56 
House & Garden 
December 
THE GARDENER’S CALENDAR 
Twelfth Month 
SUNDAY 
MONDAY 
TUESDAY 
Paper white narcissi 
can be brought into 
bloom ij planted in 
pebbles and water 
After the bulbs are 
set in the pebbles, 
the bowl is nearly 
filled with water 
Put the bowls in the 
dark for several 
weeks to promote 
root growth 
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 
m performing garden operations. The dates 
I given are, of course, for an average season. 
5. Low spots 
I in walks and 
I drives that are 
I invariably wet 
should be 
I raised to shed 
I water; or if 
I the earth is 
I taken out and 
J the roadbed 
I idled with cin- 
Iders it will 
I help to make 
1 them dry and 
I passable in 
I bad weather. 
12. Frames 
I in which semi- 
I hardy plants 
laie being win- 
tered, or 
I frames that 
I are used as 
I growing me- 
I diums, should 
I ha v e some 
I kind of cover- 
] ing. Loose 
I hay may be 
I used, but the 
I best covering 
I is jute mats. 
19. At this 
I season of the 
I year it is nec¬ 
essary to fer- 
tilize indoor 
cucumbers and 
I tomatoes to 
assure fruit. 
Collect the 
Ipo 11en in a 
I spoon and dis- 
ti ibute it to 
I the other blos¬ 
soms with a 
camel’s-hair 
brush. 
26. The value 
of the land- 
I scaping de- 
pa r t m e n t s 
I maintained by 
the big nur- 
s 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. 
6. 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. 
13. 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. 
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. 
7. A11 the 
garden tools 
and imple¬ 
ments should 
be thoroughly 
cleaned, coated 
with a cheap 
oil and put 
away lor the 
winter. Those 
that are in 
need of repair 
should be at¬ 
tended to now 
while outdoor 
work is slack. 
WEDNESDAY 
1. All the 
various types 
of bulbs for 
winter bloom 
may be forced 
in the green 
house now. 
is best to bring 
the bulbs into 
the heat i 
small quanti 
ties so as to 
keep a contin 
uous supply 
of blossoms 
coming along 
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. 
21. Ferns, 
palms and 
other house 
plants should 
be top-dressed 
occasionally 
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. 
8. 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. 
15. 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 
m oderately 
moist. 
22. Melon 
frames, tomato 
trellises, gar¬ 
den seats and 
other wooden 
garden mate- 
lial should be 
painted. Use 
good paint, 
and where nec¬ 
essary apply 
two coats. This 
is considerably 
cheaper than 
constant re¬ 
newals. 
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 
s‘em from he 
ground to a 
height of 15 
inches is suffi¬ 
cient. 
28. 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 
considerabl e 
damage to the 
rest. 
29. 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. 
THURSDAY 
2. All tender 
evergreens 
that require 
protecting 
should be at¬ 
tended to at 
once. Pine 
boughs, corn 
stalk s an d 
other coarse 
material can 
be used to pi e- 
ventsun scald 
Manure mul¬ 
ches are best 
for the soil. 
FRIDAY 
9. 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. 
16. 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 
stai ted under 
the benches. 
23. 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. 
30. The plant¬ 
ing of decidu¬ 
ous trees and 
shrubs may be 
continued just 
as long as the 
weather per¬ 
mits. Mulch¬ 
ing heavily 
immediatel y 
after planting 
will prevent 
the penetra¬ 
tion’ of frost if 
it should come 
soon. 
3. 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. 
SATURDAY 
lO.Grapecanes 
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. 
4. Hyacinths,, 
Chinese sacred 
lilies, paper- I 
white, narcis- I 
sus Soleil d’Or, 
etc., may now 
be forced in 
bowls of water | 
for the house. 
Place the 
bulbs in the! 
cellar fori 
about two 
weeks after! 
planting so as 
to form roots, f 
17. 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. 
24. 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. 
31. Mush¬ 
rooms may be 
grown in any 
ordinary cel¬ 
lar; the im¬ 
portant point 
s 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. 
11. Look over I 
the tender! 
bulbs that are I 
stored for the I 
winter, such as I 
dahlias, can- 
nas, gladioli, 
etc. Frost will I 
surely destroy 
them, whilel 
too much heat [ 
or moisture 
will start them I 
into growth be- f 
fore planting 
time returns. 
18. Necta-I 
rines, peaches | 
and grapes 
which are! 
forced under I 
glass should be I 
pruned and 
cleaned by [ 
washing them 
with strongl 
insecticides. I 
Remove some I 
of the top soil I 
afterward and I 
replace it with | 
fresh earth. 
25. This is I 
the time to I 
plan and even I 
instal some 
sort of irriga- I 
ting system in | 
your garden. 
Don’t wait un¬ 
til summer for I 
dry weather is I 
just as sure as I 
taxes and you I 
had best be I 
i eady for 111 
well in advance | 
of its arrival. 
From out the I 
while and f 
pulsing I 
storm 
I hear the I 
snowbirds [ 
calling; 
The sheeted I 
winds stalk | 
o'er the hills, 
And fast the l 
snow is fall- I 
ing. 
—John 
Burroughs. 
W wouldn’t be, though ~if ’twarn’ifor "my ^uck-mw'aJ^tfr'b 9 ’ PUrt / ”7' as , chi PP er ever. Reckon 1 
keep my blood a-movin’. them thi*,J° 7.. 7. a ! 1 , stack P. 1 .cordwood out thar by the woodshed. They 
)l’ saiv an* chaw 
... how the Kaiser 
turn’s mighty~diff’renLthough^'’caus'e’my wo'Xile thouahlfre t 
To hear sonic folks talk ye’d think thar ain’t no fuTi^cuttin^Lo^n^tr l us n .’ nus , be kinder onwelcome. 
done it. Thar s the voice o’ the saw fer one thina— P mood, but I collate they ain’t never really 
an then low an’ soft as ye full ’em back. The smell o’\he Lol, straighten yer arms out, 
birch an’ hick’ry; an’ I never git tired o’ seein’ the little n l nce ’, to °- 'specially from the 
tenth ev ry down stroke. Ye saw an' 'rest, faw an’ rest fir In'hour k m J s 0, 'f 0 the c,lt 
yer coat an mittens og’m an’ feel like all the snow an’ cold Old MaS U/i V h u ye glt - t lrou S h ^ Put on 
fer nothin ag m that cracklin’ blase ye’re gain’ to hfve in the bif ZiZ’^m^ePlZ. * 0 '* 0 ™’ *° C0UHt 
—Old Doc Lemmon. 
Cornstalks make an 
excellent winter pro¬ 
lection for tall grow¬ 
ing tender things 
Celery stored in an 
outdoor trench cov¬ 
ered with leaves will 
keep for winter 
Bring the bulbs into 
the light only after 
their roots are well 
developed 
For the perennial bed or tender shrubbery border dead 
leaves inside a netting inclosure are a good winter pro¬ 
tection. Apply them after the ground has frozen 
A week or two in the 
sunlight will bring out 
the narcissi blossoms 
A mulch of well rotted manure will serve the double 
purpose of enriching the soil and preventing the de¬ 
structive alternate freezing and thawing of winter 
