62 THE FLOEAL WOELD AND GAEDEN GUIDE. 



hail. After the late amount of wet, it will benefit pinka to move the soil between 

 them. Give carnations and picoteesas much air as possible, and if not already 

 cleaned of decaying foliage, let it be at once attended to. 



KITCHEN GARDEN. 



The weather has been so unfavourable for ground work, that we fear much 

 remains to be done in carrying out manure dressing, etc. If the weather should 

 set in frosty, manure may be wheeled to the most convenient spot for dressing 

 those parts which will soon become vacant. Fork the ground between the crops 

 of cabbage, and all other crops that are beginning to move ; and as soon as the 

 state of the ground will permit, dig, trench, and prepare for the various crops to 

 come. Prepare pea-sticks, also sticks that will be required for all other purposes. 

 New beds of asparagus may be made, and seed sown for new stock. Force 

 rhubarb, seakale, and asparagus. Should the weather be fine and dry, a little of 

 nearly every kitchen crop may be sown during the month ; some will be lost, 

 but others will succeed and give early gatherings. Peas, broad-beans, parsnips, 

 beet, onions, horn carrot, spinach, and cabbage may be sown ; and if some slight 

 protection can be given, cauliflower, radish, small salad, and lettuce. Plant 

 garlic, shallots, chives, onions for seed, and bulbs of the tree-onion. Plant early 

 kinds of potato under a south wall ; they will, if they succeed, come into use in 

 May. Make new plantations of horseradish ; let the sets be about four inches 

 long ; cut off the green crown, and plant so that the top of the set may be 

 twelve inches below the surface. Sow celery in pots or boxes in a slight 

 hot-bed for a forward crop. Plant out cabbages for a second crop, and sow seed 

 for July cutting. In sowing pea?, let the rows be eighteen or twenty inches apart ; 

 they will succeed better than if sown closer. The spaces between them may be 

 planted with other vegetables, viz., rows of spinach, rows of lettuces, etc., so that 

 no room is lost by allowing the peas full space. Continue to cover seakale as it 

 is required. If covered with dung eighteen inches thick, you may calculate on a 

 crop for use in five or six weeks. 



FRUIT GAEDEN. 



Where strawberry beds were not made in the autumn, they may be made 

 early this month ; they should be planted at once in rich firm ground. Bush 

 fruits may still be planted and pruned, and all pruning of fruit-trees generally 

 should be attended to ; but do not attempt pruning in frosty weather. Grafting 

 should be performed as the weather permits ; but if scions are obtained before 

 they can be used, thrust them into the ground in bunches with a tally to each, and 

 they will keep a month if necessary ; and usually take better if so kept a week 

 or ten days before being put on the stocks. If the weather is favourable, apricots 

 may be pruned and nailed towards the middle of the month, and coverings for the 

 protection of the blossom should be provided in time, whether it be netting or the 

 more preferable canvas curtains. Figs that have been protected should be un- 

 covered towards the end of the month,^and pruned if necessary. Examine 

 cherries and plums, and clear out all cankered wounds ; and if of any depth, fill 

 the holes with cow-dung and clay well mixed together. Easpberries, currants, 

 and gooseberries should now be cut and pruned, and vacancies filled up. Ee- 

 member in planting to plant firmly, and put stakes to all things likely to be 

 shaken by the March winds. All trees affected last year with American blight 

 should now be gone over with a brush dipped in strong brine. 



GREENHOUSE AND CONSERVATORY. 



The plants will now be commencing their spring growth, and an abundant 

 supply of air must be given provided the weather is favourable ; but cold draughts 

 and frosts must be guarded against, as during this month most greenhouse plants 

 are more susceptible of cold than at any other time of the year. All plants 

 requiring it should have a shift, and water given regularly to such as are making 

 free growth, taking care that it is of the same temperature as the house. 

 Camellias coming into flower will be much benefited by being syringed twice 

 or thrice a week. Those done blooming should be placed in temperature of 65°, 

 with a moist atmosphere, and partly shaded to promote the growth of new wood . 



