Norma: A Flower Scout

by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

So the Speaker for the day was conducted to the chair that was the seat of the Captain at other times and the scouts formed a semi-circle about her, with ears and eyes and minds open to hear everything she said.

“I suppose to be a good instructor, I ought to mention a few things about the flowers; but you all may know, or a few of you may not know of them. However, I will only speak of these things in a general way so you will not need to grow impatient with me,” began Mrs. Tompkins.

“First of all, the floriculturist must understand the soil he expects to plant his flowers, or seeds, in. There are many kinds of compost, and some kinds are better than others, for certain flowers or soil. Best of all general flower fertilizers is a well-rotted cow manure, but it must be six months old, at least, before it is mixed with the soil. Fresh well-ground bone meal is best for roses, shrubs, trees and many flowers. Soot taken from our chimneys is splendid for box, privet and other hedges, especially so for the bay trees which are so decorative these days. If you mix soot with sulphur, you can stop mildew which is the bane of many a florist.

“One reason why country women have good success with the flowers growing about the kitchen doorstep is because they generally throw the dish water or Monday’s wash water from the clothes out over the flower beds. Not that the dirty water helps the flower but the amount of potash from the soap did the work of fertilizing.

“Sheep manure is fine, but expensive, for flower beds. Also the sweepings and rakings of the poultry yard—this is as good as any compost I know of. The cleanings of the pig pen also mixes well with the chicken manure, and the combination is excellent.

“One of the main causes of flower sickness and pests, comes from dry atmosphere, dewless nights, dry winds or baking sun rays. These sap the vitality of the plants and check their progress. If you dig up the soil a few inches and mix in it the fresh clipped grass from the lawn or a bit of very old manure you can offset this evil.

“The minute you find mildew on a plant, fight it, or it will spread so rapidly to other plants that you will find it well nigh impossible to kill it. In a very short time, your most beautiful flowers will be nothing but a memory. Powder your diseased plants with soot and sulphur nor care for their looks as long as you save them in the end.

“Roses are our sweetest and also the most troublesome of flowers. One seldom plucks a rose without finding a bug about it somewhere. But all sorts of bugs can be cleaned off now and kept away by sprinkling the rose bushes with a water to which a mixture of milk, kerosene and water has been added. The directions say: Three pints sweet milk, three pints kerosene, two pints water. Then add this as you need to wet the bushes, as follows: one pint of mixture to every two gallons of water. Not only sprinkle all leaves, buds and blossoms, but the ground about the bush, as well. This wash can be applied every ten days to two weeks apart, from May to June.

“The best all-around cure I know of, for removing every sort of insect or worm, are the birds—plenty of wild birds about your place. To encourage these feathered helpers, keep away strange cats, provide plenty of bird houses, give them bathing pools and feeding stations, as well as berry bushes, fruit trees and plants that will provide plenty of seeds for them to harvest. One of the favorite foods of the wild birds are various kinds of growing grain, corn and seed grasses. The latter are very decorative when grown in clumps and large patches, and the grain can be made to add to the beauty of a place if properly grouped.

“There are very few flowers that cannot be planted in the fall and left to come up in the spring. All my bulbs are planted in fall and covered with a straw mixed manure to keep the frost away. Also my hardy plants and shrubs are planted in the fall. If vines and self-growing flowers are seeded in the fall and covered with a light compost, they will come up as soon as the season is conducive. But I seldom set out my tender plants until after Decoration Day. If I need an early start for my flowers, I begin them in the hot-beds, or cold frames.