Part 17
SEEDS of most plants should be kept dry and also rather cool. It is always better to rely upon fresh seeds. Test them in boxes in the house, if possible, before planting them in the open. If beans, peas, corn or other Seeds become buggy, pour a little bisulfide of carbon (very inflammable) into them. The material will not injure the Seeds even if poured on them. It soon evaporates. A teaspoonful will kill the insects in four quarts of Seeds, if the receptacle is tight.
Most tree Seeds should be kept moist until planted. They are usually buried or kept in sand.
SENSITIVE PLANT (_Mimosa_). This curious plant is often grown for the amusement it affords by its habit of closing its leaves and dropping the leaf-stalk whenever the plant is touched. Seed should be sown in heat early in the season, and the plants grown in pots or a protected border. The seed is sold by all seedsmen. The plant grows readily in a temperature suited to beans. It will not stand frost. The young plants are usually the most sensitive.
SHADE TREES. The best Shade Trees are usually those which are native to the particular region, since they are hardy and adapted to the soil and other conditions. Elms, maples, basswoods, and the like, are nearly always reliable. In regions in which there are serious insect enemies or fungous diseases, the trees which are most likely to be attacked may be omitted. For instance, in parts of the East the elm leaf beetle is a very serious pest; and it is a good plan in such places to plant other trees than elms. Amongst the best exotic trees for shade in the northern parts of the country are the Norway maple, European lindens, horse chestnut, and the European species of elm. Trees for shade should ordinarily be given sufficient room that they may develop into full size and symmetrical heads. The trees may be planted as close as 10 or 15 feet apart for temporary effect; but as soon as they begin to crowd they should be thinned.
SHELTER-BELTS. See _Windbreak_.
SHRUBBERY. Shrubs have two kinds of values or uses: first, they are useful for their own sakes or as individual specimens; and second, for use in the making of foliage masses or groups. Ordinarily they are used only for the former purpose in home grounds; but their greatest use is, nevertheless, in heavy masses about the borders of the place or in the angles of the building. That is to say, they should contribute to the general design of the place or to its pictorial effect. If they are planted in Shrubberies or masses, the flowers are still as interesting and as showy as they are when the bushes are planted alone. In fact, the flowers usually show to better advantage, since they have a heavy background of foliage. In the Shrubbery mass the bushes are more easily cared for than when they are scattered as single specimens over the lawn. The single specimen which is irregular, or ragged, or untidy, is an undesirable object; but such a specimen may contribute an indispensable part to the border mass. In the border they do not need the attention to pruning that they do in the lawn. The main part of the Shrubbery mass should be made of the stronger, larger growing and coarser Shrubs; and the more delicate ones, or those with highly colored leaves or showy flowers, may be placed near the inner edge of the plantation. Shrubs which are valued chiefly for their flowers or showy foliage, as, for example, the _Hydrangea paniculata_, may be planted just in front of a bold Shrubbery mass, so that they will have a background to show off their beauties. Further directions for the lay-out of the grounds will be found under the articles _Lawns_ and _Borders_.
It is ordinarily best to plow or spade the entire area in which the Shrubs are to be set. For a year or two the ground should be tilled between the Shrubs, either by horse tools or by hoes and rakes. If the place looks bare, seeds of quick-growing flowers may be scattered about the edges of the mass. The larger Shrubs, like lilacs and syringas, may be set about 4 feet apart; but the smaller ones should be set about, 2 feet apart if it is desired to secure an immediate effect. If after a few years the mass becomes too crowded, some of the specimens may be removed. Throw the Shrubs into an irregular plantation, not in rows, and make the inner edge of the mass more or less undulating and broken. It is a good practice to mulch the plantation each fall with light manure, leaf-mold or other material. Even though the Shrubs are perfectly hardy, this mulch greatly improves the land and promotes growth. After the Shrub borders have become two or three years old, the drifting leaves of fall will be caught therein and will be held as a mulch. It is often advisable not to remove these leaves, but to allow them to remain year after year, where they make a fine covering of leaf-mold. When the Shrubs are first planted, they are headed back one-half or more; but after they are established they are not to be pruned, but allowed to take their own way, and after a few years the outermost ones will droop and meet the greensward.
Good Shrubs are numerous. Some of the best are those to be found in woods and along roadsides. They are hardy. Of Shrubs which are generally adaptable for the North, the following are excellent:
Barberries. Box. Burning Bush, or Euonymus. Bush Honeysuckles. Bush Willows. Caryopteris, blooming in August and September. Cotoneasters. Desmodiums, or Lespedezas, blooming in fall. Dwarf Sumac. _Rhus copallina._ Elders. Native species are excellent. Exochorda, with profuse white bloom in spring. Flowering Almond. Flowering Crabs. Flowering Currants. Forsythias, or Golden Bells. Fringe Tree, or Chionanthus. Hawthorns. Hydrangeas. Indian Currant. _Symphoricarpos vulgaris._ Japanese Quince. Kerria, or Corchorus. Lilacs. Mock Orange, or Philadelphus. New Jersey Tea, or Ceanothus. Osiers, or Dogwoods. Privet. Rose Acacia. Roses (see _Roses_). Smoke Tree. Snowballs. The Japanese is preferable. Snowberry. _Symphoricarpos racemosus._ Spireas of many kinds. Viburnums of many kinds. Weigelas. White Alder. _Clethra alnifolia._ Witch Hazel. Blooms on the eve of winter. Xanthoceras sorbifolia.
SILENE, or CATCHFLY. Some of the Silenes are hardy annuals of very easy culture. Sow seeds where the plants are to stand; or, if early results are desired, seeds may be started in boxes. The plants thrive in any garden soil, even if it is not very rich. Colors red, or sometimes running to white. One foot. Let plants stand 6 to 10 inches apart.
SMILAX of the florists is closely allied to asparagus. While it cannot be recommended for house culture, the ease with which it may be grown and the uses to which the festoons of leaves may be put, entitle it to a place in the conservatory or greenhouse. Seed sown in pots or boxes in January or February, the plants shifted as needed until planted on the bench in August, will grow fine strings of green by the holidays. The plants should be set on low benches, giving as much room as possible overhead. Green-colored strings should be used for the vines to climb on, the vines frequently syringed to keep down the red spider, which is very destructive to this plant, and liquid manure given as the vines grow. The soil should contain a good proportion of sand and be enriched with well-rotted manure. After the first strings are cut, a second growth fully as good as the first may be had by cleaning up the plants and top-dressing the soil with rotted manure. Slightly shading the house through August will add to the color of the leaves. The odor from a vine of Smilax thickly covered with the small flowers is very agreeable.
SNAPDRAGON, or ANTIRRHINUM. An old garden favorite, flowering freely through a long season. The dwarf strain is well adapted for bedding or borders. Any light soil, well enriched with rotted manure, will grow Snapdragons to perfection. Distinct varieties should be propagated by cuttings, as they do not come true from seed. Sow seed early in the spring.
Although bloom may be obtained the first year, late sown plants sometimes persist over winter and bloom early in the spring. Snapdragons make good window plants.
SNOWDROP (_Galanthus_). This is one of the earliest flowers of spring, always welcome. It should be planted in the edge of the border. The bulbs may be planted in October in any good border soil and left undisturbed for years; or they may be potted at that time, and after forming roots be gently forced into bloom in winter.
SNOWFLAKE (_Leucoium_). Culture same as for _Snowdrop_.
SODDING. In general, the best way to secure a lawn is by the sowing of seed (see _Lawn_), since it is the least expensive way. For small areas, and along the sides of walks and drives, sods may be used. The results are quicker. Unless the sod is of the right kind, however, and very carefully laid, the results are not so good as with seed.
The sod which is best adapted to the Sodding of lawns is that which comes from an old, closely grazed pasture. Sod from a sheep pasture is supposed to be best. Such sod has been so closely grazed that it has made a very dense mat of roots, and all the weeds have been destroyed. The droppings of the animals also make the ground rich. The sod should be cut in very thin strips. It should not be more than an inch and one-half or two inches in thickness. If it is thicker than that, it is heavy and bulky to handle, and is not so easily laid. Ordinarily, the sod is cut in strips ten inches or a foot wide. A board is laid on the sod and the strip is cut along either side of it with a sod cutter or a sharp spade. Two men then roll up the sod. One stands on the strip of sod with his face toward the man who, with the spade, cuts it loose beneath. As it is cut loose, the man on the strip rolls the sod so that the upper surface is on the inside of the roll. Strips longer than ten or twelve feet make rolls which are too heavy to handle with ease.
The soil upon which the sod is to be placed should be very loose, so that the sod, can be pounded down firmly. Some heavy pounder should be used, as a block of wood. It is usually impossible to pound down sod with the back of a spade sufficiently firm unless the soil is very loose. The sod should be pounded until the top is about level with the surrounding soil. This insures contact with the soil beneath, so that there are no air spaces and no likelihood of drying out. Sod pounded down as firmly as this should grow very readily. If a sod edging is laid along walks and drives, it should be pounded down an inch or more lower than the surrounding loose land which is seeded, because the loose land will finally settle; otherwise the sod border is likely to be higher than adjacent land after a year or two.
If there are uneven places on the sodded area, these depressions can be filled in with very loose, fine soil; and the grass will grow through it. In dry weather, a sodded area may be mulched with a half inch of fine loam to protect it.
SOILS. Soils are of many kinds. The classification of soils depends upon one's point of view. Gardeners ordinarily call a good, friable, dark-colored, rich Soil a garden loam. No Soil is so good that it cannot be improved. It is improved in two general ways: by tilling (see _Tillage_), and by the application of various substances.
In considering the improvement of lands by the application of foreign substances, two distinct things are to be considered: the improvement of the physical texture, or tilth, of the Soil; the increasing of its plant-food. These are coordinate objects. In some cases one may be of prime importance, and in another case the other may be more necessary. Lands which have a fair store of available plant-food may be unproductive. Such lands may be very greatly benefited by stable manure, even though that manure may have lost a large part of fertility by being baptized under the eaves of the barn. If plant-food alone is needed, then some concentrated or commercial fertilizer may be the best thing to apply. In most cases the main or chief amelioration of the land is to be wrought by tillage, stable manures, mulches, green crops, and the like; if special results are desired, commercial fertilizers may be added more or less liberally, as the case demands (see _Manures_, _Fertilizers_).
The top-dressing of Soils is often very beneficial because it tends to prevent the escape of moisture, and often improves the physical texture. If the material contains plant-food, the land will also be directly enriched. The trimmings from lawns may be a distinct protection to lands if allowed to remain (see _Lawns_); and the leaves which blow into clumps of shrubbery may often be allowed to remain with good results. However, if the leaves become too thick year after year, they tend to induce a surface rooting of the shrubs. This, however, may be no disadvantage unless the mulch were finally to be removed. One of the very best top-dressings for borders and shrubbery is spent tan bark, since it does not pile up on the ground, but tends to work into it. Well-rotted sawdust often has the same effect. These materials are much used by gardeners, when they can be had, since they can be raked into the soil in the spring, and need not be removed.
SOLIDAGO. See _Goldenrod_.
SPADES and SHOVELS must be a part of every garden equipment. The common and most useful forms are shown in the cuts, but long-handled tools are more useful for the loading of earth, the making of ditches, the spreading of mulches, and the like. It pays to buy the steel tools, with strongly strapped handles.
SPEARMINT is prized by many people as a seasoning, particularly for the Thanksgiving and holiday cookery. It is a perennial and perfectly hardy, and will live in the open garden year after year. If a supply of the fresh herbage is wanted in winter, remove sods of it to the house six weeks before wanted. Place the sods in boxes, and treat as for house plants. The plants should have been frosted and become perfectly dormant before removal.
SPINACH. Probably the most extensively grown early spring vegetable, being in great demand as greens. The earliest crop that finds its way to market is gathered from seed sown in September or October, often protected by frames or other means through the severe winter, and cut soon after growth starts in early spring. Even as far north as New York Spinach may stand over winter without protection. Spinach is forced by placing sash over the frames in February and March, protecting the young leaves from severe freezing by mats or straw thrown over the frames. Seed may be sown in early spring for a succession; later in the season seed of the New Zealand Summer Spinach may be sown, and this will grow through the heat of the summer and yield a fine quality of leaves. The seed of this kind being very hard, should be scalded and allowed to soak a few hours before sowing. This seed is usually sown in hills about three feet apart, sowing four to six seeds in each hill. The spring and winter Spinach should be sown in drills 12 to 14 inches apart, one ounce being sufficient for 100 feet of drill. Remember that common Spinach is a cool-weather (fall and spring) crop.
SPRAYING. Of late years Spraying has come to be one of the most important of all horticultural operations. Most kinds of injurious fungi and insects can be combated by a water spray in which various poisons or injurious substances are contained. There are two general classes of Spraying material: first, fungicides, or those which are used for the control of fungi or plant diseases; second, insecticides, or those which are used for the control of insect enemies.
The fungicides usually contain copper or sulfur, or both. The most popular and generally useful fungicide is the Bordeaux mixture (which see). It should be borne in mind that most injurious fungi work on the interior of the leaf or stem, and only the spore-bearing parts come to the surface. It is therefore very important that Spraying with fungicides be done very early in order to prevent the fungus from getting a hold. It is much better to Spray once very thoroughly than to Spray a half dozen times carelessly. It is important that the entire surface of the foliage or stems be covered with the material in order to prevent the access of the fungi.
Of insecticides, there are two general types: those which kill by external contact and are applied to plant lice, scale insects, and all other insects which suck their food; and the poisonous compounds which are used for the chewing insects, as all the tribes of worms and beetles. Of the former class, the most important material is kerosene in various forms (which see). Of the latter kind is Paris green (which see). For insects, Spray just as soon as the attack is evident. Paris green and Bordeaux mixture may be used together.
The best pump for Spraying is the one which throws the stream the greatest distance with the least amount of liquid, and the best nozzle is that which distributes the material most finely and evenly. For Spraying plants close at hand, the Vermorel nozzle is now the most popular. If it is desired to reach the tops of large trees, some other nozzle should be used, as the McGowen, Boss, or other types. Every outfit should have two or three kinds of nozzles for different kinds of work. Get a pump with much power.
Spray thoroughly. The general rule is to spray the entire plant until the material begins to drip, at which time it may be supposed that the plant is covered completely. When and how often one should Spray, and what material he should use, will depend entirely upon the difficulty which he is endeavoring to combat. Most fruit trees should be Sprayed before they bloom and again just afterwards. Sometimes they will need Spraying again.
SPREKELIA. Culture of _Amaryllis_.
SQUASH. The time of planting, method of preparing the hills and after culture are the same as for cucumbers and melons (which see), except that for the Early Bush varieties the hills should be 4 or 5 feet apart, and for the later running varieties from 6 to 8 feet apart. From eight to ten seeds should be planted in each hill, thinning to four plants after danger from bugs is over. Of the early Squashes, one ounce of seed will plant fifty hills; of the later varieties, one ounce will plant but eighteen to twenty hills. For winter use, varieties of the Hubbard type are best. For summer use, the Crooknecks and Scallop Squashes are popular. In growing winter Squashes in a northern climate, it is essential that the plants start off quickly and vigorously: a little chemical fertilizer will help. Pumpkins are grown the same as Squashes.
SQUILLS (_Scilla_). BLUE BELL. WILD HYACINTH. Well-known bulbous plants, most of them hardy. They plant well with snowdrops and crocus, flowering at the same time, but continuing longer in bloom. The colors are red, pink, blue or white. The blue varieties have very fine shades of color. Should be planted in October and remain undisturbed.
STOCKS. The Ten-weeks and the biennial or Brompton Stocks, are found in nearly all old-fashioned gardens. Most gardens are thought to be incomplete without Stocks, and the use of the biennial flowering species as house plants is increasing. The Ten-weeks Stock is usually grown from seed sown in hotbed or boxes in March. The seedlings are transplanted several times previous to being planted out in early May. At each transplanting the soil should be made a little richer. The double flowers will be more numerous when the soil is rich.
The biennial species should be sown the season previous to that in which flowers are wanted, the plants wintered over in a cool house, and grown on the following spring. They may be planted out through the summer and lifted into pots in August or September for winter flowering. These may be increased by cuttings taken from the side shoots; but the sowing of seed is a surer method, and unless an extra fine variety is to be saved, it would be the best one to pursue. Height 10 to 15 inches.
STORING. The principles which are involved in the Storing of perishable products, as fruits and vegetables, differ with the different commodities. All the root crops, and most fruits, need to be kept in a cool, moist and uniform temperature if they are to be preserved a great length of time. Squashes, sweet potatoes, and some other things, need to be kept in an intermediate and what might be called a high temperature; and the atmosphere should be drier than for most other products. The low temperature has the effect of arresting decomposition and the work of fungi and bacteria. The moist atmosphere has the effect of preventing too great evaporation and the consequent shriveling. In the Storing of any commodity, it is very important to see that the product is in proper condition for keeping. Discard all specimens which are bruised or which are likely to decay. Much of the decay of fruits and vegetables in Storage is not the fault of the Storage, but is really the work of diseases with which the materials are infested before they are put into Storage. For example, if potatoes and cabbages are affected with the rot, it is practically impossible to keep them any length of time.
Apples, winter pears, and all roots, should be kept at a temperature somewhat near the freezing point. It should not raise above 40 deg. Fahr. for best results. Apples can even be kept at one or two degrees below the freezing point if the temperature is kept uniform. Cellars in which there are heaters are likely to be too dry and the temperature too high. In such cases it is well to keep fresh vegetables and fruits in tight receptacles, and pack the roots in sand or moss in order to prevent shriveling. In these places, apples usually keep better if headed up in barrels than if kept on racks or shelves. In moist and cool cellars, however, it is preferable for the home supply to place them on shelves, not piling them more than five or six inches deep, for then they can be sorted over as occasion requires. In case of fruits, be sure that the specimens are not over-ripe when placed in storage. If apples are allowed to lie in the sun for a few days without being packed, they will ripen so much that it is very difficult to keep them.
Cabbages should be kept at a low and uniform temperature, and water should be drained away from them. They are Stored in many ways in the field, but success depends so much upon the season, particular variety, ripeness, and the freedom from injuries by fungi and insects, that uniform results are rarely secured by any method. The best results are to be expected when they can be kept in a house which is built for the purpose, in which the temperature can be kept uniform and the air fairly moist. When Stored out of doors, they are likely to freeze and thaw alternately; and if the water runs into the heads, mischief is likely to result. Sometimes they are easily Stored by being piled into a conical heap on well-drained soil and covered with dry straw, and the straw covered with boards. It does not matter if they are frosted, provided they do not thaw out frequently. Sometimes cabbages are laid head down in a shallow furrow plowed in well-drained land, and over them is thrown straw, the stumps being allowed to project through the cover. It is only in winters of rather uniform temperature that good results are to be expected from such methods.