MARCH. 



609 



MARCH. 



growers. Look to the stakes and sup- 

 ports to see that they are firm and 

 sound, and look to the ties as well ; 

 point the borders in which roses are 

 growing, and give a top dressing of well- 

 rotted manure if necessary. Nothing but 

 roses should be allowed to grow in rose 

 borders, as the presence of any other flower 

 will absorb plant food, which otherwise 

 would go to the roses, which want all 

 the nourishment they can get. 



Seeds, Protection of. Protect seeds from 

 birds, which are most destructive just as 

 the seeds are vegetating. 



Ten- Week Stocks. Prepare a sunny bed 

 in the reserve garden, and sow ten-week 

 stocks for succession to those already 

 raised in heat. 



March. Fruit Garden and Or- 

 chard, Work in. 



Apples and Pears. Pruning these should 

 now be finished, and this is the last month 

 for planting until the autumn ; the various 

 operations of grafting and budding are now 

 in full progress. This is especially the 

 season for crown grafting, where it is de- 

 sired to use some vigorous old tree bearing 

 an indifferent fruit. In this case, the grafts 

 should be taken from the trees before the 

 buds begin to swell. There should be no 

 delay in setting about the operation of 

 grafting wherever it is to be carried into 

 effect. Trees that are most forward should 

 be treated first, and these will be found to 

 be the cherries and plums, for which graft- 

 ing is as well as budding, though many are 

 of opinion that all trees bearing stone fruits 

 are better budded than grafted. 



Apricots. The apricot, the fruit of which 

 is held in such high estimation, has a ten- 

 dency to die prematurely first a branch, 

 then a side, until scare a vestige remains of 

 the tree ; and this generally occurs on fine 

 sunny days in spring and early summer 



supposed to arise from the sap vessels being 

 excited too early and rising too rapidly ; so 

 that they are in too watery a state to resist 

 the severe frosts which sometimes follow. 

 Every possible protection should be given 

 to these delicate trees, and, perhaps, plant- 

 ing them in a border, where they would be 

 less exposed to the action of the sun, would 

 help to retard the rising of the sap till the 

 season was more advanced. 



Bush Fruit, New Plantations of. In 

 making new plantations, place the bushes 

 8 feet apart each way, if in continuous rows ; 

 if intended to be placed round the quarters, 

 or to divide the ground in compartments, 

 prune them up to a clean stem 12 or 14 

 inches high ; otherwise the foliage will im- 

 pede the growth of the crops sown beneath 

 them. The best mode of growing goose- 

 berries is as espaliers or as standards. If 

 grown as standards in the form of a low 

 bush, the bushes should be trained 3 feet 

 high before they are suffered to form a 

 head. According to the ordinary system 

 of training, the branches are borne to the 

 ground by the weight of the fruit, and its 

 bloom is destroyed by being draggled on 

 the soil and splashed by heavy rains. 



Blossoms of Wall Trees. Birds that fre- 

 quent the garden, or, at all events, the 

 smaller kinds of these birds, are credited 

 with doing much mischief with a will to 

 the buds and blossoms of all fruit-trees. 

 Injury from this cause may be obviated by 

 sprinkling the buds, &c,, liberally with dry 

 soot applied with a dredger. 



Cherries and Plums. With the excep- 

 tion of pruning, grafting, and taking pre- 

 cautions to protect the buds and blossoms 

 from the ill effects of inclement weather 

 and the attacks of birds, nothing is wanted 

 for these trees but the ordinary routine 

 work. 



Currant and Gooseberry Bushes bear on 

 the young as well as on the two-year-old 

 wood, generally upon small spurs rising 



40 



