First Fruits of Victory 



M. G. KAINS 



DESTROY that great army of camp 

 followers that fall upon the straw- 

 berry bed after harvest. The best 

 way is to dig or plow up the bed that 

 has borne only one full crop, relying upon a 

 new bed for next year's supply. The next 

 best plan is to do this same thing after the 

 second crop has been gathered. In this 

 case, however, it is good practice to run the 

 hay mower or the lawn mower (the latter set to 

 cut rather high) over the plants so as to clip 

 off all the leaves. If the ground is dry, rake 

 off these leaves and the mulch and burn them, 

 clean the bed of weeds, cultivate between the 

 rows and keep as free of weeds as in the first 

 year. If the ground is moist, loosen the 

 mulch and let dry a day or two, then set fire 

 to it on the windward side and burn up both 

 leaves and mulch. The patch will look 

 bleak for a week or two but the new growth of 

 leaves that comes soon after will be clean and 

 beautiful. If the patch is large, plow a 

 shallow furrow on each side of the row, fill 

 with rotted manure and cultivate the earth 

 back to cover the manure. Keep the area 

 clean of weeds for the balance of the season. 



For best results with everbearing straw- 

 berries, keep the blossoms pinched off until 

 about July first. Thus the strength of the 

 plants will be directed to fruit formation 

 during the later summer and fall months 

 when strawberries are highly acceptable. 



"Water! Water!! Water!!!" cry the 

 ripening berries. The strawberry, the goose- 

 berry and the blackberry call for 90 per cent, 

 or more, the currant and the grape for 85, 

 and the raspberry for 80. How shall we sup- 

 ply it? By irrigation! The several pipe 

 line systems will easily meet the demand. 

 But it's almost as easy to do where no such 

 system is available. Conservation of water 

 is the plan. First, reduce the number of 

 fruiting stems — three or four to the hill 

 will produce choicer fruit than a larger num- 

 ber. Second, prevent the loss of moisture, 

 either by cultivating the soil shallow every 

 ten days or two weeks, or by maintaining a 

 deep mulch of straw, leaves or litter; thus 

 making the moisture in the soil reach the air 

 via the plant and the fruit. 



"The June Drop" 



"^JATURE is a strict recruiting officer. 

 -^ She positively will not accept any fruit 

 that lacks what she considers essential quali- 

 fications. Still further, she as positively re- 

 fuses to muster in a larger army than she can 

 equip and support in the field during the 

 season's campaign. Hence, her ruthless re- 

 jection of countless volunteers as shown by 

 the windfalls on the ground beneath fruit 

 trees this month. These fruits are not 

 slackers. They are either imperfect or the 

 available food supply is inadequate to nourish 



Stocking the Commissariat Department 



t both them and the fruits still on the tree. 



] Hence, nature sloughs off these fruits and we 

 call the process, "the June drop." It is 

 perfectly natural and must be expected and 

 recognized as necessary from the tree's stand- 

 point. Were it not for this we would have no 

 fine fruit because the specimens might be so 

 numerous that they would become scarcely 

 more than skin and seeds. The fact is, 

 nature is often not quite vigorous enough in 

 her rejections to suit us; hence we must thin 

 out the specimens as will be explained next 

 month. 



IRRIGATE your garden with a rake or a cul- 

 tivator, unless you have a so-called irrigation 

 system. These implements save the moisture ac- 

 tually in the soil by maintaining a "dust blanket" 



CONSERVATION OF MOISTURE 



The most important work of this 

 month is conservation of water. Stir- 

 ring the soil with the cultivator and gar- 

 den rake and mulching it with lawn clip- 

 pings are the surest ways of saving the 

 moisture already in the ground. Over- 

 head irrigation insures an ample reserve 

 supply for time of need. 



^\ 





<Ofie, ZK^W^firrze and #Ce- Gfd 



The extra hour of daylight means 



#1[ Great increase of power for the 

 ul home and back yard munition 

 plants. 



More intensive cultivation. 



§ 



fl]T Adds 300,000 years to actual work- 

 Til ing time in war gardens. 



tfJT Gives a million war gardeners an 

 TlJ extra 24,750,000 eight-hour days in 

 the working summer season. 



through which water passes much more slowly 

 than through a baked and crusty surface. They 

 are also admirable for use in the same way in 

 conjunction with an irrigation system, pro- 

 vided they are never worked when the soil is wet 

 enough to puddle and bake in the form of clods. 



Conserving the Fruits of Victory 



TJ^HEN are fruits of age for enlistment for 

 "' conservation service ? That will depend 

 somewhat upon the nature of the service. 

 For jelly, always gather them a little im- 

 mature because they then contain a larger 

 proportion of pectins upon which successful 

 jelly-making depends. To be sure, if allowed 

 to become fully ripe, less sugar may be required 

 but it will almost always be necessary to add 

 gelatin to make them "jell." Another dis- 

 advantage is that fully ripe fruit makes a 

 "flatter" jelly than does fruit slightly im- 

 mature, because the acids and volatile oils 

 upon which flavor depends are more or less 

 lost in the process of cooking, especially if the 

 fruit is boiled instead of simmered as it should 

 be. The riper the fruit, the lower should be 

 the heat and the slower should be the simmer- 

 ing in order to avoid losses of flavor. If fruit 

 becomes too ripe for jelly, therefore, use it for 

 jam (or even better for "bottling") because it 

 will lose less of its flavor when thus prepared. 

 But best of all, never let it get over ripe. If 

 it threatens ripening faster than it can be used 

 raw, or for jelly, make allies of the neighbors to 

 speed up the conservation campaign. Fruit is 

 ammunition; don't let it waste! 



TF YOU have several varieties of currants — 

 ■*■ early, midseason and late — extend the 

 season still longer by covering some of the 



232 



late bushes with cheese cloth about the time 

 the fruit is beginning to color. This causes 

 it to ripen and pass beyond the edible stage 

 more slowly. It is possible thus to lengthen the 

 season well into August and even September! 



*TpHIS year, if never before, allow some of 

 -*■ the gooseberries to become fully ripe 

 before gathering them. They will thus be- 

 come "fit to eat" raw. Moreover, they make 

 a far finer flavored jam than do the green-as- 

 grass gooseberries gathered in the usual way. 



Reserves and Preserves 



AX^HILE the strawberries are ripening, note 



* » and label those plants that bear the 



most fruit, then select suckers from these to 



form the plantation for next year. Some 



horticulturists say it makes no difference 



what kind of plants are parents of the new 



generation because, as one of them claims, 



productiveness is due to the nurture not 



the nature of the plant. It seems to stand 



to reason, however (and instances are not 



lacking to support it), that plants selected 



as suggested are more likely to be more 



highly productive than those taken "hit or 



miss." One of my friends more than doubled 



production in four or five years by this method 



of selection. Every one of his plants is now 



loaded with fruit each year. 



Potted strawberry plants are easy to grow. 

 Just plunge 3-in. pots rim deep in the soil of the 

 strawberry bed where the runners may be 

 placed over them. Fill them with good soil 

 and put a pebble or a small clod of earth to 

 hold each runner in place until rooted well. 

 In two to three weeks the plants will be ready 

 to set in the new bed. Cut them loose from 

 the parents, knock them out of the pots, and 

 plant, but no deeper than the crowns. Water 

 if necessary. This work and transplanting 

 may be done any time during July, August or 

 September. Such plants should yield fair 

 returns of fruit next year and reach full bearing 

 the summer after. 



f^iNE of the best of mulches is made from lawn 

 ^~* clippings. If you haven't chickens to 

 eat this tender green stuff, don't waste it by put- 

 ting in the compost pile or throwing it away. 

 Place it between strawberry plants. After these 

 have been mulched as much as necessary put it 

 around raspberries, blackberries, currants and 

 gooseberries, or among vegetables that cannot be 

 conveniently hoed or wheelhoed, in the latter 

 cases it will naturally be plowed under later in 

 the season or next spring and thus add to the 

 humus content of the soil. 



Foemen worthy of your steel, or rather bugs 

 and blights worthy of your spraying apparatus 

 were discussed in the July issue of last year 

 and the May issue of 1918. 



When wet weather makes strawberries 

 too soft or sandy for the table they are 

 still useful formaking" strawberry acid," 

 a thick syrup which mixed with water, 

 ice and perhaps spearmint makes a cool- 

 ing summer drink. They may also be 

 made into "juice" or wine of a quality 

 surpassing certain Teutonic beverages 

 that are taboo in many parts of the 

 country. At any rate there's no reason 

 why they should be wasted. 



