190 A LITTLE GARDEN THE YEAR ROUND 



bed and coldframe this month and May should 

 find all seeds of hardy annuals in the ground 

 for the regular season of bloom or of matur- 

 ity, though succession planting can, of course, 

 extend through a later period. With the 

 ground free from frost there will be the hardy 

 perennials to be shifted in rearranging the bor- 

 ders. This operation should be delayed till 

 the end of the month in most of the northerly 

 sections of the country. The second week in 

 May should find one spraying the Rose bushes 

 again with whale-oil soap, and immediately 

 after blooming the Spring flowering shrubs 

 should be pruned. In the strawberry bed the 

 newly set plants should have their blossoms 

 "pinched" (removed) and the old plants 

 should be mulched with clean straw to conserve 

 moisture for the roots and ultimately to pro- 

 tect the fruit from dust as well as to discour- 

 age grassy weeds. 



I know the eminently practical will feel out- 

 raged that I should mention Birds in the same 

 breath with Strawberries! But I never think 

 of melons or apple-trees without thought too, 

 of the small boy's enjoyment of them; so let 



