68 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
FEBRUARY GARDENING, INDOORS AND OUT 
ma)LIIS is good St. Valentine’s month, dedicated 
ld|| to the Bleeding-Heart, the Dicentra of our 
old-fashioned gardens. ‘The snows. still 
cling to the ground. Even the courageous 
Crocus will not be so foolhardy as to be 
peeping its little head above the generous 
blanket of earth which good Mother Nature has lent 
it for weeks to come. Nevertheless, it is time to be 
stirring in matters relating to the garden you have in 
mind for next Summer. You will be wishing to make up 
your plant lists by next month, and placing your orders for 
seeds then, so it will be well for you now to be attending to 
the laying out of your garden on paper as you intend it to 
be arranged when the actual working of the soil commences, 
with the advent of Springtime. If you get your seeds now 
you will have a chance to entertain yourself, and instruc- 
pa on Cael 
A MONTHLY KALENDAR OF TIMELY GARDEN OPERA- 
TIONS AND USEFUL HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS 
ABOUT THE HOME GARDEN AND 
GROUNDS 
All queries will gladly be answered by the Editor. 
reply is desired by subscribers stamps should be enclosed therewith. 
February, 1912 
If a personal 
tively, too, by testing their germination qualities, indoors, in 
a flat of earth. The middle of February is not too early 
for starting various early vegetables, indoors or in the 
greenhouse, later to be transferred to the coldframe out- 
doors. A top dressing of fine manure will not prove amiss 
if applied now to the lawn, for the Winter care of the lawn 
is a very important matter to take into consideration, when 
fine sod is desired. You may take cuttings now oe your 
Chrysanthemums for next Fall’s flowering, and small green- 
house plants can now be purchased and cultivated through- 
out Spring and Summer, until they reach their maturity next 
season. Indoors there will be plenty of work to be under- 
taken in connection with house plants, for their increased 
growth during the Winter will probably require that they 
be repotted. This will be especially true of palms, ferns 
and other foliage plants. If you have Rhubarb in your gar- 
den from year to year, you can force the roots at this time 
to an early growth by placing barrels or boxes over them 
and covering with stable manure. ‘This will bring the stocks 
forth well in advance of their ordinary season if the roots 
are merely left to themselves. In February, too, one should 
not forget to examine any plum or cherry trees that may 
adorn the garden. It is possible they will be afflicted with 
what is known as plum-knot, a disease which causes the 
affected limbs and branches to swell. All knots should be 
cut off and burned. 
FLOWER SEEDS TO SOW IN FEBRUARY 
HE month of February will be a good one in which 
the amateur gardener can experiment with planting 
seeds in flats—that is to say, in shallow boxes, indoors—of 
the Rex Begonia, of other Begonias, and of the Heliotropes. 
HE first of these, the Begonia, produces a fine dust- 
like seed, which must be sown on the surface of the 
earth in the flats. In ten days these seeds should germinate, 
and the tiny plants, springing up thickly, merely appear like 
a green mossy growth on the soil. As soon as the diminu- 
tive Begonias will stand pricking out, they should be set an 
inch apart in another flat and left until they attain a height 
of a little over an inch, when it will be safe to transfer them 
to two-inch pots containing a rich loamy earth. Next these 
two-inch pots containing the young Begonias should be 
plunged—that is to say, placed in pans of wet sand, sur- 
rounding them to the rims, and kept in a cool window with 
a northern exposure, though out of a draught. These grow- 
ing plants will require moisture from the air, so if they are 
placed in a room heated by stove or otherwise a pan of 
water must be kept on the heater and never allowed to be- 
come dry. February-planted Begonias will be ready to bed 
out in the early Summer. One must not overlook the fact 
that there are two kinds of Begonias—the tuberous ones 
that are used for Summer flowering, and the fibrous ones 
for Winter. The tuberous pe owe their beieie to 
