THE .MONTH'S REMINDER—DECEMBER 
Copyright, 1923, Doubleday, Page & Company 
How to Use This Guide. When referring to the time for out 
door work of any sort latitude 40 at sea level (i. e. New York 
City) in a normal season is taken as standard; hut at best 
dates can only be approximate. Roughly, the season ad¬ 
vances or recedes fifteen miles a day. Thus Albany, 
which is one hundred and fifty miles from New York, 
would be about ten days later, and Philadelphia, 
which is ninety miles southwest, about a week earlier. 
Also allow four days for each degree of latitude, for 
each five degrees of longitude, and for each four hun¬ 
dred feet of altitude. 
'ECIDUOUS planting to be continued as 
long as the ground remains open. If 
large trees are to be moved with a 
frozen ball of earth, cover the ground 
around them with straw or manure to 
make digging easy. 
Bulb beds, hardy borders, shrubbery, etc. to be 
mulched after the ground is thoroughly frozen. Plants profit by the 
effect of cold so that the primary benefit of a mulch is after all not pro¬ 
tection from actual cold but to keep the ground from thawing and thus 
to maintain as even a temperatuie as possible. 
Bad patches of lawn to be given a heavy top-dressing of loam, io 
parts to 1 part coarse bonemeal, spread an inch or more thick. 
Cuttings of evergreens to be put in heat for making the necessary 
callus before striking out roots. 
Flower Garden 
Continue to give protection to all the subjects that need it as suggested 
last month. Standard Roses may be laid over by loosening the 
roots on one side, and buried with earth. 
Pansies, English Daisies, Eorget-me-nots, Campanulas, etc., wintering 
in frames to be well ventilated until they freeze in for the winter. 
Then cover with dry leaves and replace the sash. 
Vegetables 
Further protect Lettuce in frames by banking leaves and manure 
round the sides; mats, boards, and leaves to be placed over the sash. 
Provide extra covering for Celery, and other root crops that must of 
necessity be stored outdoors, as colder weather sets in. 
Vegetables stored indoors to be picked over from time to time to remove 
bad ones, as they soon spoil the good. 
Bean poles, pea brush, and stakes of all kinds to be looked over and 
put in shape for another season. 
Pruning and Spraying 
While trees are dormant, strong spray solutions can be used. 
Use an up-to-date sprayer, and concentrated commercial preparations 
ready for use by merely adding so many parts of water. Get after 
the scale in the shrubbery border. Do not spray when freezing. 
Proceed with pruning when the mercury is not hovering around zero. 
Cut back to two-thirds Roses when they are being protected for the 
winter. 
Weak and weather-beaten evergreens are improved bv judicious 
pruning. 
Fruit Garden 
Setting out of new trees to be completed; mulch all newly planted 
stock. 
Guard against mice and rabbits by placing protectors about the stems, 
sinking the bottom into the ground before it freezes. 
Surface manuring of fruit trees is of immense value. Any leafy matter 
in conjunction with well decayed manure may be utilized. 
Raspberries and Blackberries in sections where they are subject to 
winter killing to be laid down and covered with earth. 
Trenching and Draining 
Sections of the garden that could not be cleared in time for cover crops 
to be sown can be trenched (and manured if possible) if the ground 
remains open. Dig as thoroughly as possible two spits deep. 
If crops were backward in spring and the ground wet and soggy, drain- 
Details of how to do each item may be found in the current 
or back issues of The Garden Magazine —it is manifestly 
impossible to make each number of the magazine a complete 
manual of practice. References to back numbers may 
be looked up in the index to each completed volume 
(sent gratis upon request); and to further help the 
reader we have a “Service Department" which will be 
glad to cite references to any special topic, if asked 
for by mail, and also to send personal replies to 
specific questions; a stamped, addressed envelope being 
enclosed. 
ing is needed, and can be done any time 
until the ground is too hard to dig. 
Flowers for Christmas 
Flowers for Christmas, such as Lilies, Poinset- 
tias, Azaleas, Roses, Carnations, etc., may 
have a slight increase of temperature. 
Roman Hyacinths well rooted and having two inches of growth by 
the beginning of the month may be flowered by Christmas. 
Inside the Greenhouse 
December is the most trying of all months for plants indoors or in the 
greenhouse. The sun is low, with very little influence, and the 
days are short, which means that heat for growing plants has to 
be supplied artificially. Keep temperatures a few degrees below 
normal to prevent the plants becoming soft and sappy; especially 
during exceptionally dark weather. Ventilate freely whenever 
possible, and if the desired night temperature can be maintained 
with one of the top ventilators slightly open so much the better. 
Look over the plants every day, and twice if heavy firing is being 
done, watering only such as need it, and then do it thoroughly; 
“little and often” in watering is the poorest of poor practice. 
Red spider, thrips, white scale, green fly, white fly, etc., delight in 
the dry, buoyant atmosphere produced by heavy firing, which 
must be offset by frequent and thorough damping down of 
walks etc. 
Hydrocyanic acid is the only effective remedy for white fly; for fly in 
general use tobacco preparations. 
Begonias Glorie de Lorraine and Cincinnati that are late coming into 
flower will stand hurrying along in a temperature of 60 degrees. 
Recently potted bedding plants to be looked over carefully from time 
to time and overcrowding avoided. Cuttings of Geraniums and 
other soft-wooded bedding plants may still be made. 
Cuttings of Roses to be made. For “one-eye cuttings,” the wood is 
cut immediately below the bud, and another bud is left near the 
top to which a leaf is attached. The lower bud is inserted in 
the sand (which must be clean) and a wire is extended across the 
propagating bench on the top of each side to prevent the leaf 
touching the sand. 
Forcing 
Start forcing in earnest. Among the first things to be started are the 
early Grapes, and early Peaches. If started together, the pot 
trees will give ripe fruit ten days in advance of those in the 
border. 
Dark forcing may begin toward the end of the month; and is usually 
best accomplished under the greenhouse bench. Rhubarb, 
Asparagus, Mushrooms, Endive, and Sea-kale, are all forced in 
about the same way; the dormant roots (with the exception of 
Mushrooms, which are planted by spawn,) being planted in a 
prepared bed, which is darkened by a screen of burlap or boards. 
With no greenhouse utilize the cellar or a hotbed. 
To set fruit on Tomatoes, tap the vines a couple of times during the day 
to cause the pollen to fly; in very dark, dull weather it may be 
necessary to hand pollinate. 
Cucumbers sown the last week of October to go into the fruiting pots; 
ten-to-twelve-inch is not too large. For an early spring crop sow 
seeds the last week in December. 
Early planted Golden Spur Narcissus should be sufficiently rooted to- 
stand gentle forcing, also the French Trumpet Majors. 
Bulbs for late forcing may still be planted. 
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