Evening star., 1915-09-12
All Around the Place.

These are the days in which to mako
preparations for the fall and winter
to do all the little odd jobs of repair
work on lawns. walks. bitches and the
like; to get the berry vines and the
fruit trees in shape and to have every
thing in readiness to Withstand tho
rigors of winter and be in good condi-
tion to go right ahead when spring
comes. The forehanded man who takes
full advantage of the fine weather of
September and October to put the place
in the best possible condition is the
man whose place always presents the
best appearance and who is not obliged
to work himself to death in the spring
and early summer doing the work that
should have been done several months
earlier.
If directions given in this column
early last summer were followed. and
all of the raspberry and blackberry
canes which fruited were marked with
pieces of raffia. the work of thinning
and cutting out will be much simpli-
fled. Canes that bore fruit the past sea-
son are done and will yield no more.
They should all be cut out. to give the
new canes-neNt seasons producing
stock-a chance to grow. Likewise, all
canes that have been broken in any
way or that made a poor and feeble
growth during the summer. should he
removed. Such canes will bear little it
any. fruit and may develop disease that
will spread to the healthier and stur-
dier ones that otherwise might be de-
pended on for plenty of berries next
year.
As the fruit trees drop their leaves
and the limbs and branches are ex-
posed use the pruning shears. This is
| the time when the trees are becoming
exposed so that their shape and con-
t..,,y
sired form of the trees clearly in mind.
cut away the extra wood. making the
trees conform to the desired shapes.
Cover all wounds and cut pIa- with
tar or pitch or with a good trade OF
roofing paint to prevent the attacks of
fungus diseases - rots of various kinds
that otherwise might find points Of
ingress.
Be careful to burn all material cut
away from fruit and shade trees and
from the berry plantations. Such ma
terial. if left lying around. often breeds
various diseases which are borne from
the heaps to the trees or the berry
patches by birds. and only by burning
the limbs. branches and canes removed
in the pruning process can this danger
be avoided.
Do not neglect the frequent cutting
of weeds wherever they may happen to
spring up. Late summer and fall weeds
tered all over the place by the winter
winds. and such sowings produce the
weeds that give every careful farmer
and gardener so much work every
spring and summer.
Many amateur gardeners are trou-
bled each fall with the problem of how
to store and care for excess crops of
cabbages, turnips, sweet potatoes
white potatoes. carrots, beets and the
like during the winter. The Depart
ment of Agriculture has prepared and
published a number of bulletins show
ing how such crops may be taken care
of during the winter, and these hu,-
letins may be had for the asking. The
methods shown and described in these
bulletins include the preparation of pits
in the garden itself: the making of out
of-door root cellars: proper methods
of sorting and storing the various root
crops in the cellar or basement. and all
the details the average city man pre-
pairing for his first winter in the coun-
try wants to learn.