Pennsylvania School of Horticulture for Women - Wise Acres Yearbook (Ambler, PA)

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of the house there are some wonderful double petunias in bloom, and across from them a bed of beautiful silver-pink antirrhinums are blooming. In the middle bench you will see the last of our display of primulas; near them the cinerarias are coming into bloom. If you were to come in here in the morning, you would see here and there a girl leaning industriously over a flat, transplanting the tiniest of seedlings. The labels would tell us that they were the seedlings of antirrhinum, lobelia, delphinium, Irish shamrock, lupines, asters and begonias. “Next I’ll take you into the vegetable house to see our dear little gardens. Each girl has a garden 3x9 in which she has planted radishes, lettuce, beets and cauliflower, and a row of sweetpeas along the front. On the other side of this house there are violets, several rows of parsley, and beds of lettuce, cauliflower, radishes and onions. Then, recently, during one of those warm days, the sash was taken from the cold frame and most of the pansies were brought in and planted in this house. “I do wish you would come out and see these things for yourself, for we are always working at something new and interesting.” “I certainly must find time to come and see what you are doing, and that time is not far distant.” K. Dorothea Helweg. i$luSUT£0 The white sailed ship at gray sunset Sunk far o’er the darkling main; So fair, so -strong, so proud, and yet Would she ever her harbor gain? From deep in my heart, I launched a thought On life’s broad, stormy sea; For hearts that were sad, my message was wrought, Would it ever some comfort be? 18

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nati. In still another of these beds are croton cuttings. Instead of being placeq directly in the sand as most cuttings are, these are planted in rich loam in small pots which are sunk in ashes. The reason for this is that the roots of the croton are very tender and might easily be broken when taken out of the bed.” “You certainly have enough cuttings out there, what will become of them all ?” “Well, you see, we never count our chickens before they are hatched; frequently diseases come and accidents happen in spite of care which lessen the number, but to be serious, we transplant them again and again, always trying to supply the present need of food to the growing plant. After that the plants are sold or saved to be handed down to the next class for practice material; or, very often, they are used in the out-door gardens later in the season. “This section of the house does not only hold cuttings, but also some of the tropical plants such as the Allamanda Henacr-sonii with its wonderful rich yellow blossoms, and the Figus from which a ripe fig is now and then plucked. We have also a small bench of gardenias almost ready to bloom. Oxalis, mimosa pudica in tiny pots, and asparagus plumosus, all have their individual nooks in this house. Our beautiful collection of begonias is here as well. In the two middle benches there are beans and tomatoes. The beans are about over, but the little tomatoes arc just beginning to form on the vines.” “What became of the beans when they were ready to be picked?” “What do you think? We picked them, of course, and had them for lunch. My, but they were good. But they aren’t the only vegetables we have in the greenhouses. We are raising cucumbers in this house to shortly occupy the place of the beans, and then in the vegetable house we each have a separate garden—but you will hear more of them when you reach the vegetable house. Just now I’ll take you into the second or cool section of this first house. Here the temperature is about 55 degrees. We generally call this the carnation and sweetpea house, although we raise other plants in it. Two beds of carnations will soon be through blooming and to take their place, Iris Hispanica and Gladioli Nanus have been planted between the carnation plants. We each have a box of carnation cuttings on the south window ledge and until they have established good root systems we must daily sprinkle and shade them. Calla lilies are almost ready to bloom and Easter lilies, which will bloom by the end of the month, occupy one end of this house. “A good portion of the floor space is taken up by wall flowers just coming into bloom, and flats filled with rose and boxwood cuttings. Our forget-me-nots are just now showing delicate blues and pinks. Under the benches rhubarb is sending forth its tempting green shoots.” “Now, where are you going to take me on my imaginary trip?” “Well, we must go through the service room, where all transplanting is done, to get into the second house. In the last few weeks this house has just buzzed with work. You see in here we have a great number of seedlings and, also, potted cuttings which have already rooted. There are the geraniums, coleus and smilax on the right bench. On the left, there is a long bed of mignonette between which schizanthus have been planted. At the end 17

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Calendar Tuesday, January 5th.—The return of the prodigals, but instead cf the fatted calf we found only veal croquets. As at all gatherings, there were a few stragglers, some didn’t blow in until the next night. And-sh! keep it dark—they do tell one awful reprobate was a whole week late. Wednesday, January 6th.—Girls still suffering from too much vacation. Tried to enthuse over the rapid progress the onions had made in their absence, but no use, all they could do was to wonder why they did not get a single letter when they had been back fully fifteen hours. Thursday, January 7th.—2.30 P. M., lecture by Mr. George MacKay, manager of the Terminal Market. Doubtless Mr. MacKay gave us many practical hints on the subject of marketing, but the words that impressed us most were “If you would be happy get into debt and stay in debt, for then you will always be surrounded by friends (with hands outstretched).” Wednesday, January 13th.—Individual vegetable plots were assigned in the new vegetable forcing house. We truly practice intensive gardening, for a large quantity of vegetables are grown on a very small plot. Of course the competition is keen and the lettuce and radishes are doing their best to satisfy our feverish haste; but say what you will and do what you can, you cannot hurry a beet. Thursday, January lJfth.—The reviewing for examinations has begun and everybody is busy, as usual, discovering just how much she doesn’t know of what she knew she knew, and how much more she doesn’t know than what she knew she didn't know. Friday, Jatiuary 16.—What means this awful quietness? Mid-years have begun! Students whom we never expected of owning such things are discovered in secluded corners buried in text books, muttering strange sounds that resemble H2SO4, NaN03- Even the babel at lunch has ceased and it is so quiet you could hear a gumdrop. Wednesday, January 20th.—Root grafting is begun over in the service room. Anyone finding the end of a little finger, please return to Ruth LaGanke. Thursday, January 21st.—Big night—the much-talked-of, much-longed-for concert took place, and the girls shivering but resplendent in their best togs, enjoyed it to the utmost. May history repeat itself! Saturday, January 23d.—The faculty and students accepted with pleasure the Misses Blakiston's invitation to five o’clock tea which was given in honor of a wonderful fruit cake sent by Miss Dock, of Fayetteville. Again “May history repeat itself!” Tuesday, January 26th.—Some of the students took a pleasant moonlight jaunt into Ambler to see a melodramatic moving picture, the like of which, according to them, has never been seen before. Friday, January 29th.—A grand farewell party was given for Florence Cooke who left the next day for her home in Toronto. The party was exciting from beginning to end; the time passed very quickly—there is nothing like speeding a parting guest. 19