May, 1915 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
3 61 I 
a few days above ground. It often hap¬ 
pens that a warm spell will bring things 
up quickly and cause them to grow rapidly, 
and then the weather changes and a frost 
may be expected. Get busy with the 
wheelhoe! After all danger is over the soil 
can be worked down around the plants 
with the fingered or with the pronged hoe, 
and they will come through nicely. For 
individual plants and hills of plants, news¬ 
papers and empty flower pots can be ap¬ 
plied very quickly. In the former case they 
should be used in several thicknesses — 
three or four double sheets about each 
plant. On very windy nights, of course, 
the newspapers will not do. Inverted 
flower pots, a handful of moist soil or a 
small stone put over the holes can be 
quickly placed and will stay put. 
Plant frames and forcers of various 
kinds may be bought or may be home¬ 
made. These are not merely frost pro¬ 
tectors, as they serve the additional pur¬ 
pose of furnishing congenial conditions 
and causing much more rapid growth. 
Practically all these devices are very ef¬ 
fective and with care will last a long time. 
The only drawback to their universal use 
is their initial cost. Good home-made 
protectors may be fashioned from soap or 
cracker boxes and waterproof muslin or 
lant cloth, which can be bought for some 
fteen cents a yard. In using glass-cov¬ 
ered protectors, of course, attention must 
be paid to the ventilation. In this respect 
the cloth has the advantage, as ventilation 
will, to a large extent, take care of itself. 
Unless you are already well supplied with 
“forcers” of one kind or another, try to 
add a few to your garden outfit each year. 
You will soon find that you have an equip¬ 
ment that will put your garden ahead by 
weeks, even though you may have been 
using frames before. 
Still another method of frost protection 
available where an overhead system of 
frost protection is installed, is by the use 
of an ice blanket This may seem paradoxi¬ 
cal at first; but in reality it is not. The tem¬ 
perature inside of the ice-blanket remains 
at practically 32 degrees. Such tender 
things as beans and cucumbers have been 
saved by this system. The water is started 
before the temperature gets down to freez¬ 
ing, and should be kept running until the 
temperature rises above freezing the fol¬ 
lowing morning. The spray must be kept 
in constant movement, so that it falls on 
every part of the surface at intervals of 
a few minutes. The result is that sheet 
after sheet of ice is formed, each on top 
of the preceding one, and the field by 
morning is a solid blanket of ice. There is 
no weight on the plants, as they are inside 
a solid casing of ice which supports its own 
weight. 
The ability of plants to recover from a 
light freezing will depend largely upon 
how they are brought out of it. The thaw¬ 
ing should be as gradual as possible, as 
already explained. I remember seeing a 
tomato field a few years ago about half 
of which was shaded by a wooded knoll 
until late in the morning. Otherwise the 
two parts of the field were alike. After a 
frosty night the plants on the former part 
of the field came through all right, and 
the others were killed back. Watering 
with cold water will help to take the frost 
out gradually. If you have any plants 
touched by frost which you do not feel are 
hardy enough to take care of themselves, 
go over them the first thing in the morning 
with a hose and watering can. The colder 
the water, the better. Even if it forms a 
little film of ice over the plants, no harm 
is done. Then shade them with a cloth 
frame or a newspaper until the tempera¬ 
ture in the shade has got above freezing. 
Spray on Time 
Another vitally important job that has 
to be added to the list of the gardener’s 
operations this month is spraying. Full 
directions for orchard spraying are given 
elsewhere in this number, but it is just as 
important for such vegetables and flowers 
as are likely to be injured by the attacks 
of insects or disease of types which must 
be controlled by spraying, if at all. 
Gooseberries and currants are attacked, 
usually, on the lower leaves first, by the 
small green currant worm. Use Arsenate 
of Lead or Paris Green the moment they 
put in appearance. Use Lime-sulphur for 
mildew. After the fruit is partly grown, 
Hellebore should be used, as it washes off 
readily, before the fruit ripens. 
On raspberries, dewberries and black¬ 
berries use Lime and Sulphur when the 
buds swell, and again after picking, if there 
is any sign of rust. 
The surest way of making certain a full 
potato crop is to spray thoroughly with 
Bordeaux Mixture once in eight or ten 
days, until about the middle of August. 
Where you have a stock solution of the 
materials this is not a difficult task, as the 
plants can be gone over with a small com¬ 
pressed air sprayer very quickly. Lor field 
operations, of course, a power sprayer is 
used. During the first few sprayings, 
when potato bugs may be expected, mix 
Arsenate of Lead with Bordeaux at the 
rate of 3 pounds to 50 gallons. 
To keep your roses thrifty and healthy, 
spray them about every ten days with some 
good combined insecticide and fungicide, 
such as Bordeaux and Arsenate of Lead. 
For the rose avis and any other sucking 
insects, Nicotine and Kerosene Emulsion 
preparations must be used. 
For hollyhocks, where the rust is trou¬ 
blesome, use Bordeaux Mixture during the 
early part of the season, and Ammonia 
Copper Carbonate Solution when the buds 
begin to form, as this leaves no sediment 
on the foliage. 
Setting Out Nursery Plants 
Most of the spring’s planting of such 
things as are bought in growing condition 
from the nursery should be done this 
month. For the cane fruits, raspberries, 
blackberries and so forth, no particular 
preparation is required provided the 
ground is in good condition. Raspberries 
should be given about eight to ten feet 
each, and put in rows 4 feet apart, 2 feet 
apart in the row, or 3 x 3 feet each way. 
Strong-growing varieties may require a 
(Continued on page 379) 
It is extremely important to do your spraying at the right time; wait until your trees are in blossom before 
beginning the second spraying 
