DICTIONARY OF SEASONABLE GARDEN WORK. 



5 



which often takes place after a long spell of cloudy 

 weather. Spread a layer of cut tobacco-stems upon the 

 soil about the plants. This will aid in keeping the green- 

 fly off. Be sure not to overwater, and give plenty of 

 air on all suitable days. 



Mamire is the great requisite above all others for the 

 garden and orchard. Be sure to make full provision 

 for all that can be used to good advantage. The com- 

 post can usually be drawn to the garden more easily and 

 cheaply now while the ground is frozen and labor cheap, 

 than at almost any other time. Order and secure what 

 fertilizers you may need, also wood-ashes, which are a 

 splendid manure for both garden and fruit crops. 

 Bonedust and phosphates can be applied almost any 

 time, even in winter. Nitrate of soda should not be 

 applied until pretty near the time when the plants 

 need it. Stable-manure should be spread out evenly 

 over the ground as fast as drawn out. Good horse- 

 manure should be saved for hotbed use. Where but 

 one or two horses are kept, and the manure has to be 

 saved for a long period for hotbed use, it may be spread 

 rather thinly under a shed, and if possible kept from 

 heating until almost time for use. Then throw it into 

 a large square heap, and allow it to come to a heat. 

 Then fork it over several times, at intervals of a few 

 days, and it will be in good condition for use. 



Mice often become very troublesome in hotbeds and 

 celery-trenches. You can easily trap them with a so- 

 called "delusion trap" (every hardware-dealer keeps 

 them), if you only keep the trap well baited and set. 



Mulching material on strawberry-beds, etc., is liable 

 to be blown off by heavy winds. Boards and evergreen 

 branches placed over it will prevent this. Coal-ashes 



make a good mulch for trees, and small-fruit plants of 

 all kinds. 



I\Iushroonis. — The temperature of bearing beds should 

 be kept as near as possible to 60°. A steady tempera- 

 ture greatly prolongs the crop. Save manure for new 

 beds. 



Orders for trees and plants wanted for spring setting 

 should be made out at once, and sent early to your 

 favorite nurseryman. We do not advise you to trade 

 with the tree-agent. You can get your stock cheaper 

 when you buy direct from a reliable nurseryman, and 

 if things do not prove to be up to the mark, you can 

 hold him responsible. 



Pruning can be done at any time, at the conven- 

 ience of the owner, in the winter. Good judgment is 

 needed in this work, or the injury may overbalance 

 the benefits from it. 



Rhubarb under glass to be treated like asparagus. 



Root-grafting may be done now. Pack the grafts in 

 sand or sawdust ready for spring planting. 



Seeds. — A list had better be made out at an early date, 

 and the order given to your favorite seedsman without 

 delay. Fortunately there are many reliable seedsmen 

 in the United States, and you can hardly go amiss if 

 you order of any one having an established reputation. 

 Always buy seeds of highest grade. The cheap stuff is 

 not worth bothering with. Send for the catalogues of 

 our most noted dealers, study them carefully, and pick 

 out what you want. Plant the reliable well-known sorts 

 for main crop, and the novelties for trial only. 



Strawberries under glass must not be allowed to over- 

 bear, or you will get rather small berries. Apply the 

 syringe to keep down red-spider, and avoid excesses in 

 temperature and watering. 



THE NATIVE 



{See Fro, 



UNDOUBTEDLY the most majestic and pictur- 

 esque tree of northern forests is the familiar 

 white pine, and no other is so valuable in the 

 common arts of life. It has a wide range 

 throughout the north, extending from New- 

 foundland to Winnipeg, and covering immense tracts 

 in Maine, New York and Michigan. It is found scat- 

 tered along the Alleghany mountains to Georgia, al- 

 though in lower levels it reaches little beyond Michigan 

 and New York. It follows the sandy shores of Lake 

 Michigan throughout their length upon the east. The 

 white pine is the leading lumber-tree of northern for- 

 ests, although much of the Michigan, Wisconsin and 

 Minnesota pine lumber is the product of Pinus resinosa, 

 the red or so-called Norway pine, which we illustrated 

 in the November number. 



As an ornamental tree the white pine deservedly stands 

 high ; for while it is a strong grower, its long and flexile 

 leaves relieve it from that feeling of harshness which 



WHITE PINE. 



ttispiece.) 



attaches to the Austrian and Scotch species. And its 

 very familiarity is a strong point in its favor, for it 

 strengthens the ties of old associations, and carries our 

 thoughts into our own woods and over our own hill- 

 sides. It takes kindly to cultivation, too, demanding 

 only a dry and rather loose soil, and no extra attention. 

 It is too coarse for the immediate vicinity of the house, 

 yet it can come closer than the other large pines. The 

 long, slim cones of this pine distinguish it from all its 

 congerers in the east, and they have about them more 

 grace of form than any other pine-cones which come 

 within the possibilities of our gardens. 



But the white pine is most characteristically a part of 

 our landscape when it stands alone in some field or on 

 some declivity, shorn of some of its limbs, and bravely 

 struggling against the inevitable march of time. We 

 appeal to our readers to spare these isolated sentinels ; 

 and we hope that they will not forget to give the younger 

 brood a place about the home. 



