THE HOME LOT. 



493 



who are fortunate enough to have a patch of ground 

 about the house, by showing every month in the 

 year what to do with the Home Lot. 



In this department, it is proposed to suggest 

 ways and means of making the home lot pay. 

 This Home Lot department is for plain folks (of 

 course including all the attractive girls), plain 

 folks who want to know what to do and how 

 to do it to help out their table and their pocket- 

 books at the same time. 



Learned gardeners, florists, persons of profound 

 knowledge of botany and the fine art of raising 

 fruits that cost more than they sell for, farmers 

 and truck growers, may, of course, skip this depart- 

 ment and turn to other pages, where they will find 

 the very thing they want. 



To HELP FOLKS. That is the aim of The Home 

 Lot. 



NOW. 



The first thing to do, to-day, is to go right out- 

 of-doors (synonym for good health) and see just 

 what you have on hand. 



In gardening " now" is the important hour. Not 

 next week or next month. To-day ! Certain things 

 are done at certain seasons, and that season comes 

 but once a year. 



Let us see what you have. These raspberries 

 and blackberries. The fruit has been picked. 

 Then, why leave the fruit canes in the ground ? 

 These plants bear fruit on stems that grew this 

 year out of last year's canes. These canefe have 

 done their work. They are of no further use to 

 the plants or to you. At once cut them right down 

 with a sharp knife close to the ground. Then, 

 when they are all cleared away, the new canes have 

 a chance to grow. Look about the plants and cut 

 out with the hoe all young plants springing up at a 

 distance from the row, and all small and feeble 

 canes. It is too late for them to make any good 

 growth, and it is best to pull or cut them out and 

 give the better canes a chance. 



This is the "now" work among these plants — 

 cut out all the old canes, remove all the small and 

 feeble canes and keep the ground stirred and free 

 from weeds. That is all--simple enough, and cer- 

 tainly very little labor. 



It is just possible you want to increase your black- 

 berry and raspberry rows. Then leave some of 

 the smaller shoots that grow at a distance from the 

 old plants, and permit them to grow for new stock. 

 Next month they can be dug up and replanted else- 

 where. 



Now is the day and hour to look ahead for straw- 



berries. Do you want berries next year ? Plant 

 now. Choose a cloudy day, or a late, cool after- 

 noon to set out the plants. Consult a good book to 

 get the literature of the subject in your mind. 

 Then stop a moment and consider just what it is 

 best to do. The home lot is small. It is not a 

 field, and field culture will not do. Home lot cul- 

 ture is "high" and "close." That is, the ground 

 is well prepared, well spaded and well fertilized. 

 If peas or beans are still standing, pull them all up 

 and have the ground spaded up and raked clean of 

 weeds and stones. 



When all is rsady plant in rows twenty inches 

 apart and put the strawberry plants eight inches 

 apart in the rows. This will give rows of plants 

 with no waste room, and with just space enough to 

 allow a wheel hoe or cultivator to pass between the 

 rows. The plants will touch and cover the ground 

 on the rows and prevent all weeds from coming up 

 between them, while the machine tools will keep the 

 ground clean between the rows. This is the best 

 plan for a home lot. Plant close and cultivate often 

 — the closer you plant, within reason, the less ground 

 you have to keep clean, and the oftener you culti- 

 vate the easier it is each time. 



In regard to varieties, it is always best to consult 

 the neighbors. Plant those kinds already used 

 in your vicinity, but avoid Wilson's Albany. It 

 is a market berry. You propose to eat and not to 

 sell, and you want a sweet berry, even if it does 

 not bear transportation. Your crop will fly straight, 

 like an arrow, from the garden to the table, and you 

 want the best berry, not the toughest. You can 

 readily see that this close planting means that no 

 runners are to be allowed next year on your plants. 

 They are to stand in close, solid rows next season, 

 and perhaps a second season, and by this system 

 you save labor and economize space, and get all 

 that is possible out of your land. 



The old plants that bore this year should have 

 been kept free from runners and weeds, and if this 

 has been done, they may bear another good crop 

 next year. Do not allow a single young plant to 

 grow that is not by this time well started. Runners 

 that root after this are too late and too small for 

 your purposes, and should be treated as weeds and 

 carefully removed. Old and matted strawberry 

 beds should be dug up and abandoned. 



By this time all the currants have ripened and 

 there is nothing to be done but to keep the ground 

 free from weeds. The usual plan is to stick a cur- 

 rant bush in a corner of the ground and let it take 

 care of itself. It will bear crops even under total 



