136 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



November, 1913 



fences, old tin cans, bits of wood, etc. 

 Paint each one with creosote and its career 

 is over. 



Cylindrical, brownish, glistening egg 

 masses of the tent caterpillar wrapped 

 around slender twigs and apparently 

 varnished there. Prune these off, twigs and 

 all, and burn them. 



Irregular, white, frothy egg masses of the 

 white tussock moth covering the discarded 

 cocoons on bark or dead leaves. Burn 

 these too. When you come to know this 

 cocoon and find it in winter still occu- 

 pied, and lacking the frothy covering, leave 

 it alone for parasites are probably at work 

 on the pupa inside and will help you in 

 your next summer's work if left alone. 



Small, crumpled silk covered leaves at- 

 tached to apple twigs by strong slender 

 threads are the winter homes of the 

 apple leaf crumpler, and should be at once 

 pruned off and destroyed. 



Large, coarse, grayish webs or "tents" of 

 the fall web-worm, especially on apple and 

 ash. These, being built in autumn and still 

 inhabited, are fresher and plumper than 

 those of the tent caterpillar. Burn them 

 wherever found. 



Clusters of dead leaves bound together and 

 held to the tips of branches by silk — the 

 winter nests of the brown tail moths. 

 Quick ! Prune off and burn them, every one. 



Irregular, hard, rough, black swellings on 

 branches and twigs on stone fruits, espec- 

 ially wild cherry, indicate black knot 

 disease. Cut out and burn. Also, destroy 

 all wild cherry trees that cannot be given 

 attention and protective treatment. 



Round, dry, brownish, "cedar apples" of 

 wild cedars and junipers are one result of 

 the apple rust fungus and help to spread it. 

 Destroy these, and where apples are an 



Now is the best time to attack the black knot 

 disease of the fruit trees. Cut off. and burn at 

 once, all affected branches, or remove entirely 

 badly diseased trees. 



important crop, it would be well to cut 

 down all cedars and junipers within half a 

 mile. 



All cavities and injured places are liable 

 to contain disease germs, decay organisms, 

 etc. Clean them out, cut back to sound 

 wood, disinfect and fill with cement, if 

 likely to hold water; otherwise cover the 

 healthy surface with tar or paint. 



Making Winter Protection 



Protect 



TV/TOST "bad luck" in the garden is the 

 ■L ▼ A result of over doing. Over crowding, 

 over planting, over spraying, over pruning 

 are common; over feeding is rarer. But 

 just about now over protecting is the 

 worst and most common mistake. 



This comes, ordinarily, from trying to 

 produce a natural result in an artificial way. 

 Many of our garden materials, having been 

 brought from warmer climes and milder 

 conditions, require some sort of winter 

 shelter. But intermingled with them in 

 most plantings are so many of our native 

 hardy sorts that, in protecting the former, 

 we are very likely to smother the latter. 



Dormant plants require air no less than 

 actively growing ones. Therefore, the pro- 

 tection should be porous and not too heavy. 



In most cases, it is not cold but frequent 

 variation from below freezing to above that 

 winter kills. Therefore, the protection 

 should be a non-conductor that will main- 

 tain a constant low temperature. 



Actual freezing of plant tissues results 

 from excessive moisture; therefore, the pro- 

 tection should be loose, and a non-conductor 

 of water as well as of air. 



All plants should go into winter thoro- 

 ughly ripened. Therefore, avoid stimulat- 

 ing late fall growth, and delay covering 

 until the lowest temperature the plant can 

 stand has almost been reached. 



Where unbroken cold weather can be 

 expected, loose, dry snow is the ideal 

 protection. Desirable substitutes are 

 straw, corn stalks, leaves, and pine needles. 

 But they must not be allowed to become 

 soggy, compact and frozen into a solid 

 mass, or they will do more harm than good. 



STORING FRUITS AND 

 VEGETABLES 



c J - 



TUST about this time every win- 

 •J ter a certain number of house- 

 keepers and gardeners begin to bemoan 

 the spoiling of their winter supply of vege- 

 tables and fruits in spite of all their pre- 

 cautions. The trouble usually is that these 

 precautions have been misdirected or 

 based on a wrong conception of the princi- 

 ples of winter storing. Even now some 

 suggestions may help to save this season's 

 crop besides helping toward better results 

 in 1914. 



1. Store only first quality material 

 gathered in the best possible condition and 

 handled with the utmost care. A single 

 bruise or scratch may result in complete loss 

 by spoilage. 



2. The cellar, store house, or pit must 

 be well ventilated, that cold air may drain 

 in and down and warm air up and out. In 

 a cellar, air-shafts are most satisfactory; in a 

 trenchor pit, a stove pipe or a wisp of straw 

 running through the roof will serve. 



JVeius JVotes an3 Comments 



-*? 



3. The temperature must be below 50 

 degrees F. and should be about 33 degrees. 

 Turnips, parsnips, salsify, cabbage, and 

 onions will stand some degrees of frost 

 without injury. 



4. The temperature must not fluctuate. 

 An unvarying temperature of 50 degrees is 

 infinitely better than one that wavers be- 

 tween 30 degrees at night and 60 by day. 



5. The atmosphere and the soil (when 

 vegetables are packed therein) must be 

 kept moist. Less than 85 or 90 degrees of 

 humidity will invariably result in dry, 

 shriveled products. 



6. Apples and pears keep best if 

 wrapped individually. They may be stored 

 in boxes, barrels, crates, or on trays, with 

 equal success, provided they are carefully 

 handled. 



7. Late, firm varieties may be buried in 

 pits lined with clean straw and leaves. 



8. Vegetables differ in keeping 

 quality and in their special needs. 

 The following sets of conditions 



suit certain groups. 



A. Air and soil moist, tempera- 

 ture, uniform, between 30 and 50 degrees 

 F. : beets, turnips, kohlrabi, winter radish, 

 carrots, potatoes, and cabbage. 



B. Air dry, temperature, 30 to 35 de- 

 grees, steady frost not undesirable: 

 onions. 



C. Best if left in soil, but can be stored 

 in pits under class A conditions: parsnips 

 and salsify. 



D. Protect where grown or pack in 

 pits: celery, leeks, and parsley. 



E. Air dry, temperature preferably 50 

 degrees or over: squash, pumpkin, and sweet 

 potatoes. 



9. Alternate freezing and thawing will 

 destroy any fruit or vegetable. 



10. In all pits and trenches provide 

 perfect drainage. 



11. Ventilate pits until potatoes, etc. 

 have ceased sweating. Then cover with 

 soil or manure to keep out frost. 



