Jtjly, 1918 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



265 



enough to compensate the gardener for the time 

 it takes, or the chance it loses him to start an- 

 other crop going. 



Remember that this is the month to prepare 

 for your crops of roots for winter use, stored 

 either in cans or in soil in the cellar. (On 

 this particular point, read again the pertinent 

 remarks in the June Garden Magazine). 

 Every row that is done bearing the first crop, 

 even though not quite finished, should yield 

 the space to such vegetables as beets, car- 

 rots, kohlrabi, turnips, rutabagas and winter 

 radishes. It is well to remember that the last 

 four are members of the same family and 

 should not be sown where brassicas have 

 grown just before. (This includes Brussels 

 sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and mus- 

 tard). Most of these are heir to all the dis- 

 eases that are apt to befall any of the others. 

 The root crops are all subject to attack by 

 maggots, and of course, a chewed or other- 

 wise injured root is not fit for storage. 



Any of the available varieties of these root 

 crops will grow to large size from seeds sown 



Tomato makes 'too much foliage. If left alone the fruit 

 becomes densely shaded 



Pinch out superfluous lateral growth on the tomato. 

 The young shoots shown here are in the right stage for 

 pinching 



up to July 15th, because all stand consider- 

 able frost and do not stop growing until 

 hard freezes in October. With other, more 

 tender crops, like beans, corn, etc., first ask 

 yourself the question "how many days 

 before we'll have a killing frost?" and then 

 decide on an early maturing type that will 

 do the trick. There are between eighty and 

 ninety days of good growing weather between 

 July 15th and hard frosts in most sections 

 of the country. 



Bear in mind that the same varieties of 

 the short season crops, like lettuce, early 

 radishes, peas, spinach, etc., may again be 

 pressed into service to enliven the menu dur- 

 ing the fall. Fall weather conditions — warm 

 days, cool nights and ample moisture — are 

 almost similar to those reigning in early 

 spring. Early Malakoff, Peep-o'Day, and 

 Golden Bantam corn will all bear crops by 

 October first from seeds sown up to July 10th. 



When in doubt what to plant in any given 

 space or row in the garden, plant crop in- 

 surance for next year. By that I mean to 



sow that spot to a green cover crop like vetch 

 or rye, or both together. They'll keep down 

 the weeds, enrich the soil, and, when turned 

 under in the spring, will add humus — plant 

 food of which no soil can have too much. 

 Besides, forage crops like these furnish a dandy 

 ration for chickens — where the season is open, 

 they grow and stay green throughout the 

 winter. 



Which finally brings me to the point that, 

 in connection with every act in the garden, 

 the importance of keeping some sort of 

 record is not appreciated as it should be. 

 Do not trust to memory in gardening matters. 

 Things happen so fast, and changes take place 

 so rapidly, that it keeps even "seasoned" 

 gardeners guessing. "Put it down in black 

 and white" is a good motto to keep in mind. 

 Note the dates when seedlings appear, when 

 plants flower and when crops materialize. 

 Then, of course, there are camera possibilities 

 to prove your written statements, and The 

 Garden Magazine will be glad to hear of 

 splendid achievements or unusual results. 

 Send them to the editor. 



Here is the same cluster as shown to the left after super- 

 fluous foliage is removed. This hastens maturity 



Selective Draft in the Fruit Garden 



M. G. KAINS 



Summer Pruning and Thinning the Set 



JUST as in the army whole companies 

 have volunteered when only a few 

 men have been required so also is 

 it in our fruit orchard. As explained 

 last month Nature discards the physically un- 

 fit and plans to mature only the reduced num- 

 ber of fruits left hanging on the trees after the 

 "June drop." But many, of these fruits will 

 never make specimens of best service to us 

 humans and often they are far too numerous, 

 so that upon both counts the campaign, whde 

 successful from Nature's standpoint, would 

 scarcely measure up to the standard of per- 

 fection we would like to attain. To reach 

 this standard we may apply the selective draft 

 exemplified in the process of "thinning." 



No one thing that can be done during the 

 growing season will produce so marked a 

 change in the appearance, the size, the quality, 

 and pleasure of growing and eating good fruit 

 as simply removing from 4.0 to 60 per cent. 

 of the specimens before they have reached a 

 third of their normal size. And no one thing 

 if persisted in year after year will tend so 

 strongly to prevent an "off year" and insure a 

 crop every season. In support of this asser- 

 tion I may say that a friend who owns a 

 commercial orchard has missed only two 

 crops from his Baldwin apple trees in twenty 

 years. The failures were due to frost while 

 the trees were in blossom, the successes mainly 

 to the regular annual thinning, though good 



care also deserves credit. If a commercial 

 orchardist can do this with the Baldwin, notori- 

 ous for "ofF years" and finds it profitable to 

 do the thinning, may not an amateur do so 

 as well? 



Why Trim at All? 



r^HE outstanding reason why thinning 

 *- makes for annual yield is that the plant 

 food that would normally go to the formation 

 of a great number of seeds is saved because 

 only a small number is allowed to develop. 

 This saved food is partly stored and partly 

 utilized to form blossom buds, fruit spurs, and 

 other parts so that the tree is kept at 100 

 per cent, efficiency as a producer. To 



