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Show LEAVES' romYH Annual Flowering Plants The most ardent advocate of the perennial border would not deny that the annuals, with their color, their fragrance, their usefulness in the production of cut flowers, and their flexibility of arrangement have a very definite place in any decorative decora-tive scheme, whether for a farmstead farm-stead or for a city lot If planted with discrimination, annuals may be made to serve a variety of purposes, pur-poses, such as the temporary screening of unsightly objects, the smoothing up of ragged borders, or the furnishing of bloom and color at a time of year when most perennials have ceased to bloom. Soil Preparation. Since the annuals make a rapid growth, they must be supplied with particularly advantageous growing conditions. They do, of course, vary in their requirements, but for the most part they do best in light, rich loam with plenty of well-rotted manure ma-nure spaded in. Where beds are permanent, provision can easily be made for the varying requirements of the plants, by using a heavier clay for plants requiring heavy soil, and more sand and leaf mold for plants needing lighter soil. If, however, how-ever, the planting is impermanent, as on a rented plot, it is still possible possi-ble to grow an attractive supply of annuals, by choosing the kinds of flowers to be grown with relation to the soil available. In any event, it will pay to supply the growing plants with barnyard manure, cottonseed cot-tonseed meal, bone meal, or some similar organic substance. The value val-ue of these fertilizers is about in the order named. Water Supply. In nearly all parts of the United States the natural rainfall is sufficient, suffi-cient, provided that the seedbed has been properly prepared, as indicated above. Plantings close to a building, build-ing, where the roof keeps off a good bit of rain will require special attention, at-tention, as will the entire planting in a season of drouth. A thorough watering, once a week, is sufficient for a retentive soil; for a sandy or thin soil, more water will be required, re-quired, but it should be borne in mind that too frequent watering is as bad as to let the plants go too long without water, since it encourages encour-ages a surface root development. Shallow roots die quickly under even a day of neglect or of unusual heat. Water deeply and thoroughly when you do water; as soon as the soil is dry enough to work, scratch the surface to provide a surface mulch; then let it alone until another watering water-ing is really imperative. Starting the Plants. With the exception of a few plants which do not stand transplanting, annuals are sown in seed beds and transplanted to permanent locations after their true leaves form. It is true that many can be planted where they are to grow, but better plants are obtained by transplanting. What to Plant. For screens or backgrounds, choose some of the tall, richly fo-liaged fo-liaged plants, such as castor-beans and sunflowers, or some of the cornlike corn-like plants sorghum, milo maize, and the like. Other plants, not quite so tall as those just mentioned, but still reaching a height of three or more feet are the old favorites, Joseph's Jo-seph's Coat and Love-lies-bleeding. Both of these are easily grown and both have brilliant foliage and make a sturdy, upright growth. Princes-feather, Princes-feather, too, is an upright annual, three to four feet tall, with dark red, feathery flowers. For cut flowers, and also to provide pro-vide the note of blue in the garden, use larkspur 30 inches tall or the charming cornflower, often called bachelor's button; use, also, the lovely scabiosa, called mourning bride or pincushion flower. The scabiosa sca-biosa varies in color through rose, crimson and blue to nearly black. For masses of color in the garden, gar-den, plant scarlet sage (which does best in a light, very rich soil), zinnias, zin-nias, calliopsis, or summer chrysanthemums. chrysan-themums. All of these are good for cutting. The scarlet sage is particularly par-ticularly effective against a green background. For fragrance and homey charm, plant mignonette, petunias, pinks, Sweet William, and sweet alyssum. For great hardiness, choose sweet alyssum, California poppy, cornflower, corn-flower, larkspur and snapdragon. Finally, for lovely lemon and yellow yel-low blooms which may be cut and dried for winter bouquets, plant strawflower. For further information concerning varieties and cultivation, send ten cents to Superintendent ot Documents, W ashington. D. C. asking for Farmers' Bulletin No. 1171. ... VALUE OF SKIM MILK Skim milk contains practically all of the food value of whole milk except ex-cept that it lacks the butter fat. It may be made into cottage cheese for human consumption or may be fed, with excellent results, to calves, pigs and chickens. It is valuable for use in fattening pigs and fowls, and also for feeding to laying hens. ... PARSNIPS FOR WINTER USE Parsnips are not injured by freezing, freez-ing, hence they may be left in the ground and dug as needed. |