’ROUND ABOUT THE HOME GARDEN AND GROUNDS 
RED SPY, A NEW APPLE FOR THE HOME GROUNDS 
Offshoot from Northern Spy Attracts by Its Beauty of Fruit 
A TYPICAL Northern Spy apple with a solid, bright red color with¬ 
out stripes or splashes, grown on the grounds of the New York 
Agricultural Experiment Station at Geneva, is attracting much at¬ 
tention among fruit growers and is declared by all who have seen it to 
be the handsomest Spy ever seen. Cions of the Red Spy were re¬ 
ceived by the Station horticulturists in 1910 from C. E. Green of 
Victor, N.Y., but the trees did not fruit until 1920. The color of the fruit 
is the only difference to be noted between this new sort and its parent. 
“Whoever grows Northern Spy, either for profit or pleasure, should 
try Red Spy,” says the Station horticulturist. “ It is true that the new 
variety has the serious fault of the parent, that of coming in bearing 
late, but there are many good characters to offset this fault. Thus, 
there are delectable quality and great beauty in the fruits, and in the 
tree hardiness, healthfulness, productiveness, and reliability in bearing 
to commend these two varieties. Nor should it be forgotten that the 
trees are long-lived, nearly perfect orchard plants, and that they bloom 
very late thereby often escaping late spring frosts which ruin the crops 
of other varieties. Northern Spy is still one of the best apples for New 
York, and Red Spy, with its beautiful fruits, will give life to this old 
sort.” 
HOW TO MULTIPLY YOUR FAVORITE POPPY 
H AVE you ever tried increasing the number of your Oriental Poppies? 
Of course it is no great trick to get new plants from seed but the 
seedlings of this Poppy have a strong inclination to revert always to 
some of the rather distressing shades of brick red, which are so difficult 
to handle, particularly in a herbaceous border. There are now many 
interesting color tones in Oriental Poppies, ranging from a light pink to 
the deepest maroon, and even one white, and to preserve your favorite 
among these and get new plants is not only easy but quite interesting. 
If you have a favorite Poppy plant and want more like it lift it dur¬ 
ing July and cut the roots off below the crown. Cut the roots into 
pieces about two inches long. Plant these about two inches deep and 
about twelve inches apart in whatever part of the garden you want 
the Poppy permanently. See that they are watered and are not allowed 
to dry out, and in August young plants will begin to appear. Nearly 
every piece of root will produce a plant of the same shade as the orig¬ 
inal. Do not disturb the young plants and next spring they will flower 
like old plants but of course the clumps will not be as large .—Jesse A. 
Carrey. 
USEFUL THINGS TO REMEMBER ABOUT THE LAWN 
\ A / HEN the hot days of summer come it is not advisable to cut as 
' close as in May and June. For the summer grass cutting raise 
the blades of the lawn-mower a half inch over what they have been 
and every other time the grass is cut leave the catcher off the machine, 
letting the cut grass lie where it falls under the blades. This will not 
make the lawn look untidy, for a sprinkling or two will settle down all of 
the cuttings to give protection to the roots, which should be shielded 
from the burning sun of mid-summer. 
Scarcely an amateur gardener who uses stable manure but blames it 
more or less for some of the weeds which grow to plague the most 
careful and diligent grower. Experience is that well rotted manure con¬ 
tains very few viable weed seeds. To ascertain if there is real danger, 
test the manure; particularly so if it is going to be used on the lawn. 
The test is very simple and will prove whether or not the fertilizing 
agency you intend to use contains weed seeds which may later- become 
a menace. To test manure for weeds place a small quantity of the 
fertilizer in a cigar box and keep it warm and moist. In a week or ten 
days weed seedlings should appear and if they fail to do so you can 
rest assured that your fertilizer is safe to use in any part of the 
garden. 
THREE HELPFUL HINTS 
1. July and August are the months to get after Plantains. During 
the hot weather they seem to lose their grip on the soil and can be 
pulled as easily as a radish can be lifted in the garden. 
2. Don’t burn the caterpillar nests in your trees. That is likely to 
harm the trees. Take a long pole, drive long nails into it around the 
top end until it fairly bristles with them, like a round brush. Then 
roll up the offending nests on your pole. It is as easy as can be. Do 
LENGTHENING THE 
ITH wood becoming scarce and labor more expensive folks are 
finding it necessary to use some means of making their fence 
posts last longer. Experiments have shown that creosote will solve the 
problem. 
Professor E. R. Gross, of the New Jersey State College of Agriculture 
tells us that fence posts treated in creosote will last from three to five 
times as long as untreated posts. This is especially true of the softer 
varieties of wood such as Willow, Ash, Elm, Soft Maple, White Cedar, 
and Cottonwood. Many consider it inadvisable to creosote even the 
harder woods such as Oak, Red Cedar, and Chestnut. 
It.is better to use round posts for creosoting rather than split posts, 
as the penetration will be more uniform. All bark must be stripped off 
FOR THE HANDY MAN 
this in the evening, after the caterpillars have come home to roost, and 
so get the entire colony. 
3. Salting Asparagus is a good practice—not because salt helps the 
Asparagus, but because it kills the weeds. It does not harm the 
Asparagus. Whenever you make ice cream, pour your salt water 
over the Asparagus bed, and spread the salty residue out there, 
too. 
LIFE OF A FENCE 
and the timber well seasoned before creosoting. Creosote from eight to 
ten inches above the depth to which the post is to be set, since most 
rotting takes place at or just below the ground line. Posts three or 
four inches in diameter at the top give best results as they are strong 
enough for most purposes and usually last as long as larger posts. 
It is important to get thorough and deep penetration of the creosote. 
A good vat is made of an old steel barrel set over a roughly constructed 
furnace. The creosote is kept at the boiling point and each batch of 
posts is left in the vat about two hours, depending on the rapidity of 
penetration. One inch penetration should be obtained. In order to 
determine this a post may be split or sawed in two. The tops of the 
posts are either dipped or painted with hot creosote. 
