om ‘ 
ee ee a ert et A ra Ee 
yeptemnber alendar. 
BY J. S. HARRIS. 
About this time of year every young fruit tree in the orchard or 
the garden should be examined for borers with great care, and, if 
any bave found lodgement in the stem, they must be cut out or 
killed by probing the burrows with a wire. Another washing of 
the trunks with strong soapsuds to which a little carbolic acid has 
been added will prove a paying investment in cleaning the tree of 
moss and destroying the eggs ofinsects. No plowing or cultivating 
should be done in the orchard during this month, lestit stimulate 
to a late growth or starting of buds. 
Gathering of fruitis a leading feature of the work of this month. 
All fruit designed for market should be carefully hand picked and 
assorted as it is put into clean packages. The man whose fruit is of 
a uniform quality and size throughout, instead of small and inferior 
in the center of the package, will soon be found out, and he always 
finds a ready sale for it. Where trees have been budded, the trees 
should not be allowed to remain longer than two weeks, lest the 
restriction of the flow of sap cause the buds to start this fall. 
The patch of currants and gooseberries should becleaned of weeds, 
but the soil should be disturbed as little as possible. Currants 
are generally propagated by cuttings which are made and set at 
once, or they may be kept over winter by burying out of doors or in 
acoolcellar. The cutting should be six or eight inches long and set 
with one or two buds above the ground and, about the time winter 
sets in, covered with mulching. 
Grapes are now ripening. Do not prune or remove any foliage, 
expecting to hasten the ripening—it will retard rather than hasten. 
Grapes must be allowed to ripen on the vines; they will not ripen 
any after being picked. Where grapes are put up for market they 
should be thoroughly ripe and very carefully handled; the practice 
of putting grapes upon the market before perfectly ripe lessens the 
demand and lowers the price. _ 
Strawberry beds should be kept clean as late as weeds grow for 
the balance of the season; very shallow hoeing or cultivation is the 
best. As soon as the desired number of plants have rooted keep the 
runners clipped off. Late plants are almost worthless for fruiting 
or planting in new beds. Old beds that are being kept over will be 
greatly benefitted by giving them a liberal dressing of fine barn- 
yard manure. 
Aid the blackcap and Shaffer raspberries in making new plants 
for next spring’s setting by placing a little fine soil over the tops or 
pegging them down so they will not be swayed about by the wind. 
Wherever orchards are to be planted or new berry plantations 
made next spring, the ground should be prepared for them now. 
Late weeds thrive vigorously in the rich soil of the kitchen and 
market garden, and hoeing and raking should not cease until frosts 
