Conducted by 
F. F. Rockwell 
The Editor will be glad to answer subscriber's queries pertaining to individual proble ms connected with the 
garden and grounds. When a direct personal reply is desired please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope 
September 
T seems quite natural to consider Sep¬ 
tember as the close of the gardening 
season. A far better way, however, is to 
think of it as the beginning—the beginning 
of next summer's plans for grounds and 
garden. The intermission of winter will 
make all this year's mistakes and good 
resolutions fade into the indistinct past, 
and you will start next year’s work and 
problems from practically the same point 
as you did this year. Instead of such a 
happy-go-lucky system, or want of one, 
you should certainly utilize this year’s ex¬ 
periences, and build them into the founda¬ 
tion of the coming season's work. Have 
you any definite plan for doing so? Or 
are you trusting to that most fickle of as¬ 
sistants—memory ? Why not do as House 
and Garden has so often urged you, in 
your own interest, to do : make a sketch 
of the grounds and jot down improve¬ 
ments you could make? 
, A Garden Path 
For instance, is there not some track 
across the lawn, leading to a flower bed 
or a shady spot, where a neat path would 
look much better than an uneven bare 
track ? Why not put in a narrow gravel 
path? You can either do the work your¬ 
self or supervise some unskilled laborer. 
There is no need of calling in the assis¬ 
tance of the profession of landscape gar¬ 
dener or florist. First mark it out, with 
string if a straight path, or if it is to have 
a graceful bend or two use a number of 
small stakes, that can be moved in or out 
at will until you get your curves just 
right. Cut out the edges evenly with an 
edger or sod cutter and remove the sod 
and soil. This, by the way, will be ex¬ 
cellent for the compost heap, or for some 
bed that could be raised a little. The 
width of the path will depend, of course, 
on what it is to be used for and its har¬ 
monizing with the other features of the 
place. 
Into this excavated path put coarse 
gravel, coal-ash clinkers or any other very 
coarse material which you can easily ob¬ 
tain, filling it within about two inches of 
the top. Tread or pound down very 
thoroughly and then fill in with small 
gravel or screened coal ashes, a little above 
the surface of the lawn, and well round¬ 
ed up in the middle. If possible, it will 
be well to let the lower layer stay awhile 
and settle before putting on the top one, 
but the other should be in place, trodden 
down some time before the ground freezes. 
The great advantage of making paths and 
walks in the fall is that they have a chance 
to work down into a permanent position 
during late fall and early spring. 
Shrubs 
This is a good time also to pick out 
those places on the lawn where shrubs 
or trees would add to the general effect 
of the place. Stand on your porch or ve¬ 
randa and in your mind's eye fill in the 
empty and thin-looking spots. Is there 
an open vista to the left, terminating in 
your neighbor’s unsightly chicken yard ? 
Can you not imagine the improvement a 
good thick horse chestnut, or clump of 
spirea, with its dense mass of graceful 
sprays, or even a shapely pine or hemlock 
from the wild woods, would make? Per¬ 
haps a few flowering, low-growing shrubs 
would break the monotony of trees plant- 
e 1 in straight lines, or at regular intervals. 
Your place is the exception indeed if no 
improvements suggest themselves to you 
as you look out across the lawn. Make 
them this fall. The trees are not expen¬ 
sive, and you can have the nursery man 
deliver them in proper time for setting in 
your locality. Many, such as pine, hem¬ 
lock, spruce, birch, maple, cedar and 
others, may be had in many sections sim¬ 
ply for the trouble of digging them up. 
It is, of course, more difficult to trans¬ 
plant such trees than those grown in the 
nursery, where previous transplanting has 
caused the formation of a dense mass of 
roots, in place of the long main tap-root 
which trees dug from the woods usually 
have. However, with care the unculti¬ 
vated trees may be brought through; even 
if some of them die, those remaining will 
repay the trouble of securing and plant¬ 
ing them. Always take up as much earth 
as possible, cut off cleanly all broken or 
bruised roots and firm zvell when setting 
out. If the soil is so dry that water must 
be used, put it in the bottom of the hole. 
