46 
House & Garden 
August THE GARDENER’S CALENDAR Eighth Month 
If lettuce is shaded 
in summer, it will 
not run to seed so 
quickly 
Cuttings of gera¬ 
niums, coleus, etc., 
may be taken this 
month 
Good cucumbers are 
the result of care in 
planting and culti¬ 
vation 
SUNDAY | 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 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. 
Up tne airy 
mountain, 
Down the 
rushy glen. 
We daren't go 
a-hunting 
For fear of lit¬ 
tle men ; 
Wee folk, good 
folk. 
Trooping all 
together ; 
Green jacket, 
red cap. 
And white 
owl's feather ! 
—William 
Ailing ham 
1. You must 
keep the 
ground con¬ 
stantly stirred 
t o retain the 
natural soil 
moisture. This 
will lessen the 
necessity for 
artificial wa¬ 
tering. If you 
must water, 
saturate the 
ground thor¬ 
oughly; then 
cultivate when 
the surface is 
dry. 
2. It is now 
time to go over 
the raspberry 
canes. Those 
that have 
borne fruit this 
season should 
be cut at the 
ground line 
and the young 
shoots tied in 
position. These 
are the fruiting 
canes for next 
season’s crop, 
and the crop 
depends on 
them. 
3. Look over 
the corn care¬ 
fully. By ex¬ 
amining the 
silk, the pres¬ 
ence of the 
corn ear worm 
can be de¬ 
tected. The 
tiny white eggs 
are visible on 
close inspec¬ 
tion. Destroy 
the eggs or 
spray the silk 
with a mixture 
of arsenate of 
lead. 
4. All formal 
evergreens that 
are being con¬ 
fined should be 
clipped. This 
will be the last 
clipping nec¬ 
essary and 
should be at¬ 
tended to now 
so that the 
trees can make 
a slight growth 
•before the 
growing season 
ends. This is 
a beginning for 
next year. 
5. G r a 8 8 
around the 
trunks of trees, 
tennis netting, 
hedges and 
other places 
where it is im¬ 
possible to op¬ 
erate a lawn 
mower should 
be clipped with 
sheep shears. 
This is also a 
good time to 
trim grass bor¬ 
ders. Do your 
bit by keeping 
garden neat. 
6. Onions 
should be rip¬ 
ening now. 
When the tops 
turn yellow, 
pull them out 
and lay them 
on their sides 
for several 
days to dry, af¬ 
ter which the 
tops can be 
twisted off and 
the onions 
stored away 
for future use. 
Store in a dry 
cellar. 
7. The trans¬ 
planting o f 
evergreens is 
seasonable 
now, but 
should not be 
delayed. 
Thorough- 
1 y soaking the 
ground prior to 
moving is ad¬ 
visable, and 
the tree should 
be sprayed for 
several even¬ 
ings after 
transplanting, 
to help start. 
8. Some 
small boards 
placed under 
your musk mel¬ 
ons will enable 
them to ripen 
evenly. Care 
should be 
taken not to 
step on the 
vines. Under 
no circum¬ 
stances pick 
the melons be¬ 
fore they leave 
the vines vol¬ 
untarily. Keep 
this rule. 
9. Two sow¬ 
ings at least of 
peas, spinach 
and radishes 
for fall use 
should be 
made this 
month. If the 
ground is dry, 
soak the trench 
thoroughly be¬ 
fore sowing. 
Keep the 
ground at both 
sides of the 
r o w 8 cul¬ 
tivated and 
free of weeds. 
10. This is 
the time to 
start sow¬ 
ing vege¬ 
tables for win¬ 
ter forcing in 
the green¬ 
house. Toma¬ 
toes sown now 
will be in fruit 
before Christ¬ 
mas, and are 
well worth 
while. Use 
forcing varie¬ 
ties like Don or 
Stirling Castle 
preferably. 
11. Early 
celery should 
be ready for 
use. It is best 
to blanch this 
in usable quan¬ 
tities, as it de¬ 
cays if covered 
for too long a 
period. Paper 
collars or 
boards are best 
suited for this, 
and they are 
easily applied.! 
Trenching i s 
advisable only 
on large places. 
12. Several 
rows of beans 
should be sown 
now, rather 
close together 
t o facilitate 
their pro¬ 
tection from 
frost in the fall 
if that becomes 
necessary. Old 
burlap, wrap¬ 
ping paper and 
other covering 
materials 
should be 
saved for this 
purpose. 
13. Cultiva¬ 
tion should be 
practiced i n 
the strawberry 
bed just as 
faithfully now 
as when the 
plants were 
bearing. 1 f 
there is any 
rust showing 
on the leaves, 
the plants 
should be thor¬ 
oughly sprayed 
with Bordeaux 
mixture o n 
appearance. 
14. The 
greenhouse 
should be over¬ 
hauled and 
made ready for 
vegetable forc¬ 
ing. Any paint¬ 
ing or replac¬ 
ing of glass or 
parts needed 
for the furnace 
or benches 
should be at¬ 
tended to, and 
a compost 
heap prepared. 
Do a little bit 
every day. 
15. Before 
there is any 
danger of de¬ 
structive frost, 
it is advisable 
to get cuttings 
from such 
plants as gera- 
anium, coleus 
and ageratum. 
By using judg¬ 
ment, the place 
from which the 
cuttings came 
will not be no¬ 
ticeable, and 
the garden will 
look nice. 
16. All crops 
such as beets, 
carrots, tur¬ 
nips, rutabag¬ 
as, etc., must 
grow rapidly to 
be of good 
quality. Man¬ 
ure water or 
more concen¬ 
trated plant 
foods are ad¬ 
visable, espe¬ 
cially where 
the ground has 
fur njl.s h e d a 
previous crop, 
and needs food. 
17. White 
butterflies are 
very active at 
this season of 
the year. Late 
plantings o f 
cabbage, cauli¬ 
flower and kale 
should be ex¬ 
amined closely 
for egg masses, 
which may be 
destroyed i n 
small gardens. 
Large plant¬ 
ings may be 
sprayed more 
effectively. 
18. The red 
spider is a ser¬ 
ious factor in 
dry seasons. It 
is very destruc¬ 
tive to all 
kinds of ever¬ 
greens. Spray 
the under side 
of the foliage 
with consider¬ 
able force. This 
Is the best 
means of de¬ 
stroying this 
pest and pre- 
serving the 
foliage. 
19. Water¬ 
melons should 
b e ripening 
now. Do not 
plug the mel¬ 
ons to d e - 
termine their 
ripeness. B y 
selecting the 
largest melons 
and pressing 
slightly on the 
center you can 
easily deter¬ 
mine whether 
or not they are 
ripe and fit to 
pick. 
20. Fruit 
trees should be 
looked over 
carefully for 
attacks of bor¬ 
ers. These 
pests must be 
removed if 
present. If too 
deep to reach 
with a knife, a 
flexible steel 
wire may be in¬ 
serted in the 
openings to de¬ 
stroy the 
grubs before 
they can grow. 
21. This is 
a n excellent 
time to seed 
down lawns. 
The ground 
should be thor¬ 
oughly prepar¬ 
ed and graded 
before sowing. 
Use plenty of 
grass seed. 
Special 
mixtures may 
be had for 
special places 
such as shade, 
terraces, damp 
spots, etc. 
22. Do not 
allow your 
flower garden 
to become 
seedy looking 
and unpempt. 
Flowers that 
have finished 
blooming 
should be 
cleaned up and 
the ground 
kept stirred, as 
most peren¬ 
nials are now 
developing 
their crowns 
for next year. 
23. Pear 
trees are often 
allowed to car¬ 
ry a crop which 
is too heavy for 
the branches to 
support, many 
times resulting 
in injury to the 
trees. A stake 
or two proper¬ 
ly placed as a 
support will 
avert trouble 
of this sort and 
brace the tree 
in case of 
storm. 9 
24. Aspara¬ 
gus beetles are 
very destruc¬ 
tive at this sea¬ 
son. They de¬ 
stroy the bark 
on the growth, 
weakening the 
plants consid¬ 
erably. They 
are easily de- 
stroyed by 
spraying with 
arsenate of 
lead or dusting 
the plants with 
hellebore im¬ 
mediately. 
25. Bulbs for 
fall planting 
should be or¬ 
dered early. 
This gives a 
better selection 
and insures 
getting the 
bulbs in the 
ground early 
where they will 
have an oppor¬ 
tunity to be¬ 
come rooted 
oefore severe 
weather sets 
in and growth 
is checked 
26. Hedges 
should be 
clipped now. 
This will be the 
last clipping 
necessary and 
will prevent 
their looking 
unsightly dur¬ 
ing the fall and 
winter. Grass 
and weeds 
growing 
around the 
base of the 
plants should 
also be re¬ 
moved. 
27. Mildew 
on roses is both 
unsightly and 
injurious t o 
the plants. It 
may be re¬ 
moved by 
spraying with 
potassium sul¬ 
phide, using 
one spoonful to 
a pail of water. 
Watch careful¬ 
ly for the first 
sign of this 
trouble and go 
at it without 
delay. 
28. Lettuce 
and endive for 
fall and early 
winter use 
should be sown 
now. A small 
bed should be 
used for seed- 
i n g purposes 
and the plants 
transplantedto 
it where they 
can be easily 
protected later 
on in the sea¬ 
son. Anticipate 
your table 
wants. 
29. All va¬ 
cant spots in 
the garden 
should be sown 
with rye, red 
clover or other 
cover crops. 
These, when 
plowed under, 
add humus to 
the soil as they 
decay, which is 
the largest fac¬ 
tor in maxi¬ 
mum soil pro¬ 
ductiveness. It 
will help next 
year’s garden. 
30. Why not 
start some per¬ 
ennials now 
from seed for 
the old-fash¬ 
ioned flower 
border. This 
method is inex¬ 
pensive and 
places great 
masses of these 
desirable 
plants within 
the means of 
the flower lov¬ 
er with a lim¬ 
ited appropria¬ 
tion. 
31. Before 
the foliage falls 
it is a good 
practice to 
look over all 
shrubbery bor¬ 
ders to deter¬ 
mine what it is 
necessary t o 
transplant. 
These can be 
marked now 
for moving at 
the proper sea¬ 
son in the fall. 
Also, know ex¬ 
actly where 
they are to go. 
T SEE in the paper the other day where some preacher down to New York has been saying as how 
1 the people there are so doggoned selfish and shallow and immoral that if they don’t watch out 
their town is going to get destroyed, just like Nineveh was. Mebbe the opinion of a country horse 
doctor ain’t worth much, but it looks to me as if a city that comes across the way New York does 
for the Red Cross, Liberty Loan, IV. S. S. and all the other war-time drives and relief campaigns 
can’t be so hopelessly rotten. Of course, I know there's some people so blame narrow that they 
could go through a corn-sheller without getting their shoulders barked, and not even a big war will 
ever widen ’em out and let ’em see any further than their own jobs. But these ain't no times for 
’em to make good American citizens listen to their hide-bound ideas. 
—Old Doc Lemmon 
Instead of pinching 
back bedding plants, 
a sharp sickle can 
be used 
Look over the rasp¬ 
berry bushes and 
cut out the canes 
that have borne 
The dahlia stalks 
should be cut down 
when their bloom is 
over 
The root nodules of 
leguminous plants 
are important in fix¬ 
ing nitrogen 
Use shears for cutting grass close to the 
foundation walls, etc. These ragged edges 
in gardens detract very much from the 
general appearance 
A successful vegetable garden the first year 
after clearing the land can, with careful, 
persistent work, be made as orderly as an 
old one 
Watermelons should 
be ripening now. 
Do not plug them 
to ascertain ripeness 
