Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1914-06-20

is becoming frightfully dry. / cultivated
my patch this week, and in doing it
raised almost as much dust as an auto
mobile on the very busiest OF roads.
of scheme of irrigation would pay
farmers in the neighborhood of Wash
~ }}}}| us:
" %rWS
She ought to have NO trouble selling II.
ington. Almost every season, am told.
there are periods when q supply Of water
would mean a great many additional
dollars. No costly works would be justi-
fled, 1 suppose. but I am going to try
and devise some inexpensive scheme Of
pumping water from the creek and stor-
ing 1t for use in my garden when the
dry spells come along.
II don't grow cantaloupes this year 1t
will be because the tell how books are
fiction instead of fact When 1 had
manure hauled in the spring I saved
about half wagon load and piled 1t up
to rot. 1t was saved for cantaloupes.
scattering double handful Of CONNER
cial fertilizer and about gallon of wood
ashes on the ground for each. hoed
this into the soil, making each hill about
three feet in diameter. and I kept on
hoeing until the soil to depth Of five
or six inches was almost as fine as pow
der. Then. with the hoe, I scraped this
pulverfzed soil out to one side. Still
using the hoe, I dug up the dirt at the
bottom of the hole as far down as 1
could get. Then, into the bottom of the
hole put half bushel or more of the
rotten manure, pulled the fine soil In on
top Of It, feveled It off and planted my
seed. At the side of each hill sunk
tin can, In the bottom Of which had
punched holes and throughout the sea-
son, in dry weather, I'll fill the cans at
least once a day with liquid manure, ir-
rigating and fertilizing the plants at the
same time.
cantaloupes as a Hobby.
I like cantaloupes, good ones, little
jri
grows. and if I can grow them success
fully in my garden I will deem it
triumph. As business proposition, of
course. no one could afford to do as
much work on cantaloupes as I am
doing. but every man is entitled to have
at least one hobby, and I think can
taloupes will be mine. Tomatoes, how
ever, are likely to run them a close
second. I have about three dozen plants
For each plant have set a strong
stake, to which I shall tie the main
branch and one other, pruning off all
the side stems have read great
De had In that way, and l am interested
to see II 1 grow as perfect fruit as
others claim to do My plants are al
ready in bloom, and the work of prun-
ing and tying up is under way. They
have to be gone over once a week in
order to keep the side shoots from get
ting too much Of start. One of the
side shoots starts out from the parent
should be pinched Off almost as soon
as they appear. The beginner has to
De careful not to pinch Off the fruit
branches, but he soon learns to dis
tinguish. The fruit branch starts out
from the parent stem in the space be-
tween leaves, while the side shoot has
its beginning in the angle formed by
the parent stem and the leaf. These
side stems also would put out fruit
branches and bear tomatoes, and it
would seem that pruning them off would
greatly reduce the crop. But authorities
claim that the size and quality of the
fruit remaining more than make up for
the loss in numbers.
James home canning outfit has ar
rived rived and she has it going full blast.
Melissa, our long-legged and shamble-
gated maid. does all the homework ex-
cept cooking, and Jane is putting I'D
dozens and dozens of glass Jars of pre-
serves and jellies. She hasn't found
customer for them yet. and doesn't in
tend to try. she says. until the canning
season is over. If her output is as
good as 1t looks. she ought to have no
trouble selling It, There was an enor-
nous crop Of cherries on our trees. and
she put up all of these except a few
used for pies. Not only has she pre-
served most of our own Strawberries. but
Jim and Ned have been picking berries
for neighbors on shares. getting one
4NAA o1S "a edSA Nv luSy kAShS0s anu
Jane has paid them cents quart for
all they brought her.
Plenty Of Fruit in Sight.
The boys have made arrangements also
to pick red raspberries on shares, and
the country is.full Of blackberries which
may be had for the picking. Our dam
son and pear trees are well loaded with
fruit, and there promises to be a fair
crop of gooseberries and currants. Later
Tiara f,lISfels Of