til 
JIllllllllllllllllllllllllMlllllllllllllM 
hi 
1f 1 iff Iff II 11 Hi" it"{ .r j.fill 
| pi 
III 
= 
Ot 
3000000QCDOC30 c=0.C30C30O0t=>0O0CJI0cP0?ri0C 
=>0 
n 
o<= 
= 0<=0<=, = .= 0 = 0=>C 
C30C=50C30C30O0Q0a0O0C>0C; 
°n 
=EE 
1 
u 
0 
a 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
a 
0 
0 
n 
„ lit 4 —'- 
0 
0 
0 
0 
1) 
0 
0 
i 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
BBS 
pHo 
SB 5 
GARDEN 
SUGGESTIONS 
QUERIES 
>==■ 
sis 
i== 
SB 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
5 
0 
1 
0 
0 
0 
m 11 
ggp 
lf,tt 
A 
cnni J a'—J- - 
t, 
f 
i 
0 
(1 
s 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
— 
n 
0 
°0 
CONDUCTED BY F. F. ROCKWELL 
§ mi 
0 
k Ml 
0 
0 
0 
0 
a 
0 
wmt? 
v 
0 
0 
s 
0 
Oo 
=jll 1 
... iiiiilia 
i(i== 
0 
- A - '»Sr' / 
=>0c=>0000o OOC3 
o^oooot 
- 1 > '- ' U 
11 
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII 1 II 1 IIW 
an 
ill 1 
III DM 
m 
Mind the Frost! 
N spite of the damage the first hard 
frosts do every year, there are always 
some gardeners who have to learn or re¬ 
learn the lesson, “in time of frosts prepare 
for freezing.” Frost comes, followed by a 
week of glorious autumn weather, and the 
process is repeated three or four times. 
The tender things are killed, but the hardy 
flowers and vegetables continue looking as 
thrifty as ever. Result: we get careless, 
the calendar slips along a few notches too 
far, and we wake up to find that some of 
the late root crops, or a pile of squash or 
a barrel of potatoes left in an open shed, 
or the dahlias and canna bulbs, have been 
frozen, and there’s nothing to do but boil 
’em up for the chickens and resolve we'll 
never get caught that way again. 
The first things to attend to this month 
are all the odds and ends of harvesting. 
Parsnips and salsify may be left in the 
ground all winter, but if you have ever to 
dig out a mess when there was eight or 
ten inches of frost in the ground, you will 
agree that it is better to store all that will 
be required before the first of March or 
April, according to your climate. They 
may be stored in sand, soil or moss, in a 
cold, moist cellar, or “pitted.” 
Storing Outdoors 
Often there is a surplus of vegetables in 
the fall that one does not have room for 
in the cellar. Do not waste these, as they 
will almost always prove useful before 
spring, and especially so when meats, flour, 
canned goods and other commodities are 
mobilized on a war basis, as seems likely 
to be the case this winter. Select some 
thoroughly well-drained place in sandy 
soil, or under a shed if possible, and dig a 
trench two to four feet deep and a little 
less in width. In this may be stored cab¬ 
bage, parsnips, turnips, carrots, beets, sal¬ 
sify, potatoes and onions, if packed in 
some dry material, such as straw or leaves. 
The trench may be lined with straw or 
leaves, if they are perfectly dry. The suc¬ 
cess of the operation depends upon having 
perfect drainage, so that no water or 
melted snow can get into the trench, and 
the method and thoroughness of the cover¬ 
ing, which must be sufficient to prevent 
frost striking through in coldest weather. 
All vegetables should be perfectly dry 
when stored. Cover at first only with 
straw or leaves, so that any moisture form¬ 
ing from “sweating” may escape readily. 
Upon the approach of more severe 
weather, put on a covering of earth sev¬ 
eral inches deep. When this is frozen 
hard, put on a layer of straw, leaves or 
dead manure, and then another layer of 
soil, repeating the process until there are 
three or four layers of each. This makes 
a covering that will keep out very severe 
frosts, and a good deal of moisture, and 
at the same time may be readily broken 
through at any time. Where the vege¬ 
tables are wanted for family use, they may 
be mixed together in about the proportions 
used, so that the pit will not have to be 
opened at more than one place. 
Save Your Tender Bulbs 
When the first frosts have killed down 
the tops of your cannas, dahlias, gladioli 
and tuberous begonias, take up the bulbs 
without delay and store them in a dry 
place under cover. Let the tops shrivel 
and the earth dry until it can be shaken 
off, and then store them in boxes, carefully 
labeled, in a dry, cool room or cellar, 
where the temperature never goes to 
freezing. Caladiums and callas should be 
taken up before the tops freeze; the for¬ 
mer especially are very tender and should 
be kept where the thermometer stays 
above forty. The little “bulbels” which 
form around the base of the gladioli bulbs 
should be carefully saved. Plant them all 
out next year, and the year following you 
will have fine flowering bulbs. 
Think of Next February 
Now is the time, too, to store away a 
supply of soil for next spring’s seeding 
time. Before the snow is off the ground, 
and while the garden is still like a solid 
block of concrete, you will want to start 
flower and vegetable seeds to set out in the 
cold-frames and garden later. Prepare 
your soil now. Get some leaf-mold from 
the woods, some sand (or sandy wash 
from the road-side), and some good gar¬ 
den loam, and mix them together until 
you have a light friable soil, that will 
neither pack nor dry out quickly. Put 
away in the cellar, as far from the furnace 
as possible. 
Drain Before the Ground Freezes 
If you have a “low” spot in your garden, 
invest in some tile and drain it this fall. 
A soft, boggy spot always holds back the 
whole spring’s operation. Let your main 
ditch follow the natural lay of the land. 
The branches, if the piece is large enough 
to need them, must all slope toward it, and 
join it at an angle, running in the same 
direction. Leave the “collars” of the tile 
open, so that the water may seep in, where 
the joints are laid together. Get them 
down below frost line, and as much deeper 
as possible. A single narrow open drain 
will often make a great difference, but tile 
are very much better. Where the trouble 
is simply an impervious clay subsoil, which 
will not let the water through to good nat¬ 
ural drainage below, a few charges of ag¬ 
ricultural dynamite may literally transform 
your land. 
Winter Protection 
If any of your raspberries or black¬ 
berries were winter-killed last year, try 
bending them down flat, just before the 
ground freezes, and cover the tips with 
earth to keep them in place. Then they 
may be mulched, although the mere tving 
down will protect them to a considerable 
extent in itself. The strawberry bed will 
come in for attention about this time, too. 
Cover the soil between the rows as well as 
the rows. All newly planted shrubs and 
perennials, and the bulb beds, should also 
be covered before real hard freezing 
weather. 
306 
