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H/8/1944-1-

The Highlands - August 1944

It was midsummer when the Horticultural Society
last met, the time for the season's garden
failures to stare us in the face, the time to enjoy
successful fruiting and vegetable-gathering, the
time to carry out plans for the fall garden.

New aids to man "in his age old battle against
plant insects and diseases" were described in an
article read by Mariana S. Miller. The famous,
synthetic DDT which will be available after the war
spells sure death to pests of all sorts, ranging
from the house fly to the corn borer. Other
weapons in the seemingly unequal fight, were listed:
Dithane is a long-protective fungicide; if the soil
around a plant is wet with dithane, the plant becomes
poisonous to insects, a new principle in insecticides.
Fermate and Spergon hold out hope for seeds and
trees. The aerosol method of creating a fog-like
spray means the future use of smaller and lighter
equipment. Experimentation along many lines leads
us to expect certain benefits.

Emma Stabler introduced a discussion of
poison ivy spraying with ammonium sulphamate, which
has been tried by William Moore and Mrs. Hill.

The need for the fall garden brings up
problems arising from drought conditions. Mrs.
Emmeline Hill's selected article advised cheesecloth
or lathe shades for summer seedlings. or at least
shade somehow for the outdoor seed bed. Some of
the more thorough of our gardeners have used lattice
shades; some have used boards laid along a seed row
to conserve moisture, placing the boards at each
side of the row when sprouting occurs.

Brussel sprouts stand quite a bit of frost,
Mrs. Hill read, - as does kale; looseleafed lettuce,
beets, spinach, are all short-season crops.

Bordeaux mixture, don't forget, deters fungus
and fall insects.

The Forethought notes written by Elza Thomas
and read by Helen Hallowell were extremely good.
Let's give away what flowersand vegetables we can't
use. How many carry a pailof water with them when
outting flowers? Use early varities for that late