84 
House 6 ° Garden 
The GARDENER’S CALENDAR for DECEMBER 
SUNDAY I MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY 
This Cale^idar of the gardener's labors 
is designed as a remhtder for undertak¬ 
ing all his tasks in season. Though it 
is planned for an average season in the 
Middle States its suggestions should 
fit the whole country if it be remembered 
that for every hwidred miles north or 
south garden operations will be retarded 
or advanced from five to seven days 
The portraits this month are of five 
garden celebrities of Post-revolutionary 
days. Two of them, William Bartram 
aiid William Cobbett, were enthusiastic 
amateurs; the other three were pioneer 
seedsmen and nurserymen. The estab¬ 
lishments of these three men, Landreth, 
Thorburn and Bridgeman, still carry 
on after more than a century's existence 
SATURDAY 
I. Hyacinths, 
Chinese sacred 
lilies, paper- 
white narcis¬ 
sus Soleil d’Or, 
etc., may now 
be forced in 
bowls of water 
for the house. 
Place the 
bulbs in the 
cellar for 
about two 
weeks after 
planting so as 
to form roots. 
2. All the 
various types 
of bulbs for 
winter bloom 
may be forced 
in the green¬ 
house now. It 
is best to bring 
the bulbs into 
the heat in 
small quanti¬ 
ties so as to 
keep a contin¬ 
uous supply 
of blossoms 
coming along. 
3. All tender 
evergreens 
that require 
protecting 
should be at¬ 
tended to at 
once. Pine 
boughs, corn- 
stalks and 
other coarse 
material can 
be used to pre¬ 
vent sun scald. 
Manure mul¬ 
ches are best 
for the soil. 
4. Trees that 
are subject to 
scale insects of 
various kinds 
should be 
sprayed with 
one of the sol¬ 
uble oil mix¬ 
tures. Fruit 
trees of all 
kinds, roses, 
evonymus, and 
all smooth- 
barked trees 
are suscep¬ 
tible. 
5. All new 
plantings 
should be heav- 
ily mulched 
with manure. 
This not only 
serves to pro¬ 
tect the plants 
by reducing 
the penetra¬ 
tion of the 
frost, but in¬ 
creases the fer¬ 
tility and pro¬ 
ductiveness of 
the soil as well. 
6. Do not 
neglect to pro¬ 
vide for those 
friends of the 
garden. our 
birds. Feeding 
boxes may be 
placed where 
the birds will 
be out of the 
reach of cats. 
Suet tied to 
the branches 
is attractive to 
several spe¬ 
cies. 
7. Low spots 
in walks and 
drives that are 
invariably wet 
should be 
raised to shed 
water; or if 
the earth is 
taken out and 
the roadbed 
filled with cin¬ 
ders it will 
help to make 
them dry and 
passable in 
bad weather. 
8. If cold 
weather pre¬ 
vails it is well 
to look over 
the vegetable 
trenches to 
make sure that 
the frost is not 
getting in and 
injuring the 
roots. Plenty 
of leaves piled 
on top is the 
best protec¬ 
tion for the 
winter. 
Grant Thorburn 
In I Soy, with a $iy 
stock of seeds, Thor¬ 
burn opened the first 
seedslore in New York 
and one of the first in 
the country. He was 
also a vigorous writer 
9 . Grape canes 
can be cleaned 
up and pruned 
at any time 
now. It is a 
good practice 
to remove all 
tbe loose bark 
and wash the 
canes with a 
good strong 
soap insecti¬ 
cide or spray 
them with an 
oil spray to de¬ 
stroy larvae. 
William Bartram 
This son of John 
Bartram, who estab¬ 
lished the first botanic 
garden in America 
and who left no auth¬ 
entic portrait, contin¬ 
ued his father's work 
16. Rhubarb 
may be forced 
in the cellar 
or attic of the 
dwelling by 
planting good- 
sized clumps 
in barrels or 
boxes and 
placing them 
beside the fur¬ 
nace or chim¬ 
ney. The soil 
should be kept 
moderately 
moist. 
23. The foli¬ 
age of house 
plants must be 
kept free of in¬ 
sects. Spong¬ 
ing the leaves 
with a soap 
solution to 
which a good 
tobacco ex¬ 
tract has been 
added will de¬ 
stroy white 
scale, red spi¬ 
der, mealy bug 
and green fly. 
30. Mush¬ 
rooms may be 
grown in any 
ordinary cel¬ 
lar; the im¬ 
portant point 
is fresh stable 
droppings for 
the bed. Don’t 
let them ever 
get really dry. 
Use new cul¬ 
ture spawn, 
as it is more 
certain than 
the old kind. 
10. All the 
garden tools 
and im p1e - 
ments should 
be thoroughly 
cleaned, coated 
with a cheap 
oil and put 
away for the 
winter. Those 
that are in 
need of repair 
should be at¬ 
tended to now 
while outdoor 
work is slack. 
17. Succes- 
sional sowings 
of those crops 
in the green¬ 
house that re¬ 
quire it, such 
as lettuce, 
beans, cauli¬ 
flower. spin¬ 
ach and rad¬ 
ishes, should 
be made. Rhu¬ 
barb and en¬ 
dive may be 
started under 
the benches. 
II. Asbestos 
torches, or 
torches made 
of burlap and 
soaked in 
kerosene to 
make them in- 
flammable,”’ 
should be used 
to go over all 
the trees and 
destroy win¬ 
tering over 
nests of cater- 
pillars and 
other pests. 
18. Melon 
frames, tomato 
trellises, gar¬ 
den seats and 
other wooden 
garden mate¬ 
rial should be 
painted. Use 
good paint, 
and where nec¬ 
essary apply 
two coats. This 
is considerably 
cheaper than 
constant re¬ 
newals. 
12. Frames 
in which semi¬ 
hardy plants 
are being win- 
t e r e d , or 
frames that 
are used as 
growing me¬ 
diums should 
have some 
kind of cover- 
i n g . L o o s e 
hay may be 
used, but the 
best covering 
is jute mats 
Ip. Plants 
that are grow¬ 
ing in benches, 
such as carna¬ 
tions, roses, 
antirrhinum, 
etc., should be 
mulched with 
cow manure 
or soil made of 
equal parts of 
top soil and 
well-rotted 
manure with a 
little bone 
meal added. 
13. Look over 
the tender 
bulbs that are 
stored for the 
winter, such as 
dahlias, can- 
nas, gladioli, 
etc. Frost will 
surely destroy 
them, while 
too much heat 
or moistu re 
will start them 
into growth be¬ 
fore planting 
time returns. 
20. Boxwood 
must be pro¬ 
tected. else it 
is very apt to 
winter-kill. 
Burlap covers, 
cornstalks, 
pine boughs or 
any material 
that will keep 
out the sun 
but admit air 
may be used 
for this pur¬ 
pose. Apply it 
now. 
24. Ferns, 
palms and 
other house 
plants should 
be top-dressed 
occasionally 
with some of 
tlie concen¬ 
trated plant 
foods sold for 
the purpose. 
Keep the sur¬ 
face of the soil 
loosened so 
that no green 
scum forms. 
25. Poor 
lawns should 
be top-dressed, 
using a com¬ 
post made of 
screened top 
soil with about 
20 per cent 
bone meal and 
wood ashes 
added. This 
may be applied 
to the lawn 
liberally now, 
with some 
grass seed. 
26. This is 
the time to 
plan and even 
install some 
sort of irrigat¬ 
ing system in 
your garden. 
Don’t wait un¬ 
til summer for 
dry weather is 
just as sure as 
taxes and you 
had best be 
ready for it 
well in advance 
of its arrival. 
27, Fruit 
trees, and es¬ 
pecially small 
ones, should be 
protected from 
rats, rabbits 
and other ro¬ 
dents. Ordi¬ 
nary tar paper 
wrapped 
around the 
stem from the 
ground to a 
height of 15 
inches is suffi¬ 
cient. 
31. Vegeta¬ 
bles of all 
kinds that are 
stored in cel¬ 
lars should be 
looked over 
with the pur¬ 
pose of remov¬ 
ing any de¬ 
cayed tubers 
there may be. 
A few bad ones 
will soon cause 
considerable 
damage to the 
rest. 
Thomas Bridgeman 
Though he came upon the American 
scene somewhat later than the other men 
here, Bridgeman was no less an influen¬ 
tial figure in our early garden history 
14. Do not 
scrape the 
bark on trees 
to destroy in¬ 
sect pests—it is 
impossible to 
get into the 
crevices where 
insects hiber¬ 
nate. and in 
many cases the 
tree is injured 
by removing 
the green 
outer bark. 
Use stiff brush. 
IS- Necta¬ 
rines. peaches 
and grapes 
which are 
forced under 
glass should be 
pruned and 
cleaned by 
washing them 
with strong 
insecticides. 
Remove some 
of the top soil 
afterward and 
replace it with 
fresh earth. 
David Landreth 
The first seed house 
and nursery in Amer¬ 
ica was established in 
Philadelphia by David 
Landreth in 1784, 
covering two blocks in 
the, now, city center 
21 . At this 
season of the 
year it is nec¬ 
essary to fer¬ 
tilize indoor 
cucumbers and 
tomatoes to 
assure fruit. 
Collect the 
pollen in a 
spoon and dis¬ 
tribute it to 
the other blos¬ 
soms with a 
camel’s -hair 
brush. 
28.The value 
of the land¬ 
scaping de¬ 
partments 
maintained by 
the big nur- 
8 e r y m e n 
should not be 
overlooked. 
They are pre¬ 
pared to plan 
all sorts of 
plantings for 
you and sub¬ 
mit figures of 
costs, etc. 
22. Chicory 
is one of the 
best winter 
salad plants. 
It can be forced 
in any ordi¬ 
nary cellar by 
planting the 
roots in boxes 
and keeping 
them dark. 
They can also 
be grown out¬ 
side in trenches 
filled with hot 
manure. 
29. The plant¬ 
ing of decidu¬ 
ous tiees and 
shrubs may be 
continued just 
as long as the 
weather per¬ 
mits. Mulch¬ 
ing heavily 
immedia te 1 y 
after planting 
will prevent 
the penetra¬ 
tion of frost if 
it should come 
soon. 
Orphan hours, the year is dead. 
Come and sigh, come and weep! 
Merry hours, smile instead. 
For the year is but asleep. 
See, it smiles as it is sleeping. 
Mocking your untimely weep¬ 
ing. 
Shelley 
William Cobbett 
A fearless a'nd famous 
writer on political 
affairs, Cobbett also 
wrote more entertain¬ 
ingly than was usual 
then, or is now, on 
horticidtural matters 
