. 
G arden 
ana 
ueries 
Conducted by 
F. F. Rockwell 
The Editor will be glad to answer subscribers’ queries pertaining ■ to individual problems connected with the 
gardens and grounds. When a direct personal reply is desired please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope 
November 
T T is difficult to get anyone to pay much 
A attention when you “talk garden” in 
November. The excitement is all over; 
the mistakes can no longer be rectified; 
the successes have all been achieved. So 
we let the garden, and frequently the 
grounds, go their own way to desolation 
and death. 
Only the garden doesn't go to death. 
Nature is more careful than we. She 
takes care of her own, and while our 
things are dying, she is sowing next year's 
crops in profusion. Now is the time to 
do the biggest part of next year’s weed¬ 
ing—that task that is the bugbear of gar¬ 
dening. Most weeds retain their seeds for 
a while after they are mature. If they 
are cut and carefully removed while green, 
and burned just as soon as they get dry 
enough to ignite, you will destroy most 
of the seeds before they have a chance to 
shell out. Of course it is better to pull 
and cut them before the seeds mature. 
when they can be composted, so that the 
plant food they have stolen from the soil 
may be returned with as little loss as pos¬ 
sible ; but it is much better to burn them, 
when they have been allowed to grow, 
before they sow hours of back-aching 
work for next season. An hour of pre¬ 
vention is worth many days of cure. 
There are some things, however, that 
require attention now to be saved from 
the wreckage of this year’s garden. If it 
is big enough for plowing, take up all the 
parsnips and oyster-plants and store in 
two ways: part in the cellar, in sand or 
packed in moist (not wet) sphagnum moss 
for use during the winter; part in a 
trench, dug in some well-drained position, 
for early spring use. This trench should 
be deep enough to pack the roots in, leav¬ 
ing a space for a light covering of clean 
straw and several inches of earth. After 
this soil freezes cover over with a pro¬ 
tection of litter, leaves and more soil on 
top, so that the covering may be easily re¬ 
moved as early as it is wanted Cabbages 
and onions may be stored in the same way. 
Then have the garden plowed as deeply as 
possible, and sow to rye as early as pos¬ 
sible; it will sprout and grow until hard 
and constant cold weather sets in, and 
furnish humus to the soil in the spring, 
also allowing shallow plowing in the 
spring when turning under manure. Cel¬ 
ery should be taken up roots and all, and 
stored in a long narrow box, just deep 
enough to cover up to the tops of the 
foliage. And it is not too late to sow now 
corn-salad, kale and hardy spinach for 
early spring use. Try also some sweet 
peas, planting as you would in spring, ex¬ 
cept that they should be covered deeper 
and level with the surface, so that there 
will be no depression to hold water and 
ice. They will come up stronger and 
earlier than if spring-planted. 
About the Grounds 
'IX/’HILE there is very little planting to 
* * do in the garden this month, about 
the grounds there is plenty of opportunity 
— opportunity, however, that is not wait¬ 
ing for you and must be taken advantage 
of at once. 
The spring flowering bulbs may be put 
in from now until the ground freezes; the 
earlier the better. These include hya¬ 
cinths, narcissi, tulips, snowdrops, bulbous 
irises, etc. Plant in well-drained loca¬ 
tions only, as otherwise they may rot. To 
be on the safe side it is best to put a hand¬ 
ful of sand under each bulb, cover with 
soil to a depth of one and a half times the 
diameter of the bulb. The summer flow¬ 
ering hardy lilies should also be planted 
at this time. They do best where they 
will receive partial shade, as in a nook of 
the house wall or in the shrubbery or 
hardy border. Both classes should be 
mulched after the ground freezes for win¬ 
ter protection. 
In the fall prepare for the summer. 
This applies particularly to the propaga¬ 
tion of hardy stock, for if attention is 
given to this matter now one can have as 
many plants as he wishes at little expense 
and very little labor. Large nurseries can 
sell certain kinds of stock at prices that 
startle, if quantities are wanted; and this 
Falien leaves which are being gathered for later use as mulches may be conveniently placed in 
bags to keep them from being scattered 
( 310 ) 
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