What Amateurs Can Do in January 



START the New Year aright, by 

 resolving to have a better garden 

 next season than you had last year. 

 Plan the garden in advance. Draw a 

 diagram on paper and draw it to scale. 

 It is interesting work. 



pose. Make a diagram of it. Draw 

 lines to represent the rows as they will 

 be and write the names of the vegetables 

 that you intend to grow in the rows. 



Did you start some house bulbs in 

 September or October, as was suggested 



success or failure, telling how you plant- 

 ed the bulbs and how you cared for 

 them. Take photographs of them in 

 bloom and at other stages of their growth 

 and send them to this office. An im- 

 portant point in successful indoor bulb 

 culture is to have the temperature as 

 uniform as possible. Water often enough 

 to keep the soil moist. 



Watch the house plants for pests, the 

 most troublesome of which are the 

 green and black aphis or fly, red spider, 

 scale and mealy bug. A dry tempera- 

 ture is conducive to the increasing of 

 these pests. For the aphis, use a strong 

 solution of tobacco water. The best 

 preventive against red spider is a moist 

 temperature and sprinkling the foliage, 

 especially on the lower side. Scale may 

 be gotten rid of by washing the leaves 

 with strong soapsuds and rinsing after- 

 wards with cold water. Mealy bugs 

 should be brushed off plants with a small 

 brush or a piece of stick. Destroy them 

 as soon as they appear. 



Prepare now for forcing some plants 

 for Easter. Try the hortensia, the 

 greenhouse spiraea and freesia. 



Write to the seedsmen and nurseries 

 and ask for their catalogs. The best 

 of these firms advertise in The Can- 

 adian Horticulturist. Study the 

 catalogs and make your selections early. 



II If you intend to lay out new grounds, 

 llan with a view to the effect that the 

 blanting will produce in after years. A 

 lew general principles should be ob- 

 fcrved. Unless the plot is small, avoid 

 fetraight lines as much as possible. Plan 

 the lawn so that there will be an open 

 space, keeping the trees and shrubs at 

 the back and on the sides. If the area 

 is small, the lawn should be level. On 

 large grounds, a more pleasing effect may 

 be produced by having the surface un- 

 dulated. Walks and driveways should 

 be as few as possible. On large grounds, 

 they should curve gently from the point 

 of entrance to the house. 



Plant trees and shrubs in harmony 

 with the surroundings. The largest 

 trees should form the background. 

 Trees of darkest foliage should be farth- 

 est from the viewpoint. Objectionable 

 scenes may be hidden by judicious 

 planting. Plant in groups. Occasion- 

 ally single specimens with individual 

 characteristics may stand alone. Trees 

 and shrubs of high-colored and odd- 

 [ colored foliage should be used sparingly. 

 ' Plan to have a kitchen garden next 



summer. You can grow better vege- 

 tables than can be bought and you get 

 them fresher. Measure the plot of 

 ground that you can devote to this pur- 



A Beautiful Spot in the Perennial Border 



in The Canadian Horticulturist for 

 those months? If so, write a letter for 

 publication, stating your experience, 



If too much heat is generated in the 

 hotbed, it is necessary to raise the sash 

 occasionally. When doing so, hang a 

 curtain so as to prevent entrance of 

 cold air and injury to the seedlings. 



Tropical Effects Produced With Cannas 



