86 



THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 



March, 1914 



cut back harshly, if you want quality roses. A couple of eyes of 

 the previous season's growth is plenty to leave. 



Tea roses do not require quite so severe a pruning. Cut oft 

 all the weak shoots and shorten the shoots to good strong wood. 



This is the proper time to look over and prune the vines. You 

 can see just what you are doing now. Do not prune wisteria, 

 akebia, clematis (Montana) and Jasminums. Any of the other 

 flowering vines can now be pruned. 



While pruning, look over the trellises and see that they are in 

 good condition. If not, they should be repaired now, or they may 

 blow over in summer when the foliage is heavy. 



A LITTLE effort on the rose bed now is worth a great big 

 effort in June or July. The roses that were covered for 

 winter protection can now have this removed; the mulch can 

 also be dug in good and deep. 



If you did not have your rose bed mulched, and 

 Rose Beds wan t good flowers procure some good manure and 

 dig it in. Cow manure is preferable. 

 Don't forget that roses are very fond of bone. If you would give 

 your rose bed a little at this time you will be repaid. 



Coarse crushed bone is the best, as it is more lasting. Scatter 

 about one quarter of a pound to the square foot of surface before 

 you dig the bed. 



Don't worry if you cut a few roots when you are digging; for 

 indeed in a mild degree this root pruning does good. 



Roses do not like loose soil. Go over your rose bed after digging 

 and firm the soil with your feet. On light soil you can firm it with 

 a tamp; you can loosen the top afterward with a cultivator. 



THIS is about the last opportunity to spray your fruit trees 

 or any deciduous trees or shrubs for San Jose scale. This 

 must be attended to before growth starts. There are a number of 

 soluble oil preparations on the market which are very efficacious. 

 Do not forget that these preparations are washed off 

 Other Pests D Y water, and so if it rains within forty-eight hours 

 after applying the work must be done over again, as 

 that length of time is not sufficient to smother the pests. 



At this time of the year the wood on the trees and shrubs takes 

 on a freshness which makes the examination for scale much easier 

 than at any other time of the year. Practically all trees are sub- 

 ject to the pest, but special attention should be paid to the fruit 

 trees as the scale is very partial to them, and good fruit is an im- 

 possibility on scale ridden trees. 



TF YOU want a good lawn this summer, now is the time to give 

 -*- it some attention. Go over it with an iron rake and tear out 

 all the crab grass. It will not matter very much if you do tear 

 up a little grass here and there; it may look ragged while you are 



working on it but the lawn will be much better for it 

 New and j • °., 

 Old Lawns dunn g the coming summer. 



If manure was applied last fall this should be raked 

 up into heaps and carted off. Use a wooden rake for this purpose 

 and what the rake leaves behind will soon work its way down to 

 the roots. 



Roll your lawn with the heaviest roller you can secure. A steam 

 roller is fine for the purpose, but a smaller one will do. If you use 

 a light roller go over it several times. 



If you did not apply manure last fall, use some good 

 iertilizer now. You cannot expect a good velvety lawn without 

 feeding. Bone meal and wood ashes in equal quantities makes a 

 grand lawn fertilizer. Do not apply too heavy a dose; about one 

 pound to the square rod or about one ton to the acre., and applied 

 in several applications. 



CUTTINGS of the various bedding plants should be struck 

 at once if you want fine plants for setting out. 

 This is now a good time to prepare for the summer campaign 

 in the greenhouse. Don't let it lie idle all summer; melons, 

 chrysanthemums, gloxinias, ferns, and other equally 



Greenhouse useful cro P s can be grown. 



Canna bulbs can now be placed on the greenhouse 

 benches and about half covered with sand when they will start, 



after which they can be cut up into one or two eye pieces and 

 potted up. 



Better sow some primula now for next winter in the greenhouse. 



Dahlias should be placed in sand in a coldframe to start slowly 

 for cuttings. 



SEEDS for your flower garden should now be sown in the 

 greenhouse, hotbed, or dwelling house window. See last 

 month's Reminder for the way to handle "flats" and sow the seed. 



How about a few water lilies for the pond? They are easily 

 Flower and raised from seed; sow it in pans just as you would any 

 Vegetable other flower seed. Cover with about a quarter inch 



Seeds { san( i ) then place the pan in something where it will 

 be just covered with water. When large enough the young plants 

 can be potted up and handled just as you would a geranium or 

 coleus, except that the pot should always be immersed in water. 



Some of the flowers and vegetables that are sown indoors do not 

 do well unless handled in pots, as they resent transplanting. Paper 

 pots are excellent for such plants as cosmos, sweet peas, larkspur 

 and lupin. In fact, the garden would be greatly improved by 

 growing all varieties that wilt down in these paper pots which are 

 very inexpensive. 



Vegetable seedlings should have been started by this time. It 

 is not too late, however, to sow now cabbage, cauliflower, beets, 

 carrots, celery, corn, eggplant, peppers, lettuce, tomatoes, and 

 herbs. The cabbage, cauliflower, corn, eggplant, peppers and 

 tomatoes will do best if handled in pots. 



Are you intending to make either a coldframe or hotbed? If 

 so, start at once; if you intend buying them, get your order in at 

 once. Do not try to drift through another season without frames. 



Have you placed your order yet for a few sweet potato plants? 

 Try them this summer; they are easy to grow. 



Don't forget to buy a few packets of seeds of some of the annual 

 ornamental grasses. They are indispensable. 



APIECE of ground in the garden large enough for the early 

 sowings can be made ready toward the end of the month. 

 Success in the garden, while having several contributory elements, 

 centres around one point — manure. Do not forget this. 



Some of the hardy vegetables, such as onions and 

 Vegetables s P macn , that were sown last fall and covered for the 

 winter can now have the covering removed. 



Get the ground ready for early potatoes toward the end of the 

 month. Plow it deep and harrow thoroughly. 



If the weather is favorable and the ground is in fair condition, 

 a few of the early potatoes can be planted about the last few days 

 of the month. This may seem queer, but I have done this for 

 years and have had excellent results. If a frost comes along after 

 the potatoes are up, the tops can be covered with a little soil. It 

 gives a better root system to withstand dry weather. Bovee, 

 Early Rose, Early Ohio and Queen are all good early potatoes. 



Always cut your seed potatoes to one eye. It is better to cut 

 them a day or two before you intend planting and spread them out 

 on the floor to dry. 



Horse radish and rhubarb can be planted now in some out of the 

 way corner where the former can grow unrestricted. Rhubarb 

 likes moisture; select a low spot for it if possible. 



The manure can now be spaded or forked under in the asparagus 

 bed. If you like green asparagus, do not hill it up; if you prefer 

 white stalks, throw about eight or ten inches of soil on the row. 



Do this when you are spading the bed. 



THIS is the proper time to start a young asparagus bed. The 

 plant is a gross feeder; trench the beds three feet deep, 

 adding three layers of manure. Always remember when buying 

 stock of any kind that it costs just as much to take care of inferior 

 Asparagus kinds as it does the best. Buy good asparagus — such 

 and varieties as Burr's Mammoth, Conover's Colossal, 

 Rhubarb Palmetto and Argenteuil. 



Try placing a barrel over a few of the best plants of rhubarb; 

 this will hurry the growth considerably. In fact you will have it 

 eight to ten days earlier. This, of course, refers to old beds from 

 which you are gathering rhubarb. 



