46 
HOUSE & GARDEN 
August Activities Among Flowers, Vegetables and Small Fruits 
Eternal vigilance throughout the summer is the price of 
immunity from insect pests 
W HILE August is usually considered a slack 
month in the garden, as a matter of fact 
some of the most important jobs of the 
year are to be done at this season. Several of 
next spring’s vegetable crops, and your supply 
of biennials and perennials and hardy annuals 
for the flower garden will depend on your efforts 
during the next few weeks. And this fall’s most 
important vegetable—celery—is still to be grown. 
Last Call for Vegetables 
If you act promptly, have the soil in good con¬ 
dition, and use early varieties, there is still time 
to plant for late fall use a number of the more 
quickly maturing vegetables, such as beans, beets, 
turnips, peas, lettuce and radishes. Beets planted 
now will be prime for canning small when the 
weather is cool. If the season is favorable and 
they are large enough to store, they will be much 
better for table use, and will keep better than 
those which have completed their growth. A cau¬ 
tion which has been given in these columns be¬ 
fore, but is worth repeating again, is to firm care¬ 
fully into the soil all seeds planted during dry 
weather. Still better, use a modern system of 
irrigation, ensuring not only perfect germination, 
but rapid, strong, healthy growth during the early 
fall months, when conditions are usually right 
for splendid development, provided there is 
enough moisture in the soil. 
To the uninitiated it may seem like a waste of 
time to give much attention now to the asparagus 
and rhubarb beds. But if the fall growth can 
be made vigorous and healthy, a bumper crop 
for next season is practically assured. Very often 
both these crops are entirely neglected during the 
latter part of the season, and then the gardener 
complains of their beginning to “run out.” Cul¬ 
tivation should be continued and all weeds kept 
out until the end of the season. The asparagus 
tops should be kept sprayed with arsenate of lead 
to prevent the asparagus beetle; if rust appears 
(it shows by the premature yellowing of the 
foliage and elongated small swellings and cracks 
on the stems) cut the stalks clean back to the 
ground, rake up, and burn. 
A good planting of asparagus, well cared for, 
will last indefinitely. Rhubarb, however, to be 
of prime quality, should be taken up and re¬ 
planted every few years. A large clump will 
make half a dozen plants. If you don’t need 
them, throw or give away five. Change the 
situation for the new plants if convenient; other¬ 
wise, they may be put back in the same place, 
after the ground has been well forked up and en¬ 
riched. It will be well to trench it, working 
under a good dressing of manure. 
Keep Celery Growing Rapidly 
Celery is at once an easy and a difficult crop 
to grow. It is a gross feeder, revels in an abund¬ 
ance of water, and is comparatively free from 
insects and usually from rust, the disease most 
likely to attack it. You probably have the early 
crop well along in the garden, but it is not too 
late to put in more for the winter supply, pro¬ 
vided the soil is well enriched and good, strong 
plants are used. It is always better to buy trans¬ 
planted or “re-rooted” plants; the cost will be 
little more, and they will begin growth so much 
more quickly than seed-bed plants that nearly 
a week will be saved in getting them well under 
way. The use of a starting mixture of dried 
blood or guano and fine bone in the rows will 
also be very serviceable. If you have your own 
plants, don't be afraid to trim 
them back quite severely when 
setting out; the extra foliage will 
be but a handicap at first. If 
dry, run water in the furrow 
until it ceases to soak away read¬ 
ily before putting in the fertilizer ; 
then cover in and plant. The fur¬ 
row may be left 2" or 3" below 
the surface to fill in as the plants 
start growth, but the old system 
of planting in a deep trench is 
now little used. 
Top-dress the growing plants 
with nitrate of soda, keep them 
free from weeds, and keep the 
soil worked up to the plants as 
they grow, so that the stalks will tend to an up¬ 
right position. If the weather is dry they can 
hardly be given too much water, but if the water¬ 
ing must be done with a hose, apply it late in 
the afternoon and be sure to use enough to give 
the ground a thorough soaking. The earliest 
part of the crop should be ready for use toward 
the end of this month. When it is well grown, 
and two weeks or so before you want it for use, 
No cultivation is satisfactory unless done 
with the right implements. Here is one 
of the most useful 
blanching should be begun. This can be accom¬ 
plished by hilling or the use of boards, but for 
the home garden the individual blanchers, made 
of heavy paper, are very convenient and do the 
work nicely. They cost little and can be used a 
number of times. By keeping a dozen or more 
plants in different stages of blanching, a con¬ 
tinuous supply for the table will be available. 
The New Strawberry Bed 
There is no necessity of wait¬ 
ing a whole year for your berry 
bed to bear if you will get busy 
at once, prepare the soil prop¬ 
erly, and get good plants. There 
is no better place to use the com¬ 
post heap you have been accumu¬ 
lating through the summer than 
on the new strawberry bed. And 
a good coating of well rotted 
manure, in addition to that, will 
be none too much. A good dress¬ 
ing of high-grade fertilizer should 
be raked in broadcast. In the 
rows or hills use fine bone and 
blood or guano, with twice its 
bulk of humus added; this makes 
a mixture which will not harm 
plant roots if mixed with the 
soil, although they are very easily 
injured by chemical fertilizers. It 
is always risky to use sod ground 
for strawberries, as the large white 
grubs which are likely to infest 
such ground will kill a great many 
of the plants in no time. 
By all means use potted plants. They are in 
every way the most satisfactory; with ordinarily 
good care, in good soil, they will yield a hand¬ 
some crop next June if planted early this month. 
A convenient way is to plant in rows 12" to 15" 
apart, omitting every fifth row. The plants, if 
to be grown by the hill system, which is generally 
the most satisfactory for the home garden, should 
be at the same distance in the rows. Extra strong 
growing varieties, in rich soil, will require the 
full 15" of room. In planting, soak the root balls 
in water for a few minutes before setting—just 
enough to let them get thoroughly saturated, but 
not to crumble away in handling. A convenient 
way is to place several rows upright in a fairly 
tight flat, and pour in water slowly until they 
have taken up the right amount. Then the flat 
can be used, without moving the plants again, to 
distribute them along the row. 
In ten days or so, when they have taken root, 
give a light dressing of nitrate of soda. Keep 
the soil well cultivated, to maintain a dust mulch 
between the plants. Watch closely and cut off 
all runners as fast as they appear. This throws 
all the energy of new growth into the develop¬ 
ment of a strong crown for each plant, with the 
result of a full crop next year. 
Have you any of the new fall bearing berries 
coming on, and if so, have you made any pro¬ 
vision to keep the fruits clean when they de¬ 
velop? If not, mulch the bed as soon as you 
stop cultivation, and let the berries begin to set. 
A good way of doing this is to benefit your 
lawn at the same time by letting the grass grow 
a little longer than usual between cuttings, not 
clipping it quite so close, and using the cuttings 
as a mulch. Put the freshly cut grass on at 
each cutting as far as it will go, 2 " or 3" thick. 
Some of the fall sorts tend to set too much 
fruit. Better berries may be had by removing 
some of the blossom bunches, and by curtailing 
the propensity of the plants for throwing out 
runners and forming new flowering plants. 
Start Pansies and Perrenials Now 
In getting a good stand of pansies and other 
biennials and perennials which should be started 
now for wintering over in the frames, the most 
important thing, next to good seed, is properly 
prepared soil. An old cold-frame, which may be 
shaded with a cloth or slat sash, is an excellent 
place for the seed bed. Fork it up and prepare 
it; then surface it with 2" or so of light, clean, 
sandy soil—adding the sand if necessary—and 
about half as much commercial humus added. 
This will give a very light, moisture-holding soil 
which will not pack down or bake, and through 
which the seeds can come up readily'. Soak the 
soil in the frame until the water begins to stand 
on the surface before putting the prepared soil 
on top. The seeds should be sown thinly in rows 
4" to 6" apart, pressed into the soil, barely 
covered from sight, watered lightly and kept 
shaded. Just before they begin to germinate, 
sprinkle flowers of sulphur over the surface with 
a dust gun. Remove shading when plants are up. 
After the perennial seeds are scattered on the surface, 
press them in with a hoard or brick 
