HOUSE AND GARDEN 
June, 
DU 
441 
towards the end of this month, should be 
pruned as soon as the blossoms go by. 
If the plants are beginning to crowd, cut 
out the oldest canes and trim out some 
of the others. Such shrubs as flower be¬ 
fore mid-summer should also be put into 
shape as soon as the blossoms go by. The 
pruning given will depend very largely 
upon the way in which the plants are being 
grown, and whether they have been neg¬ 
lected during the past few years or not. 
Most shrubs which are given attention 
every season will require very little actual 
pruning, especially if they are planted close 
together or in mass. Individual specimens 
should be cut back and trimmed up so that 
they will grow in symmetrical shape. The 
pruning shears can be used to advantage 
also among many of the flower beds. Such 
things as dahlias and chrysanthemums, 
asters and other branching plants which, 
if left to themselves, are apt to bear a 
large number of medium-sized flowers. 
For big blooms cut off more or less of the 
side growth, and also to obtain the very 
biggest blossoms disbud the stems on 
which you want them, leaving only one 
or two buds to each. 
Arrange Now for a New Straw¬ 
berry Bed 
The way to have strawberries to per¬ 
fection is to set out a new bed each year. 
If the varieties you have are satisfactory, 
you can just as well supply your own 
plants for this purpose. As the old bed 
ceases bearing, cultivate out between the 
rows and get the soil into good condition 
for the new runners to root in. The wav 
to get the best plants is to sink a small 
pot under each of as many runners as 
you want to plant, and hold the runner in 
place over each with a clothes pin or a 
small stone. As soon as the plant has 
rooted set out the runner just beyond it 
and also sever it from the parent plant. 
Plants grown in this way will be fine, 
strong and well rooted and can be set out 
in late July or August. 
If the bed has shown any sign of blight 
or rust spray any that are to be kept over 
through the winter, whether they are old 
or new plants, with Bordeaux mixture. 
Buy a few of some of the fine new varie¬ 
ties, such as Early Ozark, Chesapeake, 
Early Jersey Giant and Late Jersey Giant 
and Fendall. Even if you only get a 
dozen or so of potted plants they will give 
you some fruit next season and an abund¬ 
ance of plants to set out next year. 
Save the Water in the Soil 
During the hot, drying days of June and 
July the soil moisture evaporates with 
astonishing rapidity. This is because 
minute holes or tubes form in it through 
Parsley sowed the second week in June makes a thick bed 
before the warm weather is over and will thrive until 
November 
which the water is brought up from the 
lower layers to the surface by capillary 
attraction. \ on should plan to get over 
all of your garden, flower beds and everv 
bare surface in which things are growing 
as often as possible, at least once in every 
two weeks—and if you can make it once 
a week so much the better. Stir the 
ground lightly, using the scuffle hoe, 
wheel-hoe, or hoe, as conditions allow, to 
keep the surface 411 inch or so finely pul¬ 
verized and as dry as possible. This “dust 
mulch” serves much as a dressing of straw 
or manure would over the surface in keep¬ 
ing the ground helow it moist, and in pre¬ 
venting the waste of water from surface 
evaporation. For working around plants 
and flower beds where the wheel-hoe can¬ 
not be used there is a hand hoe made 
which has a number of teeth with broad, 
flat points instead of a regular hoe blade. 
This is a very handy and efficient little 
tool and will prove to be one of your 
favorites throughout the season. In using 
the wheel-hoe substitute the hoe attach¬ 
ment or the rakes for the cultivator teeth 
and work shallow, stirring an inch or so 
of the top soil. If you have a weeder 
attachment use that in addition. For 
crops that have begun to fill up the rows 
so much that they can no longer be 
“straddled” by the double wheel-hoe use 
the single wheel, and when even this can¬ 
not be got through the rows without in¬ 
juring the plants, use the scuffle or push 
hoe; if no weeds have been allowed to 
grow you can get over the ground with 
this almost as fast as you could with a 
wheel-hoe. 
Watering 
No phase of gardening has undergone 
such radical development during the last 
few years as that of applying water. The 
old methods of attempting to “water” the 
garden by hand with an ordinary garden 
hose was next to impossible and in many 
instances resulted in actual damage in¬ 
stead of benefit. It not only consumed an 
endless amount of time in handling the 
hose nozzle and dragging the hose about, 
but was extremely wasteful. Three dis¬ 
tinct types of apparatus for applying 
water to a considerable area at a time, 
almost automatically, have been developed. 
First, there are several new “sprinklers,” 
each so far ahead of the old lawn sprink¬ 
lers that they are in a different class. They 
may be used either singly and moved 
about, or in a series and kept stationary. 
An example of June planting and autumn reaping: squash, corn, beans and carrots String beans can be planted as late as the second week in June and be ready for 
all planted early in June picking six weeks later 
