CHAPTER V 
SPRING WORK IN THE GARDEN 
Too many there are who look out of the win- 
dow of a February day and sigh: “Oh, I wish 
that spring would come, so that I might work in 
the garden again.” Not so the wise gardener. 
Already he is up and doing; for he knows full 
well that spring, so far as its particular garden 
chores is concerned, is then at hand. 
There are February days when little or no snow 
lies on the frozen ground. Then is a good time 
to spread on it some manure, to be soaked into 
the soil by later snows. If it has to be wheeled, 
or carted, over the lawn it can be done at that 
time without ruts being left on the turf. Where 
plants are green above ground, as not a few peren- 
nials are, place the manure around them, not on 
them. 
In February, too, take the pruning shears. out- 
doors between snows and cut off from the shrubs 
branches that the winter storms have broken, or 
any that show unmistakeable signs of being dead. 
Throw them into a wheelbarrow as you go along, 
to save a second handling, and at the same time 
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