OW are you going to celebrate the 
glorious Fourth which has re- 
turned again? Here’s one sug- 
gestion. Takean hour or two of 
your holiday—before the picnic party is ready to 
start, or after you get back—and make a survey 
of your garden. Late July is often the Waterloo 
of the inexperienced and of the half-hearted gar- 
dener. It would be a waste of time to attempt 
assistance to the latter. But the former often gets 
into hopeless difficulty before he realizes it by a 
temporary let-things-drift policy about this time 
of the year, whereas a word or two of suggestion, 
properly interpreted, may save him a deal of trouble. 
July usually shows the turn of the tide of battle in the garden. So make an 
unusual effort to get a little ahead of your work. If you do not seem to be 
keeping up, make an early and a really serious effort to hire some one for a day 
or a half day, or even an hour a day, to help you out. If in spite of all you 
find that you have unfortunately undertaken more than you can carry through, 
don’t make the fatal mistake of trying to half-care for all of it. Drop the least 
important things altogether, charging it up to experience, and take good care 
of the rest. Remember that fifteen minutes will take care of the weeds in a 
large part of your garden—if you use a scythe and sacrifice the crops. That 
is far better than weeks of work and worry, and crops that amount to nothing 
after all. You will find the hardest thing about it bringing yourself to acknowl- 
edge in time that you have, to use a colloquialism, “bitten off more than you 
can chew,”’ and that only quick and definite action can save something out of 
the wreck. 
taken as a standard. 
localities, 
MS of the ornamental shrubs, fruit trees, small fruits, and all trained 
plants, depend in great part for their beauty or utility as the case may be, 
upon intelligent and careful pruning. Midsummer is one of the seasons of the 
year when there is much of this work to be done. Before mentioning any 
This Month’s Big parler plane RON ever it Bey be well ee word 
Job: Pruning about pruning and pruning methods in general. Summer 
pruning is for three distinct purposes: to train plants to 
shape, as is the case with dwarf and trained fruits, trained ornamentals, and 
hedges; to prevent undesirable growth, as in removing bud or sprouts from 
fruit trees, grape-vines, etc., and to keep in condition all flowering shrubs 
which will form buds ‘iis season for next season’s bloom. Many people, 
who will cheerfully prune anything which is dormant, seem to have a super- 
stitious fear of cutting a plant in active growth, as though it would be likely to 
bleed to death. With afew exceptions, such as the grape vine, there is very 
little danger from this source, except in the very severe pruning occasionally 
required for some long neglected plant or tree. 
Boe for convenience, and for the quality of the work, the tools used for 
pruning, knife, pruning shears or saw, as the case may be, should be clean 
and sharp. There are many good pruning implements now made at very 
reasonable prices, and as with ordinarily good care they will last for years, 
there is little excuse for poor pruning tools. But there is one im- 
plement still often used which the inexperienced should be 
cautioned against: that is the double-edged pruning saw. Don’t 
allow one on your place. If you are purchasing a new pair of shears, don’t 
hesitate to invest fifty cents or a dollar more than the cheaper grade costs, 
and get one of first class material. A cheap pair will not do good work, and 
will quickly become next to useless, if they do not break. 
Tools for 
Pruning 
ey TRAINING plants to shape the pruning to be done is mostly of the type 
known as “heading in,” that is the cutting back of lateral or of upright 
branches in order to produce the general plant form which is desired. In doing 
this it should be kept in mind that the bud or eye next to the cut will be the one 
How £6 most likely to throw out the strongest growth, or “leader” to take 
Brune the place of the wood which has been removed. At the same time, 
all the growth below the cut is stimulated, as the new leader is not 
immediately able to take care of the flow of sap which had been going to the 
growth which was cut off. For this reason, it is essential in making the cut to 
consider the position of the bud left just below the cut, and the direction the 
new shoot will take. Wherever an open centre is wanted, this bud should be 
left on the outside. If there is a “hole” in the shape of the tree or plant to be 
filled, it may be necessary to branch into it from two or three directions: or one 
may have to plan several ““moves” ahead, as in playing checkers, in order to 
obtain the desired result in the end. Another point is to prune the growing 
wood. while it is still young: to guide it in 
its growth, as it were, rather than to cut it 
to shape after it is grown. Hedges should 
be trimmed when the season’s growth is 
well under way, but before it gets so large 
that the surface will look moth-eaten or 
full of holes as a result of the trimming. 
For formal, smooth surfaced hedges, the 
new fan-shaped trimmer, with a set of sev- 
eral knives working together, not only saves 
a great deal of time but does far superior 
work to the old style. 
PEN ING to remove surplus growth, if 
attended to properly is rather more a 
process of disbudding than of pruning. Go 
Over your grape vines at this time and rub 
Opp off any sprouts which 
Ererane in - Z e may have started below 
the “head,” or along 
the main limbs, which you do not want. 
Heavily pruned apple trees will be likely to 
THE MONTH’S 
REMINDER 
JULY, 1916 
For reckoning dates, the latitude of New York City is generally 
In applying the directions to other 
allow six days’ difference for every 
hundred miles of latitude 
Plant this Month 
{| Vegetables, last succession crops of beans, beets, pars- 
nips, carrots, etc.; corn (by July 4th), cucumber, lettuce, 
mustard, peas (late in the month), rutabagas. 
Transplant from seed bed: Brussels sprouts, cabbage, 
cauliflower, lettuce, celery. 
To transplant to frames later: lettuce, cauliflower. 
(Flowers, for wintering over, in frames or under mulch: 
Pansies, English Daisies, Campanulas, Myosotis (Forget- 
me-nots), Hollyhocks and other hardy biennials and 
perennials. 
{|All kinds of plants now in pots, even shrubs and 
vines, to fill vacancies in the border. 
throw out numerous “water sprouts.” 
Remove these while they are small. Oc- 
casionally there may be a new growth in 
such a position that it would later develop 
into a good limb: any such of course may be leit, 
but they will be scarce. 
The cane fruits should be pruned thoroughly 
after fruiting, all the old wood, that has just 
borne, being cut out to the ground; and only 
enough of the new growths to fill the rows with- 
out overcrowding. Currants and gooseberries are 
more easily pruned in the fall or spring, when the 
leaves are off; but if they have been neglected the 
oldest wood may be cut out to advantage now, giving the new growth more 
on ay gooseberry branches which trail on the ground should be short- 
ened back. 
O* THE flowering shrubs, those which should be pruned now, or as soon 
as they are through flowering, include the following: Akebia (little pruning 
required); Azaleas, Ghent and mollis (remove only the old wood); Berberis 
(very little for ese hedges, ae only oldest ce Bignonia; Calycan- 
; thus floridus (Strawberry shrub), Celastrus; Chionanthus 
Nile Sees uo (White Fringe); Cornus (Dogwood); Japan Quince; 
Deutzia; Forsythia; herbaceous Hydrangea (Hortensis, 
etc.); Jasmine; Lilac (little required); flowering Plum; flowering Currant; 
Rhododendron (oldest wood only); climbing Roses; Spiraea, Thunbergii and Van 
Houtteii; Viburnum (snowball); Weigela. 
If these have been pruned regularly, very little attention will be required to 
keep them in shape. If they have not, and are choked up with old and dead 
wood, do not be afraid to cut away the biggest part of the clump. 
In the Rose garden, summer pruning, which is really only a generous shorten- 
ing back, will not only help to keep the plants shapely, but stimulates a second 
flowering. 
EARLY IN THE MONTH 
HETHER you get time to do any more planting or not, don’t fail to keep 
the things which you have got planted free from the various insect pests 
which are now busy invading every garden in the country. Look over the 
methods of combating them described in back numbers of Tar GarpEN MAGA- 
ZINE, and see that you have on hand a full supply of every- 
thing which may be needed to fight anything which is likely 
to turn up. It is the first twenty-four hours after they 
put in an appearance which counts. 
Keep the Bugs 
on the Jump 
HIS is the time of year which begins to show the stuff your lawn is made 
of. If it doesn’t seem to be holding its own, you can help it out by top- 
dressing it with nitrate of soda and fine bone. But remember that this is 
temporary treatment only, and that a real operation will be necessary as soon as 
eaentor the conditions are favorable, which should be next month. 
Rrontwarde What you can do now is to mark the spots which seem to dry 
* out the quickest, and not cut it quite so short as you did in the 
spring. Also order a supply of humus, if you have none on hand, so that it will 
be ready when wanted. Likewise, some of the best lawn mixture you can get, 
keeping in mind that the heavier such a mixture is per bushel the better, pro- 
vided the weight is mot due to an excess of white clover seed. 
Speaking of lawns, if you have one that is too large to care for comfortably 
with a hand mower, have you investigated the new type which is steered by 
hand, but is operated by a small gas motor? It may prove the solution of your 
lawn mowing problem. 
WORD to the wise on water. A word to the wise is sufficient, but possibly 
that word hasn’t reached you yet. We refer to the word Irrigation. Are 
you going to let your lawns dry up and your flower-beds languish, and your 
Tacmatiion vegetable garden give a half yield again this summer because of 
8 continued dry weather? Get posted on modern methods of irriga- 
tion, described in full in THz GARDEN Macazine of last month, and of July, 
IQI5. 
ie BEFORE THE END OF THE MONTH 
ee time to give your plants of asparagus, rhubarb and sea kale plenty to 
eat, if you would have big and tender yields next spring, is now. They 
will begin active growth again, particularly below ground, as soon as there is 
more moisture and cooler weather. Apply well-rotted manure now, or a 
Asparagus, Rhubarb complete _fertil- 
izer; or both, cul- 
and Sea Kale tivate thorough- 
ly, and clean out all weeds. The more 
you can get into the roots now, the more 
you will get out of them next spring. 
ANY of the best farmers nowadays 
seed down 7m their corn, just after the 
last cultivation, instead of waiting until it 
is cut. You can profitably employ the 
same method, and 
have a crop of red or 
crimson clover, or rye 
and vetch, ready to go through the winter 
and dig in in the spring. Buy the seed 
now, and be ready to sow down every 
patch of garden that would otherwise be 
idle from now on. This green crop is like 
putting money in the bank—7 adds humus, 
which every soil must have to support 
growth. 
“Laying by” and 
Seeding Down 
336 
