THE GARDEN 5 



ORDERING YOUR FRESH STOCK FOR THE SPRING 



The gardener who knows just what new stock he wants orders that 

 stock early, and, therefore, gets the pick of the choicest material, for as a 

 general rule all florists and nurserymen assign their stock as the orders 

 come in, reserving each order, marked, until a suitable time for the ship- 

 ping of it arrives. 



Besides it is only fair to these men who raise immense stock to let 

 them have some idea of the amount of stock to be early disposed of. If you 

 send in your order for a dozen choice two or three-year-old rose bushes late 

 in March, the likelihood is that, weeks before, the choicest of these bushes 

 have already been reserved and marked and set aside for the benefit of the 

 "early birds." 



Then, too, all plant men like to deal with customers who order early, 

 judging, and rightly so, too, that these customers know what they are 

 about. Nurserymen like to deal with people who know what they are about, 

 because these customers are more likely to do well with their stock than 

 others. 



And every nurseryman likes to know that his choice stock has gone 

 into the care of someone who will appreciate the fact that a good article 

 has been sent, which is worthy of the best care, and which will give the 

 best results. 



So early customers are good customers, because they are good adver- 

 tisers. Don't you think that when a man gets a splendidly successful bush 

 or tree or plant from a certain firm, and that plant surpasses all his expec- 

 tations^don't you think that man is going to order more stock next year. 

 and be the means of other gardeners patronizing his firm also, because the 

 successful man will always call that firm "his firm"? 



Then, too, don't forget that ordering early means planting early, 

 planting early means successful gardening. 



In the case of small fruits, for instance, late planting is poor garden- 

 ing, because the stock often dies, and in any event the harvest is late, and, 

 therefore, often frosted. 



Take plenty of time to look well over your new catalogs. 



SOME FIRST PRINCIPLES IN PLANNING A GARDEN 



One of the first principles in planning a garden is "to make bloom the 

 ■waste places." 



Following close in importance is the principle of filling up awkward 

 comers or gaps and concealing unsightly gaps. And here it is that we are 

 able to make use of such things as rockeries, summer houses, pergolas, 

 groups of shrubs, or even one single shrub properly placed, trellises cover- 

 ed with trumpet honeysuckle or wistaria, and many other tricks of the 

 trade. 



A third point is to plan for privacy in the home surroundings, because 

 privacy is always absolutely essential to home charm. Here come in our 

 hedges, our lines of shrubs, our clumps of evergreens. As pointed out 

 before, an element of mystery in the planning is always helpful to charm. 

 Why? Now ask why. Isn't a half-hidden element always an absorbing 

 one, and therefore stimulating to the imagination? 



A line of level-topped, close-clipped, impenetrable evergreen hedges 

 always hides something, and hiding protects. Now what is that hidden? Or 

 why — now why, does that clump of crimson-flowered spirea look so secre- 

 tive, and how comes it so high? On what is it planted? And so forth? 

 A clever gardener can form some pretty problems to set the prying passerby 

 a-guessing. 



All this means charm in a garden. 



