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"Come with me, then, behind the scenes, where we are concerned only with the joys of plant increase and rejuvenation" 



The Reminder is to "suggest" what may be done during the next few weeks. Details of 

 how to do each item are given in the current or the back issues of The Garden Magazine— it 

 is manifestly impossible to give all the details of all the work in any one issue of a magazine. 

 References to back numbers may be looked up in the index to each completed volume (sent 

 gratis on request), and the Service Department will also be glad to cite references to any spe- 

 cial topic if asked by mail. 



When referring to the time for out-door work of any sort New York City at sea level in a nor- 

 mal season is taken as standard ; but at best dates can only be approximate. Roughly, the sea- 

 son advances northward fifteen miles a day. Thus Albany, which is one hundred and fifty 

 miles from New York, would be about ten days later, and Philadelphia, which is ninety miles 

 southwest about a week earlier. Also allow four days for each one degree of latitude, for 

 each five degrees of longitude, and for each four hundred feet of altitude. 



/ 



OCTOBER— THE MONTH OF GARDEN TWILIGHT 



'HE first two or three weeks of 

 lOctober can — and should — be 

 ras busy as any period of equal 

 length the year around; but 

 with its close there settles 

 down over the garden the calm of 

 evening, the quietness of slumber. 

 Consequently 



Final Touches in the Vegetable 

 Garden 



Keep the celery grow- 

 ing and blanched as long 

 as you can. It is about 

 the only crop that is 

 ' still really developing, 

 and cool nights and warm sunshiny 

 days are just to its liking. But be in 

 readiness either to lift it and store it in 

 a cellar, or to cover and mulch it where 

 it stands, as soon as destructive frosts 

 come close enough to be dangerous. 



Lift the late cabbage and store away, 

 preferably in straw lined pits, the same 



as roots and apples. To prevent rotting, place the heads upside 

 down in rows, setting a second layer on top between every two 

 below, and so on up. 



In putting the potatoes into storage, keep the seed stock (if you 

 save your own) separate, and make special preparations so that it 

 will be entirely safe from freezing — and also so it will not tend to 

 start into growth early in the spring. 



As soon as the ground crusts over and the hardy plants show traces 

 of frost in the morning, cover the corn salad, spinach and other salad 

 plants and pot herbs growing outdoors with a thin coat of some light 

 mulch. As the weather gets colder increase it, but at no time make 

 it heavy enough to smother the plants. They simply want to be 

 protected from the winter sun. 



One exception in this mulching operation is kale — leave it entirely 

 unprotected and it will get along all right. See future reminders for 

 directions as to how to use it when frozen or snow-covered. 



In clearing up the late crops remove the stumps of cabbage and 

 cauliflower, the haulms of potatoes, and the bean and melon and 

 squash vines along with the usable products. Anything that will 

 quickly decompose and that is obviously free from disease and 

 insects can go on the compost pile. Everything else should be 

 burnt at once. 



If you can spare some strong plants of asparagus and rhubarb for 

 winter forcing, dig them shortly before the ground is likely really to 

 freeze and pack them away in a frame where they can freeze. Then 

 mulch them well and leave them till about four weeks before you want 

 the forced shoots. Directions for subsequent care will appear 

 on the December pages. 



Keep cauliflower and cabbage in the hotbeds, frames and houses 

 well aired. Those in the house will of course have to be protected 



Last Call for the Gardener ! 



1 . Make the most of every Indian summer 

 day. Do everything you can, as soon as 

 you can, for there isn't any assurance of 

 " another chance " this season. 



2. Do every job that must be done before 

 the opening of another garden year, and 

 every one that can just as well be done now. 

 But don't bother with tasks that will have 

 to be completed, or done over again, next 

 spring. 



3. See that everything is removed from the 

 gardens except (1) growing plants that are 

 wanted there, including perennials, winter 

 vegetables, and cover crops; (2) litter that 

 is being used or going to be used for mulch- 

 ing; (3) manure and any other protective or 

 otherwise beneficial materials on or around 

 beds, borders, shrubs and trees. 



from drafts, but they will need and can 

 stand more ventilation than almost any 

 thing else there. 



Make another sowing of cauliflower 

 seed to give a succession hothouse crop. 

 Lettuce can be sown in flats if you 

 can supply coolhouse conditions; that is 

 a night temperature of about 45 de- 

 grees F. and a correspondingly mod- 

 erate day heat. 



Make a last hunt for large, hardy 

 weeds. The best way to get them 

 out is with a spud, which can be either 

 bought or made. 



Pull up all bean poles, tomato 

 stakes, pea or other trellises and other 

 constructional material and sort it 

 over. Anything good for next year, 

 clean and put away; anything one 

 third or more decayed, or at all in- 

 fested with fungus or insects, chop up 

 and burn. Burn at once, moreover; 

 don't simply throw it on the woodpile 

 and forget it. 



There is still a chance to save seed of 

 some of your most successful crops (in addition to potatoes) 

 such as tomatoes, squash, beans, etc. See that it is clean, and 

 thoroughly dry before putting it away in tin containers. 



Beans thus kept must be — and other seeds well may be — disin- 

 fected with carbon bisulphide in order that insects, unintentionally 

 put into storage with them shall not destroy them before planting 

 time comes. 



And don't forget to label all such seed carefully, accurately and 

 fully. 



Plow or dig up your garden and sprinkle with lime if the soil is 

 a heavy, stiff clay, or if it has been badly infested with white grubs, 

 wireworms, and various other insects that spend their pupal stage 

 in the ground during the winter. But don't do this if your land 

 slopes so that the tilled soil will be washed down hill by winter 

 rains. In such a case rely upon cover crops over winter, and the 

 addition of lime, ashes and manure in the spring to lighten the soil. 



Final Offices for the Fruits 



Harvest the winter fruits and get them into storage. 



They are called "winter" sorts not because they are 



harvested then, but because they should be edible then. 



Whether they will be or not depends upon how they are 



treated! 

 For best results wrap each apple and pear — especially the latter — 

 in paper (newspaper will do) and pack it away in a box or barrel. 

 Good results can also be obtained by storing them in bulk in bins 

 in a regulation fruit cellar, or in straw lined pits outdoors. But 

 in every case put away only perfectly sound fruit; and handle it 

 more gently than you would eggs— more as you would day-old chicks. 



in 



