LOOKING TOWARD THE HARVEST 67 



growth. If plenty of fruit is to come, careful 

 preventive pruning must be done. The limas are 

 snipped when they reach the top of the poles, else 

 the big beans will not all mature. Strawberry 

 runners must be cut off close to the plant if we 

 want to grow berries. The squash vines are 

 nipped at the end after two or three squashes have 

 set, and some of the side shoots are stopped. 

 Toward fall, squashes too late to mature are cut 

 from the vine. All the vines are pruned with more 

 fruit-bearing in mind. The tomatoes are care- 

 fully staked and pruned to one stem. All of the 

 branches are supposed to be cut off with a bare 

 half inch of growth that prevents another branch 

 from starting. We keep the suckers pulled from 

 beside the growing corn. By this means of close 

 pruning, plant vigor is turned into fruit-making. 

 Perhaps we snip a few of the latest buds from the 

 stems of tomato blossoms. Fewer tomatoes to 

 each plant, fewer squashes to each vine, mean 

 bigger, sounder, better-flavored fruit. As the sea- 

 son advances and the crops develop, the slow- 

 growing and imperfect, the misshapen and gnarly 

 specimens are cut off and destroyed. As the har- 

 vest time approaches, one essential seems left for 

 the gardener to look out for, plenty of fresh air 

 and sunshine for the growing vegetables and fruit 

 Fungous diseases lurk in the gloom. Overhanging 

 leaves that make too dense a shade must be cut 

 away. In cloudy weather, the big limas nearest 



