Dissolve two handfuls of furniture glue for every gallon of boiling water and allow the solution to cool.  Put the seed in a washtub and then sprinkle enough of the solution on the seed to moisten but not to wet it (one quart per bushel is sufficient) and stir the mixture thoroughly until all the seed are moistened.

Secure the inoculated soil from a place where the same kind of plants as the seed are growing, making sure that the roots have a vigorous development of nodules.  Dry the soil in the shade, preferably in the barn or basement, and pulverize it thoroughly into a dust.  Scatter this dust over the moistened seed, using from one half to one gallon of dirt for each bushel of seed, mixing thoroughly until the seed no longer stick together.  The seed are then ready to sow.

The Flower Garden.

(AN EXERCISE LED BY G. C. HAWKINS, FLORIST, MINNEAPOLIS, AT THE 1915
ANNUAL MEETING.)

Mr. Hawkins:  We have a question box and I would be glad to have any one use it or rise and state their question.  I will answer, giving my experience.

The first question I will read is—­“What would you advise about covering in the garden in a season like this?” There are now two questions to be answered.  First, what kind of covering?  Second, how much?

The first question can be answered this way.  Every garden is benefited by a good covering of well decayed manure.  Second.  Any light covering of straw or horse manure with plenty of straw in it is very good.  Leaves make a good covering if they can be kept dry, but leaves when not covered get wet, pack down over a plant and too often do more damage than good.  The advantage of covering, or mulching, is to prevent thawing and freezing.  To keep plants frozen from fall until spring would be ideal.  The ideal winter is one when the snow falls early and stays on during the winter.  We should cover lightly the plants that need protection, and when the snow falls, as a warm blanket, the plants will come through the winter in perfect shape.

Mr. Hawkins:  We have a question box and would be glad to have any one use it, or rise and ask your question, and we will endeavor to answer it and give our experience along that line.

Mr. Horton:  What would you advise for plants that are infected with aphis?

Mr. Hawkins:  Spraying is one of the best things and for that we use a weak tobacco solution, so as to moisten the plants, a light mist will do the work.  I want to tell a little experience in growing peonies.  Last year I tried the experiment of using ground bone around them, which is one of the best fertilizers we have.  It contains nearly all the elements of a perfect fertilizer.  Just as soon as the little joints come out of the ground, dig a trench about three inches from the main bush, about two inches deep and fill with ground bone and watch the result.  I carried this plan out with wonderful success, getting 350 perfect blossoms on twenty-five bushes.  It takes bone about thirty days to commence to dissolve.  The day of the automobile has brought need for a new fertilizer, and we must carefully select the best that can be had.  We must turn back again to the green crops and the artificial fertilizers.  This also works well with roses.