92 T HOE (GAR DEEN Vi ASG Ae Zale Nee 
MarRcH, 1916 
them before spraying. The dead, rough bark makes an ideal shelter 
for various eggs, insects and spores. Prevention is far better than 
cure. j 
VEN if you had a general clean-up in the fall, there will be some 
winter debris scattered about to be got rid of. All brush and 
“mummy” fruit under your fruit trees, and particularly under your 
grapes, should be carefully gathered and burned. The smell of the first 
Still spring bon-fire is as sure a sign of returning spring as the 
first swallow. Get your cleaning up done early before other 
Clean Up work is ready. Make a thorough job of it; after you have 
finished up the outside, take some cold or rainy day to put tool shed, 
lawn mower and all your garden paraphernalia in “apple-pie” order. 
(By the way, have you ordered those repairs or new attachments yet— 
if not, don’t delay it again.) 
Toward the End of the Month 
It is time now, if you live in the Northern states, to get sweet corn, 
lima beans, melons, squash started for planting out in May; allow from 
four to six weeks—four is enough for sweet corn. Remember that it is 
not safe to set out plants until some days later than it would be to plant 
the seed. 
That last Denaeuapn is for the half up-to-date gardeners. If you are 
up-to-date you will have bought, or made yourself from cracker boxes, 
individual forcing frames or forcers which may be covered either with 
glass or with plant protecting cloth. With these your first hills of 
melons, lima beans, and cucumbers and also pepper, egg and tomato 
plants, can be set out a week or so before those of your neighbors. 
ie HARDENING off your plants, if Jack Frost surprises you some 
night when you have left the glass off, shade the plants from the 
sun in the morning, first giving them a thorough soaking with the 
coldest water you may have available. This “draws” the frost out from 
Treatment the leaves gradually, very greatly lessening the danger of 
injury. Your cabbage, beets and lettuce plants should have 
for Frost 4 pronzed or purplish, hardy, tough appearance uite 
distinct from the color they had in the greenhouse—hefore being fit to 
set in the garden. 
Small Fruits. At the first sign of the swelling buds you may easily 
distinguish what wood has been injured by winter; then thoroughly 
as 
prune currants, gooseberries, raspberries, blackberries, ete. There is 
very little danger of overdoing this; usually these things are allowed 
to make altogether too much wood to get good fruit. 
S THE hard frosts let up, and the “peepers” in the swamps welcome 
the spring, begin removing the mulch from beds of hardy perennials, 
Roses, etc. It is best not to take it all off at once; just as growth 
actually begins, remove part, and a week or so later the rest. It is well 
Get the to keep this mulching handy to use later on the rose beds, 
Mulch Off and currants and gooseberries. Do not uncover the straw- 
BS berries yet; keep them back and protected as long as pos- 
sible, so the early blossoms won’t be nipped by late frosts. 
CS good job to get out of the way now, before much planting 
can be done, is fixing up the walks and drives. Have your edger 
sharp but don’t make the common mistake of cutting back into the sod. 
The grass should grow right down to the soil: a miniature “bank” two or 
Walks three inches high will be sure to get ragged and also dries 
d Dri out in hot weather. Adhere to the original lines, even if 
and “TIves it is necessary to add a piece of turf here and there, tamp- 
ing it down hard with the back of the spade or a lawn tamper. Be sure 
that all drains and gutters are clean and in repair, to avoid injury from 
the heavy rains during the next few weeks. > 
Ae SOON as the hardier things, such as cabbage, lettuce, ete., are out 
of the frames, move out the second lot of plants and follow these 
with tomatoes, etc. Most of the bedding plants will do as well in the 
frames, as soon as the night temperature does not go below 40 or 45, as 
Keep the they will do indoors. This will give you space for 
, tomatoes, melons and cucumbers, cauliflower, etce., 
Frames Busy inside. 
AVE you all the varieties of fruit on your place which you desire? 
If not, without adding to the number of trees you can have more. 
You can buy a “whip” of buds or make them yourself from your own or 
a neighbor’s trees. They must be cut while dormant. Select straight, 
Going clean twigs of new growth, about the size of a lead pencil. 
> Label carefully, and keep in a moist, cold place, or buried. 
to Graft? Read the article on Grafting on another page of this 
month’s number. ; 
Shelters for Tender Seedlings 
VERY gardener knows the need of shelters, 
and many resort to shingles, flower pots, 
boxes, etc., but I have evolved a neat little 
cheesecloth tent for the purpose, which I cor- 
dially recommend to other amateurs. It will 
protect the tender seedlings from scorching sun 
and drying winds, from beating rain and hail, 
from biting pests and frosts, and will serve all 
summer to mitigate the extremes of our fickle 
climate. 
This little shelter consists of a pair of 
frames, hinged so as to open at any angle or to 
close flat, the frames being covered with cheese- 
cloth. The ends of the frames are made of 
pieces of hard wood two feet long, two inches 
wide and one half inch thick, each pointed at 
the lower end, and hinged to its neighbor at 
the upper end by means of a screw. The cross 
pieces consist of laths, two being placed near 
the top and two at six inches from the points. 
They are nailed with lath nails to the edges of 
the end pieces. , 
A piece of cheesecloth four feet long and 
three feet wide is now tacked along the lower 
laths and up the end pieces, covering the ridge, 
but not fastened to it. (See sketches in next 
column for details of the shelter.) 
; The cost for twenty-five tents is $4.09, as fol- 
OWS: 
100 end pieces at le each........$1.00 
Packs? 05.4. 4)0.2. ee ee 30 
Nailsinthe sneer eee 25 
DO RSCKE WS) sake eee eee .25 
i pundlevof lathsaaeeneeeceeeee PAs. 
34 yards cheesecloth at 6c...... 2.04 
This is a little more than sixteen cents each 
for material. The work can be done now, be- 
fore the actual rush of outdoor gardening com- 
mences. 
These little shelters are easily placed, end 
to end, for long rows, their points being forced 
Q 
A cheesecloth 
shelter for seed- 
lings; can be 
folded flat when 
not in use 
into the soil as anchorage against fitful winds; — 
and when not required, they can be conven- 
iently folded and stacked flat, occupying but 
little space. 
We have also made some to stand on end 
like fire screens, by sharpening the laths and 
letting the ends project. These are very handy 
for shading tall plants, or newly planted shrubs 
or vines. 
Connecticut. H. W. F. 
Plants for a Pink and White Combination 
COMBINATION which makes a beautiful 
fall bed is pink and white Cosmos, Jap- 
anese Anemones and Asters. The Cosmos enould 
be started early; plant the seeds in a hotbed 
in March, or in boxes in the house. If they 
ODDS AND ENDS ie 
must be planted outdoors, put them in as early 
as the ground is fit. Cosmos will need a sup- 
port when it gains its growth, and a strip of 
five feet wide wire stretched between posts is 
most satisfactory. It will not show, as the 
cosmos will screen it. Procure plants of Aure- 
ole, Hlegantissima, Mont Rose, Queen Char- 
lotte Anemones, all pink; Whirlwind, Japonica 
alba, Coupe d’Argent, etc., white. Anemones 
need plenty of water and do not mind a little 
shade. In front of them put the asters—low 
varieties such as dwarf chrysanthemum flower- 
ing, pink and white. The asters must be 
started early in hotbeds also, or the young 
plants may be bought at small expense. In 
transplanting the asters to-their permanent 
places, put a little ashes about the roots. 
In August, give the whole bed an occasional 
watering with liquid manure, and the result 
will be a mass of pink and white bloom well 
worth working for. 
New Jersey. Mary T. RIcHaRDSON. 
Early Peas That Satisfy 
Bee need the cool weather to develop best, 
and even the wrinkled varieties can stand 
cold better than heat. The little round-seeded 
sorts do not seem to me worth planting; it is 
more profitable to wait a few days for the early 
aeinieled kind. Gradus is a particularly satis- 
factory early pea, a fine cropper, sweet and 
fine flavored, and it can be planted as early as 
a hard-seeded variety by using the following 
method: 
As soon as the ground can be worked in the 
spring—about the middle or last of March in 
our vicinity—make a trench about eight inches 
or so deep. If you had the garden spaded up 
Metis 
