THE GARDEN CALENDAR 109 



Water the roses freely if the rains are not ample : it is the price of rich 

 fall and early winter bloom. If the roses were not pruned last month, do 

 it now. 



All old stems of summer blooming plants should be removed and the 

 new growth from the root given a clear start. The wreck of annuals, from 

 which nothing more is expected, should also be cleared away if it has not 

 been done, as each plant passed its zenith, which is the better way. 



It is seasonable to plant tree seeds where moisture is assured and 

 temperature promises to be favorable. 



If the situation is warm plant anemonies, ranunculus and gladiolus of 

 the small-blooming class which flower early. Watsonias should also be 

 planted in favorable places. 



Annuals and perennials previously started in boxes should be planted 

 in open ground if the soil is moist and warm. 



Subdivide irises and replant for better bloom than that of old clumps. 



OCTOBER. 



October is a continuation of the autumn planting season and is much 

 like September, except that light and heat are slightly less and light frosts 

 are nearer. Consequently, in places where fall frosts are expected the 

 interval may be too short for tender plants to advance from seed to 

 service. But plants which must be rated as tender are few in California 

 and with these in strictly frostless situations, and with all the multitude of 

 others in places of medium elevation, the month, which is counted late in 

 the fall at the east, is early in the growing season in California. In fact, 

 generally in the valeys and on the mesas, October is one of the best plant- 

 ing months of the year, although many are too slow to realize it and fail 

 of the best results with sweet peas, pansies and many other flowers because 

 they try to follow eastern seed catalogues and eastern garden literature. 

 California is different from the rest of the country and October work in 

 the garden affords one of the most striking demonstrations of this fact. 



The early rains have fallen. The soil, even of the most neglected 

 garden, is mellow and fragrant and full of the microbes -of the garden 

 fever which entered the blood of mankind when Adam first poked a 

 sharp stick into the leaf mold of Eden. Neither immunity nor at- 

 tenuation has resulted from thousands of generations of inoculation; 

 on the contrary susceptibility iand virulence heighten with advance of 

 civilization and are now relieved only by deep thrusts of gleaming 

 steel, while pothering with a stick satisfied Adam. The more delicious 

 the weather, the more friable the earth, the more winning the call to 

 growth which appeals to all human senses, the higher runs the garden- 

 ing fervor. In this respect October is the eastern May and in some 

 seasons even deciduous fruit trees are deceived by it and burst into 

 bloomi Could there be clearer declaration of vernal conditions in the 

 California autumn? 



