^IG 



(;li:a.\l\(;s l\ ]jek cuLTUiil:. 



Mak. 



this date (it is toward the middle of March 

 that I am writing) boxes full of beautiful 

 little plants peeping forth from their mossy 

 Coverings, and asking, as well as they can 

 ask, with their bright green leaves, to have 

 more room and sunshine. How shall we get 

 it V Windows warmed by stoves, green- 

 houses, cold-frames, and hot-beds, are all 

 comparatively expensive. Very likely you 

 have every inch of space occupied ; may be 

 you have boxes of plants, such as I have de- 

 scribed, standing across the paths, so that 

 when you go through your greenhouse you 

 have to stoop down and crawl under, some- 

 thing as we did at Mammoth Cave, when Ave 

 went through the passage called "Fat Man's 

 Misery." Very likely you have boxes perch- 

 ed up in every possible shape, to get even a 

 small share of sunlight that comes through 

 every day or two. Well, what next ? In 

 most localities you can, by the middle of 

 March, begin to make garden to some extent 

 out of doors; that is, as soon as the frost is 

 out of the ground you can put out hardy 

 plants and sow hardy seeds. We w^ant to 

 begin to get rid of the expense of glass sash 

 just as fast as possible, and yet we do not 

 want to take risks, and have our plants eith- 

 er frozen outright, or greatly injured by being 

 frosted. Let us work orderly and soberly 

 and surely. 



Where shall we have the garden, and how 

 shall we fix it V Well, I would commence 

 making garden in some protected spot such 

 as I have mentioned for cold frames or hot- 

 beds. If you can find a corner close up to 

 some building, so that there is a protection 

 on the north side and another on the west, 

 to perfectly cut off north and west winds, 

 you are all right. If the frost won't let you 

 dig, clear off the ground so as to catch every 

 bit of sunshine ; and as fast as the sun thaws 

 off a half-inch, scrape it off and Jet the sun 

 get at the next half-inch, and so on. Pile 

 these scrapings in a heap loosely, mixed 

 with manure, and they won't freeze very 

 much. Cover your ground at night with 

 straw or old boards, or, better still, coarse 

 manure. When you get down through the 

 frost, dig your ground up and break it up 

 fine to the depth of two feet or more, mixing 

 it with manure, the best you can get. 



Probably one of the first things you will 

 get money from will be plants for early let- 

 tuce, cabbages, cauliflower, celery, onions, 

 cress, etc. Now, you can attract visitors, 

 and attract custom, by having this early 

 garden neat and orderly. Weeding among 

 these little plants, and pulling them.totie in 



bunches, is laborious and back-breaking 

 work, and I think it pays to make sunken 

 walks, or paths, something as we do in a 

 greenhouse, so as to raise the surface of your 

 beds, say two feet high. The way we do itisto 

 get some cheap 2x4 scantling ; drive stakes 

 in the ground, saw them off square, and nail 

 a scantling on top ; then get some old boards, 

 drive them into the ground a little, and nail 

 them against the sides of the scantling, 

 Now shovel the dirt out of the paths, and 

 throw it over in the center, mixed with ma- 

 nure. If there is a peat swamp near by (and 

 you can almost always find one), draw peat 

 and mix it with the soil. Peat will not only 

 make the ground light, but its dark color 

 will attract and hold the heat-giving rays of 

 the sun, and will make your ground thaw 

 out a good deal quicker than it otherwise 

 would. It also prevents crusting. Ashes 

 are also an excellent thing. Gregory, in his 

 new book on fertilizers, calls hard-wood ash- 

 es worth from 30 to 40 cents a bushel. And 

 I notice that most of the agricultural writers 

 put them as high. In very many localities 

 you can buy great quantities for 10 cents a 

 bushel, if you pick them up from house to 

 house, where they ordinarily throw them 

 away. Get a tinsmith to make you some 

 cheap tin cans something like the one shown 

 in the cut below. 



A CAN FOR SAVING ASHES. 



It is true, a barrel will answer ; but it is 

 unsafe to store ashes in barrels, as has been 

 repeatedly demonstrated. A tin can will 

 last a lifetime, if properly cared for, and it is 

 quite safe, light to handle, and easy to load 

 up. Almost any tinsmith can make you a 

 can holding about two barrels, for f 1.50. He 



