MARCH. 159 



back to their chapter. This has especial reference to 

 florists' flowers. 



SUMMARY. Clean lawns, and get them into per- 

 fect order. Find indoor jobs for bad weather. Con- 

 tinue the potting. Prepare for early cuttings. Raise 

 annuals. Provide a cool frame for them. Make cuttings. 

 Catch vermin. See after choice flowers, and give requi- 

 site care. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



GARDEN OPERATIONS IN MARCH. 



Now, in the garden, the " mirth and fun grow fast and 

 furious." Not an hour of fine weather and daylight 

 must be lost. The borders under screens and shrub- 

 beries must be thoroughly set to rights, forking the 

 ground and putting in manure about all trees and 

 shrubs that love rich earth, as deep as it can be put with 

 certainty of not interfering with any roots. Trees and 

 shrubs should be thinned out, so as to leave room for a 

 free handsome growth for all which remain, taking, of 

 course, the poorest in kind and handsome growth, and 

 leaving the best. Any which seem dead must on no 

 account be interfered with thus early. There must be 

 no delay now in completing all the planting and trans- 

 planting which has accidentally or carelessly been left 

 thus late. The sooner in the month the shrubberies 

 can be set thoroughly in order the better. 



I intended to have done with the lawns last month, 

 but I must return to them to give a short extract from 

 that useful periodical the Journal of Horticulture, on the 

 6ind and weight of grass seed for sowing lawns. The 

 quantity named is for an acre, but any one remembering 

 that one acre contains 4,840 square yards can divide the 

 quantity to suit his own lawn. "For light soil the mix- 



