igo 



THE CANADIAN [[ ORTTC U LTUTITST 



August, 1910 



See that gl.idioli, liollyliorks, and all 

 tall blooming perennials are staked, if lia- 

 ble to be broken by the wind. Seeds of 

 hollyhocks, delphinium, af|uilegia, cam- 

 panula, coreopsis, gaillardia, papaver, 

 and some other herbaceous perennials 

 may be planted this month and trans- 

 planted to the border late this fall or 

 early next sprinj^. Pansy seed also may 

 be sown in shallow boxes to be ready for 

 transplanting later on into winter quar- 

 ters. A mixture of leaf mould and loam 

 will give good results with pansies. 



Tulips which have been planted out 

 in ripening beds after they were through 

 blooming should now be lifted and 

 cleaned off and packed away in shallow 

 boxes until thoroughly dry. Do not 

 expose them to the sun while drying. 

 .As .soon as dry pack them away in the 

 cellar until time for planting in the fall. 



AMONG THE FRUITS 



Keep all runners cleaned off of fresh 

 strawberry beds between the rows. If 

 allowed to grow they will tend to weaken 

 the young plants. Plants desired for a 

 new patch should be allowed to root, 

 and may be transplanted at the end of 

 the month. Old strawberry beds which 

 arc to be left for next year should be 

 kept well cultivated between the rows. 



Do not neglect the small fruit bushes 

 after the fruit is picked off. Keep them 

 well cultivated. The result will be an 

 increased crop next year. Cut out un- 

 necessary suckers of hlackterries and 

 raspberries. 



Toward the end of the month pinch 

 the growing ends off ton^ato plants 

 to force all the nourishment of the plant 

 into the growing and ripening of the fruit 

 which has already formed. 



VEGETABLES 



Where some of the earlier vegetables 

 have been harvested the space can be 

 used again to good advantage for the 

 growing of string beans, lettuce, spin- 

 ach, radishes, or beets for greens. The 

 early crop of celery should be blanched. 

 Use either earth or boards for blanch- 

 ing. An application of liquid manure, 

 keep them growing. Cucumbers may still 

 be planted in cold frames for a late crop. 



Keep onions well fed and watered to 

 previous to blanching, will be beneficial. 



THE LAWN 



Do not cut the lawn too often or too 

 clo.se during the hot weather. Once in 

 ten days is often enough. Lower the 

 roller of the lawn mower so as not to 

 cut the grass too closely. Always keep 

 a look out for dandelions and other weeds 

 and keep them picked out. 



If you intend to mulch the lawn this 

 fall prepare the material now by securing 

 equal parts of good clean soil and well- 

 rotted stable manure. Mix these to- 

 gether and turn occasionally until 

 October when it will be ready for use. 



More about Mushrooms 



J. McPherson Ross, Toronto, Ont. 



BI'iDS for mushrooms may be made 

 any time now, if for home use. To 

 grow them for profit it would ^e 

 better to wait till November, so that your 

 crop coming in about February, would 

 meet the best market and highest prices. 



If you have had no former experience 

 it would be well to start now, selecting a 

 place, if possible, under cover from the 

 weather, as a shed or outbuilding. 



For winter cultivation, it will be neces- 

 sary to have the bed in a cellar or some 

 place where the temperature can be kept 

 at from 50 to 60 degrees. Of course you 

 may make one outdoors, at the back of 

 the house or in a dry corner. In such an 

 event dig out the soil, say six inches deep, 

 the size you want to make the bed. In 

 this excavation place the prepared man- 

 ure. 



CARE REQUIRED 



Too much care cannot be given to pre- 

 paring the manure. Do not be deterred 

 by the words "too much care," from be- 

 ginning to collect the droppings of well- 

 fed horses, spreading them out thinly, so 

 as not to heat too rapidly, adding an equal 

 quantity of ordinary clean garden soil, 

 ;\nd mix evenly. Turn this daily, as you 

 add fresh manure, till you have sufficient 

 for your bed. The amount you will re- 

 quire will be determined by the size of the 

 bed you are to make. Turning daily al- 

 lows the rank steam to escape and also 

 prevents the manure getting too dry by 

 excessive heating or burning. 



Many persons are under the impression 

 that to grow mushrooms, the manure 

 should be old and well rotted. This is a 

 mistake. Where there is old manure it 

 can be used by adding to it fresh manure 

 to serve for beds, but it pays to have the 

 material carefully saved under cover. 



EASILY SECURED 



Mushrooms, although a great deli- 

 cacy and a luxury, can be secured with 

 but a little trouble. They possess in 



themselves the same nutritive qualiti.-!s 

 as beef-steak. In their composition they 

 are analogous to animal life , being en- 

 tirely different to the vegetable kingdom, 

 inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbonic 

 gas. 



In preparing a bed, the chief care 

 should be to pound the material firmly. 

 This has the effect of retaining the heat 

 much longer and allows the mycelium to 

 travel more rapidly through the mass. 



With material properly prepared, it 

 is ea.sy to spawn your lawn or nearby 

 meadows. This is done simply by dig- 

 ging holes at intervals, say eighteen 

 inches deep, and a foot or more wide. 

 Fill them with manure and after some 

 days lay the sod back on top, after in- 

 serting a piece of spawn. 



The mixing of soil through the manure 

 when preparing, helps to retain the am- 

 monia. It also serves to moderate the 

 heat and to retain moisture more evenly. 

 As a general rule the spawn in bricks is 

 all right .so long as the heat of the bed is 

 receding and not over 90 degrees when 

 you put it in. Beds have been spawned 

 at as low a temperature as 60 degrees, 

 and then made good, but my experience 

 proves that 85 to 90 degrees is right. 



Do not cover the bed until eight to ten 

 days after it is spawned. It is essential 

 to success never to put on the soil cover 

 before that time elapses. This allows the 

 hot steam to escape which if retained 

 would kill the spawn. Instead of putting 

 loose soil on, a good plan, where you 

 can, is to secure good sods to cover with. 

 When putting them on, lay the grass side 

 down on the bed. 



So many persons term good edible 

 varieties of mushrooms toadstools that 

 I would like to say here that the terms 

 are synonymous.. There are 112 edible 

 varieties of mushrooms ; in fact, they are 

 all edible with the exception of about six 

 poisonous kinds. These were described 



Celery 



No fertilizer. See introductory article page 183.. 



