Conducted by The Editor will be glad to answer subscribers’ queries pertaining to individual problems connected with the 
F. F. Rockwell gardens and grounds. When a direct personal reply is desired please inclose a self-addressed stamped envelope 
July 
The routine work in the garden this 
month is at a minimum—and therefore 
likely to be neglected. Late plantings of 
beans, early corn, peas, turnips, summer 
lettuce, and radishes may still be made. 
As the soil at. this season is apt to be quite 
dry, care must be taken to firm the seed 
well into the bottom of the drill with the 
sole of the foot or the back of a hoe be¬ 
fore covering it, in order to insure good 
germination. Winter crops, such as cab¬ 
bage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, kale 
and celery should also be set out now. 
Special care must be used in setting 
plants at this time of the year. With a 
little care success may be made practically 
certain even during the driest spell. First 
of all have the soil so thoroughly and 
deeply worked that the plants can be set 
in as deep as they will go. Prepare the 
holes for the plants a few dozen at a time 
and put a gill of water in the bottom of 
each. Take out the plants and cut back 
the largest leaves about one-half and keep 
the roots immersed in thin mud, or cov¬ 
ered with wet moss during the operation 
of transplanting in order that they may 
not be suddenly dried out by wind or sun. 
Put them in as firmly as possible, taking 
care that the roots are not crowded up 
into a compact mass, and after setting out 
a row go back over it and still further firm 
the plants into the soil by bearing down 
on both sides of the stem with the balls of 
the feet. If these simple precautions are 
used they should “take hold” at once, 
even during a drouth. This is a great ad¬ 
vantage, for it is very important to get 
growth started as soon as possible, be¬ 
cause delay and an early autumn may 
mean the loss of the entire crop from lack 
of time to mature fully. Cultivation 
should be given at once to form the soil 
mulch on the surface, thus conserving 
what moisture there may be in the ground. 
Getting the Best Strawberries 
Many a home gardener gets along with¬ 
out strawberries because he does not feel 
able to spare the amount of space they re¬ 
quire. Under the ordinary system of 
“hill” or “row” culture the ground is oc¬ 
cupied for three years in order to get two 
crops, and the strawberry crop at best is 
very short. The method of using “pot¬ 
layered” plants not only overcomes this, 
enabling one to get a crop of berries every 
season, but produces the finest and most 
evenly ripened berries that can be had. 
This system of growing strawberries is on 
the whole as easy as and more certain than 
any other. 
Buy Potted Plants Now 
Most of the large seedsmen now offer 
pot plants of strawberries, at very reason¬ 
able prices, during late June and July. As 
the plants are "layered” in the pots and 
severed from the parent plant as soon as 
well rooted, each one is a strong, compact 
specimen ready to begin immediate growth 
upon being set out, as the roots are not 
disturbed. The plants should be set out 
twelve inches apart, either in single rows 
or in “beds” of three or four rows — twelve 
inches each way — with a space of two feet 
between the single rows or beds. Care 
A double row of brush is an excellent method 
of training peas 
must be taken in setting out any plants 
at this season of the year, to put them very 
firmly into the soil. Give clean cultiva¬ 
tion, as the whole success of this plan lies 
in getting the plants to make a strong, 
rapid growth from the time they are set 
out in July until the soil freezes, so that 
each one will have formed a good sized 
“crown” eight to twelve inches in diame¬ 
ter before freezing weather. A light 
dressing of nitrate, given a week or so 
after setting, will prove very beneficial. 
All runners must be kept cut off as fast 
as formed. 
The method of preparing the bed for 
winter will be described later. A full 
crop of the largest berries will be born 
the following spring, new pot-layers are 
made and the old bed usually thrown out, 
though it can be carried over for a second 
or third crop. The most perfect fruit, 
however, will be had the first season. To 
the gardener with limited space the ad¬ 
vantage of this system must be at once ap¬ 
parent, as there is ample time to take off 
a crop of early cabbage, lettuce, beets, 
peas, spinach, radish, or turnips before the 
strawberry plants are set out one season, 
and to get a crop of late cabbage, cauli¬ 
flower, celery, turnips, lettuce, radishes, 
etc., after the plants are through fruiting 
the following spring. In other words, two 
garden crops and one strawberry crop off 
the same ground in two seasons. 
Good Uses for Brush 
If the gardener will lay in a supply of 
brush early in the season he will find sev¬ 
eral ways of using it to no little advan¬ 
tage. To begin with, there is nothing bet¬ 
ter to train sweet pea vines on. They are 
held in place more securely and look bet¬ 
ter when supported by brush than when 
grown on wire trellises, and the latter 
should be used only when brush is not to 
be obtained. When brush of the size sold 
by the seed stores is used, two should be 
allowed to a foot of planting. 
Another use for brush is on newly 
planted beds in order to prevent the mis¬ 
chief often wrought by cats and dogs and 
even the neighbor’s hens. When covered 
with brush, the newly spaded ground is 
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