/^P5. 



• * • GARDENING. 



331 



LEAVES OF THE OAKS OP NEW ENGLAND ISEE PAGE 332) 



winter carrots. If sown earlier the roots 

 are too large and hard for.table use; if 

 later than July whether or no we get nice 

 roots before winter depends on favorable 

 weather and good culture. 



Ci;i.RRV —.\s ground gets empty get it 

 into readiness for celery and planted. 

 Rich land, plenty room, attention ami 

 abundance of water are what this crop 

 wants. We plant in rows in furrows 

 sunk four or five inches deep, two rows in 

 the furrows, which are about 4^/2 feet 

 apart. The plants grow well; when it 

 rains or when we water the jilants in dry 

 weather the furrow holds the water to 

 the ])lants. and earthing or boarding up 

 for blanching the celery is easier than 

 when on-the-level planting is practiced. 

 It is a fact, however, that market grow- 

 ers as a rule prefer planting thin celery 

 in single rows, on the ground level. An- 

 other way and one by which land is 

 economized is to mark out a bed of four 

 or five rows about 10 or 12 inches apart 

 as one would for a seed crop, and in this 

 plant the celery seven to nine inches 

 asunder in the row. When the celery be- 

 gins to grow it will grow up straight, 

 and if boards on edge are set around close 

 by the outside rows they will help to hold 

 up the plants, and growing together so 

 thickly will blanch them all. But rich 

 land and abundance of water are needed 

 for this method. It is better fitted for 

 early than for late crops. Ifyourcelerv 

 is still in the seed bed and you cannot 

 ]ilant it out permanently at once, prick it 

 oil two or three inches apart to make it 

 stocky and get it to root well. 



Corn. — The earliest com is fit to use. 

 \Vc now put in a large sowing of corn for 

 late, using Concord, S(|uantum, Country 

 Gentleni.-m, and a little of tliccarlv, like 



Ford's Early. We don't like sowing 

 Stowell's after the 10th inst. North of 

 here it may now be too late for sowing 

 corn. 



Cucumbers both (or table and pickles 

 may yet be sown. 



EoG Plants are fruiting nicely. But 

 we have to hand-pick them free from 

 potato bugs. We shake the larvse into 

 a flat or basin and then destroy them. 



E.NDIVE takes longer than lettuces to 

 mature, in fact it is a three months' crop. 

 Now is the time to put in a large sowing 

 of it. Transplant the seedlings as soon 

 as they are big enough, treating them in 

 fact as if they were lettuces. 



Kalk is a capital vegetable in early 

 winter. If you sowed it when you did 

 your winter cabbage get it planted out 

 as soon as possible. If not yet sown sow 

 at once. Even half grown plants are fii e 

 for winter use. 



KoHi. Kabi.— Plant out as you would 

 cabbage When the "bulbs" get two to 

 three inches in diameter they are big 

 enough to use. Sow again for a later 

 succession. 



Leeks.— If not already transplanted 

 draw a deep row as if you were going to 

 sow beans in it and plant the leeks in it, 

 three or four inches apart. Very big leeks 

 are not desirable. 



Lettuces.— For a month now is the 

 critical period. Wouldn't we like to see 

 the lettuce that wouldn't "bolt" at this 

 time of the year. We sow a little every 

 7 or 10 days and transplant the seedlings 

 into the coolest and moistest ground we 

 have for them; or better still sow the seed 

 broadcast or in rows as one would tur- 

 nips and thin out the plants enough to 

 leave those retained far enough apart to 



Melons are running in the hills and the 

 rows will soon meet. Give the ground 

 about them a thorough cleaning and a 

 good deep hoeing, for in a week or two 

 it may be so much covered with the 

 melon plant that we cannot get at it very 

 well to hoe it. Draw a rut under the 

 leading vmes, sink them into it and cover 

 their joints over with earth to get them 

 to root at the joints and in this way 

 partly overcome the evil of the root borer 

 (the larv;e of the striped cueuniljer beetle) 

 which causes the vines to die oft' early in 

 August just before the melons ripen. 

 There are partial preventives if taken in 

 time — that is from the time the plants 

 appear till they are a foot high, but we 

 are sick and tired of practicing reputed 

 cures, they have amounted to nothing. 

 Just now in our melon field are thousands 

 of the Northern Lady-bird (Upilachna 

 borealis), the black sheej) in a most de- 

 sirable family. It is a large, fat, vora- 

 cious beetle of deep ochre yellow color 

 with seven black spots on each wing and 

 four on the thorax. It eats the leaves of 

 melons, cucumbers and squashes, com- 

 pletely skeletonizing them, and when the 

 leaves are gone it will eat the melons 

 themselves. And a little later will appear 

 its stubby, hairy larvje, which also must 

 be fed. We hand pick them into a pan of 

 kerosene just as we do rose bugs. By 

 spraying the plants with Paris green and 

 thus poisoning their food we could kill 

 them, but in careless hands there is apt 

 to be as much damage done by the cure 

 as by the disease if not more; besides, it 

 isn't easy getting to the underside of the 

 leaves with the insecticides, but the bugs 

 get there and eat there as complacently 

 as on the top. 



Mlsmkooms.— Get ready for the coming 



