THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



277 



expended to produce a Lima bean that will 

 reach full maturity in our limited duration 

 of semi-tropical weather." 



If you "want salads that are really worth 

 while give the summer lettuce good care. If 

 you have the Cos varieties draw up the 

 outer leaves and tie them together at the top 

 with raffia, so as to blanch the inner leaves. 

 If you have a tender or cool-weather variety 

 it must be protected from the intense heat 

 with screens of cheesecloth' or paper. I 

 raise the black-seeded Simpson for summer. 



The black-seeded varieties are much the 

 best for hot-weather planting. But the 

 summer weather is trying to any lettuce. 

 A modification of the direct rays of the sun 

 is sometimes arrived at by planting the sum- 

 mer crop of lettuce in partially shaded parts 

 of the garden, but if this is not possible 

 the amateur can accomplish something by 

 stretching a screen of cheesecloth over the 



374. The falls in the brooK beside our garden where 

 a hydraulic ram will be placed 



lettuce bed, but sufficiently far above to 

 allow a thorough circulation of air. I take 

 laths to make a rectangle about ten by 

 twenty-four inches, and to this tack some 

 very thin unbleached muslin or cheese- 

 cloth. Each corner is fastened to an up- 

 right piece, about eighteen inches long, 

 sharpened at the lower end, so that these 

 ends can readily be pressed into the soil. 

 The screen will cover two heads of lettuce, 

 and it can either be slanted toward the south 

 (whence comes the greatest and most force- 

 ful sunlight) or put in straight. When its 

 duties for the season are over this screen 

 can be easily removed and stacked away till 

 next year. 



Squash and melons must have their 

 runners cut off, or they will forget themselves 

 and make a vast amount more of vine than 

 they will of fruit. They are continually 

 begging for a drink of water at this season, 

 for they are lusty drinkers, and we can 



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. A*sl«.«te4-, 



375. The gardener's stand-by for getting succulent crops in hot weather — a barrel of liquid manure. 



The old way : If you dump the manure into the barrel The new way : Suspend it in a bag at the top and 



it will clog the spigot and you will have to stir it you have the solution ready for use all the time 



satisfy thirst and hunger at the same time 

 if we give them manure water. One of 

 the secrets of successful melon growing is 

 to provide nitrogen (which is the real food 

 element in manure water) in weak doses, 

 but often. The ends of the main vines 

 are pinched out and lateral shoots are stopped, 

 which helps the fruit to develop and makes 

 it better flavored — sweeter — because the sun 

 gets at it. Then also it economizes room. 



Tomatoes are growing gloriously. But 

 don't let them run to vine. Cut out the 

 multitude of thin, weak, spindly shoots that 

 only crowd the strong ones. Let in the day- 

 light, and get larger, better and earlier 

 tomatoes. 



The young celery plants as they are set 

 out now will be very grateful for plenty 

 of manure water, as it is difficult to give 

 celery plants either too much to eat or too 

 much to drink. 



The root crops have the best of it during 

 these trying times. Carrots, parsnips and 

 salsify need but little care at this time of 

 year, for their large roots are far down below 



the surface. Cultivation, which means the 

 keeping down of weeds and helping the cir- 

 culation of air and moisture, is about all 

 they need. 



Potatoes need cultivating, unless you have 

 such an early variety that you are taking 

 in your crop at this time. If you are har- 

 vesting them be sure to protect them from 

 the sun. Do your digging on a cloudy day, 

 if you can. 



You are surely gathering and enjoying the 

 main crop of corn, but don't neglect the 

 later crop. It needs frequent hoeing to 

 keep, it growing fast and strong. Watch 

 for the smut, that uncanny fungus growth, 

 and cut it off as soon as it appears, which it 

 usually does in small knots on the tassel. 

 Burn it and you will be sure the spores are 

 killed. Sow early corn for late crop. 



Cultivate onions carefully and draw up 

 the earth about the leeks to blanch them 

 well. 



Late cabbages are set out in July, in any 

 vacant spot that the garden affords, so they 

 are dotted around, unless you have had space 



THE GARDEN BEDS 

 1; 5H0WINC VALVE5 &CANAL-ETTE5 



376. How we propose io irrigate our garden by a hydraulic 

 ram which runs itself, costs nothing after once installed and lasts 

 a lifetime. It can be used wherever there is a little fall. Part of the 

 water that runs through the machine— about one-seventh of the 

 whole — is forced up a steep hill to the storage tanK 



