1222 



The Cornell Reading-Courses 



pruning in order to check excessive growth of wood and to stimulate fruit 

 production in young plum or peach orchards, 

 are things of interest and profit to know; and if 

 the young folk of the farm were given more 

 often a direct share in such profit, their desire for 

 knowledge of the best methods of propa- 

 gation and cultivation would naturally in- 

 crease, and with it the desire to stay on the 

 farm and put the knowledge into practice. 



Summer work in the dairy and poultry 



yard 

 Plenty of food of the proper kinds, 

 pure water, and room for exercise, are 

 the chief needs of the domestic animals 

 and fowls after their young are sufficiently 

 grown to be treated as are the rest of the 

 herds and flocks. But the proper man- 

 agement and disposal of their produce is a 

 matter for much study and it should be 

 made as interesting a problem to the 

 young folk of the farm as it is to their 

 elders. 



AUTUMN WORK 



Gardening 



A large part of the beauty of the flower 

 garden, and of the productiveness and 

 profit of the fruit and vegetable garden, 

 is due to the care expended on them iu 

 the fall. Bulbs must be planted at this 

 season and it is also the best time for 

 planting many shrubs and herbaceous 

 perennials, and for dividing and re- 

 setting those that have become too 

 crowded. The summer bulbs and tubers, 

 such as gladioli and dahlias, must be 

 taken up and carefully dried for their 

 preservation during the winter. The 

 peonies in the flower garden and the 

 rhubarb and asparagus beds in the vege- 

 table garden may be covered with a com- 

 post blanket, which can hardly be made 

 too warm and rich for them, particularly if it is intended to force the aspar- 



FiG 76. — The shepherd's purse. 

 A study in weeds 



