512 MANUAL OF GARDENING 



freely for bugs and beetles. Cover the joints with fresh soil, to guard 

 against injury by the vine-borer. 



AUGUST 



Beets. — A last sowing of the early table sorts may be made for a 

 succession. 



Cabbage. — Harvest the early crop, and give good cultivation to 

 the main crop. Keep down the bugs and worms. 



Celery. — The latest crop may yet be set. Earlier set plants should 

 be handled as they attain sufficient size. Common drain tiles are ex- 

 cellent for blanching if one has them, and must be put on when the 

 plants are about half grown. Hoe frequently to keep the plants 

 growing. 



Onions. — Harvest as soon as the bulbs are w^ell formed. Let them 

 lie on the ground until cured, then draw to the barn floor or some 

 other airy place and spread thinly. Market when you can get a good 

 price, and the sooner the better. 



Tomatoes may be hastened in coloring by being picked just as they 

 begin to color and placed in single layers in a coldframe or hotbed, 

 where they can be covered with sash. 



SEPTEMBER 



In many parts of the North it is not too late to sow rye, or peas, 

 or corn, to afford winter protection for orchards. As a rule, very late 

 fall plowing for orchards is not advisable. Now is a good time to trim 

 up the fence-rows and to burn the brush piles, in order to destroy the 

 breeding places of rabbits, insects, and weeds. Cuttings of goose- 

 berries and currants may be taken. Use only the wood of the current 

 year's growth, making the cuttings about a foot long. Strip off the 

 leaves, if they have not already fallen, tie the cuttings in large bundles, 

 and bury them in a cold cellar, or in a sandy, well-drained knoll; or 

 if the cutting-bed is well prepared and well drained, they may be 

 planted immediately, the bed being well mulched upon the approach 

 of winter. September and October are good months in which to set 

 orchards, provided the ground is well prepared and well drained, and 

 is not too much exposed to sweeping winds. Wet lands should never 



