56o 



THE HOME LOT. 



upon it — long, thin and irregular ; or short, compact 

 and of symmetrical shape. Study your trees and 

 shrubs ; see how the branches and twigs are placed. 

 See if they grow into the tree or cross each other ; 

 see if all turn outward towards the light and air. 

 Which do you think the best and most beautiful ? 

 Remember that now is the time to study these mat- 

 ters and to use your knife with judgment and care. 

 Observe this ; a short cut makes a high thin head; 

 a long cut places the future head lower and makes 

 it more compact and of a better shape. Lastly, in 

 all trees and shrubs more than a year old make the 

 cut just above one of the lateral buds that points 

 outward away from the center of the tree. This 

 top shoot will grow in the direction in which the 

 bud now points, and this growth must be outward 

 or towards the light. 



NOW IS THE DAY 



For this work. As soon as the leaves fall, trimming 

 and training may be done, and it is far better to do 

 it now than to leave it till spring, when other matters 

 will demand your attention. It can be done at any 

 time through the winter. In the home lot 7tow is 

 the accepted hour. 



These currants once more : If the bushes are 

 large and full of old or misshapen stems, use the 

 knife freely and take out the older stems in the 

 middle and all stems that cross each other or that 

 grow towards the center of the bush. If there are 

 many tall shoots, cut them back (at a bud pointing 

 out), and if weeds and grass choke the plant, dig and 

 pull out one now, before the weeds die down 

 into the ground. Make the ground clean and loose 

 about the bush and then spade it up for two feet 

 on each side and leave the ground rough for the 

 winter. Where the bushes are in rows a good plan 

 is to put the plow in your Planet Jr. and throw a 

 couple of furrows against the bushes on each side. 

 There are people who say a currant bush will grow 

 anywhere, and that it needs no attention. It will 

 survive under absolute neglect, but you can be sure 

 of one thing, that it will pay to do all here sug- 

 gested, for no plant ever put in a home lot pays 

 better than the currant ; no plant makes a more 

 liberal return for generous treatment. 



Our arrow at the head of this department does 

 fly straight. Currants picked fresh in the morning 

 and served on the table ten minutes later are unlike 

 any currants in any store. If you have never eaten 

 such you will have a new pleasure, and you will pass 

 your plate for more. That's right. Two "helpings" 

 of such fruit are quite in order. It may seem a 

 long look ahead from the leafless bushes to-day to 



the table next July, but it will pay. Let them alone 

 now, save trouble to-day, and if you go without 

 next July yon will have only yourself to thank. A 

 little healthful exercise in the open air to-day — a 

 splendid, refreshing breakfast of most healthful 

 fruit next summer. Of course it will pay ! With 

 the first cool nights of September come 



THE FIRST HINTS OF FROST. 



The home lot is in full harvest. The melon, to- 

 mato and cucumber vines are in full growth. They 

 give no hint of approaching winter, because 

 they are far away from home. They go right 

 on, apparently expecting the long season of 

 their native lands. The frost will cut them down 

 in full vigor here, and we need not consider their 

 future. Onr aim now is simply to prolong their 

 lives just as long as possible, to save them from 

 these early frosts. A cool night now may leave 

 your tomato vines black in the morning, and yet 

 there may be two weeks of fine growing weather to 

 follow. Carry them over this one cool night and 

 they may continue to ripen more fruit for half a 

 month to come. Many people think it is just as 

 well to- let the vines die and to pinch off the half 

 ripened fruit and to ripen it artificially in the sun. 

 It is possible to make a half green tomato turn 

 soft and red in a sunny window, but this is not the 

 real ripening of the fruit on its native stem. It is 

 far better, therefore, to save the vine from an early 

 frost than to try to ripen the fruit after its mother 

 plant is dead. Orphans are often failures. 



REAL WEATHER SIGNS. 



These September days are warm. How tell that 

 there will be hoar frost before the next sunrise ? 

 Two ways. Read the papers for the weather indi- 

 cations, and look at the sky and the wind. A clear 

 sky with a fresh north wind that dies out at sunset, 

 leaving clear starlight, means a cool night. The 

 heat of the earth is free to radiate off into the air, 

 and everything parts with its heat. In other words, 

 a still, clear sky means a falling temperature all 

 night, and before sunrise it may drop to frost fig- 

 ures, aud your tomatoes, melons and late cucum- 

 bers are dead. On the other hand a cloudy night 

 is relatively a warm night. Clouds are the blankets 

 drawn over the earth to keep it warm. 



When the sunset indicates a cool night spread 

 cloths or even sheets of wrapping paper or old news- 

 papers over the plants. The cold does not descend 

 upon the plants. The heat rises and escapes. 

 Under a clear, still sky it escapes upward all night 

 long. It is the absence of heat that means cold, 



