APRIL DAYS IN THE GARDEN 
Photographs by T. C. Turner, Nathan R. Graves and others 
pom || LIEN we turn our kalendars to April’s page 
we find busy gardening days listed before 
us. Probably we will already have made our 
plans, have ordered our seeds, and have been 
getting tools furbished up, labels made, and 
a garden diary all ready to start. One can- 
not be too urgent about this last. The garden beginner who 
makes careful notes from day to day, throughout the whole 
season of planting and the maturing of flowers and vege- 
tables, will find himself at the end of Autumn possessed 
with a record of incalculable value. With such a volume at 
hand, one’s second year’s gardening will be much simplified. 
aside from the pleasure and satisfaction that is to be found 
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There is not a lovelier flower for planting against walls than the common 
blue Lupine (Lupinus perennis) of the countryside 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
Around 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. 
in keeping a careful day-to-day diary of gardening operations. 
Y the first week in April the garden beginner should put 
a manurial dressing on the plot that is to become the 
vegetable garden. Asparagus and Rhubarb beds must also 
have manurial coverings, or have nitrate of soda applied to 
them as a fertilizer. 
: HEN the earth is fit for digging—that, of course, is 
when all danger of frost is past—the garden can be 
ploughed or spaded. Beans, Corn, Vines and Tomatoes 
must not go into the ground so early, but seeds of hardy 
vegetables may be sown. An early garden is always worth 
the effort, though judgment must be exercised in fitting its 
planting to the exigencies of the season in the various lo- 
calities of America. Roses should be sprayed with whale 
oil soap towards the end of the month, and then one may 
thin out the various perennial flower plants by dividing the 
roots. 
PRIL, ever famous for its sudden changes of tempera- 
ture, leads us to be on the alert, which means that we 
must never have an unexpected frost find us unprepared 
to protect our newly planted things, or hotbeds and cold- 
frames from it. Those perennials which will bloom this 
season if given an early enough start may now be planted 
by sowing their seed in coldframes without delay. As this 
will advance their maturity a whole season, the garden be- 
ginner will find it well worth his while to consider the matter 
of building hotbeds and coldframes as permanent adjuncts 
to his garden. 
ANNUALS FOR CUT FLOWERS 
T is probably true that all flowers, whether they be an- 
nuals or perennials, are lovely as cut flowers for adorn- 
ing the house inside. However, in response to the request 
of one of our readers, we give the following list of varieties 
which every garden, no matter how small, should include: 
Ten-weeks Stock, Sweet Peas, Nasturtiums, Coreopsis, 
China Aster, Sweet Alyssum, Mignonette, Gaillardia, Pansy, 
Phlox, Poppy, Zinnia, Dianthus and Marigold. Of course, 
it must be borne in mind that many other lovely flowers are 
available for cutting purposes, but no garden will quite seem 
complete which does not contain all the flowers listed. 
CONCERNING THE LUPINE 
VERY garden beginner will do well to consider the 
advantages of employing the Lupine when planning the 
home garden. Whether the landscape is confined to a vista 
of limited premises or not, clumps of our native Lupine 
will add to the effectiveness of any planting scheme. The 
Lupine has an interesting history, deriving its name from 
the Latin word for a wolf—lupus—because it was believed 
that the Lupine destroyed the fertility of the soil in which 
it was found growing. The Lupine produces in its varieties 
blue, white and yellow flowers, but the blue-flowered va- 
riety is the loveliest. While the Lupine succeeds poorly in 
a soil that contains an abundance of lime, it will grow al- 
