HOUSE AND GARDEN 
July, 1915 
shred of the skin and flesh on one side, 
which is sufficient to keep it from wilting. 
If left this way for a week or ten days 
the break will have been calloused over 
and be ready to root in a few days in 
sand and water or in sandy soil. In moist, 
cloudy weather the roots will sometimes 
form in the air. 
In the flower bed, after the plants have 
made a good growth, favorable conditions 
for rooting can quite often be found, and 
large branches can be taken off and rooted 
in the bed in the shade of the plants. 
Large slips of geranium, handled in this 
way, and rooted in July or August, will 
make good, big plants for flowering in¬ 
doors in the early winter. 
The seeds of many plants for winter 
flowering, such as begonias, heliotrope, 
verbenas, snap-dragons, and so forth, may 
be started now. A specially prepared soil 
should be used, the same as for starting 
seeds indoors. Most of the seeds are 
small, and, as they should be barely cov¬ 
ered from sight, it is necessary to have a 
soil that will retain moisture and keep 
damp on the surface. The seed bed or flat, 
if they are used, should be placed in semi- 
shaded position, or a temporary covering 
or shade should be rigged up over the seed 
bed. Water the soil thoroughly before 
sowing and use a fine spray for watering 
afterwards, as the little fine seeds are 
easily washed from their positions. The 
little seedlings should be potted up in 
thumb pots as soon as they are large 
enough, being careful to keep them well 
shaded for several days after this opera¬ 
tion. A five- or ten-cent package of seeds 
will give an abundance of plants for the 
winter garden or for the greenhouse. 
For a Full Crop of Strawberries Next 
June Plant Now 
Lrnder the usual method of procedure, 
a crop of strawberries must be waited for 
a year or a year and a half. A bed set 
out in August will not bear until a month 
from the following June. By using potted 
plants this month or early next month, 
however, with proper methods of culture, 
a full crop can be harvested next June. 
Potted plants may be bought for three to 
five cents apiece. They are easy to set, 
sure to live, and, if properly cared for, 
will give a full-sized crop of perfect fruit 
next spring. These plants are especially 
adapted to what is termed “hill culture,” 
as each one will quickly form a strong 
bushy plant if all runners are kept pinched 
off. The whole strength of the plant 
should be thrown into making a good, 
strong crown to bear next year’s crop. 
Set the plants a foot apart in rows two 
or three feet apart, or two or three rows 
in a “bed” a foot apart, with an alley two 
feet wide between beds. If a ready-mixed 
fertilizer is to be used it should be sown 
in the drill and then thoroughly mixed 
with the soil, either with the hoe or by 
running the wheel-hoe with the cultivator 
teeth along the row. Strawberry plants 
are easily injured by fertilizer used in the 
hill or drill, unless it is thoroughly mixed 
with the soil. A mixture of cotton seed 
or tankage and bone meal is safer than 
ready-mixed fertilizer, and will give the 
plants a good, strong start. A little nitrate 
of soda worked about the plants a week 
or so after planting is also very good. 
Be careful not to get any on the leaves, 
and mix it into the soil about the plants 
at the first hoeing. If the new bed is in 
proximity to an old one, in which rust 
7 ] 
Plants that are kept growing vigorously with an 
abundance of water are much more capable of with¬ 
standing and resisting the attacks of insects and 
diseases 
has appeared, spray with Bordeaux im¬ 
mediately after setting, and every ten days 
or so thereafter until growth ceases in the 
fall. 
Growing Your Own Pot Plants 
If you already have a strawberry bed 
there is still time to pot up plants to set 
out this fall, or to fruit in pots in the 
greenhouses, or for use for an extra early 
crop in the coldframe. A surprisingly 
large number of berries can be grown un¬ 
der a sash or two. Potted plants should 
be started now and set later in a frame 
ten inches or so apart each way. Flave 
the ground rich and give p’enty of water 
to keep the plants in vigorous growth until 
freezing weather. Do not keep the sash 
on late in the fall, but let them freeze up. 
They may then be mulched and covered, to 
prevent freezing as severely as thev would 
in the open. The covering should be re¬ 
moved and the plants started into growth 
under sash early in the spring. The 
method of securing good, strong potted 
plants is simple. A supply of two-and-a- 
half- or three-inch pots, which by the 
hundred should not cost over a cent 
apiece, should be procured. Then spade 
up well between the rows or about plants 
of the varieties you wish to continue to 
use, and sink a pot under each of the new 
plants forming on the first or second run¬ 
ners : those on the later runners will not 
be so strong. The first or second plant on 
the runner should be taken. The runner is 
held in place over the pot by a clothes-pin 
or a small stone, which will serve also to 
mark where the pot is. If a good watering 
can be given or a rain occurs soon after 
the pots are placed, the new plants will 
be ready in three weeks or so. The soil 
in which the plants are growing is usually 
suitable for filling the pots, but if it is 
very poor or dry a prepared soil, moist 
and well enriched, will give better and 
much quicker results. In selecting runners 
from which to root potted plants they 
should be taken only from strong, vigor¬ 
ous plants, preferably from those which 
were marked during the bearing season as 
the best of their respective kinds. Plant 
selection for strawberry propagation is 
particularly successful and immediate in 
results. 
Planting for Fall and Winter 
Supply 
Of the seeds which may be planted at 
this late date the most important are tur¬ 
nips, beans and early beets. The early 
varieties of carrot will generally have time 
to mature if they get a prompt start. All 
these things are much better in quality 
and will keep better if they do not get 
too large before being taken up for stor¬ 
ing. Early Model or Detroit Dark Red 
beets, Petrowski, Golden Ball and White 
Egg turnips are mild in quality and good 
keepers. All of these care for the winter 
supply. There is still time, if planning is 
done promptly, for early peas, lettuce and 
radishes. Golden Bantam and other early 
sweet corn, planted by the 4th, will gen¬ 
erally mature, even north of New York. 
Laxtonian, Blue Bantam, British Wonder 
and Little Marvel peas are all excellent 
varieties for late planting. The heaviest, 
most retentive soil should be used for 
these, and they should be planted deep. 
Deacon, All Seasons, Iceberg and New 
York are good summer lettuces. Big Bos¬ 
ton and Grand Rapids should be planted 
toward the end of the month for a fall 
supply: it may be necessary to water the 
soil before planting and shade lightly to 
get a good stand. Crimson Giant is a 
good, long-lasting radish. 
The great secret of getting a good stand 
from seeds planted in hot, dry weather is 
to firm the seed in the soil. Seed for these 
late sowings should be planted deeper 
than for those in the spring. When 
planted by hand, they should be firmed 
into the bottom of the drill with the sole 
of the foot or the back of a hoe before 
covering them. This insures more mois¬ 
ture being absorbed by the seed to start 
prompt germination, and it gives the 
sprouting tap root of the seed a congenial 
environment. 
