Chapter L: H. Bailey (9)

SYRINGING plants with water has two general offices: to clean the plants of pests or of dirt; to check evaporation or transpiration from the plant itself.

Gardeners look upon water as a good insecticide. That is, if it can be thrown upon the plants somewhat forcibly by means of a syringe or pump, or by the hydrant hose, it will wash off the insects and drown many of them. The water should be applied in a fine and somewhat forcible spray. Care should be taken that the plant is not torn or bruised. The red spider is one of the most serious pests on house plants, and, in a dry season, on plants about the lawn. It thrives in a dry atmosphere. It usually lives on the under sides of the leaves. Syringing the plants frequently will destroy the pests. The thrips and slugs on rose bushes can nearly always be kept in check if one can spray or syringe his plants frequently. See _Spraying_.

Syringing to check transpiration from the foliage is very useful with plants which are recently transplanted. For instance, when carnations are taken from the field and placed in the house, it is well to syringe them occasionally until they have become established. The same is true with cuttings.

In Syringing plants, it is well to take care that the ground does not become too wet; otherwise the plant may suffer at its root. In the house, plants should rarely be syringed except when the weather is bright, so that they may soon dry off. The plant should not go into the night with wet foliage. Out of doors in hot weather, it is best to syringe toward nightfall. The foliage will ordinarily not suffer in such cases. With plants in the house, it is necessary to keep the leaves dry most of the time in order that fungi may not breed. This is true of carnations, which are very liable to attacks of the rust.

Plants are sometimes syringed or sprayed to protect them from frost. See _Frost_.

TERRACES may be desirable for two reasons: to hold a very steep slope; to afford an architectural base for a building.

It is rarely necessary to make a distinct Terrace in the lawn. Even if the lawn is very steep, it may be better to make a gradual slope than to cut the place in two with a Terrace. A Terrace makes a place look smaller. It is always difficult to make and to keep in repair. The surface is not readily cut with a lawn mower. Unless the sod is very dense, the upper corner tends to wash off with the rains and the foot tends to fill in. Nature does not have straight banks unless they are rock. The illustration in the margin shows how it is possible to treat a sloping lawn. In the distance is a distinct, sharp-angled Terrace; but in the foreground this Terrace has been carried out into the lawn, so that the slope is an agreeable one.

If it is necessary to Terrace a yard in order to hold it, the Terrace would better be at one side rather than in the middle. In that case, one is able to secure a good breadth of lawn. If the Terrace is at the outer side next the street, a perpendicular, mason-work, retaining wall may be constructed. If it is on the inner side of the lawn, it may be placed close to the building and be made to appear as a part of the architecture: it may be made the base of the building. If this is done, there should be a balustrade around the edge of the Terrace to give it architectural feeling. The descent from the Terrace to the lawn may be made by means of steps, so as to add to the architectural aspect of the place. Terraces are most in place about buildings which have many strong horizontal lines; they do not lend themselves so well to buildings in the Gothic style. The general tendency is to make too many Terraces. The cases are relatively few in which they may not be dispensed with.

THINNING of fruit has four general uses: to cause the remaining fruit to grow larger; to increase the chances of annual crops; to save the vitality of the tree; to enable one to combat insects and diseases by destroying the injured fruit.

The Thinning of fruit is nearly always done soon after the fruit is thoroughly set. It is then possible to determine which of the fruits are likely to persist. Peaches are usually Thinned when they are the size of one's thumb. If Thinned before this time, they are so small that it is difficult to pick them off; and it is not so easy to see the work of the curculio and thereby to select the injured fruits. Similar remarks will apply to other fruits. The general tendency is, even with those who Thin their fruits, not to Thin enough. It is usually safer to take off what would seem to be too many than not to take off enough. The remaining specimens are better. Varieties which tend to overbear profit very greatly by Thinning. This is notably the case with many Japanese plums, which, if not Thinned, are very inferior.

Thinning may also be accomplished by pruning. If one knows where the fruit buds are, cutting them off will have the effect of removing the fruit. In the case of tender fruits, like peaches, however, it may not be advisable to Thin very heavily by means of pruning, since the fruit may be still further Thinned by the remaining days of winter, by late spring frost, or by the leaf-curl or other disease. However, the proper pruning of a peach tree in winter is, in part, a Thinning of the fruit. The peach is borne on the wood of the previous season's growth. The best fruits are to be expected on the strongest and heaviest growth. It is the practice of peach-growers to remove all the weak and immature wood from the inside of the tree. This has the effect of Thinning out the inferior fruit and allowing the energy of the tree to be expended on the remainder. Apples are rarely Thinned; but in many cases, Thinning can be done with profit. On all home grounds, fruits should be Thinned whenever the trees are very full. In general, the best time to thin the fruit, as already said, is when the fruits have become large enough to be seen and handled. The discarded fruits should be burned if they contain insects or fungi.

THUNBERGIA. Tender climbers, making very pretty low screens. They are at their best when grown along the ground where the moisture keeps them free from the attacks of red spider. Some of the kinds are very fine vase or basket plants. All may be grown easily from seed. Annuals, 4 to 6 feet. Flowers white and yellow.

TILLAGE. By Tillage is meant the stirring of the soil. Tillage is the fundamental operation in agricultural practice. Most farmers till for three reasons: to get the seed into the land; to keep the weeds down; and to get the crop out of the land. The real reason for Tillage, however, is to ameliorate the land; that is, Tillage makes the soil mellow and fine, and an agreeable place in which plants may grow. It enables the soil to hold moisture, to present the greatest feeding surface to roots, to allow the circulation of air, and intensifies many chemical activities. Tilling the soil is the first means of making it productive. If one understands the many forces that are set at work, the Tilling of the soil becomes one of the most interesting and exciting of all agricultural operations.

The exact method of Tilling the soil in any particular case must be determined by many circumstances. Light soils are handled differently from heavy soils; and much depends also upon the season of the year in which the Tillage is done. In all ordinary soils, the effort should be made to work them deep, so that there is a deep reservoir for the storage of moisture and a large area in which roots can work. Subsequent Tillage throughout the growing season is performed very largely for the purpose of keeping the top of the soil loose and fine so that the moisture from beneath cannot pass off into the atmosphere. This loose layer of soil, extending two or three inches from the surface, may itself be very dry; but it breaks up the capillary connection between the lower soil and the air, and thereby prevents evaporation. This surface layer of loose, mellow soil is often spoken of as the earth-mulch. It answers much the same purpose as a mulch of straw or leaves in interposing a material between the moist soil and the air through which the moisture cannot rise. If this mulch is repaired as often as it should be, weeds cannot grow; but the object of the Tilling is more to make and maintain the mulch than to destroy weeds. The surface should be Tilled shallow in the growing season as often as it tends to become compact or encrusted. This will be after every rain, and usually as often as once in ten days when there is no rain. The tools to be used for this surface Tillage are those which will comminute or fine the soil most completely without compacting it or leaving it in ridges or in furrows. In garden work, a fine rake is the ideal thing; whereas in field work, some of the wire-tooth weeders or smoothing harrows are excellent. In fields which are hard and lumpy, however, it will be necessary to use heavier and rougher tools.

In order to break down hard clay soils, one must exercise great care not to work them when they are wet; and also not to work them very much when they are dry. There is a time, shortly after a rain, when clay lumps will break to pieces with a very slight blow. At this time it is well to go over them with a harrow or a rake. After the next rain, they can be gone over again, and before the end of the season the soil should be in fine condition. An excellent way of breaking down clay land is to plow or spade it in the fall and allow it to weather in the winter. In such cases the land should not be raked or harrowed, but allowed to lie rough and loose. Very hard clay lands sometimes run together or cement if handled in this way, but this will not occur if the land has stubble or sod or a dressing of manure, for the fibrous matter will then prevent it from puddling. Lime sown on clay land at the rate of twenty to forty bushels to the acre also has a distinct effect in pulverizing it. This may be sown in fall, or preferably in spring when the land is plowed.

One of the most important ways of ameliorating land is to work vegetable matter into it so as to give it humus. Soils which are loose, black and friable contain much of this vegetable mold. In many cases the chief value of stable manure is to add this humus to the soil. Many soils need humus more than they need plant-food, and hence stable manure gives better results in those cases than commercial fertilizers. The farmer secures the humus by plowing under stubble and sod, and occasional green crops.

TOMATO. The early fruits are very easily grown by starting the plants in a greenhouse, hotbed or in shallow boxes placed in windows. A pinch of seed sown in March will give all the early plants a large family can use. When the plants have reached the height of two or three inches they should be transplanted into 3-inch flower pots, old berry boxes or other receptacles, and allowed to grow slow and stocky until time to set them out, which is from May 15 on (in New York). They should be set in rows four or five feet apart, the plants being the same distance in the rows. Some support should be given to keep the fruits off the ground and to hasten the ripening. A trellis of chicken-wire makes an excellent support, as does the light lath fencing that may be bought or made at home. Stout stakes, with wire strung the length of the rows, afford an excellent support. A very showy method is that of a frame made like an inverted V, which allows the fruits to hang free; with a little attention to trimming, the light reaches the fruits and ripens them perfectly. This support is made by leaning together two lath frames. The late fruits may be picked green and ripened on a shelf in the sun; or they will ripen if placed in a drawer.

One ounce of seed will be enough for from twelve to fifteen hundred plants. A little fertilizer in the hill will start the plants off quickly. The rot is less serious when the vines are kept off the ground and the rampant suckers are cut out.

TOOLS of many kinds, and well chosen, are one of the joys of a garden. There is great satisfaction in a well-made, clean tool which does its work well. Keep the tools bright. They should be under cover, and in place, when not in use. A cupboard may be built by the rear porch, or in the barn or carriage house. See that the cupboard is in a dry place. Various Tools have been mentioned in the preceding pages, and other useful kinds are shown in the article on _Weeds_.

TRANSPLANTING. This operation the gardener calls in one instance "pricking out." This means taking young seedling plants from the seed box as soon as they are large enough to be handled--usually when the first "rough" leaves have developed--and replanting them in other boxes or pots, either singly or at a greater distance apart than they were when in the seed boxes. The term is used in the operation of setting out plants from the hotbed, frame or house to the garden; also in removing shrubs or trees. Transplant on a cloudy day, and just before a rain, if possible.

TRIMMING is a term which is ordinarily confounded with pruning (which see). The word "Trimming," however, should be restricted to the shaping of the trees and not to the thinning of the tree or to pruning for wood, fruit or other special object. Trimming is only one of the means of pruning. Trimming is mostly used in the case of hedges. It is also used to keep evergreens in shape. Many ornamental plants are also Trimmed into various forms, although it is a question if such Trimming is usually wise. Fruit trees should be pruned, as a rule, rather than Trimmed: that is, they usually should be allowed to take their natural form, the pruner taking out the superfluous wood and keeping them within manageable bounds.

TROPAEOLUM. See _Nasturtium_.

TUBEROSE. The Tuberose requires more heat to grow to perfection than it is usually possible to give here in the North. If planted in the border they will not start into growth until the ground has become thoroughly warm--usually after the middle of June,--making the season before frost too short for their perfect growth and flower. However, if started in loose soil or moss in a warm room or on benches of a greenhouse, the roots will soon start from the tuber and make a fine growth. If planted out in June with a good ball of roots they are likely to bloom before frost. If any danger of frost is feared they may be lifted into pots or boxes and taken into the house, when they will bloom without a check. As with other bulbs, a sandy soil will suit.

TUBEROUS BEGONIA. A large bed of these covered with crimson, pink, white, or yellow flowers, ranging from 2 to 4 and even 6 inches in diameter, some double, some single, is a striking sight. Yet such a sight is not uncommon about the large eastern cities where the Tuberous Begonia is now used somewhat for bedding.

Our interior summers are more trying, and so far, few in the west have succeeded so well with the Tuberous Begonia as a bedding plant. It makes a fine summer-blooming pot-plant, however, for the greenhouse or window, and with due attention to its requirements, it may be used as a bedding plant. It properly falls under greenhouse plants in its requirements.