A LITTLE PLACE IN THE COUNTRY. 



CARE OF LAWNS WORK AMONG FRUITS TRANSPLANTING THE SPRING GARDEN- 

 BOOKS OF GARDENING. 



-EARLY PEAS 



Eighth Paper. 



H I L E the winds of 

 March are blowing, 

 the work of the gar- 

 den can be pursued 

 only tentatively. But 

 if the ground is dry 

 enough to permit of 

 being out-of-doors 

 with our tools, there 

 may be found work 

 to do every day, so 

 that time shall no longer hang heavy on our hands. 

 However well the lawn was cleaned last autumn, it 

 should have fresh attention now. The mold of 

 winter is to be loosened up with the rake and taken 

 away. The debris of broken twigs that have been 

 falling from the trees all winter, all dead branches 

 that were overlooked before ; the few scattered 

 leaves that have thus far escaped us ; and the green 

 stem of a dock, or plantain, or dandelion that has 

 survived the winter, as such weeds will, must all be 

 cut off, rooted out, and gathered up. Rough places 

 must be smoothed again, poor places enriched again, 

 bare places seeded again, for eternal vigilance is 

 the price of a fine lawn. 



Work the soil about the young trees with a spad- 

 ing-fork, as far out about the trunk as the roots 

 extend. Cultivate in wood ashes, or some other 

 good fertilizer, and then keep the soil loose and 

 clean throughout the season. 



We cannot expect as quick returns from our fruit 

 trees as from the garden, but that is no reason, as 

 some seem to think, for neglecting them. The 

 worse the treatment given them, the less care they 

 have in the way of cultivation and fertilizing, the 

 longer they will be in making a return upon the in- 

 vestment. Good treatment is essential in bringing 

 them to early maturity. The strawberry beds should 

 be cultivated by working the soil lightly between 

 the rows, not deep enough nor close enough to the 

 plants to disturb their roots. Then rake the mulch 

 from above the plants and leave it between the rows 

 where it will serve as a summer mulch, keeping 

 the soil moist, preventing the weeds from growing, 

 and, if drawn as close to the plant as it should be, 



keeping the fruit from contact with the ground. 

 Many favor no cultivation of strawberries in the 

 spring ; but aside from all other considerations, un- 

 less the ground is extremely clean to start with, it 

 will be very difficult to keep the weeds in proper 

 subjection by relying upon the mulch alone. 



By the latter part of the month there will be 

 some plants ready to remove from the hot-beds to 

 the open ground. Even if not quite sure that we 

 are through with freezing weather, a few cabbage 

 and cauliflower plants may be put out, and protect- 

 ed at night with covers, as described in these pages 

 in December last. Both these plants will withstand 

 a good degree of cold, if they have been properly 

 handled in the bed, and so made accustomed to the 

 fresh air. In transplanting, take them up with a 

 trowel in such a way as to retain about the roots a 

 quantity of the rich soil of the bed. Exposure of 

 the roots to cold and drying winds will check the 

 vitality of the plant ; and our object must be to 

 keep the conditions as unchanged as possible. If 

 the bed is showered lightly before lifting the plants 

 it will be easier to retain the soil about them. It must 

 not be understood that this method can be pursued 

 on a large scale, as where thousands of plants must 

 be handled in a day, as is the case with market- 

 gardeners. There the plants are pulled up by 

 hand, placed in bunches, and distributed along the 

 rows by boys, who are followed by other hands 

 who set them in. But this first season we will take 

 a little extra pains with every operation, so that we 

 may not reap any of the fruit of failure, grown from 

 the seeds of carelessness. For this early planting, 

 and for some weeks to come, there will be sufficient 

 moisture in the soil to answer all the needs of the 

 young plants. Later in the season, when putting 

 out late cabbage and celery, we shall probably need 

 to avail ourselves of our water privileges. If the 

 ground upon which these plants are put is not already 

 superlatively rich, it will be better to fertilize in the 

 hill, rather than to spread manure broadcast. A 

 wheel-barrow or hand-cart load of fine manure will 

 suffice for a good many hills. A small shovel full 

 should be thrown down at points two feet apart each 

 way, and worked into the soil with the fork or hoe. 



