July, 1917 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



315 



if There's no question that the var- 

 ious irrigation systems are wonderful 

 adjuncts in gardening. No home garden 

 should be without one. But where one 

 has not been installed the next best thing 

 is the garden rake! ' \\ ith this the surface 

 can easily be kept loose so that moisture 

 cannot escape as rapidly from the soil as if 

 there were a crust. It 

 is important to go over 

 the ground every week 

 to maintain this dust 

 mulch and to break up 

 every crust that re- 

 sults from each rain 

 shower if enough to puddle 

 the immediate surface. 

 The time to do this latter 

 work is just when the sur- 

 face begins to lose that 

 wet condition which if 

 handled would result in 

 pasty lumps that would 

 bake hard in the sun. 



if Lawn clippings are 

 fine for making a mulch 

 in the garden. Never 

 waste these by putting 

 them on the compost pile. 

 They are excellent for 

 scattering between the 

 rows of any of the taller 

 growing vegetables, espec- 

 ially those that cannot be 

 The efficient way of conveniently worked with 



growing tomatoes: three wheelhoes and the garden 



stalks trained to a stake i 



if You want lots of cucumbers and 

 summer squashes, eh? Try this method: As 

 soon as each fruit has reached edible size, gather 

 it. If you can't use it give it away or even 

 throw it away! At any rate, don't let it ripen 

 — unless you want the vine to stop producing 

 because of itsmaking seed. Yousee,theplant's 

 one aim is seed production. So, as soon as it 

 has made a good advance toward maturing a 

 fruit it draws all its energies from other flowers 

 and little fruits which may drop off or if they 

 do continue to develop they are either late or 



He Also Fights Who Helps a Fighter 

 Fight " — Herbert C. Hoover 



inferior. This same rule would apply to many 

 other plants — eggplant, pepper, okra, etc. — 

 whose fruits we use in the immature state, but 

 usually these plants ( are killed by frost in 

 northern parts of the country. 



if Figure ahead! The middle of July will 

 see the early sowings of beets, lettuce, radish, 

 onions from sets, spinach and many other 

 extra early "short season" crops exhausted. 

 Therefore the first part of July is the proper 

 time to provide succession crops for the space 

 that will become available. Sow between the 

 "old" rows, or set out additional plants. In 

 the case of rows which are nearly exhausted, 

 it pays well to pull up the old plants and re- 

 plant the rows at once to vegetables not akin 

 to those which grew in the same row before. 



if There's no question about it! The 

 wheelhoes with their various attachments 

 do reduce the amount of work necessary in the 

 garden. With the wrench furnished with each 

 machine a few minutes will suffice to make any 

 adjustments necessary to change the style of 

 work from raking the centres between rows to 

 cutting on each side of a row which the machine 

 is made to straddle. By using the machine 

 each week the work is kept light and effective 

 all season, or at least as long as any cultivation 

 is necessary or desirable. The work thus 

 accomplished will be greater in extent and 

 superior in quality to that done by hand with 

 ordinary garden rakes and hoes, necessary 

 though these are. 



ir Liquid manure! Certainly it is good — 

 provided it is properly made and applied. It 

 is especially useful in growing all the leafy 

 crops — lettuce, swiss chard, collards, cress, 

 spinach, etc., in warm weather. One of the 

 best ways to make it is to use a leaky barrel 

 placed on a slightly tilted platform so the liquid 

 that trickles through may flow into a tub or a 

 big crock placed to catch it. The manure 



placed in the barrel should be packed 

 firmly around the sides, best left rather 

 loose in the centre so the water may 

 work down and out from centre to bottom 

 and sides. Well rotted manure is. better 

 than fresh for this purpose. The first 



leachings are sure to be stronger than later 



ones, so may be diluted more or less. In ap- 

 plying the liquid the best 



plan is to fill small holes, 



say, four to six inches 



deep several inches away 



from the stems of the 



plants. Sprinkling the 



surface is not a desirable 



way because it will form 



a crust. 



^ Now that the 

 STRAWBERRIES have 

 done fruiting it's time 

 to plan for next year's 

 crop. If the bed is two or 

 more years old and fail- 



Drive 

 stakes for 

 the toma- 

 toes when 

 the plants 

 are two feet 

 high, and 

 begin prun- 

 ing them 



ing perhaps, better dig it up and plant celery, 

 cabbage or some other late crop. If still in 

 good condition mow off the tops, let dry a day 

 or two, and then set fire to the mulch pre- 

 viously lifted and loosened. It is well to start 

 at the windward side or corner so as to have 

 the thing done quickly. The dreary look of 

 the burnt bed will disappear in a week or two 

 and beautiful, lush green leaves will push up. 

 The advantages of this plan are to kill insects 

 and diseases and to give the plants a fresh clean 

 start. Of course, a cultivation and replace- 

 ment of the old mulch with a new one are 

 desirable. 



The efficient utility garden may be just as attractive to the eye as is the flower border, and with a little forethought can be made a decorative feature 



