AUTUMN ACTIVITIES FOR THE HOME FRUIT GROWER 
With Many Kinds of Fruit Practically Unattainable at Any Price and Prices Perpetually 
Ascending, Is It Not Worth While to Plant Now a Few Trees or Berry Bushes and Get 
Them Started, as Well as to Protect and Cultivate Assiduously Those Already Growing? 
‘AST winter an immense amount of dam- 
age was done to young fruit trees by mice 
and rabbits. With fruit trees at their 
present high prices, it would be the part 
of wisdom for fruit growers to take precautionary 
measures this fall. Lime-sulphur and various 
other sprays have been recommended, but they 
are only partially efficient, as their value is lost 
after a few months. The one effective plan is to 
put a tube of wire or wood veneer around each 
trunk. Strips of wire cloth and veneer can be 
purchased, but it is a simple matter to prepare 
wire protectors at home of galvanized quarter- 
inch mesh wire cloth. A piece 15 x 18 inches 
ought to be about the right size for a young tree, 
although the protector must be high enough to 
come above the deepest snow. It can be shaped 
readily by wrapping it around an iron bar or a 
broom stick. Also, as mice work close to the 
ground, and even bur- 
row under the ground 
a little, it is wise to 
push the wire an inch 
or so below the sur- 
face. This is especially 
necessary if there is a 
mound or mulch 
around the trees. Fruit 
trees are likely to re- 
main expensive for 
several years, and it is 
real economy now to 
take some such action 
as this to prevent 
their being destroyed 
during cold weather. 
Certainly it is much 
cheaper to apply a 
wire guard than it is 
to take the time for 
bridge grafting in the 
spring. If you have a 
good sized orchard which harbors field mice, perhaps you will 
find it a good plan to try trapping the rodents in addition. 
The proper way to do this is to buy a considerable number — 
say half a bushel — of inexpensive little wooden traps sold at 
the ten-cent stores. Bait them with cheese and hide them in 
corn shocks, using eight or ten to each shock. Where the 
mice are numerous, a large number will be caught within the 
first few days, and usually it isn’t necessary to re-bait the traps 
because the animals are killed before they have a chance to nib- 
ble the cheese. 
I F YOUR garden is in an exposed position, and you are growing 
Raspberries or Blackberries, the hardiness of which you can- 
not guarantee, you will do well to lay them down for winter. 
This is a simple matter when two people work together. One 
person should wear gloves and bend over the canes while the 
other throws a little earth over the tips — or if it seems necessary, 
over the entire canes. Sometimes, and especially with Black- 
berries, it is necessary first to loosen the roots on the opposite 
side. Even in northern states some people are growing the 
Loganberry successfully by covering with earth in this way each 
fall. This berry seems 
very tempting to the 
birds and often can be 
saved only by cover- 
ing with fly screening. 
T 
LAYING DOWN THE 
CANES 
This simple process of in- 
surance against winter will 
save many a berry 
STRAWBERRIES IN OCTOBER 
The Everbearing type seems eminently worth while 
when it produces fruit like this in October — and later! 
HERE would be 
much less loss of 
young fruit trees dur- 
ing the winter months 
if they were given a 
thorough application 
of water in the fall. 
They ought to go into 
the winter carrying a 
large amount of mois- 
ture, yet this is often 
lacking after a long, 
dry summer. Make a 
little depression 
around each tree and 
keep it well filled with 
water until the ground 
is thoroughly satu- 
rated. This simple 
expedient in the home garden will often save trees 
that might otherwise be lost. 
I F YOU want to keep a few apples fresh and in 
good condition for a long time, get some fine 
sawdust or cork dust and place a thick layer on 
the bottom of a barrel or box. Then place a 
layer of apples on top, but not too close together, 
and not touching the sides. Use more sawdust 
over and around the apples, and continue in this 
way. Of course they must be kept in a cool place. 
The fact that the apples do not touch prevents 
decay from spreading even if it starts in an apple 
which may perhaps have been bruised in some way. 
T HE mistake is often made of mulching Straw- 
berry beds too early in the fall. The work 
should not be done until the ground is frozen hard, for the pur- 
pose of the mulch is not to keep the frost out, but to prevent 
the alternate freezing and thawing of the plants which tends 
to heave them out of the ground, thus exposing the roots to 
the drying winds. Hay, straw, and leaves are among the ma- 
terials most commonly used. Hay and straw are expensive if 
they must be purchased, but preferred by those who complain 
that it is too much work to handle leaves. This work can be 
lessened, however, by using an old blanket upon which to rake 
them. The four corners of the blanket can then be thrown up 
around the leaves, which can be carried easily to the Straw- 
berry bed. The covering should not be deeper than three 
inches, if of leaves, as otherwise they are likely to mat too hard 
when they get wet. In exposed places it will be necessary to 
use a few boards or branches to keep them from being blown 
away. When Pine needles can be obtained readily they make 
a very good mulch for Strawberry beds. 
I T IS a good plan to make a raid on the Peach borers at this 
season. This pest does a great amount of damage bv restrict- 
ing the flow of sap, and even in extreme cases by cutting it off 
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