Mindblown: a blog about philosophy.

  • Planting Vines Give Homelike Effect

    The home idea can also be accentuated by the use of vines. On brick and stone work, nothing is so satisfactory as Boston ivy. It requires no supports, since it clings to the bricks. Contrary to the popular belief, ivies which cling in this way do not produce dampness in the house ; they draw […]

  • Best Trees To Plant

    Among the most popular and best for planting around the house are Basswood, chestnut, American elm, horse chestnut, sugar maple, locust, honey locust, white pine, Norway spruce, Kentucky coffee tree, various magnolias, yellow wood, catalpa, golden chain, great laurel, red maple, white oak, pepperidge, sweet gum, whitewood, paper birch, yellow willow, mountain ash, maidenhair tree, […]

  • Hardy Perennials Anyone Can Grow

    Among the immense list of hardy perennials that anyone can grow the following can be procured for very insignificant cost, even if they do not grow in the woods, fence rows, or neighbors’ gardens: Columbine, larkspur, peony, perennial poppies, wild asters, goldenrod, gasplant, snapdragon, coneflower (golden glow), perennial pea, hop, yucca, phlox clematis, anemone, iris, […]

  • Ornamental Plants

    The one thing necessary td make most farms attractive is ornamental planting around the house and buildings. The plants used need not be expensive, they need not demand much attention, they need not be imported, they need only to be appropriate to their positions. A great many mistakes are made in planting trees and shrubs […]

  • Spraying

    ” Fruit growers, as a rule, understand that fungicides should be used as preventives, as when the spores have germinated and have penetrated the tissues the fungus has passed beyond the reach of a surface application. While some benefit may derive from spraying after the fungus is at work,” writes Prof. L. R. Taft of […]

  • Watercress

    Watercress is an aquatic plant whose long-leafed stems are used largely as a salad. It is of the simplest cultivation where the soil is very moist. It does best, however, in running water or the edges of brooks. All that is necessary is to sow seed along margins of the brook and let the plants […]

  • Turnip

    There are two classes of turnips popularly grown in this country the purple and the yellow. The former is more popular as an early variety than the latter, which is of finer flavor, and is the leading fall and winter kind. Both crops are essentially cold weather plants, and, therefore, cannot be expected to do […]

  • Tomato

    To grow tomatoes requires no especial skill. In fact, there is no plant in field or garden except the weed that will submit to gross neglect and still flourish as will the tomato, and if we were content to grow a supply for home or market during the months of August and September no especial […]

  • Squash

    There are several well-defined groups of squashes. Among the best known are Scallop and Crookneck, which form bushlike plants about 4 or 5 feet across, and the running squashes, which include the late varieties. The bush squashes are early sorts. Squashes are planted in rich soil, the summer varieties about 6 feet apart and the […]

  • Spinach

    Spinach is an annual plant whose leaves are used in late fall, early winter, and spring for greens. There are two principal classes of this vegetable, one with round seeds, the other with prickly. The latter are considered the hardier, though the former are esteemed more highly for table use. Frequently this crop is sown […]

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