96 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



If there is grafting to be done, noAV is the time to do it. The 

 time generally selected to graft the vine is early in the spring before 

 the vine starts. This early grafting is very difficult in a northern 

 latitude, where the ground thaws out only a very few days before 

 the sap begins to flow. So one must be ready for business on time. 

 The ground should be cleared from all brush and vines of the last 

 season ; posts straightened ; wires tightened, etc., everything ready 

 for the plough. 



The time to lift vines from their winter covering depends on 

 April weather. I usually lift two or three vines of some early variety 

 to see if the buds are swelling, and if I find they are all are taken 

 up and tied to lowest wire of the trellis, and the winter covering 

 raked over and smoothed ofif. Commence tying the new growth 

 as soon as it is long enough to reach the second wire, and hurry up, 

 or thev will eet ahead of" vou. 



FLOWER GARDEN AND LAWN IN MARCH AND APRIL. 



MRS. A. S. HANSON, 3232 HARRIET AVE., MINNEAPOLIS. 



With the first warm sunshine and spring thaws come thoughts 

 of budding trees and flowers to the flower lover, and we are im- 

 patient to get at our gardens. In our climate there is not much that 

 can be done in March. Of course we do all our planning and order- 

 ing of seeds and plants and shrubs, so that we are ready for work 

 when spring opens. If the lawn needs fertilizing we put on barn- 

 yard manure and let it get the March snow and April showers. If 

 there is little rain we use the garden hose freely and are sure to rake 

 the refuse off before it rots the grass. I start all my flower seeds in 

 a hotbed which I make the last of March. Any one can make a 

 little hotbed without much labor or expense by using a storm sash, 

 which can now be spared from the house. I prefer growing my 

 plants in a hotbed to sowing in the open ground. I can make my 

 garden neater by transplanting my plants in beds nicely made and 

 evenly planted and get earlier flowers. Aster seed planted the 

 17th of April were in bloom the third week in July. 



The last of March or the first of April we begin to partly un- 

 cover, first the tulip beds and then the rose bushes and vines and 

 hardy perennials. If we have a spring such as we had last year we 

 will not do much of this work until the middle of April. I watch 

 nature, and when she begins to uncover, so do I. When the children 

 bring in the crocus blooms I uncover my garden, not all at once, but 

 a little at a time as the weather grows warmer. I cover every- 



