Evening star., 1945-06-16
This and That
By Charles E. Trace1UeU.
JACKSON STREET NE
Dear Sir:

Dear Sir:
i nave just come in from the garden
with my fingers cold and stiff from
"eeolng. incidentally, wedding is quite
performance in my garden. Garden
dld l say? Well. let it 60 at that.
Inc performance is somewhat like
this: l determine upon the weed to be
removed. which removal is done with
PICK and spade. Up comes the weed
and with 1t an irregular slab of clay,
cutting off the weed with hedge
shears, tote the slab to a certain SPOT
"hefe l nave started path and there
deposit 1t among others to form a walk,
equal. think to any cement walk ever
made
The irregularity of the slabs gives
very artistic result. There are no in
terstlces for, eventually, heavy rains
blend the slabs.
But this Is not what started to say.
While wedding I picked up a mulberry
from tree not 25 feet away from INV
Montmorency cherry tree.
Immediately there popped into nv
mead a statement made in one of yo,lr
recent articles, namely, that mulberry
trees attract birds away from other
fruit trees.
II this be true, then my cherry tree
is the exception that proves the rule.
saw something the other day which
something I know not whether it comes
under aeronautics or physics. But this
is WhaC l saw: A half-grown blue iav
unable to get into flight from a heavy
string stretched between two sticks,
Yours, j. S. B."
**+
This correspondent should not worry
about clay
Clay is one of our best soils. It needs
Tightening, as the phrase is, but once
you get it ameloriated, 1t will grow
almost anything we'll
Roses and gladiolus, for instance. find
clay soil as fine as there is.
over Georgetown way the folks have
splendid roses, and it is due mainly to
the good clay soil. Often when this clay
is first dug 1t seems nothing but sort
Of cement
Few things. of course, will do well In
such sticky soil unless sand or ashes
or what is called "rich soil" Is mixed
with it.
This Tightening makes the clay do
things. There is room for air and water
to enter, and the elements in the clay
and any fertilizer put on, are held in
There is that in good clay which
makes for good growth. No one ought
to look down on clay. 1t is good soil
when properly handled, but it does take
some handling.
AS for mulnerries keeping birds off
cherries, well, that depends upon how
many mulberries you have in comparison
with the cherry trees.
Agriculture advice is full of such
statements, all on good authority and
experience, but it must be admitted
that circumstances alter cases. Or
dinarily all mulberries are cleaned of
first Across the street is a mulberry
which never was allowed to show what
1t was until the 17-year locusts came
along. That year the birds were so busy
eating the cicadas that the mulberries
were not touched.
The solution to birds cleaning up ones
cherries is to get more mulberry trees.
Squirrels, too, eat cherries. and often
take just one bite out of each one.
We have always sympathized with
persons who say that squirrels are mis-
chievous. They are, but in our own case
they furnish so much amusement that
it is easy to overlook their depredations
There is no doubt that squirrels often
take single bite out of several apples,
just as if they were doing it for spite
Perhaps the young jay instanced
found the string between two sticks too
loose for his take off. If it had been
taut, he would have had no trouble.
Young birds find such matters difficult,
whereas the older birds take them in
| their stride,