The Practical Garden-Book Part 8

Use a porous soil for Camellias, with considerable leaf-mold.

CAMPANULA. BELL FLOWER. But one of the Campanulas commonly listed by seedsmen is an annual,--_C. macrostyla_, a clean-leaved plant, growing 2 feet high, spreading over the ground, and bearing a profusion of large, violet, bell-shaped flowers. The Canterbury Bell is the best known. It is biennial, but if started early and transplanted will bloom the first season. The perennial Campanulas are most excellent for borders. _C.

Carpatica_ is particularly good for edgings.

CANARY BIRD FLOWER. See _Nasturtium_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Candytuft]

CANDYTUFT. Well known sweet-scented hardy annuals, in red, purple, and white; easy of culture and fine for cutting. One of the best of edging plants for the front row. The plants grow from 6 in. to 1 ft. tall. Sow seeds where the plants are to grow, letting plants stand 6-12 in. apart.

They do not last the entire season, and successive sowings may well be made. There are also perennial kinds.

CANNA is now the favorite bedding plant. The improvements made in the past ten years, in size and markings of the flowers, have created a liking for the plant. The tropical effect of a large bed of Cannas, either mixed or of one color, is not surpa.s.sed by any other plant used for bedding purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Canna]

The Canna may be grown from seed and had in bloom the first year by sowing in February or March, in boxes or pots placed in hotbeds or warmhouse, first soaking the seeds in warm water for a short time.

Attention to transplanting as needed and removal to the ground only when it is well warmed are the necessary requirements. The majority of Cannas, however, are grown from pieces of the roots (rhizomes), each piece having a bud. The roots may be divided at any time in the winter, and if early flowers and foliage are wanted the pieces may be planted in a hotbed or warmhouse in early April, started into growth and planted out where wanted as soon as the ground has warmed and all danger of frost is over. A hardening of the plants, by leaving the sash off the hotbeds, or setting the plants in shallow boxes and placing the boxes in a sheltered position through May, not forgetting a liberal supply of water, will fit the plants to take kindly to the final planting out.

After frost has injured the tops, the roots may be dug, choosing, if possible, a dry day. The soil is shaken off and the roots stored in a warm, dry place through the winter. If the cellar is too dry the roots are liable to shrivel, in which case it would be best to cover them with soil or sand, filling in around the roots to exclude the drying air.

Cannas grow 3 to 7 ft. high. For dense ma.s.s effects, plant 12-18 in.

apart. For individual plants, or for best bloom, give more room. Fine clumps may be had by planting out the entire old root, not dividing it.

Cannas want a rich, warm soil and a sunny place. They are very easy to grow.

CANTERBURY BELL is a _Campanula_.

CARBONATE OF COPPER. See _Bordeaux Mixture_.

CARDIOSPERMUM. See _Balloon Vine_.

CARNATIONS are of two types, the outdoor or garden varieties, and the indoor or forcing kinds. Normally, the Carnation is a hardy perennial, but the garden kinds, or Marguerites, are usually treated as annuals.

The forcing kinds are flowered but once, new plants being grown each year from cuttings.

Marguerite Carnations bloom the year the seed is sown, and with a slight protection will bloom freely the second year. They make attractive house plants if potted in the fall. The seeds of these Carnations should be sown in boxes in March and the young plants set out as early as possible, pinching out the center of the plant to make them branch freely. Give the same s.p.a.ce as for garden pinks.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Carnation]

The winter-flowering Carnations have become prime favorites with all flower lovers, and a collection of winter house plants seems incomplete without them. Carnations grow readily from cuttings made of the suckers that form around the base of the stem, the side shoots of the flowering stem, or the main shoots before they show flower buds. The cuttings from the base make the best plants in most cases. These cuttings may be taken from a plant at any time through the fall or winter, rooted in sand and potted up, to be held in pots until the planting out time in the spring, usually in April, or any time when the ground is ready to handle. Care should be taken to pinch out the tops of young plants while growing in the pot, and later while in the ground, causing them to grow stocky and send out new growths along the stem. The young plants should be grown cool, a temperature of 45 suiting them well. Attention should be given to spraying the cuttings each day while in the house to keep down the red spider, which is very partial to the Carnation. In the summer, the plants are grown in the field, and not in pots. The soil in which they are to be planted should be moderately rich and loose. Clean cultivation should be given throughout the summer. Frequently pinch out the tops.

The plants are taken up in September and potted firmly, and well watered; then set in a cool, partially shaded situation until root growth has started, spraying the foliage often, and watering the plant only as it shows need of water.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Carnation cutting]

The usual living-room conditions as to moisture and heat are not such as the Carnation demands, and care must be taken to overcome the dryness by spraying the foliage and setting the plant in a position not exposed to the direct heat of a stove or the sun. In commercial houses, it is not often necessary to spray established plants. Pick off most or all of the side buds, in order to add to the size of the leading flowers. After all is said, it is probably advisable in most cases to purchase the plants when in bloom from a florist, and after blooming either throw them away or store them for planting in the spring, when they will bloom throughout the summer.

CARPET BEDDING. See _Bedding_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Early Carrots]

CARROT, while essentially a farm crop in this country, is nevertheless a most acceptable garden vegetable. It is hardy and easily grown. The extra-early varieties may be forced in a hotbed, or seed may be sown as soon as the ground is fit to work in the spring. The stump-rooted, or half-long varieties, are sown for the general garden crop. Well enriched, mellow loam, deeply dug or plowed, is best suited to the requirements of Carrots. The seed for the main crop may be sown as late as July 1. Sow thickly, thinning to 3-4 in. in the row. The rows, if in a garden that is hand-worked, may be 12 in. apart. If the cultivation is done by a horse, the rows should be from 2 to 3 ft. apart. One ounce will sow 100 feet of drill.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Castor Bean]

CASTOR OIL PLANT. In the entire list of quick-growing plants there is none that excels this for rapidity of growth, grace of foliage and rich effect. Used either as a specimen plant, with cannas, caladiums, or for a tropical bed, or as a screen, it gives the most satisfactory results.

Seeds sown early in the house, and the plants grown in the full light, make fine, stocky plants to set out about the middle of May. With rich soil and plenty of water, they will grow without a check until frost.

Height, 5-12 ft. For screens, plant 3-4 ft. apart. There are varieties with differing shades of foliage.

CAULIFLOWER. The general culture of Cauliflower is much like that of cabbage, except that the Cauliflower, being more tender, should be more thoroughly hardened off before setting out. Still, it is essential that the plants be set out as early as possible, as the warm weather of June causes them to make imperfect heads unless the soil is filled with moisture. No garden crop will as well repay the cost and time of thorough irrigation, either by running the water between the rows or applying it directly to the plants. When it is impossible to furnish water, it would be a good plan to mulch heavily with straw or some other substance. This mulch, if put on just after a heavy rain, will hold the moisture for a long time. When the heads begin to form the outside leaves may be brought together and tied above the head, excluding the direct suns.h.i.+ne and keeping the head white and tender. No vegetable will respond more quickly to good culture and well manured soil than the Cauliflower, and none will prove such an utter failure when neglected.

It is imperative that care be taken to destroy all the cabbage worms before the leaves are tied in, as after that it will be impossible to see or reach them. Cauliflower prospers best in moist soil and a cool climate. From 1,000 to 1,500 plants may be grown from 1 ounce of seed.

Good Cauliflower seed is very expensive.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Cauliflower]

For winter crop, seeds may be started in June or July, as for late cabbage.

Erfurt, s...o...b..ll and Paris are popular early varieties. Nonpareil and Algiers are good late kinds.

CELERIAC, or TURNIP-ROOTED CELERY. This tuber has the celery flavor in a p.r.o.nounced degree, and is used for flavoring soups and for celery salad.

It may be served raw, sliced in vinegar and oil, or boiled. The culture is the same as given for celery, except that no earthing or blanching is required. About an equal number of plants are obtained from the same weight of seed as from celery seed. Celeriac is extensively used abroad, but, unfortunately, is little grown in America.

CELERY has become one of the favorite relish and salad vegetables, and is now very generally grown. The self-blanching varieties have simplified the culture so that the amateur, as well as the expert, may have a supply through at least six months of the year. The so-called new culture, which consists of setting the plants close together and causing them to shade each other, can be recommended for the garden when a supply of well rotted manure is to be had, and when any amount of water is available. This method is as follows: Fork or spade into the soil a large quant.i.ty of manure to the depth of 10-12 in., pulverize the soil until the ground for the depth of 4-6 in. is in very fine condition.

Then set the plants in rows 10 in. apart and the plants but 5 or 6 in.

apart in the rows. It will be seen that plants set as close as this will soon fill the soil with a ma.s.s of roots and must have large amounts of plant-food, as well as a large quant.i.ty of water; and the making of such a bed can be recommended only to those who can supply these needs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Celery]

The common practice in home gardens is to plow or dig a shallow trench, setting the plants in the bottom and hoeing in the soil as the plants grow. The distance apart of the rows and plants will depend on the varieties. For the dwarf varieties, such as White Plume, Golden Self-blanching and others of that type, the rows may be as close as 3 ft. and the plants 6 in. in the rows. For the large-growing varieties, as Kalamazoo, Giant Pascal and, in fact, most of the late varieties, the rows may be from 4 to 5 ft. apart and the plants 7 or 8 in. in the row.

The seed for an early crop should be sown in February or early in March in shallow boxes, which may be placed in a hotbed or sunny window, or sown directly in the soil of a hotbed. Cover the seeds thinly and press the soil firmly over them. When the seedling plants are about one inch high they should be transplanted to other boxes or hotbeds, setting the plants 1 in. apart in rows 3 in. apart. At this transplanting, as with the following ones, the tall leaves should be cut or pinched off, leaving only the upright growth, as with the utmost care it is almost impossible to prevent the outside leafstalks from wilting down and dying. The roots of the plants should also be trimmed back at each transplanting in order to increase the feeding roots. The plants should be set as deep as possible, care being taken, however, not to allow the heart of the plant to be covered up. The varieties usually grown for an early crop are the so-called self-blanching varieties. They may be made fit for the table with much less labor than the late crop, the shade required to blanch the stalks being much less. When only a few short rows are grown in a private garden, screens of lath may be made by driving stakes on each side of the row and tacking lath on, leaving s.p.a.ces of an inch or more for the light to enter; or each head may be wrapped in paper, or a tile drain pipe may be set over the plant. In fact, any material that will exclude the light will render the stalks white and brittle.

The seed for the main or fall crop should be sown in April or early May in a seed bed prepared by forking fine, well rotted manure into a fine soil, sowing the seed thinly in rows 8 or 10 in. apart, covering the seed lightly and firming over the seed with the feet, hoe or back of a spade. This seed bed should be kept moist at all times until the seed germinates, either by close attention to watering or by a lath screen.

The use of a piece of cloth laid directly on the soil, and the bed wet through the cloth, is often recommended, and if the cloth is always wet and taken off the bed as soon as the seed sprouts it can be used. After the young plants have grown to the height of 1 or 2 in. they must be thinned out, leaving the plants so that they do not touch each other, and transplanting those thinned--if wanted--to other ground prepared in the same manner as the seed bed. All these plants may be sheared or cut back to induce stockiness.

If in a private garden, the ground on which the fall crop is usually set will likely be land from which a crop of some early vegetable has been taken. This land should be again well enriched with fine, well rotted manure, to which may be added a liberal amount of wood ashes. If the manure or ashes are not easily obtained, a small amount may be used by plowing or digging out a furrow 8 or 12 in. deep, scattering the manure and ashes in the bottom of the trench and filling it up almost level with the surface. The plants should be set about the middle of July, preferably just before a rain. The plant bed should have a thorough soaking shortly before the plants are lifted, and each plant be trimmed, both top and root, before setting. The plants should be set from 5 to 6 in. apart in the rows and the earth well firmed around each one.

The after-cultivation consists in thorough tillage until the time of "handling" or earthing up the plants. This process of handling is accomplished by drawing up the earth with one hand while holding the plant with the other, packing the soil well around the stalks. This process may be continued until only the leaves are to be seen. For the private grower, it is much easier to blanch the Celery with boards or paper, or if the Celery is not wanted until winter, the plants may be dug up, packed closely in boxes, covering the roots with soil, and placed in a dark, cool cellar, where the stalks will blanch themselves.

In this manner Celery may be stored in boxes in the house cellar. Put earth in the bottom of a deep box, and plant the Celery in it. An ounce of seed will furnish about three thousand plants.