July, 1917 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
317 
Spraying is also effective — arsenate of lead one 
ounce, soap two ounces, water two gallons. 
Can’t understand why your squash and 
pumpkin vines wilt here and there and rot or 
break off? The squash vine borer is the cul- 
prit. Split the stem and look for him — a borer 
about an inch long when full grown. As he is 
inside no spray can reach him. When his 
presence is suspected plunge a thin bladed pen- 
knife through the stem and make a slit 
parallel with the stem itself, then cover a foot 
or so of the stem with an inch of earth so it 
will take root at the joints above and below the 
slit. Burn the vines as soon as the crop has 
been gathered. 
★ Potted strawberry plants are easy to 
get and handy to have. They’re better than 
runner plants for summer setting. Plunge 2, 
2.\ or 3 inch flower pots rim deep in the soil 
where a runner plant is trying to take root. 
Fill with soil and place a small clod or a 
pebble upon the runner stem to prevent its 
being moved by the wind. In t\vo or three 
weeks, or when the pot has become filled with 
roots the plants may be removed to and 
planted in a new bed. Plants so treated will 
give a good crop of berries the following spring 
whereas runner plants set in the spring will 
not. The plan is therefore a time saver. Being 
simple any one can use it. 
★ To PROLONG THE CURRANT SEASON, 
cover some of the bushes with burlap or 
muslin early in July or before the fruit be- 
comes ripe. The material should be brought 
down and tied at the base of the bushes so as 
not to be whipped off by a wind. By this kind 
of thing, currant varieties that would normally 
be ripe in mid-July will last in good con- 
dition until mid-August. Later varieties may 
be made to keep until September. 
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i ir-s. 
W E HAVE a vegeta- 
ble garden this year 
after all! We were 
“plumb” discour- 
aged last year, as, after having planted, watered 
and tended the crops for many weeks and every- 
thing was flourishing, vacation time arrived 
and the house was shut up. This happened 
just as the beans and peas were beginning to 
yield. When we came back two weeks later, 
there was a luxuriant growth of weeds, quite 
choking out over-ripe vegetables. And then 
the mosquitoes! So I suggested that what we 
grew was not worth all the trouble and that 
this year we would devote ourselves to flowers 
and a nice little lawn. But “circumstances 
alter cases” and this year, after all, we are 
filling every possible space with food plants of 
all kinds; we actually have tomatoes among the 
Tulips and cabbages with the Canterbury 
Bells. Why not? Everything is green and 
pretty to look at and really, to twist a 
well-known sentence: “Now is the time for 
every good woman to come to the aid of her 
country.” 
The men are seeing to it that every possible 
use shall be made of the land; but, while the 
summer crops are plentiful and comparatively 
cheap we must prepare for winter supplies, 
when, according to the economists, there will 
be a shortage of everything. So I say, grow 
anythingyou can, and then can it. Very often 
there are “left overs” of fruit or vegetable 
after the day’s meal — well, can them. Don’t 
throw away anything. A pretty good plan to 
follow is to deliberately cook too much for one 
meal and can the remains. By doing this every 
Mobilizing Crops for Winter 
EFFIE M. ROBINSON 
SrhnnI of CnnLprv. London 
WHY, HOW AND WHAT TO CAN 
few days by the end of the summer you will 
have collected a fine number and variety of 
jars of fruits and vegetables that should help a 
great deal toward carrying you through the 
next winter at a cost of very little time or 
trouble to yourself and it also enables you to 
spread the money cost over many weeks in- 
stead of crowding it all into a few. . The 
motto: “waste not, want not” had better be 
put up in everybody’s kitchen as a reminder. 
When I send in my weekly order to the 
grocer I always add an order for a five pound 
bag of sugar. This is not used for the 
ordinary daily cookery but put aside sep- 
arately to be used for canning only, as at the 
time when all the fruits seem to ripen together 
and I simply have to do a lot of canning or 
preserving I have a whole lot of sugar already 
and more money to spend on fruits, etc. 
RULES FOR CANNING 
Canning is either a perfectly easy routine 
job or a terrific undertaking, according to the 
way you approach it. Simple canning of 
fruits can be done without sugar, but you must 
have it for jellies and jams. In all canning, by 
whatever method, a few general rules carefully 
observed, will pretty well assure success. 
(1) . Absolute cleanliness in everything. 
(2) . Perfectly sound and fresh goods. 
(3) . Complete sterilization. 
(4) . Complete exclusion of air when sealing. 
For home canning glass jars are the best. 
They are economical as they 
can be used over and over 
again. Use any shape or size 
you may happen to have, but if buying new 
ones, get either quart or pint wide-mouthed 
ones with glass top and fastened with a clamp. 
V hatever jars are used must have rubber rings, 
good springy new ones, as old and hard rubber 
which has “perished,” as it is called, allows 
the air to seep through and so spoil the con- 
tents. After emptying a jar, wash it, and keep 
it in a handy place with fresh rubbers also 
handy; then when you are about to can any- 
thing all that is necessary is to put the jars on 
the fire in a pan of tepid water and when the 
water bubbles boil the jars fifteen minutes, 
then let them stay in the water kept hot till 
you are ready to use them. Boil the glass tops, 
also. \\ henteady for work, lift out a jar, do not 
dry it, set it in a shallow pan of boding water 
and fill with the boiling food, at once place the 
top and rubber ring in position and put into 
the bath. 1 he rubber rings must be scalded — 
have a small pan with a quart of boiling water 
with one teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda 
dissolved in it. When you are ready for the 
rubber rings, drop them into the solution for 
half a minute. Do not seal the jars tightly till 
the food has been boiled for fifteen minutes, for 
otherwise when the water starts to boil and the 
heat runs up, the jars, expanding, will burst. 
If you are so successful that your canning 
business grows beyond your home needs, and 
you start out to market your products, as is 
quite possible if you once take to canning, the 
enamelled tin cans are good to use instead of 
