HOUSE AND GARDEN 
September, 1915 
were freshly manured in the spring. If 
the frames are made of wood and are 
getting old, several years of service may 
be added to them by getting a good, 
heavy, stone surface roofing paper, cut¬ 
ting it into strips of the right width and 
nailing it on securely either outside or in. 
In repairing and making tight old sash, 
you will find liquid putty much easier to 
use and more satisfactory in its results 
than the ordinary putty. Instead of cak¬ 
ing hard, it forms a tough skin over the 
surface, the inside remaining plastic, so 
that it does not get cracked and jarred 
off in moving the sash about. Keeping 
the sash thoroughly painted is the best life 
insurance you can provide for them. 
Fall Care of the Lawn 
Another time-saving spring job, which 
can be done as well or better now, is the 
repairing of ragged lawns or even the 
making of new ones. If the lawn made 
last spring has not been wholly success¬ 
ful, or if the summer has proved too much 
for it, the repairs should be made now, 
so that the new plants will have time to 
become thoroughly established before 
freezing weather. Bare spots should be 
gone over thoroughly with a steel rake, 
fertilized and seed sown thickly and 
rolled in. If the weather is dry, water 
copiously until it is well up. A mixture 
of pulverized sheep manure, good garden 
loam or rotted sod, and hydrated lime 
slacked for a week or two and then spread 
on as a top dressing is very effective. To 
a bushel of the loam or sod add about five 
pounds of lime and one to three quarts 
of pulverized manure. The naturally pre¬ 
pared humus, which can now be bought 
by the hundred pounds at a reasonable 
price, is particularly effective for warm 
treatment, as it contains not only the 
plant foods that are needed but also 
serves as a moisture-retaining mulch, 
which is beneficial to either sandy or 
heavy soils. Heavy rolling after sowing 
the seed is one of the most important 
factors in getting a “good stand.” The 
mixture described above can also be used 
for filling in slight depressions or un¬ 
evenness in the lawn surface. 
Doctor Your Trees and Shrubs Now 
Another job which should be attended 
to before the ravages of winter again set 
in is getting your trees and shrubs into 
shape. On even the small place with only 
a few trees, careful search will usually 
reveal a number of cavities or more or 
less decayed spots which should be 
treated. In doctoring old wounds, the 
first thing is to cut away ruthlessly every¬ 
thing until sound wood, both about the 
mouth of the cavity and in its interior, 
has been reached. Then treat the tree 
thoroughly with creosote or special tree 
paint, which is not expensive. When this 
has dried, make a mixture of concrete, 
using one part of cement to two or three 
of sand. Cavities that open on the side 
of a trunk or limb can be filled smooth 
by placing a collar of stiff paper onto them 
and around the trunk or limb to hold the 
concrete in place until dry. Any bark or 
wood on the surface injured during the 
process should be painted over. 
All shrubs should be gone over to be 
cut into symmetrical shape. But those 
which bloom during the early summer 
should not be pruned until just after flow¬ 
ering next year. The others may be cut 
back now as much as desired and old wood 
that has begun to crowd the new growth 
or branches that have become diseased or 
injured should be cut out back to the 
ground. Shrubs growing close together 
in the border will not need as much at¬ 
tention in the way of pruning as individual 
specimens about the house or on the lawn. 
Fall Care of Asparagus, Rhubarb and 
Strawberry Beds 
The yield of plants of asparagus, rhu¬ 
barb and sea-kale will depend almost en¬ 
tirely on the growth made during late 
summer and fall, which store up energy 
in the roots for next year’s early growth. 
If they have not been fertilized during 
the summer, give a good dressing of well- 
rotted manure or chemical fertilizer now, 
working it into the soil thoroughly. The 
asparagus tops should be watched for the 
appearance of the asparagus beetle, which 
can be controlled by spraying with arsenate 
of lead if taken in time. If the tops are 
very badly attacked, or if rust sets in, the 
tops can be mowed off close to the ground 
and burned. Next year, as soon as 
through cutting, keep them thoroughly 
sprayed. A surface mulch of rotted 
manure will be of benefit, especially if the 
season is dry. From now on the straw¬ 
43 
berry bed, either new or old, should be 
kept well cultivated and free of weeds up 
to the very end of the season. Plants 
grown by the “hill” system should be 
watched carefully and all runners cut off 
as soon as they start. Some varieties 
which are very prolific in throwing run¬ 
ners should also be checked as soon as 
they have started enough plants to fill in 
the rows satisfactorily where the “matted” 
row system is used. The plants should 
not stand closer than 6" or more for 
strong-growing varieties. 
Take Part in Your Local Fair or 
Exhbition 
The success of the flower and vegetable 
gardens in your locality depends, to a 
large extent, upon the co-operation of in¬ 
dividual gardeners as well as upon their 
personal efforts. The interest created and 
the value of new ideas and suggestions 
received at your local fair or exhibition 
are garden assets worth while to justify 
any time and trouble you may be put to 
in actively participating in them. Join 
your local society! The small amount of 
money invested will probably be repaid 
several times over in the actual improve¬ 
ment and increase in your flowers or veg¬ 
etables, to say nothing of the other ad¬ 
vantages to be derived. By all means 
plan to exhibit yourself, even if you can 
take but one or two things; and even if 
you feel pretty sure that you cannot cap¬ 
ture a blue ribbon, do the best you can 
this year to make sure of winning some 
another season. Mere size does not al¬ 
ways bring first prize. In selecting vege¬ 
tables, use the specimens which are 
smoothest, most uniform in size and most 
typical of the variety, rather than the 
largest. Attractive appearance always 
helps to impress the judges favorably — 
in fact, in many cases a definite number 
of points is allowed for “attractiveness of 
display.” Trimming with tissue paper, 
foliage or flowers often requires but a few 
minutes’ work and adds very greatly to 
the appearance of an exhibit, but, of 
course, it should not be overdone. In 
staging flowers be sure not to crowd them. 
A few blooms, artistically arranged in a 
holder, can be seen to much greater ad¬ 
vantage than several times that number 
crowded into the same space. 
Exhibit at your local 
fair! This section of 
onions shows how to 
classify and arrange 
them 
