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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



October, 1906 



Fruit and Orchard Work in October 



By E. P. Powell 



E WIND up our work, in October, in the 

 berry garden, by cutting out all the fruit 

 canes that have yielded fruit; by crowding 

 the new canes between two wires stretched 

 from post to post; and just at the end of the 

 month, or perhaps better in November, we 

 cut off the tops of these canes with long-handled shears, 

 leaving them about five feet in height. The old canes must 

 then be forked out and thrown into a bonfire. This work is 

 pleasant and cheerful, because we do not feel hurried, as we 

 do in the picking time. The sun is rarely over-hot, and the 

 birds, although no longer singing, are winding up their 

 affairs all about us. Occasionally a catbird bids us good-bye 

 with a song, in a minor key. The rattling of wagons, loaded 

 with corn or potatoes, comes up to us from the valley farms. 

 When our work in the berry garden is finished, everything 

 is ready for plow or cultivator. But if your field is on a slop- 

 ing hillside, you had better not stir the soil nor kill the weeds, 

 but leave them to prevent waste by washing during the 

 winter. 



Orchard work begins about the first of this month, 

 although the Pound Sweets should be off the trees in Septem- 

 ber. The grand Hubbardstons are now fully colored, and if 

 not picked at once, will fall to the ground. The King fol- 

 lows, although it is a good keeper, as is the Hubbardston also. 

 They simply are ripe early, and must be gathered promptly. 

 The Fameuse, and its two children, Shiawassie Beauty and 

 Princess Louise, follow, and their quality depends on their 

 being promptly picked and put in storage. By this time the 

 Spitzenburg and Golden Pippin are loosening on the stem, 

 and must be quickly gathered. You may leave your Bald- 

 wins till later. This matter of picking apples in succession is 

 very important. You can not go into an orchard and gather 

 promiscuously without serious loss. The apples should go 

 immediately to a cool cellar, dark, and thoroughly ventilated 

 until freezing weather. Then if your bins have been cleaned 

 and your walls sweetened with Bordeaux mixture or lime, 

 and no taint of must anywhere about, you will find your fruit 

 keeping admirably. Every apple, however, must have been 

 handled with tenderness. If dropped only two or three 

 inches into a basket, you have broken two or three cells, and 

 those broken cells will begin to decay sooner or later. The 

 apple cellar should never be the same as the vegetable cellar, 

 nor should it be under the house at all. It should be under a 

 part of the barn, and with no opening toward the stables. It 

 should be thoroughly ventilated all summer, but not venti- 

 lated at all during the winter. It should be absolutely clean, 

 but also moist. Through mine I conduct a brook, in the 

 grouted floor — part of the way in tile. This whole question 

 of apple-growing needs revising. It is a fine art and a poem. 

 Preparing for winter is the burden of the Northern States. 

 No sooner are we through with our apple harvest than we 

 must cover our strawberry beds, our roses and tender shrubs. 

 Grapes must be trimmed and laid down as close as possible 

 to the ground. Do not, however, bother yourself with too 

 much that needs winter protection. I have found this sort of 

 work such a burden that I am now willing to dispense with a 

 good many fine things. In Florida we go right ahead through 

 the whole year; making garden in November, just as we are 

 beginning to pick oranges; planting potatoes in January, and 

 melons in February, or March. Our strawberries we can not 

 get along without, even if not grown for market. T have 

 been accustomed to covering these with leaves, over which I 



scatter a liberal compost, which will be worked into the soil 

 as a fertilizer. Covering with a fertilizer alone does not 

 work as well. At this season of the year also look out for 

 drainage, wherever water can settle during the winter, or can 

 wash the soil during warm spells. On side-hills a few shal- 

 low winter drains should be opened — to be plowed out during 

 the spring. These should be arranged to catch the water 

 quickly, and carry it off to larger and permanent drains. 



I do not distribute my compost piles, invariably, as early 

 as October. These piles are the secret of a successful fruit 

 farm, or country homestead. They are distributed about the 

 fields, orchards, and garden, at convenient points. I have five 

 of them for nine acres of land. They are composed of barn- 

 yard manure, all the coal ashes I can produce or get, more 

 or less wood ashes, dozens of loads of autumn leaves, weeds 

 and waste and street rakings, and every other waste material, 

 which can be utilized as a fertilizer. Old brine, salt, lime, 

 plaster all come into play. Bear in mind that the weeds, 

 which are generally wasted, contain a good deal of phos- 

 phates and potash. Considerable nitrogen also is gathered 

 from old sod containing legumes. My house drainage is col- 

 lected in one of these piles, after running through a pipe 

 drain. Such composts, after being comminuted in October or 

 November, can be applied in the garden or elsewhere, and 

 there will not be a five per cent, loss of fertilizing quality. 

 Barnyard manure as generally applied, loses from fifty to 

 ninety per cent. 



I have suggested a use for autumn leaves. These leaves 

 are what nature has worked at all summer, weaving them out 

 of the elements of the air, to add to the soil. Never burn 

 one of them. The wealth of the farmer and gardener lies in 

 the leaves. They should lie where nature places them, suffi- 

 ciently to protect the lawns ; others should be raked for stable 

 bedding; and others placed directly in compost piles. I use 

 them in my hen-house, and in rooms where the hens are fed, 

 to keep their feet warm and induce scratching. All these and 

 those used for covering plants, are gathered in the spring 

 and placed in the compost piles. I assure you that with this 

 sort of care in using what nature gives you, you can fatten 

 the poorest soil. I have made my gardens and orchards ex- 

 tremely fertile in this way. I have never yet bought one 

 pound of commercial fertilizer. 



You should have kept memoranda, all summer, in which to 

 put down your needs and suggest your future work. Consult 

 these memoranda now, and you will find that you can work 

 in a great many small improvements, every fall, that will 

 count a long way in your profits, as well as in the beauty of 

 your place. Every October should be notable for the addi- 

 tion of a few fruit trees of the newer sorts. Autumn planting 

 is the best planting — provided the tree or shrub be well 

 mulched and staked. Drive the stake down very tight, and 

 tie with soft twine or basting, quite firmly to the stake. If, 

 however, you find that your ground is soggy, heel in your 

 trees or plants in a dry spot for spring planting, and throw 

 over the roots a liberal supply of coal ashes. I never plant 

 anything, either in the spring or fall, without- a mulch of 

 coal ashes. This material is one of the most valuable at our 

 command — I refer to anthracite ash, that from bituminous 

 coal frequently containing a good deal of sulphur, and must 

 be used with more caution. I always wish to jog my neigh- 

 bors' elbows, about this season of the year, and remind them 

 that substantial success in intensive horticulture consists in 

 getting a lot of spring work done in the fall. 



