T 
DECEMBER, 1916 
For reckoning dates, the latitude of New York City is generally 
taken as a standard. In applying the directions to other 
localities, allow six days’ difference for every 
hundred miles of latitude 
H ard freezing weather puts 
a stop to most of the out- 
door garden operations but 
there are two which can not only 
be carried on later, but also to better ad- 
vantage — pruning and spraying. While this 
work can be done at any time during the 
winter, it is far wiser to get at it as soon as 
possible for the more comfortably you can 
do tbe work, the better it is likely to be done. 
THREE RINDS OF PRUNING 
' I '( ) SIMPLIFY matters the various kinds of pruning may be 
considered under three heads: i, pruning to remove surplus, 
iniured or diseased growth; 2, pruning to hold back and check the 
plant in certain parts and stimulate growth in other parts or other 
directions; and 3, pruning to shape the plant. The third kind of prun- 
ing is really a modification of the second, but done with a different 
purpose in view. 
■An illustration of the first kind of pruning is the work that would be 
done on an apple tree that had been allowed to go untouched for many 
years, such as one frequently finds in an old orchard, or as a shade tree 
near the place. The old, superannuated limbs have to be cut out, and 
also some of the new limbs where they are too many. .An illustration 
of the second kind is the work usually done with a young apple tree to 
form the proper “head” bj-^ removing the top growth to some extent 
and stimulating the lateral growth of the lower limbs; also by “heading 
back” the lateral limbs growing in the wrong direction and so long as 
to make the general shape of the tree unsymmetrical. Pruning of fhe 
third type is seen in the training of 
fruit trees and the thinning of formal 
hedgesand slopingof individual speci- 
mens. 
In thinning out trees that have 
been neglected for some time, take 
care not to overdo the matter at the 
first operation. The first step 
toward getting them back into shape 
will be to cut out all dead wood and 
all injured limbs. This is prelimin- 
arv work. After that, the real prun- 
ing can be done. Keep in mind what 
branches are to be removed; and 
what new branches, or buds, or shoots 
are to be left to form the new and 
more perfect tree which should exist 
in one’s mind’s eye. But if all the 
undesirable branches are removed at 
once, there may be such a physical 
shock to the tree that it will be per- 
manently injured. To radically make 
over or change the habit of a tree, as 
forming a new low head on an old neglected apple tree, should take 
from three to five years. 
' I 'HE pruning of hedges and of certain shrubs, such as Boxwood, 
Bay trees, and Privet, must be done not only with the idea of 
making the plant conform to the shape and dimensions desired, but 
. also of maintaining a smooth, even surface. This 
P uning for pruning, therefore, cannot be done once every year 
orma ec two; but the plant must be gone over several 
times during the season, keeping all new growth cut back to the limits 
arbitrarily set. 
A rule, shrubs planted in masses where they touch each other, 
as in the shrubbery' border, require very little pruning, except to 
keep dead or dying wood cut out at the ground level. Individual 
specimens, however, should be kept in symmetrical shape, as they fre- 
quently tend to become lop-sided if left to them- 
Pruning Orna- selves. Many shrubs and small trees are allowed 
menta S ru s grow too tall for the most artistic effect, con- 
sidering their place in the landscape. Phis can be corrected by judi- 
cious dormant firuning. Remember, however, that shrubs which 
flower in the spring and early summer cannot be pruned now without 
sacrificing to that extent next year’s flowers. .As a rule, it is better 
to let such shrubs go until after they have bloomed, and then prune 
them to the desired shape. 
' I 'HE garden types of Rose — Hardy Perpetuals, Hybrid Teas, and 
Teas — should be cut back when being made ready for winter 
only sufficiently to keep them from being at all top-heavy. Long, 
. loose canes, liable to be whipped about in strong winds, 
f may be cut back two-thirds or so. These Roses should 
o OSes have a most severe pruning early in the spring. What 
is done now is merely to enable them to go through the winter 
HE MONTH* 
REMINDER. 
S 
more safely. I he rugosa type should 
be gone over, however, thoroughly 
now and all old canes and surplus 
growth cut back to the ground. 
Plant this Month 
^Vegetables; For forcing: Beans, beets, carrots, cucum- 
bers, lettuce, melons, radish, and tomatoes. Also 
roots of asparagus, rhubarb, and witloof chicory. 
^Flowers; For greenhouse and conservatory: .Antirrhinum, 
Centaurea, Clarkia, Lobelia, Mignonette, Nastur- 
tium, Petunias, Salpiglossis, Stocks. 
For next fall and winter: Asparagus, Begonia, Cineraria, 
Cyclamen, Gloxinia, Solanum (Christmas Cherrj'). 
*;Bulbs: For indoors: Callas, Begonia, Freesia, Gladiolus, 
Lily-of-the-Valley, Oxalis, Nerines, Ornithogalum 
(Star of Bethlehem). 
For outdoors: Hardy Lilies where ground is not frozen. 
^Trees and Shrubs: Outdoors, planting may be con- 
tinued wherev'er the ground remains open. Large 
trees, evergreens and deciduous, are handled with 
frozen ball. 
HA' spray in winter when the trees and 
^ ^ apparently everything connected with 
them are temporarily dead? In the first 
place, the trees are dormant, and you can use 
The “Why” of stronger sprays 
the DonnLt Spray 
■' ployed during the 
growing season. In the second place, scale and other bark diseases 
against which winter spraying is done are by no means dead, but they 
have ceased for the time being to multiply and to grow as they do in 
summer, and can be attacked more successfully. Furthermore, you 
have time for the job now, whereas if j'ou wait for a chance during 
summer, you will find that there will not be an opportunity before 
“next week” — which never comes. 
W ith a modern sprayer and up-to-date materials, an old long coat 
and a pair of gloves, spraying can be done in comparative comfort. 
Lime sulphur, miscible oil, and kerosene emulsion are all used as the 
active ingredients of various winter or dormant sprays. Commerical 
preparations of these sold under special brand names are reliable and 
are made ready for use merelj' by the adding of a certain number of 
parts of clear water to one part of the stock spray. Follow directions 
carefully. 
Is your sprayer in .A No. i shape? Most compressed air sprayers 
will not remain in perfect condition for more than a year without 
sponges or valves renewed. If your 
sprayer is not working as well as 
it did when j^ou got it examine it 
carefully now, and see what it 
needs. 
Al 
E.A^RLY THIS MONTH 
^ELERA' Stored in a trench out- 
doors and protected with a 
mulch will be safe from early hard 
frosts, but should be removed to 
the cellar before dan- 
Ce£?'safe get of continued hard 
freezing. A conven- 
ient way to handle it is to put an 
inch or two of sand in the bottom 
of box of convenient size about as 
deep as the celery is tall, and transfer 
the celery to this, after giving the 
sand a thorough watering. 
DEMEMBER that mulching, or 
most of it, should be put in 
place as soon as the first hard frost has made a frozen crust of a couple 
of inches or so over the soil. T he various kinds of mulch, and how 
to use them were discussed in last month’s 
Reminder. .Also see the article on winter 
Your Mulching protection in that same issue. 
O N THE sections of the garden which could not be cleared in time 
to sow rye and vetch for the cover crop, you can give it a bene- 
ficial fall treatment if the ground is not frozen. Lime heavily. If 
j'ou have manure available, put on a good coating of that — and then 
trench. Dig the soil as deep as you can. 
Put two “spits” deep, as the old gardeners 
call it. With your spade or spading fork, 
start along one side of the plot to be turned over, and throw the soil 
out. Spade up the bottom, turning it where it falls, and on top of this, 
mixing it in, put the manure from a strip as wide, to be left for the next 
spading. The soil from the next strip or ditch is thrown on top of 
mixed soil and manure at the bottom of the trench already dug. The 
process is repeated until the tract is finished — or your back gives out 
for that afternoon’s work! 
I F YOUR garden is wet and backward in the spring, the chaiices 
are ten to one that it needs draining. You can do this any time 
until the ground is frozen too hard to be dug. A frozen crust an inch 
or so deep on the surface 
Now is the Time to Provide for an little more work. 
Extra Early Spring Start decide to have it 
done and that quickly, two or three days will probably be suffi- 
cient for a couple of men to do the work in any ordinary size home 
garden. There will be no further up-keep after the work is once 
done. And the first expense will not be large. Remember that good 
drainage is one of the essentials of good gardening. 
Where You Couldn’t 
Sow — Trench! 
176 
