File:American homes and gardens (1907) (17969204590).jpg

Title: American homes and gardens
Identifier: americanhomesga41907newy (find matches)
Year: 1905 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Architecture, Domestic; Landscape gardening
Publisher: New York : Munn and Co
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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A Large Bottle Vase with Spoon- Gourd Legs gourd. The fruit should never be distorted during its period of growth with the idea of obtaining a strange shape. Such products are unnatural and of no real interest. It is much more fascinating to hydridize, a work done partly by the plant grower and partly by the bees. To accomplish this work successfully freely flowering plants should be grown near the vine to be hybridized. The gourds should be grown in groups to secure good results: the long-handled dipper with the novelty gourd; the short-handled dipper with the long-necked bottle; the Hercules club with the long ser- pent. Never plant a Hercules club with a sugar-trough, for they are too widely separated, even if they be somewhat near, and will either be late in fruiting or blast when partly formed. When the plants show signs of flowering, a minia- ture gourd before the buds burst is an indication of a female blossom. This will continue to develop if the bees, in their search for honey, have attacked sufficient male blossoms to gather suf- ficient pollen on their legs to bring about the fertilization of the female flower. If the flower develops the result is sure to be as strange and odd as can be desired. When the fruit turns a light or yellow- ish color it has developed sufl5ciently to be saved. When frosts kill the vine, or moldy spots appear, the fruit may be cut off. The cuticle-like covering may then be scraped away with the edge of a spoon, and the gourd thoroughly washed with a rough cloth. It should then be placed in the sun to dry, or subjected to artificial heat, the drying process, by either method, being one of the utmost importance. The gourds are now ready for decorative treatment. Only the best and most perfect
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