Book of Gardens 
119 
December THE GARDENER’S CALENDAR Twelfth Month 
The interior twigs 
and small branches of 
the peach trees should 
be thinned out 
A thick covering of 
leaves will prevent 
frost getting into the 
celery trenches 
All nests of caterpil¬ 
lars and other harm¬ 
ful insects should be 
destroyed now 
SUNDAY 
MONDAY TUESDAY 
WEDNESDAY 
THURSDAY 
FRIDAY 
SATURDAY 
I stood and 
watched by 
the window 
The noiseless 
work of the 
sky. 
And the sud¬ 
den flurries 
of snowbirds 
Like brown 
leaves whirl¬ 
ing by. 
— Lowell. 
1. All tender 
evergreens 
that require 
protecting 
should be at¬ 
tended to at 
once. Pine 
boughs, corn- 
nmterial can 
be used to pre- 
Manure mul- 
ch< s are best 
for the soil. 
2. All the 
various types 
of bulbs for 
winter bloom 
may be forced 
in the green¬ 
house now. It 
the bulbs into 
the heat in 
small quanti- 
t i e 8 so as to 
keep a contin¬ 
uous supply 
of blossoms 
coming along. 
3. Hyacinths, 
Chinese sacred 
lilies, paper- 
white narcis¬ 
sus SoJeild'Or. 
etc.,^ may^now 
bowls of water 
for the house. 
Place the 
bulbs in the 
cellar, for 
about two 
weeks after 
to form roots. 
4. All new 
pi ant in g s 
should be heav¬ 
ily mulched 
with manure. 
This not only 
serves to pro¬ 
tect the plants 
the penetra¬ 
tion of the 
frost, but in¬ 
creases the fer¬ 
tility and pro¬ 
ductiveness of 
the soil as well. 
5. Do not 
neglect to pro¬ 
vide for those 
friends of the 
garden, our 
birds. Feeding 
boxes may be 
placed where 
the birds will 
be out of the 
reach of cats. 
Suet tied to 
the branches 
is attractive to 
several spe- 
6. Low spots 
in walks and 
drives that are 
invariably wet 
should ti e 
raised to shed 
the earth is 
taken out and 
the roadbed 
filled with cin¬ 
ders it will 
help to make 
them dry and 
bad weather. 
7. Trees that 
are subject to 
scale insects of 
various kinds 
should li e 
sprayed with 
one of the sol¬ 
uble oil mix¬ 
tures. Fruit 
trecsof all 
kinds, roses, 
nil°js > mo 8 oth- 
tible. P 
8. A 1 1 the 
garden tools 
and imple¬ 
ments should 
be thoroughly 
cleaned,coated 
with a cheap 
oil and put 
away for the 
winter. Those 
that are in 
need of repair 
should be at¬ 
tended to now 
while outdoor 
work is slack. 
9. Grape canes 
can be cleaned 
up and pruned 
now.lt 'is* a 
good practice 
to remove all 
ihe loose bark 
and wash the 
canes with a 
soap insecti¬ 
cide or spray 
them with an 
oil spray to de¬ 
stroy larvee.etc. 
10. I f cold 
weather p r e - 
vails it is well 
the vegetable 
make sure that 
the frost is not 
getting in and 
injuring the 
roots. Plenty 
of leaves piled 
best protec- 
t i o^n for the 
11. Frames 
in which semi- 
fa a r d y plants 
t e re d, or 
frames that 
are used as 
growing m e - 
diums. should 
i " 6. Loose 
hay may be 
used, but the 
is jute mats. 
12. Look over 
the tender 
bulbs that are 
stored for the 
winter, such as 
dahlias, can- 
n a s, gladioli, 
etc. Frost will 
surely destroy 
them, while 
too much heat 
will start them 
into growth be¬ 
fore planting 
time returns. 
13. Do not 
scrape the 
bark on trees 
to destroy in¬ 
sect pests—it is 
impossible tx> 
crevices where 
insects hiber¬ 
nate, and in 
many cases the 
tree is injured 
the green 
outer bark. 
Use stiff brush. 
14. Asbestos 
torches made 
of burlap and 
make them in¬ 
ti am mable. 
should be used 
the trees and 
destroy win- 
nests of cater- 
pillars and 
other pests. 
15. Succes- 
siontil sowings 
of those crops 
in the green¬ 
house that re¬ 
quire it. such 
as lettu c e, 
flower, spin¬ 
ach and rad¬ 
ishes, should 
be made. Rhu¬ 
barb and en¬ 
dive may be 
started under 
the benches. 
16. Rhubarb 
may be forced 
in the cellar 
or attic of the 
dwelling by- 
planting good- 
sized clumps 
in barrels or 
boxes and 
placing them 
beside the fur¬ 
nace or chim¬ 
ney. The soil 
should be kept 
moderately 
moist. 
17. Hecta- 
rines, peaches 
and grapes 
which a^r e 
glass should lie 
pruned and 
cleaned by- 
washing them 
with s t ro n g 
insecticides. 
Remove some 
of the top soil 
afterward and 
replace it with 
fresh earth. 
18. Plants 
that are grow¬ 
ing in benches, 
such as carna- 
antirrhinum! 
etc., should lie 
mulched with 
or soil made of 
equal parts of 
top soil and 
well-rotted 
rit'tVe bone 
meal added. 
19. Boxwood 
must be pro¬ 
tected, else it 
w in ter-kill. 
Burlap covers. 
pine boughs or 
any material 
that will keep 
out the sun 
but admit air 
may be used 
for this p u r - 
pose. Apply it 
20. At this 
season of the 
cessary to^fer- 
cucumbersand 
tomatoes to 
assure fruit. 
Oo llect the 
pollen in a 
spoon and dis¬ 
tribute it to 
the other blos¬ 
soms with a 
camel’s-hair 
21. Melon 
frames, tomato 
den seats and 
other wooden 
garden mate¬ 
rial should be 
painted. Use 
good paint, 
and where ne¬ 
cessary apply 
two coats. This 
is considerably 
cheaper than 
constant re- 
22. Ferns, 
palms and 
other house 
plants should 
be top-dressed 
occasion ally 
with some of 
the concen¬ 
trated plant 
foods sold for 
the purpose. 
Keep the sur¬ 
face of the soil 
loosened so 
that no green 
scum forms. 
23. The foli¬ 
age of house 
plants must be 
kept free of in¬ 
sects. Spong- 
ing^the leaves 
which a good 
tobacco ex- 
tract has been 
added will de¬ 
stroy white 
scale, red spi¬ 
der, mealy bug 
and green fly. 
24. Chicory 
is one of the 
b e s t winter 
salad plants. 
It can be fore- 
nary cellar by- 
planting the 
roots in boxes 
and keeping 
them dark. 
They can also 
be grown out¬ 
side in trench¬ 
es filled with 
hot manure. 
25. The value 
of the land 
scaping d e - 
maintained by 
the big nur- 
should not be 
overlooked. 
They are pre¬ 
pared to plan 
all sorts of 
plantings for 
you and sub¬ 
mit figures of 
costs, etc. 
26, T h i 8 is 
the time to 
plan and even 
install some 
sort of irrigat¬ 
ing system in 
your garden. 
Don’t wait un¬ 
til summer for 
dry weather is 
taxes and you 
had best be 
ready for it 
well in advance 
of its arrival. 
27. Vegeta¬ 
ble s o f all 
kinds that are 
stored in cel¬ 
lars should be 
looked over 
with the pur¬ 
pose of remov¬ 
ing any de- 
cayed tubers 
there may be- 
A few bad ones 
will soon cause 
damage to the 
28. Fruit 
trees, and es¬ 
pecially small 
ones, should be 
protected from 
r a t s, rabbits 
and other ro¬ 
dents. Ordi¬ 
nary tar paper 
arou n d the 
stem from the 
ground to a 
height of 15 
inches is suffi- 
29. The plant¬ 
ing of decidu¬ 
ous trees and 
shrubs majr be 
continued just 
as long as the 
weather per¬ 
mits. Mulch¬ 
ing heavily 
i m mediate 1 y 
after planting 
the penetra¬ 
tion of frost if 
it should come 
30. M u s h - 
grown in anv 
ordinary cel¬ 
lar: the im¬ 
portant point 
is fresh stable 
droppings for 
the bed. Don’t 
let them ever 
get really dry. 
Use new cul- 
eertain than 
the old kind. 
3L Poor 
lawns should 
be top-dressed, 
post made of 
screened top 
soil with about 
20 p er cent 
bone meal and 
added. T h i s 
may be applied 
to the lawn 
liberally now, 
grass seed. 
This Calendar of the gardener s labors is 
aimed as a reminder for undertaking all his 
tasks in season. It is fitted to the latitude 
of the Middle States, but its service should 
be available for the whole country if it be 
remembered that for every one hundred 
miles north or south there is a difference of 
from five to seven days later or earlier in 
performing garden operations. The dates 
given are, of course, for an average season 
'P r ; 
-*■ ha 
SEARS to me like Chris’mas in the city must be a kinder gloomy time ’side o’ what it is out here in the country, 
hear as how they ain’t no sleighs no more in the big towns like N’ York, Boston an’ Chicago—only autymo- 
biles, an’ subways, an’ the like o’ that. ShucksI — what’s Chris’mas without sleigh-bells a-jinglin , an snow all 
white an’ sbarkly along the road, an’ big birch logs a-rOarin’ in the settin’ room fireplace? Somehow I reckon city 
folks must find it kinder hard to git real Chris’masy when all they can see out their winders is rows an rows stone 
houses all rust the same, gutters full o’ dirty gray slush, an’ pavements all wet an sloppy without even a foot o clean 
snow with a rabbit track runnin’ across it. Chris’mas ain’t no day to spend indoors nor to wade in mud when ye go 
out It’s a day to go sleigh-ridin’, or skatin’ on the ice-pond, or zippin’ down Kellogg s Hill on a big twelve-passenger 
bobsled with somebody standin’ at the Corners to keep teams from turnin’ in sudden ftom the side road just as ye 
come kitin’ along. Yes, an’ by crickey Chris’mas ain’t the time to wear your bes’ clo es all day, neither, fer a couple 
>’ hours anywav, ye want to wear felt boots, an’ a fur cap with ear-mufis, an’ a pea-jacket, an a red muffler, o" 
mittens—good thick woolen mittens with wristlets to ’en 
—Old Doc Lemmon. 
Tree planting may be 
continued laic into the 
fall. Only solid freez¬ 
ing slops it 
To insure fertilization 
of greenhouse tomatoes 
the pollen is trans¬ 
ferred with a brush 
A spade is used to 
lift and divide the root 
clumps of various 
perennial flowers 
Chicory is one of the few vegetables which can 
be grown under the greenhouse benches or in 
the cellar of the dwelling 
Bulbs for indoor bloom should be forced in the 
dark for at least two weeks before bringing them 
into the light 
The general rule is to save the dead leaves for 
mulching, etc., but if they must be burned, 
spread the ashes on the lawn 
