HE sun is getting up earlier and 
climbing higher every day. Re- 
member that the few weeks re- 
maining before the frost is “out” 
and the first seeds “in” gives your last 
opportunity to rectify any sins of omis- 
sion or commission. Glance over your 
garden record once more and carefully 
look over the list of things which should 
have been done for the “spring open- 
ing” which is nearly due. 
This Month’s Big Job 
This month gives you a golden oppor- 
tunity to have the earliest and the surest garden in your vicinity this 
year, provided you have the equipment for growing your own plants. 
I become more vonviniced’ exch year that nothing in early gardening pays 
. so much as the time and trouble spent in getting extra 
Transplanting strong, healthy, well developed Saat ready for trans- 
and Potting planting when gardening outside can begin. There are 
cheap, modern conveniences in the form of paper pots, dirt bands, and 
paper “fillers,” with individual compartments made like an egg-crate, 
to go into flats. The small grower will find it well worth while to get 
individual “pot plants” for even such things as cabbage, cauliflower, and 
onions. The tomatoes that are set out for extra early, if they have been 
ut into dirt bands some weeks before, may have the first settings of 
ruit as big as a quarter dollar before they go into the garden. Of 
course they must be handled carefully and given plenty of room in the 
frames. Tend strictly to your work, therefore, of transplanting and pot- 
eine in order to get the very best plants which it is possible for you to 
roduce. 
E When Ready. Transplant seedlings of flowers and vegetables sown last 
month just as soon as they are large enough to handle—as a rule the 
earlier the better—especially if crowded. Water thoroughly the day 
before transplanting, so the soil will 
be crumbly. Pot up the cuttings just 
as soon as the new roots are well 
started, a quarter to a half an inch 
long. 
Preparations. To prepare for trans- 
planting, put an inch layer of manure 
in the bottom of the flat, fill level 
with sifted soil, and water thoroughly. 
Do this the day before wanted for use. 
The flats, if set cross-wise, will not 
pack each other down. Have bench or 
table handy, waist high. For the first 
potting, use rich compost and soil 
mixed together, or mix a little bone 
dust with the soil—a quart or so to 
the bushel. Mix this up a week or so 
in advance. For re-potting, use 314- 
inch or larger pots, crock each pot, 
and put an inch or more of manure or 
light compost in the bottom, packing 
the pots in rows, handy for use. 
Transplanting. Having everything 
in readiness, remove a handful of 
seedlings carefully, using a _ trans- 
pouting fork if available. (One may 
e purchased for a quarter.) Separ- 
ate the little seedlings carefully (keep- 
_ing the roots intact as nearly as pos- 
sible) and lay them out on a shingle 
or piece of glass, which permits mov- 
ing them about, and picking them u 
one at a time, readily. “Spot off” the flat full of soil into holes, in 
straight rows, corresponding to the number of plants you want in it. 
For commercial purposes 75 to 100 are put in a flat; for home use 48 
to 60 or so will give better plants, and 24 to 36 better still. In properly 
prepared soil you will need no “dibber” but your forefinger, though one 
may be used if desired. The plant should be set to a depth which will 
leave it standing upright and stiff, yet not get any soil over the heart or 
crown; the tendency, however, usually is to set too shallow rather than 
too deep. The holes should be large enough to take the roots without 
crowding them. After dropping the soil into place with the left hand, 
press the soil about it, with a light downward Pees Une with the 
ends of the forefingers and thumbs—and the job is done. 
Potting Off. Rooted cuttings should be put at first into “thumb” pots; 
large geranium cuttings may require 244-inch pots, but 2-inch will be 
big enough for most things. To do the work conveniently, have soil and 
pots on the bench, and flats handy to set the pots in, so that a number 
at a time can be handled in moving them about. Fill a pot level full of 
soil, make a hole with the forefinger, set the cutting well down into it, 
but not over two thirds of the depth of the pot, then rap the pot gently 
but firmly against the bench, before pressing the soil about it with the 
thumbs: otherwise you will compact the soil on the surface, and leave 
it loose beneath, which is exactly the reverse of the condition wanted. 
If the operation is done properly, the cutting will not be at all loose, or 
wobbly, in the pot. 
After Care. Both cuttings and seedlings should be well watered after 
transplanting. The sub-watering method is better for the flats. If a 
watering can must be used, employ a fine spray, and be very careful 
that the little seedlings are not Hetreted down. Keep in a shady place 
for a few days, or shade with newspapers during the noon hours of 
bright days. In putting the flats where they are to remain until taken 
outdoors, see that they are level and rest flat upon the soil or bench. 
Otherwise they will not be evenly wet when they are watered. The little 
pots should be sunk in gravel or soil or ashes up to the rims to prevent 
their drying out too quickly. They may at first be placed touching each 
standard. 
dirt bands or paper pots. 
PEE MeO NT. HS 
REMINDER 
MARCH, 
For reckoning dates, the latitude of New York City is generally taken as a 
In applying the directions to other localities, allow six 
days’ difference for every hundred miles of latitude 
Plant this Month 
| Under Glass, Vegetables: Early in the month celery, 
kohl rabi, okra, peppers, egg-plant and tomatoes. Also if not 
already started, cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, beets: toward 
the end of the month, lima beans, corn, melons, and squash, in 
{| Under Glass, Vegetables To Remain: Set out a§ 
soon as ready, plants of tomatoes, melons, cucumbers, cauli- 
flower, beets, etc., in permanent positions: further sowings of 
radish, lettuce, carrots, etc., in frames. 
q Under Glass, Flowers: Seeds of annuals and perennials 
to be transplanted later, such as asters, begonias, cannas, celo- 
sias, cobcea scandens, coleus, gypsophila, nicotiana, petunia, 
ricinus, salvia, phlox, verbenas, zinnias, and others mentioned 
last month if not already sown. 
q Under Glass, Bulbs And Tubers, for setting out later, 
such as tuberous rooted begonias, cannas, dahlias, callas, cala- 
dium, and gladioli for extra early results, etc. 
Out Of Doors: As soon as the ground can be worked, first 
plantings of beets, cabbage (plants), celery, kohl rabi, lettuce, 
onions, onion sets, parsley, peas, early smooth; radish, spinach, 
swiss chard, and early turnips. 
91 
other, but as soon as the plants begin 
to crowd in the slightest, they should 
be gone over and rearranged, allowing 
about two inches between them each 
way. The vegetable plants should be 
kept in the greenhouse only until they 
have got a good start: remove them to 
the fran.es for further growth, and for 
hardening off later, just as soon as 
there is no danger of their being 
touched by frosts at night. 
Repotting. The bedding plants, with 
the exception of the small edging 
plants, such as ageratum and sweet 
alyssum and cuphea (cigar-plant), should be shifted at least once, and 
preferably twice, before they are ready to go out of doors; at first from 
two to three-inch pots, and then to fours. They should be changed as 
soon as the rapidly developing roots have grown a net-work around the 
outside of the ball of earth. In shifting to larger pots, make the same 
preparations as before, remove the plant by inverting the pot and tap- 
ping its edge on the bench, and place the plant in the new pot, which is 
first partly filled with soil, so that the top of the root-ball will be about 
an inch below the rim of the pot. Then fill it not quite level full, and 
firm as above, but with a stronger rap. 
Paper Pots and Dirt Bands. These may be bought “in the flat” and 
made up over a form. For flowers, and particularly for vegetables that 
are to be set out in the garden later, they have the advantage over clay 
pots of being lighter, and holding much more soil; and as they are made 
square, and fit closely together, they do not dry out nearly so quickly. 
Much stronger plants can be grown in them than in clay pots of the 
same size. The most convenient way to handle them is to make them up 
and pack them in deep flats, sprinkle a half-inch or so of manure in the 
bottoms, put soil over this, put the plants well down in, and add enough 
more soil to fill them almost level full. They are especially convenient 
for starting plants of beans, corn, 
melons, ete., as well as for the last 
transplanting of tomatoes, peppers 
and eggplants. 
Early This Month 
In the greenhouse attend first of all 
to the planting of such seeds as may 
not have yet been putin. Be sure that 
the soil used to cover peppers and egg- 
lants is extremely light and loose. 
emember also that too much water- 
ing is as likely to prove fatal as too 
little. Keep the surface of the soil 
moist by shading with a newspaper 
or covering with glass, rather than by 
frequent wetting. Be careful not to 
leave any sprouting seeds in the 
shade: twenty-four hours’ neglect may 
spoil them. Attend promptly to any 
transplanting, repotting, or moving of 
plants requiring attention. 
1916 
HERE is only one sure way of 
having the first and the finest 
sweet peas in your neighborhood: 
that is to start them now as indi- 
. vidual plants and have 
Bue Pens them to set out early 
next month. They can 
be started in individual clay pots 
but it is far more convenient to get a 
few two-inch dirt bands or fillers, fill them with rich compost and plant 
two or three seeds in each. If you have new, high-priced varieties make 
assurance doubly sure by pre-sprouting the seeds—soak twenty-four 
hours in luke-warm water, roll in moist canton flannel and put in a 
moist, warm place; examine carefully so as to be sure to get the seeds 
just as they are about to germinate, then you need put only one in a 
pot and will be sure of getting a good stand. Be sure to get them out 
into the frames at least a week before you want to plant them outdoors 
so that you will have them thoroughly hardened off. 
Decorative Plants. Any of your permanent tub, box or large pot 
plants that have not already been shifted should be re-potted now. They 
can go back into the same receptacles, but new soil will help. It is well 
to re-char a tub before replanting; paint the interior with kerosene, and 
fire, extinguishing if necessary before it eats into the wood to any extent. 
Most plants of this kind require an abundance of leaf mould in the soil. 
This, and bone, will keep them growing vigorously. 
Also sweet peas. 
TTEND regularly to watering and ventilation to keep the plants 
growing directly in the soil and the plants in flats in a healthy and 
vigorous growth. Keep the glass off as much as possible, while main- 
taining a suitable temperature. Plants growing in the soil in the frames 
lavthe need cultivation as much as though they were growing in the 
F garden. A light top dressing of nitrate of soda watered in 
Frames will help in keeping the growth up. Watch out carefully for 
the green fly or aphis. Be free with tobacco dust as a preventive; it 
costs little and will not hurt the plants. 
ON’T delay pruning the grapes as it is better to get it done before 
the sap starts. All pruning should have been attended to before 
this, but if it wasn’t, get after it immediately. See that all cuts are made 
close up to the parent limb or trunk, and painted over. Don’t let any 
Pruning one monkey around your trees with a “double-edged” 
4 runing saw. 
and Spraying P It is not too late to use the strong, effective winter 
sprays if you are prompt! If you have any old ragged trees scrape 
