60 
House & Garden 
December THE GARDENER’S CALENDAR Twelfth Month 
Dorothy Flint, a new 
salmon, pink and 
yellow dahlia. From 
J. K. Alexander 
Trenches for the 
outdoor storage of 
root crops should 
be in dry ground 
It is a good plan to 
examine greenhouse 
plants frequently for 
aphis and red spider 
SUNDAY 
j MONDAY 
TUESDAY 
WEDNESDAY 
THURSDAY 
FRIDAY 
SATURDAY 
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 coun¬ 
try 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. 
1. All tender 
evergreens 
that require 
protecting 
should be at¬ 
tended to at 
once. Pine 
boughs, corn- 
stalks an d 
other coarse 
material can 
be used to pre¬ 
vent sun scald. 
Manure mul¬ 
ches are best 
for the soil. 
All the 
various types 
of bulbs for 
winter bloom 
may be forced 
in the green¬ 
house now. It 
is bast 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 
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. 
4. All new 
plantings 
should be heav- 
Uy mulched 
with manure. 
This not only 
serves to pro¬ 
tect the plants 
by reducing 
the penetra¬ 
tion of t h e 
frost, but in¬ 
creases the fer¬ 
tility and pro¬ 
ductiveness of 
the soil as well. 
5. 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. 
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 11 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. 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. 
10. 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. 
11. Frames 
in which semi¬ 
hardy plants 
' are being win- 
tered, or 
frames that 
are used as 
growing me¬ 
diums should 
have some 
kind of cover¬ 
ing. 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- 
nas, gladioli, 
etc. Frost will 
surely destroy 
them, while 
too much heat 
or moisture 
will start them 
into growth be¬ 
fore planting 
time returns. 
13. 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. 
14. 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- 
pil 1 ars and 
other pests. 
15. 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. 
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. 
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, 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. 
19. 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. 
20. 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. 
21. 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. 
22. 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. 
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. 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. 
25. This is 
the time to 
plan and even 
instal some 
sort of irriga¬ 
ting 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. 
26. 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. 
27. The value 
of the land¬ 
scaping de¬ 
partments 
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. 
28. 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. 
29. Vegeta- 
b 1 es 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. 
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. The plant¬ 
ing of decidu¬ 
ous trees and 
shrubs may be 
continued just 
as long as the 
weather per¬ 
mits. Mulch¬ 
ing heavily 
immediately 
after planting 
will prevent 
the penetra¬ 
tion of frost if 
it should come 
soon. 
TJ/A’L, I reckon zee'll be girtin' snowed in ag'in purty soon. > Already they's been a couple o' flurries, 
" scuddin' across the thin black ice on the millpond an' rustlin’ dry-like through the oak leaves on the far 
shore. I'm lookin' any day to see the sky hazin’ up to the north'ard the way she does when a real storm's 
a-comin’. 
City folks seem to think us farmers is cut off from everythin' soon as snow sets in. They don’t Agger 
on our party telyphone lines, an' hozv they keeps us posted on what all the neighbors are doin’ an' sayin'. 
Ye see, it's thisaway: Lem Hawkins he zvants Zeb Cuddeback to pay that note o' his’n, so he rings 
Lem up—three long an’ tzvo short turns o' the crank on the telyphone box. Right azvay all the seven 
other phones on the line rings three long an' tzvo short, an’ seven of us takes down our receivers quiet-like 
to hear what Lem’s a-goin’ to do 'bout it. Er our bells ring one short an' three long, an’ we find out 
what ■ Doc Shinhopple thinks is the matter zvith Mrs. Carberry's newest twins. Er four shorts, an’ we hear 
they’s a nezv set o’ harness down to the railroad station fer Jake Hopper, an’ when’s he goin' to come git it? 
Yep, the party line’s a great thing fer us farmers, ’specially after snow flies. 
—Old Doc Lemmon. 
The new Le Nor- 
mand is golden yel¬ 
low striped scarlet. 
J. K. Alexander 
Winter pruning of 
the fruit trees can 
be done from now 
icntil March 
After the ground 
has frozen, apply a 
mulch of salt hay 
to the strawberries 
Judge and Mrs. Marean at their Connecti¬ 
cut home. Judge Marean’s dahlia garden, 
at the left, is famous for its remarkable 
beauty 
At the American Dahlia Society’s 1921 Show 
in New York Judge Marean’s display at¬ 
tracted much attention. Photo from John 
Scheepers, Inc. 
Winter protection for newly set evergreens 
can sometimes be afforded by board fenc¬ 
ing. Both wind and sun should be guarded 
against 
