It was at Taranto that we embarked for
Mesopotamia. Reinforcements were sent out
from England in one of two ways–either all
the way round the Cape of Good Hope, or by
train through France and Italy down to the
desolate little seaport of Taranto, and thence
by transport over to Egypt, through the Suez
Canal, and on down the Red Sea to the Indian
Ocean and the Persian Gulf. The latter
method was by far the shorter, but the submarine
situation in the Mediterranean was
such that convoying troops was a matter of
great difficulty. Taranto is an ancient Greek
town, situated at the mouth of a landlocked
harbor, the entrance to which is a narrow
channel, certainly not more than two hundred
yards across. The old part of the town is
built on a hill, and the alleys and runways
winding among the great stone dwellings serve
as streets. As is the case with maritime towns,
it is along the wharfs that the most interest
centres.

Sku: gardenwar

The time was late in the autumn of the second year of the war; the
place, the garden of a war hospital in a small Austrian town, which lay
at the base of wooded hills, sequestered as behind a Spanish wall, and
still preserving its sleepy contented outlook upon existence.
Day and night the locomotives whistled by. Some of them hauled to the
front trains of soldiers singing and hallooing, high-piled bales of hay,
bellowing cattle and ammunition in tightly-closed, sinister-looking
cars. The others, in the opposite direction, came creeping homeward
slowly, marked by the bleeding cross that the war has thrown upon all
walls and the people behind them. But the great madness raced through
the town like a hurricane, without disturbing its calm, as though the
low, brightly colored houses with the old-fashioned ornate facades had
tacitly come to the sensible agreement to ignore with aristocratic
reserve this arrogant, blustering fellow, War, who turned everything
topsy-turvy.

CONTENTS
I    OFF TO WAR
II   BAPTISM OF FIRE
III  THE VICTOR
IV  MY COMRADE
V  A HERO’S DEATH
VI  HOME AGAIN

Sku: maninwar

Along Virginia’s wondering roads
While armies hastened on,
To Beauregard’s great Southern host,
Manassas fields upon,
Came Colonel Smith’s good regiment,
Eager for Washington.
But Colonel Smith must halt his men
In a dangerous delay,
Though well he knows the countryside
To the distant host of grey.
He cannot join with Beauregard
For Bull Run’s bloody fray.
And does he halt for storm or ford,
Or does he stay to dine?
Say, No! but death will meet his men,
Onward if moves the line:
He dares not hurry to Beauregard,
Not knowing the countersign.
Flashed in the sun his waving sword;
“Who rides for me?” he cried,
“And ask of the Chief the countersign,
Upon a daring ride;
Though never the lad come back again
With the good that will betide.
“I will send a letter to Beauregard,”
The Colonel slowly said;
“The bearer dies at the pickets’ line,
But the letter shall be read
When the pickets find it for the Chief,
In the brave hand of the dead.”

Sku: peacewar

It is now fifty years since the celebrated Stillingfleet observed, “that
it was surprising to see how long mankind had neglected to make a proper
advantage of plants, of so much importance to agriculture as the
Grasses, which are in all countries the principal food of cattle.” The
farmer, for want of distinguishing and selecting the best kinds, fills
his pastures either with weeds or improper plants, when by making a
right choice he would not only procure a more abundant crop from his
land, but have a produce more nourishing for his flock. One would
therefore naturally wonder, after this truth has been so long published,
and that in an age when agriculture and the arts have so much improved,
that Select Seeds of this tribe of plants are scarcely to be produced.

Sku: botanistscompanion

The general design of the following sheets is to inlist Imagination
under the banner of Science, and to lead her votaries from the looser
analogies, which dress out the imagery of poetry, to the stricter ones,
which form the ratiocination of philosophy. While their particular design
is to induce the ingenious to cultivate the knowledge of BOTANY; by
introducing them to the vestibule of that delightful science, and
recommending to their attention the immortal works of the Swedish
Naturalist LINNEUS.
In the first Poem, or Economy of Vegetation, the physiology of Plants
is delivered; and the operation of the Elements, as far as they may be
supposed to affect the growth of Vegetables. But the publication of this
part is deferred to another year, for the purpose of repeating some
experiments on vegetation, mentioned in the notes.

Sku: botanicgarden02

The general design of the following sheets is to inlist Imagination
under the banner of Science; and to lead her votaries from the looser
analogies, which dress out the imagery of poetry, to the stricter, ones
which form the ratiocination of philosophy. While their particular
design is to induce the ingenious to cultivate the knowledge of Botany,
by introducing them to the vestibule of that delightful science, and
recommending to their attention the immortal works of the celebrated
Swedish Naturalist, LINNEUS. In the first Poem, or Economy of Vegetation, the physiology of Plants is
delivered; and the operation of the Elements, as far as they may be
supposed to affect the growth of Vegetables.

Sku: botanicgarden01

I wish to plant fruit trees on a sandy mesa well protected from winds
about a mile from the coast. The soil is a light sandy loam. I intend to
dig the holes for the trees this fall, each hole the shape of an
inverted cone, about 4 feet deep and 5 feet across, and put a half-load
of rotten stable manure in each hole this fall. The winter’s rains would
wash a large amount of plant food from this manure into the ground. In
March I propose to plant the trees, shoveling the surrounding soil on
top of the manure and giving a copious watering to ensure the compact
settling of the soil about and below the roots. The roots would be about
a foot above the manure.

Contents
Part I.     Fruit Growing
Part II.    Vegetable Growing
Part III.   Grain and Forage Crops
Part IV.  Soils, Irrigation, and Fertilizers
Part V.   Live Stock and Dairy
Part VI.   Feeding Animals
Part VII.  Diseases of Animals
Part VIII. Poultry Keeping
Part IX.   Pests and Diseases of Plants
Part X.    Index

Sku: questionsanswered

In the fall of 1890 Dr. George Vasey, then Botanist of the
Department of Agriculture, arranged with me to prepare a revision
of North American Cactaceae. Owing to the peculiar difficulty of
preserving material the family was poorly represented, even in
our leading herbaria. To secure a large amount of additional
material in the way of specimens and field notes the Department
authorized me to visit the region of the Mexican boundary during
the summer of 1891. Preliminary to this exploration it was
necessary to examine the Engelmann collection of Cactaceae, in
the possession of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

Sku: northamericanspecies

Wherever there is soil, plants grow and produce their kind, and all
plants are interesting; when a person makes a choice as to what plants
he shall grow in any given place, he becomes a gardener or a farmer; and
if the conditions are such that he cannot make a choice, he may adopt
the plants that grow there by nature, and by making the most of them may
still be a gardener or a farmer in some degree.
Every family, therefore, may have a garden. If there is not a foot of
land, there are porches or windows. Wherever there is sunlight, plants
may be made to grow; and one plant in a tin-can may be a more helpful
and inspiring garden to some mind than a whole acre of lawn and flowers
may be to another.The satisfaction of a garden does not depend on the area, nor, happily,
on the cost or rarity of the plants. It depends on the temper of the
person. One must first seek to love plants and nature, and then to
cultivate the happy peace of mind that is satisfied with little.

Sku: manualgardening

Formerly it was the custom for gardeners to invest their labors and
achievements with a mystery and secrecy which might well have
discouraged any amateur from trespassing upon such difficult ground.
“Trade secrets” in either flower or vegetable growing were acquired by
the apprentice only through practice and observation, and in turn
jealously guarded by him until passed on to some younger brother in the
profession. Every garden operation was made to seem a wonderful and
difficult undertaking. Now, all that has changed. In fact the pendulum
has swung, as it usually does, to the other extreme. Often, if you are
a beginner, you have been flatteringly told in print that you could
from the beginning do just as well as the experienced gardener.

CONTENTS

I     INTRODUCTION
II    WHY YOU SHOULD GARDEN
III   REQUISITES OF THE HOME VEGETABLE GARDEN
IV  THE PLANTING PLAN
V   IMPLEMENTS AND THEIR USES
VI   MANURES AND FERTILIZERS
VII  THE SOIL AND ITS PREPARATION
PART TWO–VEGETABLES
VIII  STARTING THE PLANTS
IX    SOWING AND PLANTING
X     THE CULTIVATION OF VEGETABLES
XI    THE VEGETABLES AND THEIR SPECIAL NEEDS
XII   BEST VARIETIES OF THE GARDEN VEGETABLES
XIII   INSECTS AND DISEASE, AND METHODS OF FIGHTING THEM
XIV  HARVESTING AND STORING
PART THREE–FRUITS
XV   THE VARIETIES OF POME AND STONE FRUITS
XVI   PLANTING; CULTIVATION; FILLER CROPS
XVII  PRUNING, SPRAYING, HARVESTING
XVIII BERRIES AND SMALL FRUITS
XIX   A CALENDAR OF OPERATIONS
XX    CONCLUSION

Sku: vegetablegardening