77ie Garden Magazine, October, 1921 



85 



An Easily Managed Spray Pump 



SPRAY pumps are of many kinds, but this year for the first 

 time I have found one which is really satisfactory for use 

 about the home grounds. It consists of a straight nozzle at- 

 tached to a hose resting in a bucket. The nozzle is in two pieces, 

 one of which works over the other. A powerful spray or steady 

 stream is obtained by working these two sections back and forth, 

 an easier process than manipulating the handle of a pump. With 

 this little device one can spray all the bush fruits and all or- 

 dinary sized fruit trees, too. In fact, it is the only spray pump 

 which the average garden maker will need. 



Protecting the Plums 



THE reason why the man with a few Plum trees often fails 

 to get a satisfactory crop is that he doesn't thin the fruit. 

 Plums need thinning fully as much as do peaches, but they are 

 usually allowed to hang in dense clusters, regardless of this 

 fact. As a result it is impossible to spray them properly. The 

 plums remain damp from rains and dews, and brown rot soon 

 develops. This brown rot, plus the curculio, does most of the 

 damage which makes the plum crop a failure. The rot will be 

 prevented to a large extent by thinning the clusters so that the 

 plums will not touch even when ripe. This simple operation 

 will give a good yield of plums from trees which have been con- 

 sidered worthless. It is often a drastic operation, requiring 



the removal perhaps of more than half the set. The gardener 

 cannot easily nerve himself to the task; but having once suc- 

 ceeded, he will keep on thinning his plums as a matter of 

 course. 



Thinning should be supplemented by spraying, when the 

 plums are about half grown, repeating this spraying if a period 

 of damp weather follows using self-boiled lime sulphur or bor- 

 deaux mixture, preferably the former, but the commercial prep- 

 arations are more convenient. 



While the plum curculio does not destroy the plums like the 

 brown rot, it disfigures them and does much damage. The 

 curculio has been much in evidence the past season. It makes a 

 crescent-shaped cut on the fruit, from which a little gum often 

 exudes. Much can be done to get rid of the plum curculio by 

 burning over the grass and weed patches around the trees in 

 winter. Another old-fashioned but effective plan is to spread a 

 large cloth under the trees and give the trunk a sudden jar with 

 a pole muffled with cloth to prevent its injuring the bark. The 

 jar which the tree gets causes the curculios to fall down upon 

 the cloth, when they can be gathered up and killed. 



One thing which can be done right now to ensure better plums 

 next season, is to look over the trees and pick off all the mum- 

 mied fruits. The fungus of the brown rot lives over winter in 

 this fruit, either on the tree or on the ground, and if burned or 

 deeply buried, a long step is . taken toward eradicating the 

 trouble. 



GARDEN BIRDS 



LOUISE DRISCOLL 



I WILL plant larkspur for the humming birds, 

 And sunflowers for the goldfinches. I'll set 

 A little dish of water in the shade 

 And watch the birds come — orioles like flame 

 And little juncos with white tail feathers, 

 Small, friendly, Quaker birds! That mocking laugh 

 I s a bright flicker hunting ants. He calls 

 To bring his mate down. Do you see his moons? 

 Black crescent on his throat and red behind 

 Set well upon the top of his proud head — 

 A bold, gay bird. 



THERE are so many warblers I can't tell 

 One from the other always, but I know 

 Green, golden gleaming in the cherry bloom! 

 There's a blue throat or a gray cheek sometimes, 

 And song like that lost pipe that Ganymede 

 Dropped as he rose. Perhaps a warbler found 

 That last low note and caught it as it fell. 



1 THINK the singing angel Israfel 

 Teached the birds to sing. I know they come 

 Through rainbows to my garden, for their wings 

 Are stained with seven colors. Every one 

 Seeks out a special blossom that he loves. 

 I've seen an oriole on a blossoming peach 

 Gold on the rose inlaid and honey mad! — - 

 Draining flower after flower; and there's a wren 

 Sings all day long above the clematis. 



THESE are my friends. Theirs is my garden grace. 

 For them I plant larkspur and sunflowers 

 And set a dish of water in the shade. 

 I like to think that when my soul is free 

 It will lift radiant wings and fly to flowers. 

 I hope I'll find a garden red and white 

 And gold and amethyst and dusky green, 

 With a blue, shallow pool and an old dial 

 To mark the sunny hours. 



