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THE HOME LOT. 



neglect. Try the other plan. Give it plenty of 

 fertilizer, keep it perfectly free from weeds, and cut 

 out all the old stems as soon as the fruit is picked. 

 (Pick it all, by the way.) Look over your currant 

 bushes and see if they are receiving the best care. 

 It will pay to give it, for the currant is not only one 

 of the best fruits we have, but it responds most 

 generously to attention and is one of the most 

 profitable plants you can have in a home lot. If 

 you don't know all the use and profit there is in this 

 neglected fruit, ask The American Garden for 

 light. 



The early peas and beans have gone, the corn is 

 at its best (and how good only those know who have 

 enjoyed it within an hour after it has been pulled !), 

 the potatoes are coming in. It is the beginning 

 of the main vegetable harvest. The thing now is 

 to pick and gather clean. Leave no tomatoes to 

 decay upon the ground. Pick every one, little and 

 big, and if there are more than can be consumed at 

 once, get out your preserving jars. 



There is a whole literature on canning and pre- 

 serving, and it is not necessary to discuss how to 

 save the crops here. The "now" of the matter is 

 just this : Preserve in some way every thing pos- 

 sible ; peas, corn, beans and tomatoes. Gather 

 and store in a cool cellar every potato and root that 

 is ripe. Vegetables are cheap to-day. They will 

 be dear next December, and economy lies in pre- 

 serving and saving every pound of food that can 

 be saved from the garden. 



The "now" for the work in the home lot is 

 chiefly to stop the drain on the land by unnecessary 

 plants. The moment the last peas and beans are 

 picked, pull up the vines. Let alone, they will 



grow for several weeks yet, exhausting your ground 

 to no purpose. An empty plant is a useless plant. 

 Up with it ! It is only a cumberer and a robber of 

 the ground. Clear away every potato vine, every 

 corn stalk, every pea vine, bean bush or other 

 plant the day its crop is gathered. 



It is not too late to get another crop out of the 

 ground, and a very good plan, as fast as the old 

 plants are removed, is to spade up the ground and 

 plant white turnips. This will, even in the northern 

 New England states, give a root crop before the 

 ground freezes up that will be very acceptable on 

 November dinner tables. Spinach may also be 

 sown in your empty places as fast as other crops 

 are gathered and removed. 



This is the "now" of the home lot. Keep 

 down the weeds, gather and save your crops and 

 remove every useless plant to make room for fall 

 turnips and spinach. Bury all waste from house 

 and garden. 



All this means work, to be sure, but taken rightly, 

 what delightful work ! You are busy, you say ; you 

 toil for daily bread in store or shop from 7 o'clock 

 in the morning until the 6 o'clock whistle sets you 

 free in the evening. Well, you can put butter and 

 sauce on that daily bread in the home lot, and be 

 better fitted for the earning of the bread. Try the 

 early morning hours, when the freshness of nature 

 makes toil a pleasure. Appetite for breakfast will 

 follow an hour's work in the garden, and the day's 

 work will go all the better. Interest the whole 

 family — the children will be delighted to help if 

 managed properly, and health for them, with much 

 valuable knowledge, can be but one of the good re- 

 sults of a right use of The Home Lot. 



