Dig a quantity of parsnips and salsify to be stored in the cellar for winter use. Cover the strawberry-bed with leaves or straw, spreading lightly. Coarse litter from the barn-yard is often used for this purpose, but it is objectionable because of its containing so many weed-seeds.
Many experienced gardeners advocate plowing or spading the garden in fall. This, they claim, helps to kill the larvæ which insects have deposited in the soil, and it puts the ground in good working condition earlier in spring. But it will have to be gone over in spring to incorporate with it whatever fertilizer is made use of.
Fresh barn-yard manure should never be used. It ought to lie for at least a season before applying it to the vegetable-garden. Give it a chance to ferment and kill many of the seeds that are in it.
If the soil of the garden contains considerable clay, and is rather stiff in consequence, the application of coarse sand, old mortar, and coal-ashes will lighten and greatly improve it.
Do not allow grass or weeds to grow on any of the unused soil in or about the garden, for insects will congregate there and make it the base from which to make their raids upon the plants you set out to grow.
We are often advised to apply a dressing of salt to the asparagus-bed. I have never been able to see that the plants received any direct benefit from it, but if it is scattered quite thickly over the ground it will prevent weeds from growing, thus benefiting the plants indirectly.
Asparagus is often attacked by a sporadic growth which causes the foliage to look rusty, hence the term, asparagus-rust. As soon as it is discovered, cut the tops and burn them. If allowed to remain the plants will likely be attacked next season, as the spores are not killed by cold.
If the bugs and beetles that attack young plants of cucumber, squash, and melon do not yield promptly to the application of dry road-dust, fine coal-ashes, or land-plaster, it may be well to cover frames with fine wire netting, such as door- and window-screens are made from, and put over the plants. Care should be taken to see that these frames fit the ground snugly, or have earth banked up about them, to prevent the enemy from crawling under. After the plants have made their third or fourth leaves the beetle will not be likely to injure them.
I am often asked why writers on gardening matters never advise the use of home-grown seed. One answer to this query is this: In the ordinary garden plants stand close to one another, and the varieties we grow are almost sure to mix, by one variety being pollenized by another. The seed from these plants will seldom produce plants like either parent variety. Sometimes they may be equal to them in most respects, but we cannot depend on their being so. Therefore, if we desire to grow superior varieties that are of pure blood, it becomes necessary for us to procure fresh seed each season from dealers who take pains to see that there shall be no "mixing" among their plants.