipes into piled grain.

This is a volatile liquid, whose fumes are heavier than air. When
mixed with air the fumes are very explosive, and no fire of any kind
should be brought near them. For fumigating a building containing
growing plants, not more than one pint to one thousand cubic feet
of space should be used. To destroy weevils in grain in tight bins,
used about one pound to a ton of grain, or the liquid can be poured
directly on the grain. If bins are somewhat open cover with a
blanket. Fumigate from twenty-four to thirty hours, after which the
bins should be thoroughly aired. No live stock should be left in a
building which is being fumigated.

Ants nests may be destroyed by pouring the liquid into holes made
oy thrusting a sharpened stick into the top of the nests to the depth
of ten or twelve inches, Close the holes and cover for an hour with
a wet blanket. Sometimes the holes are made to a greater depth, and
the operator, standing at some distance, lights gas with a flame at
end of a pole. The explosion drives the gas into the furthermost paits
of the nest.
APPENDIX.
TABLE I.

Vitality and Germination of Seed.

The first column gives the average time required for germin-
ation by the Stockbridge method of testing.*

average time for germination in the field.

The second the

The third gives the

vitality of seed or age after which it is not good.

 

 

NAME,

Days
in
Tester

Days Years
in of
Field Liie

 

Beets ss,000c0scersec go neey gaseye
BIQGETASS <54 5 ced eieas isa nadasde
Buckwheat: 2.00666 setae saeeee aes
CaDDage: iistes wiecgeaiepdgene: camedigar ds sare
Carrot, ves ieee cs Sewers dee ess vaio

Corn (PICIG): ssa i ccwwsd sccm ewe
Corn (Sweet) .........cccseweeee
Cotton aioe es sic es 4 aie os Homey eS
CUCUMDETS): é wsu6.8 oo 6 secs ts eee
WSS PLAN np shelsvecd Secqecedeaaunnadesa mowers
BUIAX, ce cotre sie Ses earw cde meaner sacs spananaeeoaes
CODY JRADL, Gpeisvless apitig:'s: sxersbaueis. sais wandav’s
LOUNGE sckesceuyndi eaves snwvena
Melon (Musuy .02.45s¢208.e5hues
Melon (Water) ..............+--
MALICE yoo ssinicieca saree chav enccaee Sacarara fe

ODIONS: 2. sida dawns ome aaa

PODDCES: spsiiese te lay sheeieiere setters GavaeaNs, 6
PUM DEIN: 6 ese i se wished so ianery Me wie
Radish s4cev5s sw oeswew ves Pewee
TVG. cniigs bend baGee Gs eae eee
SDIDACH: 65s ioe 52. sitsn ebb Sym enacese cece ee
SQUASH. iisiso' o's eis irecronie tn aun ee
Timothy sei. seks esa eee hee es
TODACCO saves Hate sss 506 See usine es

\e RGAE cscs eee ieee graiiarei Weneeie ee 7

*Put piece of board in shallow basin of water.

 

 

WWANAAMROWNANOUMNAMNONNAPR RP PP ER ONO CIP POOR POO. Cob

 

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ra

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OU im COVES OF im bo 69 om 0D £9 69 89 DO OTD MH OI CV ON ON OT > © OO DY BY OT 00 BH OTD Bo &

AANNKEOWOUANINAATMONWH OO

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A? SO7 00 Hw COM AIC TIO HW CIOAOA)

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40
Cover with cotton

cloth so that edges hang in water. Lay 100 counted seeds on cleth and
cover with second cloth. Count sprouted seeds.
LAND TEACHING. 125

TABLE Il.

QUANTITY OF SEED REQUIRED.
Seeds Necessary to Produce a Given Number of Plants or Sow a
Given Amount of Ground.
Quantity per Acre.

Artichoke ........... 1 oz to 500 plants .................... % Ib.
Asparagus .... ...... 1 oz. to 200 plants ..............606. 5 Ibs.
Beans, dwarf ........ 1 quart to 150 ft. of drill ....... 14% bushels.
Beans, pole .......... 1 quart to 200 hills ................ % bushel
Beet, garden ......... 1 oz. to 200 feet of drill .............. 10 Ibs.
Beet, mangel ......... 1 oz. to 150 feet of drill .......... 6 bushels.
Cabbage ........ ....1 02. to 3,000 plants ............ snigiclialaie 4 oz.
Carrots’ svsiess eseev an 1 oz. to 250 feet of drill ............ 2% Ibs.
Cauliflower ....... ..1 oz. to 3,000 plants .................. 5 oz.
Celery ........... ...1 0z. to 10,000 plants ................ 4 02.
Collards ........ gowatl, 02: tO" - 2,500! Plants: suck sowcnenies oats 6 oz.
Corn, sweet .......... 1 quart to 500 hills .............. 8 quarts.
CreS8)) sscscae ccna acs 1 oz. to 150 feet of drill .............. 8 Ibs.
Cucumbers ...... ... ~1 oz. to 80 hills 22... ce. eee ee 1% Ibs.
Egg Plants .......... 1 oz. to 1,500 plants ................... 4 OZ.
Endive .... .. .. .. ..1 02. to 300 feet of drill ............ .. 3 Ibs.
Gourd). wsces wctawces 1 oz. to 25 hills ................ 234 bushels.
Garlic, bulbs ......... 1 lb. to 19 feet of drill ................... 2 bu
Kal@r ok icc calanoid 7 oz. to 3,000 plants ................ 6 oz.
Kohl-Rabi ...... ...... 1 oz. to 200 feet of drill .............. 14% Ibs.
eek jSigiis cca. secon’ 1 oz. to 250 feet of drill .............. 4 Ibs.
Lettuce: vce Swe woes 1 oz. to 250 feet of drill ............. ... 38 Ibs,
Melon, musk ......... 102: to: 100 BINS sues sc enseawes eaeewees 1% Ibs.
Melons, water ........ 102; to 25 hills. vacccncadiwsin aed ees 1* lbs.
Nasturtium ..... ..... 1 oz. to 50 feet of drill .............. 10 Ibs.
ORT” sii cues ....1 oz. to 50 feet of drill .............. 10 Ibs.
Onion Seed .......... 1 oz. to 200 feet of drill .............. 4 lbs.
Onion Seed .......... LOW SCES: chistes dine Bose vee awe es ara 60 Ibs.
Onion Seed .......... 1 quart to 20 feet of drill ...... -... 8 bushels.
Onion Sets ........... 1 oz. to 250 feet of drill ..... ...... 5 bushels.
Parsnips ............. for transplanting ................... 2% Ibs.
Parsley 2.228045; aceon 1 oz. to 250 feet of drill ............ . 8 lbs.

Peas, garden ........ -1 quart to 160 feet of drill ........ 1* bushel.
126 LAND TEACHING.

Peas, field or cow peas Broadcasted ....... si loreustseaieeraeel “Sates 2 bushels.
PEDDeGD’ 1s.ganaisess susie 1: (CZ. 00.1500) Diages: gaseous sour sew 4 oz.
Potatoes, sweet and InSb ............ 00.0000 Beit PEROT: 9 bushels.
Radish ............ ..1 02. to 150 feet of drill ................ 8 Ibs.
Spinach ........ giwleiand a 1 oz. to 150 feet of drill ............ 10 Ibs
Summer Savory .... .. 1 oz. to 500 feet of drill .................. 2 Ibs
Squash, summer .. ... 1 02: to: 40 BINS! ho seis eeaa teRaiews 2 lbs.
TOMAtO ce ciewseeeie os 1 oz, to 250 feet of drill ................ 1* Ibs.
"PUPDID: sinae escapes Suave’ 1 0z to 2,000 plants ................. aweay 4:02.
TABLE lil.

USUAL DISTANCES FOR PLANTING VEGETABLES.
Asparagus ......Kows 8 to 4 ft. apart, 1 to 2 ft. apart in row.
Beans, bush ... 2 to 3 ft. apart, 1 ft. apart in rows.

“ pole; ssavex 3 to 4 ft. each way.
Beet, early ..... in drills 12 to 18 in. apart
Cabbage, early ..In drills 2 to 3 ft. apart.

“late .......16 x 28 in. to 18 x 30 in.

late..... 2x3 ft. to 2% x 3% ft.
Carrot ........-.- in drills 1 to 2 ft. apart
Cauliflower ..... 2x2ft .to2x 3 ft.
Celery .isessees hiows 3 to 4 ft. apart, 6 to 9 in. in raw
Corn, sweet ..... a x2 i
Cucumber ...... + to 5 ft. each way.
Heg-Plant ...... -1 x 1% or 2 ft.
Lettuce ......... Drills 14 to 18 inches,

Melon, musk.....4 to 6 ft. each way.
ss water ..10 to 12 feet each way.
Onion .......... In drills 18 in.

Parsnip ....... . in drills, early kinds, usually in double rows, 6 to 9 in.
Peas se sv sxe ... In drills, 1 ft. apart, late, in single rows, 1to3 ft. apart.
Pepper ......... 15 to 18 in x 2 to 2¥ ft.

Potato ......... .10 to 18 in. x 2% to 3% ft.

Pumpkin ....... 8 to 10 feet each way.

Radish ........ in drilis, 10 to 18 in. apart.

Rhubarb ........ 2 to 4 ft. x 4 ft.

Salsify ...... ...In drills, 1%4 to 2 ft. apart.

Spinach ........(n drills, 12 to 18 in. apart.
Squash ......... 3 to 6 ft. x 4 ft.
Sweet Potato .. 2 ft. x 3 ft, to 4 ft.
LAND TEACHING. 127

~-fomato ........ 4 ft. x 4 to 5 ft.
PUPP: ccs eveseseve In drills, 1 % to 2% ft. apart.
TABLE 'IV.
-NUMBER OF PLANTS OR TREES TO THE ACRE AT GIVEN
DISTANCES.
Distance Apart Number of Plants.

TB BOOP asiaintn eet Ae Sea Ma Haas Hae RA aan S anew 74,240
Te POOts Kids lsc dget ena sed ene Radlls's a1G aga rants Amierataes Joie 43,560
116 feet ces ciuaceecesi wade oaaweew eae Saree + eaw ee ea eN saa me 19,360
$2: TOG. ia vvce tease oid a aan Headed Satan rasda ceo SNe Sue Ciudad eee 10,890
Ba LOCC M30 atiees sci farcseasuesisn ca castaionse co uistrenree tong ioe ey eueitei Bk. Sua een alreua sere, aulae es 6.969
8 LEU: DYE POOC os. scian Skaeinre de sv ated Od aaa eee ee Oe RE 14,520
2 feet by: TWO LCU s.08 cian ose ome bo Se ees mee VaR W ee 7,260
6 feet: by 3: feet: s ssececisveuvens suse reed ease eine seed Hane gaas 4,840
A LOGE YT OO secs. fea Sree caveges desis wcanauheused onsa G-Suauatatce.y, Guatbee yp) © la varaucuie Bszeana ane 10,888
4. feet Dy 2 LOCC -s. ae ccinoia gary aaewe wa nye ce adean ssa eas on 5,444
4 feet by 3 feet ......... itive Sek deans usa laeitens Si BON SE LOO 3,629
4 feet. by 4 feet ics cise ee ee ease daeg aoa sme yeu Shee Le Mae 2,722
5. feet: by 5 feet vscsvvs vtec asdnny s oss aoe ts Meee eek wee Fas Kes 1,742
Gi SHO OE: seca eicego-s etsasiies Rasasansagcdis Gk selena a vee Saeah x wea Mestdaenecmneus leaks gree Bbbie 1,210
A TOC =, cia sheet do wcemiaten Sek blneys Guise enaand Wek areiie ered wena Cee 889
8 feet cscs ates cineca k mae ean new Hered ak weeds So ere aaa 680
9 ‘feet nace cianmae es snes wse howe S 4 eonewe-s atone Cae teee da dae e 435
10 feet. scagvcssnewxessa iio BARRIS ES ORR SOS WIRES Waa Gard SEE ander 435
LE ICE aS his. id anne dee asin oes hae eae Massa es QUAL ames Mines 360
1D  L6CC aruevs stan sieaarr neds sande tigaaetGiesa ceeaenaa ae 302
15 -LCCb es sensuous soa eres ees ge eaten g's Babee Ves Hee ns ceases 193
18 feet ssiceesvesssienies ceancee ees qimies See sia wee eae ve 134
20 TOEt. ess ec etans eae PS Hees BS Heads BARS Ca aeis Be ae 108
25 feet ......... iia ooueatirasiS-s avopiauae otevawusihere Fantvvalnrds Gi ana cincrsteas 69
.80 feet ...... A bpanadele rat atoyae a talents Sateen 55 a Graevaiiees siaeeeiess Wiig ca treastense bse 49

TABLE V.
FRUIT TREES.

...Distances Apart. Time Required to Bear Frult, and Longevity...
Apples...... ..30 to 40 ft.each way 3 years. Good crop

1-year. Good crop
Apples, dwarf. 10 ft. each way ... in about 10 years .... 25-40 yrs.
Blackberry ...4x7to6x8ft. ..... in 2 to 3 years. ...... 8-12 yro.
‘Currant.......4 x 5 ft. ......... . 1 year. Good crop in

216 3 YEATS 2c ceca ccc 20 yrs.
128 LAND TEACHING.

Gooseberry ..4 x 5 ft. ......... - 1 year. Good crop in

2 to 3 years. .......... 20 yrs.
Orange, Lemon 20 x 30 ft. each way 2 to 8 years. Good

crop 2 to 3 yrs later. .50 or more

POAC . pees 16 to 20 ft.each way . 2 years. Good crop in

FGETS. 65s diene va eeen's 8-12 yrs.
POAlS «psuwiwe 20 to 30ft.each way 3or4years. Fair crop

in 6-12 years. ........ 50-75 yrs.
Persimmon ...20 to 25ft.each way _ 1 to 3 yrs. .......... 25 to 40 yrs.
Plum ....... .16 to20 ft.each way . 3 yrs. Good crop in 5

to 6 years. .......... 20-25 yrs.
Raspberry ...3 x 6 ft. ........... 1 year. Good crop in

2 to 3 years. ........ 8-12 yrs.

‘cawberry ..1 x 8 or 4 ft...... 1 yr. Heaviest crop
usually in 2 yrs. ........... 3 yr
LAND TEACHING.

TABLE Vi.
Average Weight of Fertilizing Constituents In 1,000 Pounds of
Garden Crops.

129

 

ONE THOUSAND POUNDS CONTAINS:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MARKETABLE Mouiy 4 seein
ie Nitrogen, | Ammonia | Phos. acu” | Potash,
lbs. Ibs. :
Asparagus ....... | 2.9 3.52 0.8 2.9
BOGUS) ssi sscssdcavevane | 2.4 2.91 0.9 4.4
Cabbages ........ | 3.8 4.61 1.1 4.3
Caulitiower ...... j 1.3 1.58 1.6 3.6
Cucumbers ...... | 1.6 1.94 1.2 2.4
Levuce .......... | 2.3 2.79 0.7 3.7
Onions .......... | 1.4 1.70 0.4 1.0
Potatoes, Irisu ... | 2.1 2.55 0.7 2.9
‘Tomatoes ........ | 1.6 1.94 0.5 2.7
Turnips ......... | 1.8 2.19 1.0 3.9
|
Compare with—
Wheat (grain) .. 23.6 28.7 8.90 6.10
Corn (grain) ...| 18.2 22.1 7.00 4.00
TABLE VII.
Average Percentages of Constituents for Fertilizers for Garden
Crops.
CONTAINING:
CROP. x \ Available
Nitrogen Ammonia Pe kee Potash
I
Beans, Snap .......... 2.47 3 7 7
Beets: js vac teats sieaicaree 4.94 6 5 8
Cabbages .............. 4.94 6 5 7
Cauliflower ............ 4.94 6 5 q
COlOly’ io cctedcitaiesee 5.77 “4 5 8
Cucumber ............. 4.94 6 5 7
Wee Plate. ¢..cekssn ecw 4,12 5 6 q
Lettuce ................ 4.94 6 5 8
Mwe1ons, Musk .......... 4.94 6 5 7
Melons, Water ......... 4.94 6 5 7
ONIONS « .cesewioveved. 4.12 5 5 8
POAS! eituad eros Gia cea eee re 2.47 3 7 7
Potatoes, Irish ......... 4.94 6 q 8
Potatoes, Sweet ........ 2.47 3 7 8
Radishes ........ rete ahs 4.12 5 7 8
Spinach, : .secs cess ais 4.12 5 8 6
Tomatoes .............. 4.12 5 6 7
Turnips ............... 4.12 5 7 8
Beans, wima ........... | 2.47 3 qT q

 

 

 
13 130 LAND TEACHING.

TABLE VIII.

Average Percentage Composition of Fertilizinv Ingredients.

 

 

 

 

CONTAINING:
INGREDIENTS Nitro-| or Am-| Phos-
gen. |monia_ | phoric |P°t-
‘Acid. } 25h
FURNISHING NITROGEN PRINCIPALLY:
Sulphate of Ammonia, 98 per cent...| 20. 24, alate, | cases
Nitrate of Soda, 97 per cent. ....... 16. 19. % wi
Dried Blood: s26%5 sae x ccweslas saunas < 13:. 16. Ba [epee
PIS “SCLAD,. 6: siesc deasicardg certo barked vec aveoveun 8.2 10. 8.7 |...
WADKA ZC: dissects eyeneie:. sieeve wialevaia weg we 7.4 9. ALT lasses
Cotton Seed Meal ...............04. bs 8.50 2.57) 1.8
FURNISHING POTASH PRINCIPALLY:
KAD cccisaerel.s eavecaiai’, sexarjansvess Genucuddaars oie cause a: anes 2 ayoce)| armmeloars oll settee «(12.5
SVTVIDIG 5c di oivw-vierpaisiond 2 ercrwaiovag sibrarete:|arelecwogie tereinose atoll casemate s snes
Sulphate of Potash, High Grade
(96 ‘per Cents) ac.2 ss sagescvcems «le sccwelea ss ol ds cinee ¥ 52.
Sulphate of Potash, Magnesia ......]......}......0[.e2 eee sues
(Double Manure Salt) ............e] cee cele e ee cele eens 27.
Murlate Of Potash ccc sisisjeiccg see e scsi one chats [geese sete] seers > 50.
Wood Ashes (Hard Wood, Unleached)|......]....... 2. 5.
Cotton Seed Hull Ashes ........... | |2eates | ene eer 9. |23.
Tobacco Stems .............e eee eee 1.5 1.80 - 75) 5.
FURNISHING PHOSPHORIC ACID
PRINCIPALLY:
Acid Phosphate: os. c0cc:c se asic cca saceias Pew ves se 10-14*|....
Disolveud Bone ............ 2 cee ee eleeeees 2. 142% ccc
Bone: Meal (cs sa0-s secs eeeiacee tas] eee. 4. 23.5 [ee ce
Bone: Black: *s issu tea sons ewes yee de euees se |Seesiss 28° [ews
Bone ASh  2sisewerveswiaves nee coe we|saaces ceivasll BOS
Dissolved Bone Black .............|...... wig es wa 16.*

 

 

 

 

 

* Available Phosphoric Acid.
+ Contains 4 per cent. Available Phosphoric Acid.
t Contains about 10 per cent. Available Phosphoric Acid@
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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