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Show BACK YARD FARMER Interesting Pointers on Gardening Garden-ing for the City Man or Suburbanite. WHAT TO PLANT AND WHEN Advice by an Expert on Agricultural Matters A Back Yard Orchard Tools for the Garden Cold Frame for Fall. By PROF. JOHN WILLARD BOLTE. Why not have an orchard of your own? Why spend your leisure moments mo-ments for the next few weeks, daydreaming day-dreaming of pink and white blooms, and sun kissed peaches, too ripe and luscious to ship, and just good enough for city visitors to eat and eat until their teeth are on edge. Let us see what we can do by way of an orchard in that back lot of yours; There is hardly a back yard in this whole town that would not grow fruit of some kind if handled in the right way. The main thing is to have the desire to grow it and then to find out that highly essential thing, the right way. Of course, what you grow is a matter mat-ter of choice, as there are several kinds of fruit for every set of conditions. condi-tions. If your space is very small, but is well exposed to the sun, you can certainly cer-tainly grow currants and most of the bush berries nicely. Besides beautifying beautify-ing your back yard, they will yield you a crop every year, and will furnish you with an abundance of fresh fruit and delicious jellies and preserves. One nice thing about these low shrubs is that they require very little work, they are inexpensive to plant, and they grow well in practically any soil and climate. They cat. be transplanted transplant-ed successfully at almost any time of year, although the spring or fall are preferable. They come into -bearing quickly and do not have off years as do many of the tree fruits. If you have a rather rich, yet light soil which warms up quickly In the spring, a strawberry patch will give you more keen pleasure and profit than any other patch of ground on the whole place. It should have the warmest warm-est and dryest. sunny spot In the yard. April is the best month to set out a strawberry bed in the north, and care chould bo taken to secure plants from some bed that was set out the previous previ-ous spring. This bed will not have begun to bear yet, and the plants will be strong and insure you of healthy, productive plants for your new bed It is an excellent scheme to have at least one row of grapes. They can well be planted along the west or south El Je of a fence or house, and may be trained to cover the entire fence. When this Is not possible, set up a row of fence posts, string three smooth wires between them, and tie the young grape vines to tho wires In order to keep them off the ground. BesideB their edible virtues, grape vines possess the highest decorative qualities, and should be planted more generall. . if for this reason' only. The Concord is one of the best varieties for Northern states, and if part of them fail to ripen before frost, they can be made into excellent pickles, preserves or home made wine. In the tree fruits, nothing is more popular than tbx sour red cherry. It Is hardy, prolific, subject to few pests and it makes the best pies In America. Ameri-ca. All one has to do is to plant the young tree and let nature take her course. You will find the fruit a great treat. Peaches, plums and apples can all be gro.n successfully, and the last two are almost independent of climatic cli-matic conditions, but peaches are not o universally successful in the north. Pears do excellently under proper treatment, and magnificent pears can be grown by following the English fashion of training a pear tree flat against the south side of a brick wall, where it receives the reflected as well aB the direct heat of the sun's rayB. |
