60 
House Garden 
December THE GARDENER’S CALENDAR Twelfth Month 
The interior twigs 
and small branches of 
the peach trees should 
be thinned out 
A thick covering of 
leaves will prevent 
frost getting into the 
celery trenches 
All nests of caterpil¬ 
lars and other harm¬ 
ful insects should be 
destroyed now 
SUNDAY 
MONDAY 
TUESDAY 
WEDNESDAY 
THURSDAY 
FRIDAY 
SATURDAY 
I stood and 
watched by 
the window 
The noiseless 
work of the 
sky, 
And the sud¬ 
den flurries 
of snowbirds 
Like brown 
leaves whirl¬ 
ing by. 
—Lowell. 
1 . 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. 
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 . Hyacinths, 
Chinese sacred 
1 i 1 i e s, paper- 
wh i t e narcis¬ 
sus SoJeil d’Or, 
etc., may now 
be forced in 
bowls of water 
for the house. 
Place the 
bu'l bs in the 
cellar for 
about two 
weeks after 
planting so as 
to form roots. 
4 . A 11 new 
plantings 
should be heav¬ 
ily mulched 
with manure. 
This not only 
serves to pro¬ 
tect the plants 
by reducing 
the p e n e t ra- 
t i o n of the 
frost, but in¬ 
creases the fer¬ 
tility and pro¬ 
ductiveness of 
the soil as well. 
5 . D o 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. 
6 . 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. 
7 . 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. 
8 . A 1 1 the 
garden tools 
and imple¬ 
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. 
9 . Grape canes 
can be cleaned 
up and pruned 
at any time 
now. It is a 
good practice 
to remove all 
the loose bark 
and wash the 
canes with a 
good strong 
soap insecti¬ 
cide or spray 
them with an 
oil spray to de¬ 
stroy larvae, etc. 
10 . I f 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. 
11 . Frames 
in which semi- 
hardy plants 
are being win- 
tered, or 
frames that 
are used as 
growing m e - 
diums, should 
have some 
kind of cover- 
i n g. Loose 
hay may be 
used, but the 
best covering 
is jute mats. 
12 . Look over 
the tender 
bulbs that are 
stored for the 
winter,such as 
dahlias, can- 
n a s, gladioli, 
etc. Frost will 
surely destroy 
them, while 
too much heat 
ormoisture 
will start them 
into growth be¬ 
fore planting 
time returns. 
13 . D o 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 re mov i n g 
the green 
outer bark. 
Use stiff brush. 
14 . Asbestos 
torches, or 
torches made 
of burlap and 
soaked in 
kerosene to 
make them in- 
fl a m m able, 
should be used 
to go over all 
the trees and 
destroy win¬ 
tering over 
nests of cater- 
pillars and 
other pests. 
15 - Succes- 
sional sowings 
of those crops 
in the green¬ 
house that re¬ 
quire it, such 
as 1 e 11 u c e, 
beans, cauli¬ 
flower, sp in- 
ach and rad¬ 
ishes, should 
be made. .Rhu¬ 
barb and en¬ 
dive may be 
started under 
the benches. 
16 . Rhubarb 
may be forced 
in the cellar 
or attic of the 
dw e 1 1 i n g by 
planting good- 
sized clumps 
in barrels or 
boxes and 
placing them 
beside the fur¬ 
nace or chim¬ 
ney. The soil 
should be kept 
m o;d e r a t e 1 y 
moist. 
17 . 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. 
18 . Plants 
that are grow¬ 
ing in benches, 
such as carna¬ 
tions, rose s, 
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. 
19 . Boxwood 
must be p r o- 
tected, else it 
is very apt to 
winter - kill. 
Burlap covers, 
corn stalk 8, 
pine boughs or 
a n y material 
that will keep 
out the sun 
but admit air 
may be used 
for this pur¬ 
pose. Apply it 
now. 
20 . At this 
season of the 
year it is ne¬ 
cessary to fer¬ 
tilize indoor 
cucumbers and 
tomatoes to 
assu re f r u i t. 
O o 11 e ct the 
pollen in a 
spoon and dis¬ 
tribute it to 
the other blos¬ 
soms with a 
camel’s -hair 
brush. 
21 . Melon 
frames, tomato 
trellises, gar¬ 
den seats and 
other wooden 
garden mate¬ 
rial should be 
painted. Use 
good paint, 
and where ne¬ 
cessary apply 
two coats. 'This 
is considerably 
cheaper than 
constant re¬ 
newals. 
22 . Ferns, 
palms and 
other house 
plants should 
be top-dressed 
occasion ally 
with some of 
the concen¬ 
trated plant 
foods sold for 
the purpose. 
Keep the sur¬ 
face of the soil 
loosened so 
that no green 
scum forms. 
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. 
24 . Chic ory 
is one of the 
best winter 
salad plants. 
It can be forc¬ 
ed in any ordi¬ 
nary cellar by 
planting the 
roots in boxes 
and keeping 
them dark. 
They can also 
be grown out¬ 
side in trench¬ 
es filled with 
hot manure. 
25 . The value 
of the 1 a n d - 
scaping de¬ 
partments 
maintained by 
the big nur- 
s e r y m e n 
should not be 
over looked. 
They are pre¬ 
pared to plan 
all sorts of 
plantings for 
you and sub¬ 
mit figures of 
costs, etc. 
26 , T h i s i s 
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 . Y egeta- 
blesof all 
kinds that are 
stored in cel¬ 
lars should be 
looked over 
with the pur¬ 
pose of remov¬ 
ing any de- 
ca y e d tubers 
there may be- 
A few bad ones 
will soon cause 
considerable 
damage to the 
rest. 
28 . Fruit 
trees, and es¬ 
pecially small 
ones, should be 
protected from 
r a t s, rabbits 
and other ro¬ 
dents. O r d i - 
nary tar paper 
wrap p e d 
around the 
stem from the 
ground to a 
height of 15 
inches is suffi¬ 
cient. 
29 . The plant¬ 
ing of decidu¬ 
ous trees and 
shrubs maj; be 
continued just 
as long as the 
weather per¬ 
mits. Mulch¬ 
ing heavily 
immed iate 1 y 
after planting 
will prevent 
the 'penetra¬ 
tion of frost if 
it should come 
soon. 
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. 
31 . Poor 
lawns should 
be top-dressed, 
using a c o m- 
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. 
This Calendar of the gardener's labors is 
aimed as a reminder for undertaking all his 
tasks in season. It is fitted to the latitude 
of the Middle States, but its service should 
be available for the whole country if it be 
remembered that for every one hundred 
miles north or south there is a difference of 
from five to seven days later or earlier in 
performing garden operations. The dates 
given are, of course, for an average season ' 
9 T~yFARS to me like Chris'mas in the city must be a kinder gloomy time 'side o' what it is out here in the country. 
I hear as how they ain't no sleighs no more in the big towns like N’ York, Boston an' Chicago—only aulymo- 
biles, an’ subways, an’ the like o’ that. Shucks! — what’s Chris’mas without sleigh-bells a-jinglin’, an’ snow all 
white an’ sparkly along the road, an’ big birch logs a-roarin’ in the settin’ room fireplace? Somehow I reckon city 
folks must find it kinder hard to git real Chris’masy when all they can see out their wiiulers is rows an’ rows o’ stone 
houses all just the same, glitters full o' dirty gray slush, an’ pavements all wet an’ sloppy without even a foot o’ clean 
snow with a rabbit track runnin' across it. Chris’mas ain’t no day to spend indoors, nor to wade in mud when ye go 
out. It's a day to go sleigh-ridin’, or skatin’ on the ice-pond, or zip pm' down Kellogg’s Hill on a big twelve-passenger 
bobsled, with somebody standin’ at the Corners to keep teams from turnin' in sudden from the side road just as ye 
come kitin’ along. Yes, an’ by crickey Chris’mas ain’t the time to wear your bes’ clo’es all day, neither; fer a couple 
o’ hours, anyway, ye want to wear felt boots, an’ a fur cap with ear-muffs, an’ a pea-jacket, an’ a red muffler, an’ 
mittens—good thick woolen mittens with wristlets to 'em. 
—Old Doc Lemmon. 
Tree planting may be 
continued late into the 
fall. Only solid freez¬ 
ing slops it 
To insure fertilization 
of greenhouse tomatoes 
the pollen is trans¬ 
ferred with a brush 
A spade is used to 
lift and divide the root 
clumps of ' various 
perennial flowers 
Chicory is one of the few vegetables which can Bulbs for indoor bloom should be forced in the The general rule is to save the dead leaves tor 
be grown under the greenhouse benches or in dark for at least two weeks before bringing them mulching, etc., but if they must be burned, 
the cellar of the dwelling into the light spread the ashes on the lawn 
