54 
House & Garden 
The dust mulch should he maintained in the flower garden 
as well as in the vegetable section. A claw weeder is the 
best tool for working around the plants 
Cutting flowers will do the plants no harm if you use 
judgment. As soon as the blossoms fade they should 
be clipped off to prevent their going to seed 
IN THE HOT WEATHER 
D . R . E D S O N 
TRENCHES 
F rom the middle of June to the middle of 
August it is usually hard sledding in the gar¬ 
den, and particularly in the beginner’s garden. 
This is partly because the garden is new, and 
partly because the gardener is new. Scorching 
hot, dry weather comes, plants that grew most 
enthusiastically in the spring get tired; weeds 
grow luxuriantly, and if one attempts to pull 
them up, they carry some of the rightful in¬ 
habitants of the garden along with them; plants 
similar to those that one transplanted readily in 
the spring, apparently survive the operation now, 
but within two or three days lie down and die. 
Even seeds from the same packet that sprouted 
vigorously in the spring are put in the ground 
now only to disappear mysteriously—they won’t 
come up themselves, and when one goes to dig 
them up have vanished entirely! 
And yet the garden over the fence or across 
the way may be green and flourishing, as though 
the roots in it could reach down to hidden springs, 
or its owner possessed some magic by which he 
could ward off this midsummer blight. 
Why the difference? 
It is not sufficient to put it down to any such 
general cause as dry weather, or bad luck. The 
beginner almost invariably tries to find solace in 
the belief that he should have selected other 
varieties of vegetables or flowers. Let him not 
lay that flattering unction to his soul! In nine 
cases out of ten a selection of varieties, though 
perhaps not ideal, is the least important of the 
several factors concerned. 
The factors that are always important are: 
Loss of moisture; lack of air; shortage of plant 
food; shortage of available nitrogen; and 
neglected old age of the plants themselves. 
How TO Handle the Situation 
The practical problem of how to prevent these 
things from interfering with the success of your 
garden remains, however, even when you realize 
where the trouble lies. The possession of this 
information will not only show you what to do, 
but help to give you courage to keep up the fight 
against what to the beginner sometimes seems 
overwhelming odds. To be forewarned is to be 
forearmed—if you act upon the warning! Let us 
take the several obstructions to the success of 
your garden in order, and see what can be done 
about overcoming them. 
From what we have already seen in the pre¬ 
ceding articles of the part which moisture in the 
soil plays in all plant growth, the tremendous and 
immediate effect which a shortage of soil moisture 
would have on the development of everything 
growing in the garden must be realized at once. 
Yet this form of the slackening up of garden 
growth is so gradual and insidious that the be¬ 
ginner hardly ever senses the full extent of the 
damage that is being done. If the cutworms chew 
off five of fifty cabbage plants, his loss is at once 
fully apparent—he is likely to report to his seat- 
mate on the way into town the next morning that 
this exasperating pest has destroyed about half 
These are strenuous days for the gardener. He 
has been enrolled to help feed the nations. Upon 
him depends the success of the Allied cause. No 
days are more critical than these of June, July and 
August for growing things. Here is the work set 
out to make the garden yield a bounteous crop. 
Don’t be a slacker! — Editor. 
of his cabbage crop. The loss looks to him much 
bigger than a 10% one. On the other hand, dry 
weather might reduce the growth of his cabbage 
plants 30%, compared to what they would have 
been if a full abundance of moisture had been 
present, without his thinking much about it. 
There is perhaps something of a feeling that the 
weather is sent from Heaven, while Beelzebub 
supplies the bugs; so that we have more reason 
for complaint in the latter case. As a matter 
of fact, the remedy for the former is much more 
certain and available than for the latter—but leav¬ 
ing that point for still a little later, let us see how 
Four main conditions make for good summer 
vegetables: sufficient moisture, air circulation, 
plant food supply, and freedom from weeds 
to make the most of such moisture as Providence 
may supply in the normal course of events. 
Last month we spoke of cultivation especially 
to “conserve soil moisture.” For those who did 
not see that article—and to give a litle more em¬ 
phasis to a thing which can hardly be over-em¬ 
phasized—let me repeat briefly what to do: 
After the first two or three cultivations or hoe- 
ings in early spring to get the early crop fairly 
free from weeds, a light, shallow cultivation should 
be given every week or ten days to keep the sur¬ 
face of the soil all over the garden continually 
broken up in the form of a layer of dry dust 
1" or so deep. It is particularly important to get 
over the entire surface of the garden after every 
rain. Start your wheel hoe or scuffle hoe, just 
as soon as the ground has dried out enough so 
as not to be muddy and sticky, and break up the 
surface or crust which immediately begins to form 
as the soil dries out on top. 
Still more effective than the dust mulch, or 
rather in addition to it, where it can be utilized, 
a mulching of light manure, old compost, or even 
of the cut grass and trimmings from the lawn 
and around the place will help to keep the mois¬ 
ture in the soil to an almost incredible degree. 
I have seen even ordinary field stones or boulders 
from 2" to 4" in diameter successfully used as 
a “mulch” around fruit trees. Among the things 
especially benefited by mulching are currants and 
gooseberries, strawberries, cauliflowers (the sum¬ 
mer kind) and egg-plants. A mulch around the 
tomato plants will help to keep them going until 
frost—without it they may begin to run out dur¬ 
ing the latter part of August. The mulch should 
be put on 2" or 3" deep so as to keep the soil 
underneath it shaded from the sun and cool, 
but it should be light and open enough so that 
air can readily penetrate it. A further advan¬ 
tage of such a mulch is that it helps to smother 
the weeds which always strive for supremacy. 
Don’t Smother Your Plants 
A thorough stirring of the soil around grow¬ 
ing plants almost always results in a noticeably 
increased or stimulated activity in their growth. 
No soil moisture has been added by this opera¬ 
tion, but two other important things are accom¬ 
plished. First of all the plant roots need to 
breathe as well as to eat and drink. When the 
surface of the soil is left alone for long intervals, 
it becomes tight and hard, and air cannot readily 
enter it. By thorough cultivating, however, the 
soil is completely aerated and remains so until 
the surface becomes hard again from being walked 
over or neglected. Besides admitting air each cul¬ 
tivation breaks up particles of the soil which have 
escaped previous pulverization, thus exposing 
latent- plant food to the moisture and the bac¬ 
teria in the soil, converted into forms that the 
plant roots can use. 
So you can see that even in dry weather there 
is every reason to keep your wheel hoe going, 
even though the soil may be dry and the rows 
clear and free from weeds. 
