602 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF GARDENING. 



the soil is light, also a few 

 Peas in the Southern Counties. 

 Mice are often very trouble- 

 some to early Peas, and the 

 usual way to prevent their 

 depredations is to damp 

 the seeds and roll them in 

 a bag of dry red lead. Some- 

 times a. paste is made of 

 lead and water and the seeds 

 rolled in it, but the former 

 plan is cleaner. 



The Fruit Garden.— 



Finish off the pruning of fruit 

 trees and Vines at once, and 

 keep a close watch for insect 

 pests, especially American 

 blight. Remedies for insect 

 pests will be found in the 

 chapter upon insecticides. 

 Fruit trees may 

 also. So much 

 has been given 



be planted 

 information 

 fruits 



MA LOPE. 



u pon 



in previous chapters, that 



one need hardly write more now. 



FEBRUARY. 



The Flower and Indoor Garden. — Open 



weather still enables planting of trees, shrubs, and hardy 

 plants to continue, but so far as practicable all such work 

 should be completed during the month. Where work of 

 this kind may not be in progress, it still may be desirable to 

 prune or thin out manv shrubs, and even the heads of 

 flowering or other ornamental trees. Then the soil of the 

 border can be forked over, and if in the process some 

 decayed garden refuse or manure be worked in, so much the 

 better. Where hardy plants and bulbs are in borders the 

 pointing with a fork should be very shallow, and a dressing 

 of fresh soil strewn amongst the plants will do great good. 

 Lawns should be occasionally swept and well rolled ; 

 gravel paths also. Where the latter are weedy, an applica- 

 tion of some weed-killer will be of great service in cleansing 

 them. Dwarf Roses may be hard pruned at the end of the 

 month, especially where the stems are protected from frost 

 by moulding soil about them. Standard Roses are best 

 left till next month. All descriptions of Chrysanthemums 

 may still be propagated by putting the stout young 

 root shoots as cuttings into pots filled with sandy soil, and 

 standing them in a frame or cool house. Dahlia roots from 

 which it is desired to obtain cuttings for rooting should be 

 placed in shallow boxes filled with cocoa-nut fibre refuse or 

 soil, be watered, then stood in full light and in quite gentle 

 warmth to start them into growth. All foliage plants in 

 houses should have an occasional cleansing, using a sponge 

 or soft brush to wash the leaves. Bedding plants of 

 the ordinary tender order may have tops taken off and 

 put into warmth as cuttings. Fuchsias especially give 

 nice young tops for such purpose. Sow both tuberous 

 Begonia and Gloxinia seed in shallow pans on sandy soil 

 and stand in warmth. Give greenhouses and plant frames 

 liberal ventilation on fine days, keep all decayed leaves 

 gathered, and dry off rapidly after watering. Bulbs yet 

 buried in pots outdoors in ashes may be brought into a green- 

 house by instalments to get them into bloom. It is yet a 

 good time to pot up Liliums, using plenty of sand about 

 them. Plant perennials such as perennial Phlox. 



The Vegetable Garden. — On warm borders make at 

 once a sowing of Chelsea Gem Pea, and at the end of the 

 month one of May Queen or Senator for succession. The 

 first-named is but 2ft. in height ; the latter two 3ft. high. 

 In open and strong, deep, well-manured ground make a 

 further sowing of Long-pod Beans, such as Seville or 

 Johnson's Wonderful. Sow in rows 2ft. apart and thinly 

 in the drills. Where a large frame is at disposal, make, if 

 possible, a hot-bed of manure, put the frame on to it, half 

 fill with soil, and then plant I2in. apart some Ashleaf, 

 Ringleader, or Sharp's Victor Potatoes. Failing a hot-bed, 

 put the frame down on a warm border and throw some soil 

 into it to raise it, then plant. Such frames should be well 



covered up at night. At the 

 end of the month plant any 

 early variety on a warm 

 border, where later it will be 

 possible to give the plants 

 some protection from frost. If 

 a frame can be spared, sow 

 seed in it now, and a fortnight 

 later, of any early Radish, 

 especially the pretty French 

 Breakfast. Outdoors throw 

 out on a warm border the soil 

 3in. deep, then put in a floor 

 of stable manure 2in. thick 

 pressed down, on that strew 

 1 in. of soil, and on that sow 

 Radish seed fairly thick, cover- 

 ing up with long litter until 

 all the seed has made good 

 growth. A cold frame is of 

 great value for raising in it 

 plants of Cos and Cabbage 

 Lettuces, Ellam's or Nonpareil Cabbages, and Snowball 

 or other early Cauliflowers. Small sowings of these seeds 

 may be made on a warm border, but they must be well 

 covered with litter or mats till plants are formed. In a 

 warm house or frame sow seeds of Comet, Eclipse, Ai, or 

 other good Tomatoes. This should be done thinly in pots. 

 If a good heat can be furnished, some dwarf French Beans 

 may be sown in pots also. A thin sowing of Celery seed 

 may be made in a pan. Seakale roots with stout crowns 

 should be put, a few twice a month, into any dark warm 

 place in soil to produce blanched heads. Look over all 

 stored Potatoes, Carrots, Beets, or other roots and rub off 

 premature growths. A few strong roots of Rhubarb may 

 Lie covered over with large pots or tubs, and further with 

 long litter, to promote early growth. 



The Fruit Garden. — There is, where fruit is grown 

 under glass, more work to be done as a rule inside than 

 outside in February. But much depends how far really 

 necessary work has been brought up to time. All 

 pruning, if not completed, should be so at once. Even 

 where wall trees, especially Peaches and Nectarines, have 

 been unnailed from the walls to check premature bloom- 

 ing, pruning should be completed, even though the 

 renailing be left till the end of the month. With these 

 trees the great object of the pruner should be to cut out 

 bare shoots and preserve stout young, well-budded growths. 

 All bush and pyramidal Apple and Pear trees should have 

 pruning completed, as also any trained cordon or espalier 

 trees. The refuse should be collected and burned, the 

 trees in every direction, as well as Gooseberry and Currant 

 bushes, being first sprayed with soft soap, then densely 

 dusted with fresh slaked lime or soot. Have Raspberry 

 canes pruned back and, if needful, thinned, then loosely 

 tied to stakes or trellises. Liberal dressings of manure 

 should be lightly forked in over all fruit trees and 

 bushes, and also between old rows of Strawberries. 

 Plants of the latter in pots for forcing should now be stood 

 in a frame to help start root action, or be placed in a cool 

 greenhouse temporarily for the same purpose preparatory to 

 placing them in good warmth on high shelves. A few 

 such plants should be thus treated now and again at the 

 end of the month. All Vines should have been pruned 

 long since, but where done late touch over the ends of the 

 cut spurs with painter's knotting. See that inside borders 

 for early Vines and Peaches are thoroughly moist and get 

 on a gentle warmth, increasing it gradually as the month 

 proceeds. It is a mistake to fire up too hotly at the first. 

 Where trees or Vines are planted on outside borders, 

 cover the stems where they are exposed, as a sharp frost 

 on them often does great harm when the sap is active. All 

 fruit houses, whether heated or not, will be all the better 

 for a good fumigation with XL All Vaporiser, as just yet 

 aphides are weak, and much good may be done by a good 

 fumigation. It is wise to fumigate before the pests have 

 established themselves upon the plants, and not wait until 

 every shoot is smothered. 



