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Garden Notes 
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LZ fig 
Algae in Pornleaandiaipond: 
HE green scum which grows in lakes and fountains in summer 
is a small plant known botanically as an alga. It is almost 
always seen in drinking-troughs and may appear in any body of 
water. It is unsightly and may make the water unpalatable though 
it is not in itself injurious. 
Other varieties of alga give a peculiar fishy taste and odor to water 
from ponds and reservoirs, although the plant may not be visible to 
the eye. 
Ground waters are more likely to produce a growth of alge than 
surface waters. 
It has been found that a weak solution of copper sulphate will 
kill all these alge and prevent the growth of new ones and it has 
become a simple matter to keep the water clear. 
One part of sulphate of copper to five million parts of water is 
usually sufficient to kill the alga, but such a weak solution is entirely 
harmless to fish and to man. One could scarcely drink enough of 
such water in a day to get as much copper sulphate as there is in a 
can of peas. 
The bacteria of disease, such as typhoid, are killed in three hours 
by a solution of one part of copper sulphate to one-hundred thousand 
parts of water, and such a strength does not injure aquatic plants 
but it will kill many fish. 
One pound of copper sulphate in five hundred thousand gallons of 
water gives a strength of one in four million, which is good to start 
with. If this does not do the work, a stronger solution might be tried. 
The best way to apply the copper sulphate is to put the required 
amount in a course bag and drag it back and forth through the water 
until it is all dissolved. In some cases, when the water contains a 
large amount of organic acids, it may be necessary to add enough lime 
to precipitate the copper. It is also extremely probable that the 
copper-sulphate treatment will kill the larve of mosquitoes. One 
treatment each season should be enough, but two weak doses will 
probably be better than one strong one. 
Bulletin No. 64 of the Bureau of Plant Industry of U. S. Depart- 
ment of Agriculture should be consulted for further information on 
this subject. 
Weed Killers 
There are several good weed killers which can be used in keeping 
paths, gutters and gravel roads free from weeds. 
They are especially useful on a large place because they save so 
much labor in hoeing and weeding. ‘They can be applied either with 
the watering-pot or watering-cart or with the spraying apparatus. 
The cost should not exceed two cents a square yard even in small 
quantities. On a long road, of course, the cost should be much less. 
One application every second year is said to be enough and one weed 
killer is claimed to be a dust preventive. 
The weed killer can also be used to exterminate such objectionable 
things as poison-ivy, thistles, nettles, etc. 
Weeds in the lawn must be cut out with a spud (a chisel-like tool 
on a long handle) or a drop of sulphuric acid can be put on the 
crown of each weed, killing it at once. 
A Carpet and Edging Plant 
The common wild cranberry, or small cranberry (Oxycoccus 
macrocarpus) is an erect dwarf evergreen which will grow in any 
garden soil as well as in its natural swamps and bogs. 
It can be planted thickly and will soon make a solid carpet six or 
eight inches above the ground. 
The flowers are pretty and the scarlet fruits which last through 
the winter are handsome. ‘The leaves are bright green in summer; 
in winter, they are bronzed by the cold, resembling the color of 
Azalea amoena. It is useful as a carpet plant or as an edging for 
rhododendrons or other broad-leaved evergreens. At the edge of ponds 
or in the bog garden it finds its most congenial soil. 
We are poorly provided with shrubby plants growing less than a 
foot high, but we have many situations where such plants could be 
used if they are thoroughly good and the cranberry is one of the best. 
Turquoise Berry 
“What is turquoise berry and where can I get it,” asks a friend in 
Bedford. “It is a vine with blue beries which I saw in a Connecticut 
garden and the owner refused to tell me where she got it.” 
Turquoise Berry is just a very fancy “name for Ampelopsis 
heterophylla (Vitis heterophylla) a Japanese vine which is much used 
to cover arbors, pergolas and trellises. It is not difficult to get since 
it has been in cultivation for many years and has been found growing 
wild at Lancaster, Pa. I think you will find it in any large nursery. 
It is an admirable vine for decorative purposes because of its handsome 
foliage and light blue berries which hang on for a long tme. 
Planting Evvergreens in August 
Many experts consider August the most favorable time to trans- 
plant evergreen trees; the growth for the year being completed, the 
plant is then in a dormant condition and better able to stand the 
shock than in the spring when growth is active and the new shoots are 
likely to dry up. 
August weather is a little against safe transportation and the trees 
planted at that time must be carefully watered when they are set out. 
August planting gives the trees time to grow new roots and to become 
thoroughly settled in the ground and established before the ground 
Seeding 
For the best results in lawn making all grass seed should be sown 
before Labor Day. ‘There is then time with the help of autumn rains 
for the young grass to make a good growth before cold weather sets 
in. If the work can not be done by Labor Day it had better be put 
off until the following April for a good catch is unlikely after that. 
freezes. Planting in August or September will not do because there 
is not time for growth before frosts, and the trees will heave and 
be loosened in the ground, and, consequently, be dried out by the 
severe winter winds. 
Spring planting, on the other hand, if it is done before the growth 
starts, has the advantage of cool weather and ground moistioned by 
spring rains. 
Evergreens can be moved at any time of year if they are dug with 
a ball of earth. 
Lawns 
Fall seeding is better than spring seeding because it gives more time 
to do the work, the rush being less in August than in April and 
because the grass gets a good start before frost and is ready to grow 
fast in the spring and the lawn will be much better than one which 
is sowed eight months later. 
Celery 
Celery can be planted at any time in July or August. It is much 
easier to buy the plants than to try to grow them from seed, which 
must be started early in the spring. It should be planted in rows 
three feet apart and the plants six inches apart in a row. 
Thorough cultivation and a moist rich soil are absolutely necessary. 
Celery can not be grown in a dry soil no matter how well other 
plants may do in it. It is doubtful if it pays to grow celery in a 
small garden. 
