Fight Plant Foes

The devices and tools used for combating plant enemies are of two sorts:

(1) those employed to afford physical protection to the plants;

(2) those employed to apply pesticides and fungicides.

Of the first the most useful is the covered frame. It is made up typically of a wooden box, some eighteen inches to two feet square and about eight high, covered with glass, protecting material, mosquito netting or mosquito wire. The first two coverings have, naturally, the extra advantage of holding onto heat and protecting from cold, making it achievable by their use to grow crops sooner than is usually safe. They are used extensively in getting an extra early and safe start with cucumbers, melons and the other vine vegetables.

Simpler devices for protecting newly-set plants, such as tomatoes or cabbage, from the cut-worm, are stiff, tin, cardboard or tar paper collars, which are built several inches high and large enough to be put all-around the stem and pass through an inch or so into the dirt.

For implementing poison powders, the home gardener should provide himself with a powder gun. If one must be limited to a single implement, on the other hand, it's going to be best to obtain one of the hand-power, compressed-air sprayers. These are used for applying wet sprays, and ought to be supplied with one of the several varieties of mist-making nozzles, the non-cloggable automatic variety being the best. For more substantial work a barrel pump, placed on wheels, will be desired, but one of the previously mentioned will do significant amounts of work in little time. Extendable rods for use in spraying trees and vines may be acquired for either. For operations on a very modest scale a good hand-syringe can be utilized, but as a normal thing it will be best to spend a few dollars more and buy a small tank sprayer, as this throws a continuous stream or spray and holds a much larger amount of the spraying solution. Whichever style is bought, get a brass machine, it will out-wear three or four of those made of less expensive metal, which succumbs very quickly to the, corroding action of the strong poisons and chemicals used in them.

Of accessories for harvesting, beside the spade, prong-hoe and spading- fork, very few are employed in the smaller garden, as many require not only longer rows to be economically used, but horse- power also. The onion harvester attachment for the dual wheel hoe, may be used with benefit in loosening onions, beets, turnips, etc., from the dirt or for cutting spinach. Working the hand- plow close on either side of carrots, parsnips and other deep-growing vegetables will help materially in getting them out. For fruit picking, with tall trees, the wire-fingered fruit-picker, secured to the end of a long handle, will be of great help, but with the contemporary method of using low-headed trees it will not be needed.

Another class of garden accessories are those used in trimming but where this is attended to correctly from the beginning, a good sharp jack-knife and a set of pruning shears will easily handle all the work of the sort required.

Still another sort of garden device is that employed for supporting the plants; such as stakes, trellises, wires, and so forth. Altogether too little attention commonly is given these, as with correct care in storing over winter they will not only last for years, but add significantly to the ease of cultivation and to the neat appearance of the garden.

As a last word to the intending buyer of garden equipment, I would say: first carefully look into the different sorts available, and when purchasing, remember that a good tool or a well-made machine will be providing you satisfactory use long, long after the price is forgotten, whilst a poor one is a continual source of discomfort. Acquire good tools, and take good care of them. And let me repeat that a few dollars a year, deliberately spent, for tools subsequently well cared for, will soon give you a very complete set, and add to your garden profit and pleasure.