296 THE SMALL COUNTRY PLACE 



rain. A thin dressing of very fine rich manure after the 

 seed is sown is better than lawn fertilizer. 



Trees and Shrubs. These will require little or no 

 special care during this month, except to direct their 

 growth as suggested in previous months. We should 

 not allow any growth to continue that we must remove 

 next winter or spring if we can avoid it. Removing the 

 seed pods of lilacs, spiraeas,' etc., will cause them to 

 grow more vigorously and mature larger and more abun- 

 dant flower buds the next season. 



The Flower Garden. This month we should be en- 

 joying the products of our labors in an abundance of 

 flowers, but care should not be relaxed or we may be 

 swamped with weeds, which grow almost in a day at this 

 time of the year. Large plants like dahlias, cosmos, 

 hollyhocks, gladiolus, etc., should be tied to neat stakes 

 to prevent their being broken in heavy rain storms. 

 Early maturing seeds should be gathered and put in 

 paper bags or large envelopes. 



The Vegetable Garden. The planting of seeds for the 

 season will end with this month. Seeds of late beets, 

 lettuce, radishes, and turnips may still be sown, and 

 cabbage, cauliflower, and celery plants may be set out 

 in rich soil. Frequent stirring of the soil should be 

 kept up. Seed stock of all kinds of vegetables should be 

 selected before any of the crop has been harvested. By 

 selecting seed from the earliest and best stalks of sweet 

 corn, the best shaped summer squash, the smoothest, 

 best shaped and most vigorous tomato plants, etc., our 

 strain of these vegetables will be much improved. If 

 several varieties of the above are planted in the same 

 garden they will so mix as generally to be of little value. 

 Sometimes, however, these crosses may be valuable; 

 thus, if a yellow sweet corn like the Golden Bantam is 

 crossed with a yellow of larger size, and the best of the 



