104 AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Ayound the Garden 
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. If a personal 
reply is desired by subscribers stamps should be enclosed therewith. 
March, 1912 
MARCH PLANS FOR NEXT SUMMER’S GARDEN 
AND HINTS FOR THIS MONTH'S WORK. 
HE mere mention of the month of March 
conjures up for one the vision of Springtime. 
Alas, that we have to confess that the poets 
who sing so pleasantly of the awakening sea- 
son carry us by their enthusiasm beyond the 
realm of facts as we encounter them in our 
climate. We who are patiently awaiting the coming of 
Spring and the bursting forth of all the earth into buds of 
the Plum, the Peach, the Quince, the Cherry, and the Apple 
blossom; we who long to discover the first Snowdrop or the 
first Crocus, and who look forward to the first gorgeous 
Tulip or purple Hyacinth, that shall herald the coming of 
the glorious garden time in earnest; we who wrap ourselves 
in such expectations are apt to be downcast by the stern 
realities of sleet and rain and slush, and the favors of 
Goddess Flora deferred. We are apt then to be angry with 
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Spring will soon be with us in earnest, the lovely, delicate Snowdrop 
its earliest harbinger — - 
the poets, to wish to reorganize the kalendar, or to find a 
subterfuge for our disappointments in the old adage that 
gives March’s entrance the similitude of that of the Lion 
or of the Lamb, as the case may be. However, we shall find 
stirring us into a happier frame of mind that indefinable 
something that tells us with unerring certainty when Spring 
is here, despite any of the astronomical observations of the 
industrially wise to the contrary in point of time. 
O let us not expect to hasten Nature’s bounty, and do not 
let us become impatient. Instead, let us remember what 
a lot of things we really have on hand this month to think 
about in preparing for the season soon to approach. You 
will wish, for instance, to avoid the Spring rush. There will 
be a lot of cleaning up that can be done during the thaws 
that are sure to come this month. If your last year’s gar- 
den failed by reason of your not being able to obtain a 
sufficient supply of fertilizing material—perhaps you neg- 
lected this—you can arrange now for the supply of stable 
or barnyard manure your garden will require. If you do 
not do this in time, Summer may find your garden out- 
rivalled by your more provident neighbor. 
F course, your hardy Roses must be pruned before the 
latter part of the month—one cannot dream of June 
gardens, neglect this pruning, and expect the Roses to be all 
one has dreamed they should be. Grapevines and fruit- 
trees will need pruning, too, though, of course, the experi- 
enced gardener will know that neither bush fruit (berries) 
nor sirubs that flower early should be pruned at this time. 
It migit prove fatal to their growth. 
HE reader of Mr. F. F. Rockwell’s very excellent 
article on hotbeds and coldframes in the February num- 
ber of AMERICAN HoMEs AND GARDENS will probably be 
prepared by now to try the experiment of introducing a hot- 
bed or coldframe in his garden, if he has never had one 
before. Of course, the sash already glazed for hotbeds or 
coldframes may be purchased from manufacturers of green- 
houses or ordered through one’s seedsman. It is well to 
remember that by having a hotbed or coldframe, or both, 
one may steal a march on the season either in the matter of 
flowers or of vegetables. 
S to the seed to sow in hotbeds this month, one may sow 
Lettuce, Peas, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Onions, Radishes 
and Celery, to mention but a few of the vegetables, and as 
far north as Baltimore those vegetables requiring much soil 
heat, such as Melons, Cucumbers and Tomatoes, may be 
started now, early in the month. 
HE Asparagus bed and the Rhubarb rows should be 
put in shape as soon as the weather permits. Nitrate 
of soda and common salt should be sprinkled upon the top 
soil at this time, for these plants need this sort of food be- 
fore Spring comes on. 
NOTHER thing that will keep the amateur gardener . 
from being idle this month:is the matter of spraying 
