August, 1918 
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE 
175 
THE GARDEN IN AUGUST 
After August 1st there is not 
much that can be done in the gar- 
den except to reap the fruits of 
our labor. Something will depend 
on the season. In southern Wis- 
consin we may feel quite sure of a 
light frost any time between Sep- 
tember 10th and 20th. 
A heavy frost before September 
1st is unusual. Crops that escape 
the early September freeze or are 
protected may keep on growing 
until November 1st, some seasons. 
There is, therefore, not much use 
in planting with the expectation of 
getting a crop. Early maturing 
varieties of snap beans might pull 
through, but it would be only luck 
Some kinds are called 1 'six-weeks " 
and will make a crop in that time, 
in the spring, but not after Aug- 
ust 1st. Plants don’t grow as 
fast in August as in April or May. 
Peas are out of the question, as 
mildew is sure to get them. 
There is a chance to get another 
crop of spinach from seed sown 
August 1st to 10th if there is 
plenty of moisture in the ground 
at the time of sowing. Lettuce and 
beets for greens may come through 
all right. Flat turnips will us- 
ually mature if sown in August 
and sometimes rutabagas reach a 
fair size. 
A little cultivation will still be 
needed and only a little. Lightly 
stirring the surface soil after a 
heavy rain or during a dry spell 
will help, but deep cultivation 
should be avoided. 
Mulching is much better than 
cultivation. Nothing is better than 
lawn clippings for mulching gar- 
den crops. In lieu of this use 
anything that will hold moisture. 
Telephone and other varieties of 
late peas are particularly benefited 
by mulching. 
Don’t be afraid to use poison on 
the cabbage for the cabbage worm 
even if heads are partly formed. 
Remember that late cabbage will 
never form a satisfactory, solid 
head if the plants are riddled when 
young by the cabbage worm. 
Early potatoes from your own 
garden are very nice, but its just a 
bit wasteful to dig them while the 
tops are still green and vigorous. 
Green lice on cucumber or oth- 
er plants can be controlled by 
spraying with a nicotine compound 
or kerosene emulsion. The emul- 
sion is a trifle cheaper, but the nic- 
otine is usually more effective and 
no bother boiling soap, shaking, 
etc. Try “Black Leaf 40,” one 
part to 800 parts water. 
There are two ways to raise to- 
matoes, the stake method which 
consists of tying one or two plants 
to a pole or stake 0 feet or more in 
height and training to a single 
stem, removing all side shoots as 
fast as they appear. The other 
plan is no plan at all, simply allow- 
ing the plants to grow as they will. 
The stake plan is best for the gar- 
deners who are short on room and 
long on time. If you have plenty 
of room the other way is best. The 
one point to remember is this, there 
is no half way measure. It is 
worse than a waste of time to trim 
or prune tomato vines that are not 
staked. Every time you cut back 
a shoot, a dozen mow appear, in- 
creasing the amount of vine growth 
at the expense of fruit production. 
High temperature and humid 
atmosphere are the two frequent 
reasons for weak, diseased plants 
in hotbeds and greenhouses. 
MINNESOTA NO. 4 RASP- 
BERRY 
This raspberry originated at the 
Minnesota plant breeding station 
and is a cross of King and the Co- 
lumbian. Out of many thousands 
of seedlings a few rf the best were 
saved and sent out for trial — some 
of these were very promising but 
all have been discarded except the 
No. 4. This has succeeded so well 
that the planting has only been 
limited by inability to get plants. 
A short description would be to say 
that it is a Red Columbian sucker 
variety. It is dark red in color, 
unusually large, a strong grower, 
iron clad, hardy and free from 
anthracnose. The quality is 
mild, much like the Columbian and 
popular with the public because of 
its mildness even though it is not 
as rich in flavor as some other var- 
ieties. The writer counted one 
hundred and six berries on a single 
cane not over eighteen inches high. 
If it continues to exhibit Colum- 
bian size of berry and bush with 
Columbian productiveness and the 
King ironclad hardiness it will dis- 
place most varieties of raspberries 
as a commercial berry. 
G. H. Townsend. 
DRY! 
Everybody knows the old saw, 
“we eat what we can and what we 
can’t eat we can,” but this year 
we must go that one better: Me 
will eat what we can, what we can’t 
eat we will can and what we can t 
can we can dry, if we can. 
Canning is first best, drying is 
second best but not to be despised. 
This is a subject that will be dis- 
cussed at the Summer meeting, 
Baraboo, August 21st. 
