CALENDAR FOR SOUTHERN STATES 259 



This is a good time to put out the bedding plants. Castor 

 beans, coleus, flowering geraniums, and others, will probably 

 do best outside now. Continue to plant seeds of annual flower- 

 ing plants in the open garden where they are to blossom. See 

 the March list. Do not forget the annual vines, such as 

 gourds, "wild" columbine, cypress, morning glory, and 

 flowering beans, such as lablab. 



Trees, Fruits and Lawns. — If you are to raise your own 

 strawberry plants, either for planting a new bed or for forcing, 

 select runners from the strongest plants of the preferred 

 variety. Plants for winter house use may be started in pots 

 plunged in the soil near the rows. Keep the new sets well 

 watered. They should grow vigorously until transplanting 

 time in September. Keep the blossoms all picked off this season. 



Strawberry beds must be gone over frequently to prevent 

 runners from taking root, except where young plants are 

 desired. They take away the strength of the main plants and 

 reduce the fruit crop. The matted rows may produce more 

 berries, but they are small and less desirable. 



Spray the currants with Paris green to keep off the worms 

 until the fruit sets. 



Fruit trees shoulT be given another spraying with Bor- 

 deaux mixture and Paris green a few weeks after the fruit 

 has set to combat scab and other fungous diseases, and late 

 attacks of insects. 



Watch all ornamenta,l shrubs and shade trees and see if 

 they are being attacked by leaf-eating insects or plant lice. 



Plants cannot withstand insect attacks at this season so well 

 as in late summer. 



If the weather is dry the lawns will need watering. Do 

 this at night by flooding the grass with water in large 

 amounts. Let it soak in well before the sun bakes the surface. 

 A thin dressing of rich bhck soil will help to keep the lawn 

 green through the summer. Nitrate of soda may be applied 

 now to stimulate growth in the poor spots. 



