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THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



November 1918 



Under no circumstances, allow the stumps of 

 cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and re- 

 lated plants to remain in the garden over winter. 

 They serve as breeding quarters and winter 

 homes for countless cabbage aphis which in the 

 spring will damage the new crop. Be sure to 

 burn them now. 



It's a good plan to examine the trunks of apple 

 and pear trees to see if any codling moth pupae 

 are hidden beneath the loose bark. If the trees 

 have borne any fruit this season there are prob- 

 ably at least some. To do more effectual and 

 more economical work, spread sheets, burlap, 

 duck or other material beneath the trees and 

 around the trunks, then scrape off the loose bark. 

 Catch the scrapings and burn them. They 

 probably contain not only codling moth pupae 

 but the eggs and cocoons of many other kinds 

 of insects that would be troublesome next season. 

 Don't be satisfied merely to scrape them off. 

 They should be burned. 



Leaf curl of peach next spring may be largely, 

 if not wholly, prevented by thorough spraying 

 this month with winter or "dormant" strength 

 lime-sulphur wash. Apply it to every twig and 

 bud for it is on these that the fungus passes the 

 winter. This same spraying will also destroy 

 the San Jose scale that may be on the trees. 



Mummy fruits of peaches, plums, cherries, 

 apricots, nectarines — collect and burn; or if 

 there are too many to gather from the trees and 

 the ground, knock down all within reach and 

 plow them all under as deeply as possible without 

 injuring the tree roots. These mummies carry 

 the spores of the rot disease over winter and 

 spread infection among the foliage and fruit of 

 the following year. After gathering or plowing, 

 it is a good plan to spray the trees and the ground 

 with copper sulphate solution, iron sulphate, 

 or winter strength lime-sulphur wash to kill 

 all spores that may have been missed. This 

 must not be done until the foliage has fallen 

 and the trees are ready for winter, otherwise it 

 might do damage. 



Points on Pruning 



TF THE old dead canes of raspberry, blackberry 

 ■*■ and dewberry have not already been cut out 

 and destroyed, and if the currant and gooseberry 

 bushes were not pruned as they should be in Au- 

 gust after having fruited three or at most four 

 years, do this work now. The best way to de- 

 stroy them is by fire because this gets rid of 

 boring insects that may be in them. Diseases 

 are also destroyed in this way. 



Look at the Grape Vines 



"^J"OW is as good a time as any to prune grape 

 - L ^ vines. In fact, for such kinds as the 

 Scuppernong and other Muscadines it is far 

 better than toward spring, because the wounds 

 have a chance to dry and thus prevent " bleeding" 

 which always occurs when the pruning is done 

 late. In pruning it is safe to be very severe. 

 First, remove all the puny growths. Next 

 shorten the sturdy ones to two or three joints, 

 each with a plump bud. If the vines are young 

 — two or three years — allow only ten to twenty 

 such buds and be prepared to reduce the number 

 of shoots that will start from these next spring. 

 Mature vines may be allowed to have 30 to 50 

 or even more buds. As much as possible keep 

 these buds near the main trunk of the vine, there- 

 by concentrating both the plant food and area 

 of production. If grapes are tender in your 

 section, lay the vines down on the ground and 

 cover them with corn stalks, brush, or other 

 material that will protect them from the sudden 

 changes of weather. Semi-hardy and even tender 

 kinds may be grown successfully in this way. 

 Bum the prunings. 



Don't Over-prune ! 



pHOUGH it is now time to prune fruit trees 



-*■ go slowly! It is so easy to overdo the thing. 



Cut off only the worst offending branches when 



pruning young trees — those branches that now 

 interfere with the others or will surely also do so 

 later. Dead wood, of course, must come out. 

 Be sure to allow every little stubby twig to remain 

 on apple, pear, plum, cherry and apricot trees 

 because these are the ones that bear fruit. By 

 removing them and by using the tools too freely 

 you may actually prevent the trees from bearing 

 fruit. Avoid doing any pruning of peach and 

 nectarine until the latter part of March because 

 the winter is often severe upon the buds. It is 

 safer to wait until the blossom buds begin to 

 swell before pruning these trees. 



When large branches must be removed be 

 careful to prevent tearing of the trunks when 

 they fall. To avoid this make a cut from the 

 lower side a foot or more out on the branch. 

 When the saw sticks, pull it out and cut from 

 the upper side until the branch drops. Then 

 cut off the stub as close to the main trunk as 

 possible so as to favor healing. Never leave a 

 stub or even a shoulder. 



To Paint Wounds, or Not? 



TT IS not necessary to paint pruning wounds 

 *• smaller than two inches in diameter. They 

 usually heal in a year or two during which time 

 decay seldom has a chance to enter. Larger 

 wounds should be "dressed." Paint is only a 

 makeshift, often it may accumulate year after 

 year as fresh coats are applied until it is a quarter 

 of an inch thick or even thicker yet be no pro- 

 tection at all! Decay may gain entrance through 

 checks or cracks in it. The best preventive 

 of decay, creosote, is dangerous to use because 

 if allowed to touch living wood it does damage 

 more or less severe. Yet it may be used with 

 entire success provided it be not allowed to come 

 within half an inch of the light colored wood just 

 beneath the bark. The brush must be pressed 

 against the pail so no "running" may occur and 

 when applied to the wound only the heart wood 

 must be touched. A painting each year with 

 creosote will positively prevent the entrance of 

 decay and if the growing tissues of the wood are 

 not injured the edges of the wound will gradually 

 grow together and completely cover the whole 

 area. Furthermore, wood soaked annually in 

 this way will not decay later, as often is the case 

 when ordinary paint is used. 



Manure is Worthy of Care 



"^"OT ONLY is it untidy to throw stable 

 •^•^ manure out-of-doors but it is exceedingly 

 wasteful. Rain, snow, and air each make their 

 inroads upon the plant food in the manure which 

 is daily rendered less valuable. Always store 

 manure under cover and keep it moist, or it will 

 "fire-fang"; that is, "burn," and become less 

 valuable. A temporary shed is all that is neces- 

 sary. Some people haul the manure and spread 

 it on the garden or the field as soon as made. 

 This is good provided the ground is not frozen 

 and is plowed before winter sets in, otherwise, 

 much of the soluble parts may be washed over 

 instead of into the soil. As to poultry ma- 

 nure keep it dry. Mix it with dry earth, 

 daily, as made and cleaned from the dropping 

 boards. 



Mulch for Winter Protection 



TV/TULCHING to protect plants during the 

 ■*•*■* winter may begin this month. Such 

 garden trash as is not objectionable from its 

 insect or disease bearing nature or because 

 of weed seeds may be used for this purpose — 

 corn stalks, straw, litter, weeds cut before seed 

 ripening, etc. Protect the Roses and other 

 shrubs with three or four inches of strawy 

 manure (see article in last month's Garden 

 Magazine); around and over the hardy peren- 

 nials and Dutch bulbs also spread a liberal cover- 

 ing. When the ground has frozen hard enough 

 to bear a wagon and a horse spread four to six 

 inches of marsh or salt hay, clean straw, buck- 



wheat stems or other material free from dry 

 ground weed seeds. If materials such as men- 

 tioned are expensive or inconvenient to get 

 merely lay brush rather liberally upon the beds. 

 It will collect and hold leaves whenever the wind 

 blows and these will form a fair mulch, though 

 not as good a one as marsh or salt hay and buck- 

 wheat stems. The former two of these materials 

 may contain weed seeds but the plants that spring 

 from them cannot grow in ground as dry as the 

 garden because they are water loving plants. 

 The buckwheat stems seldom contain weed seed 

 because buckwheat grows so fast it chokes weeds 

 and what ones do live seldom mature seeds. 



A Wrinkle in Flower Pot Cleaning 



/^LEANING flower pots is in order now. It is a 

 ^ slow, tiresome, hard job if done by "main 

 strength and stupidity" but comparatively 

 easy when done as described here. The advisa- 

 bility of doing it is to get rid of the "moss" on 

 the outside as well as the soil that sticks inside. 

 This "moss" or growth of algae closes the pores 

 in the pottery and thus tends to make the water 

 and the soil stagnant, sour and poorly aerated. 

 No matter how stiff the brush it is difficult to 

 remove under ordinary conditions. But! Nest 

 the pots according to their size and lay them in 

 a trough or a- tub, then cover them with water 

 to which about ten per cent, of sulphuric acid 

 has been added. This will not only destroy 

 the "moss" but will dissolve the salts of fertilizers 

 which have clogged the pores in the pottery 

 beneath the moss. After soaking thus for say 

 twenty-four hours use a stiff brush with plenty 

 of water and the pots will be cleaned with only 

 a small fraction of the former effort and in far 

 less time. 



Protect Young Trees Against Rabbits and Mice 



TXTHERE rabbits are troublesome or plentiful, 

 T " protect your trees from their attacks this 

 winter by wrapping the trunks with galvanized 

 hardware cloth or wire netting — half inch mesh — 

 to a height of not less than 18 inches. This will 

 also protect the trees against mice provided the 

 wire extends into the ground a couple of inches 

 or is mounded up with earth at least that much. 

 In order to aid in prevention of such damage 

 be sure to clear away all straw, grass, and other 

 material that might serve for mouse nests. It 

 is also a good plan, particularly where no pro- 

 tector is applied to the trunk, to make a mound 

 of earth about six inches high around each tree 

 trunk. Such earth should be tramped down 

 firmly to help keep it in place when fall rains 

 and winter snows come. In the spring the 

 mounds should be levelled. 



Summarize the Season's Work 



AS a special feature of the clean-up season 

 -^*- make a careful review of the entire season's 

 work, noting every possible detail especially 

 of failure and the cause. This is fully as impor- 

 tant as recording successes and what they de- 

 pended upon. In connection with this review 

 a personal expereince table showing the length 

 of time required by the various seeds to germin- 

 ate, the time between germination and thinning, 

 and also maturity, the relative proportion or 

 percentage of seed that germinated that gave 

 plants true to type, reasons for discrepancies 

 between such records and those accepted by 

 "experts" as normal, data as to varieties to 

 discard and what ones have pleased the neighbors 

 or other gardeners who have written for The 

 Garden Magazine or other periodicals — all 

 such time spent and data gathered will be of 

 special help in planning the garden for next 

 season, particularly if it is written down where 

 it may be easily referred to in after months or 

 after years. It is also a good thing to summarize 

 the expenditures and the income from the garden 

 so as to know whether it pays in dollars and 

 cents, as well as in pleasure. 



