296 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



June, 19 13 



is the time to trim spring flowering shrubs, 

 but do it very lightly. 



The privet hedge may be clipped, but 

 if you want the fragrance and beauty of 

 the blossoms you can wait until after July 

 4th without doing any harm. 



For quality in the tomatoes, set a six 

 foot stake beside each plant; prune to a 

 single stem; tie this to the stake and 

 continue to pinch off the side shoots for 

 about four weeks. Pour half a gallon of 

 liquid manure around each plant once a 

 week. 



Onions started in the hotbed may be 

 transplanted now. Set them firmly but 

 not too deep. 



Pinch back new raspberry shoots to 

 about 2\ feet. Not later than July do 

 the same with the blackberries, letting 

 them, however, make about three feet of 

 growth. 



When your three year old strawberry 

 bed comes to the end of its second crop, 

 plow it up — you will get more returns 

 from late cabbage or some such crop. 



In the two year old bed pinch off all 

 runners except enough to supply new 

 plants. Of these bury each joint in 

 a two inch pot, sunk to its rim in the 

 ground. As soon as roots have developed 

 cut the new plants apart and put them 

 in bench or coldframe until repotting 

 time. 



This is exactly the treatment to give 

 violets, which, however, are more likely 

 to be in a bench or frame than in the open 

 ground. There it is easier to let the 

 runners or offsets root right in the bed, 

 then cut them loose and pot them like 

 cuttings. 



If you find the plum and peach trees 

 very heavily set, you will make for better 

 quality fruit by thinning out a fourth or 

 even a third of the crop. A little later do 

 the same for the apples. 



A few of the best shaped bunches of 

 grapes should be tied up in paper bags. 

 Thus protected they will become fit to 

 grace the table of any epicure — in appear- 

 ance as well as in flavor. 



Ripening Crops 



JUNE 25th is an average date for 

 bringing the asparagus harvest to a 

 close. Of course the kind of season deter- 

 mines it exactly, for six weeks is as long as 

 most beds should be cut. The idea isn't 

 to get every possible stalk this year, but to 

 get a good crop and still permit the plants 

 to store up food materials for future years. 

 Keep up the cultivating, however, and 

 work in another dressing of salt. 



After the tops die down you gain noth- 

 ing by leaving early potatoes in the ground. 

 Like all quick growers they are to be eaten 

 while tender. 



There should be in full bearing through- 

 out the month lettuce, radishes, spinach, 

 rhubarb, parsley, peas, kohlrabi and — by 

 the first of July — bush beans, and, if you 

 are lucky, a few ears of corn. 



Keeping Up Appearances 



GIVE the lawn a little extra care in 

 anticipation of droughts. Soak it 

 well, cut it at least once a week to develop 

 a thick sod and roll it once or twice more. 



Weeds are probably thriving, because 

 you hesitated to touch them earlier for 

 fear of pulling up valuable plants. Make 

 up for lost time by wielding spud, hoe and 

 cultivator. A little kerosene on the cut 

 roots of the worst of the tribe — dandelion, 

 dock, plantain and thistle — will help. 

 A strong salt or iron sulphate solution or 

 some one of the advertised weed killers 

 should be sprayed over paths and brick 

 walks. The drives are all the better for 

 an occasional light hoeing and raking which 

 removes the weeds too. 



The edgings and grass borders are like 

 the frame on a picture and should be kept 

 trimmed, or the whole garden effect is 

 spoiled. 



Just because most of the work is outdoors 

 don't let the greenhouse become slovenly 

 and inconvenient. Increase the shading 

 oyer the remaining tenants; throw out all 

 old, useless plants — such as roses that 

 have been forced. If possible replace the 

 soil or at all events sterilize it in some way. 

 Add lime if you cannot do anything else. 



While the soil is outside repair the 

 benches, ventilators, heating apparatus, etc.. 



June Pests 



THE really vital times to spray fruit 

 trees are just before the blossoms 

 open and just after they fall. If you have 

 missed the first opportunity see that you 

 grasp the second. What to use? Why 

 bordeaux mixture, with arsenate of lead, 

 two pounds to twenty-five gallons. 



All things considered the rose chafer is 

 the worst June pest. Use arsenate of lead 

 even at the cost of some discolored foliage, 

 but to be on the safe side nab every bug 

 you see and drop it in kerosene. Unfor- 

 tunately you must look for them on grapes, 

 peonies, chrysanthemums, and half a dozen 

 other plants, as well as on roses. 



Potato bugs are here, of course. Pur- 

 sue the same treatment and also look on 

 the under side of the leaves for clusters of 

 orange colored eggs which can be crushed be- 

 tween (preferably gloved) finger and thumb. 



If currant worms persist, use hellebore 

 rather than a more virulent poison. 



White grubs often injure lawns in June. 

 'Tis said that by spraying the ground well 

 with kerosene emulsion diluted fifteen 

 times, then watering copiously they can 

 be eliminated. It's worth trying, surely. 



Aphis, thrips and various leafhoppers 

 may persist, but they can be rendered 

 innocuously scarce by the use of whale oil 

 soap or kerosene emulsion. 



All the mildews, rots and other fungi 

 can be controlled by the use of bordeaux 

 mixture, ammoniacal copper carbonate, or 

 potassium sulphide. The latter is pref- 

 erable for roses and most ornamentals, 

 and the copper carbonate for all well 



developed fruits on which bordeaux would 

 cause undesirable stains. 



In the greenhouse, red spiders may be 

 kept down by supplying plenty of moisture; 

 the damping -off fungus succumbs where 

 there is plenty of ventilation; aphides can 

 be wiped out with a solution of ivory soap 

 (which is pleasanter indoors than whale 

 oil preparations) or tobacco fumes; and 

 for other fungus troubles use any con- 

 venient form of sulphur. 



Several kinds of caterpillars are at the 

 height of their liveliness now. Tent 

 builders hide in their silken webs which 

 should be destroyed about twilight. Others 

 will be glad to roost under bands of burlap 

 tied around the trunks. Inspect these 

 every day if possible and, with two excep- 

 tions, kill every insect you find. The first 

 exception is a large steely-blue beetle of 

 the species Calosoma that preys on gypsy 

 moth larvae; the other is any caterpillar 

 bearing tiny white coccoons on its back. 

 These contain another valuable parasite and 

 while the host will never mature it will help 

 to distribute the insect as long as it fives. 



Ponder over this course of events: 

 Bird baths, trickling fountains, etc., attract 

 birds; birds devour injurious insects and 

 brighten the life of the garden; the de- 

 struction of insects means less work and 

 more returns for the gardener. 



The one insect that we welcome in the 

 garden is — the bee. Don't depend on 

 your neighbor for the increased fruit and 

 vegetables, the cheery, musical hum, and 

 the gifts of comb honey, that are the results 

 of bee keeping. Get a bee of your own — 

 or rather a colony. 



Getting Ready for July 



HAVE you a hoe or some tool that just 

 suits you, and with which you can 

 do all the cultivating you ought to next 

 month? Why not go to some large seed store 

 now and examine all the types of cultiva- 

 tors. Read Mr. Kayan's articles of a 

 couple of years back and see how much 

 there is to the subject. 



You will want to sow some cover crops 

 the last of July. Better order your seed now 

 — rye, clover, cowpeas or whatever you use. 



Are you keeping track of the yield from 

 your garden? If you haven't done so, 

 get a pocket notebook and find out exactly 

 what crops July brings. There is no surer 

 way of proving what the garden is worth. 



Some people stick up for late July and 

 August as the only safe time to plant 

 evergreens. We don't quite agree, but 

 if you do, it's time to send in your order. 



Next to the loss of fingers and eyes and 

 such things, the most lasting result of 

 Fourth of July celebrations is the injury 

 done to lawns by the "display." If you are 

 going to have fireworks and cannot find a 

 piece of bare or worthless ground, it will 

 cost less to build a temporary stage than 

 to rebuild the lawn 



And at all events have a hose and plenty 

 of water on hand "in case." 



