54 
March, 1891. 
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In speaking of the latitude of North Caro- 
lina I mean to refer to the eastern part of 
the State. We have a wonderfully varied 
climate here. While here in Raleigh we 
have had no snow, and violets, hyacinths 
etc., have been blooming in the yards all 
winter, in the western mountain region, 
away down on the South Carolina line, a 
correspondent writes that the snow lies a 
foot deep. So our early gardening opera- 
tions are governed not entirely by latitude, 
but by climatic conditions, and by charac- 
ter of soil. There seems to have been some 
change in climate in the last hundred years, 
for I have in my possession a letter written 
by my great-grand-uncle in Rowan Co., 
N.C.. June 4. 1774, to my great-grand-father 
in Maryland, in which he states that at that 
date the trees were just budding out again, 
all the foliage having been destroyed by 
frost in May. which was so severe as to en- 
tirely destroy the wheat and oats, and all 
growing crops. How will that do for the 
Sunny South. 
* * 
# 
After all, in most places, March is a month 
rather of preparation than much planting. 
Our peas here will be growing rapidly and 
cabbages be approaching a pucker towards 
heading, and some early gardeners will risk 
a few snap beans in the ground, but in the 
larger part of the country, gardeners may 
not even have a favorable opportunity to 
get their early cabbage plants out before the 
last of the month, though, every one should 
endeavor to have these in such a hardy con- 
dition that they can be put out at any op- 
portunity when the ground can be worked. 
* * 
♦ 
Those who have never tried spring sown 
turnips would do well to sow a few this 
month. In the sandy soils of southern New 
Jersey they can be sown the first of March. 
They should be treated just as we would a 
radish crop. Give the soil a heavy dose, not 
less than 1000 lbs. per acre of an aramonia- 
ted superphosphate so as to grow them 
quickly. I once sowed a lot of Strap Leaf 
Purple-top turnips in southern Delaware 
March 1st. They were on a warm, sandy 
soil, and heavily manured with the old 
Chinchy Island Peruvian guano. They were 
sown broadcast, and we began pulling and 
shipping as soon as the largest were the size 
of a biscuit. The rapid growth filled the 
gaps up until it looked like the crop was in- 
exhaustible. All w T ere pulled out by the 
first week in June and all sold for $3.00 per 
bol. I do not now remember the crop, but 
I know that I never sold to the same 
amount from an acre of land in any thing 
at such a trifling expense, and the land ma- 
tured a fine crop of corn after the turnips 
were sold. Turnips grown quickly in this 
way in spring are much sweeter to my taste 
than the fall crop. 
* * 
* 
In this region no time should now be lost 
in ledding sweet potatoes for early slips in 
covered beds, but if no cover is to be put 
over the beds, the last of the month is soon 
enough even here, and a month later in 
central New Jersey. We bed sweet pota- 
toes in cold frames and cover with pure 
sand, using no hot bed but depending upon 
the sashes altogether for heat. We find 
that in this way our slips are better rooted, 
short and stout, and are not liable to rot off 
with “Black shank” as in manure-heated 
beds. For a home crop in this latitude it 
is only necessary to bed the potatoes in 
sandy soil, in a sunny exposure, about 
April 1st, without any cover whatever. 
These will be a little later, but will make 
strong and healthy slips. The dry, yellow 
sweet potatoes so popular North are not 
esteemed in North Carolina, and are very 
unproductive here unless given much high- 
er culture than is usually given this crop 
here. 
* * 
* 
Irish potatoes here are in the ground, and 
northward the careful gardener will watch 
his chance to get them in as soon as possi- 
ble. Good-sized potatoes cut to about two 
eyes have given us the best results. Cover 
deeply by throwing a furrow with a plow 
from both sides making a sharp ridge over 
the row. which is harrowed down flat when 
the potatoes are about to appear. We 
usually save all hand work in the Irish po- 
tato crop by harrowing with a smoothing 
harrow crosswise the rows as soon as the 
potatoes are fairly above the ground. The 
after culture is with a cultivator entirely. 
Flat culture has always been best in my ex- 
perience. 
** 
Egg plant and pepper seed should now be 
sown in boxes in a greenhouse or in glass 
covered hot beds. We always transplant 
these into pots as they are more easily trans- 
planted finally when warm weather arrives. 
— W. F. Massey. 
March. 
In the North, the snow is still deep and 
the weather, much of the time, intensely 
cold. In the central states, violent winds 
drive clouds of dust through every crack 
and crevice of the house, to the dismay of 
the careful housekeeper. Farther south, a 
grateful breeze has replaced the fierce 
winds, and vegetation is in all the beauty 
of its first freshness. Yet, almost every- 
where, March is a month of sudden and 
great changes of weather, and a time when 
constant care and watchfulness are neces- 
sary to preserve the health. 
Appetites are capricious ; and, outside of 
the large cities, it is not easy to provide a 
variety of acceptable dishes. Yet it is wise 
to make an extra effort in this direction, 
even occasionally buying, at what seems a 
high price, some relish which is out of 
season. 
A table may be supplied with an abun- 
dance of wholesome, well-cooked food, and 
still fail to tempt the appetites of those who 
gather around it. Add a tastefully gar- 
nished mound of dark green spinach, a 
dainty bowl of tender lettuce, or a glass of 
crisp red and white radishes, and there is a 
complete change. The dinner is no longer 
common-place, and w T hat before would have 
been scarcely tasted, now disappears with a 
rapidity which every cook appreciates. 
We all need to remind ourselves that in 
cooking, as elsewhere, it is the attention to 
trifles which makes the difference between 
success and failure. 
House-Cleaning Hints. 
A good deal may be done this month, in 
the way of odds and ends of house-cleaning, 
which will lighten the main work and make 
it more quickly accomplished. Except in 
the South, it is still too cool to clean the 
living rooms, and imprudent to work in any 
part of the house which has not some artifi- 
cial heat; but the whole campaign may be 
planned. 
Every one who has had experience knows 
that the numberless little things necessary 
to restore a room to order often prove, after 
a hard day’s work, “the last straw”: yet 
there are few who seem to realize that there 
is no reason why these things may not be 
done earlier. Before the rush begins, why 
not cleanse and rearrange clothes-presses, 
pantry, and china closet? It will pay also to 
re-cover chairs, wash curtains, clean mir- 
rors and pictures, and attend to fifty other 
trifles which each housekeeper will discover 
best for herself, as soon as she takes the 
matter seriously into consideration. 
Brooms, brushes, scrubbing and dusting 
cloths, soap, ammonia, and sapolio should 
be at hand, ready for use whenever the 
temperature may be favorable. Then, if 
the carpets can be sent to a reliable steam- 
cleaning establishment, the dreaded ordeal 
will be bereft of many of its worst features. 
Own Your Home. 
“There goes a man who has paid me 
twenty thousand dollars for house rent,” 
said a well-to-do merchant the other day, 
“ and yet if he were to die to-morrow, his 
wife would have to move, at once, into a 
smaller house. Twenty years ago, I tried 
to make him see that by a little more care- 
ful management, he might buy himself a 
house; but he preferred his own way, and 
now his money is gone and he has nothing 
to show for it.” 
How many people there are who display 
this same lack of forethought, paying out a 
small sum monthly for rent, and never 
stopping to calculate what this will amount 
to in a few years ! If you attempt to reason 
with them, they talk about taxes, and the 
expense of keeping a house in repair. 
It is true that a householder finds many 
ways of spending money, and both sides of 
the (juestion should be considered before 
deciding whether to have a home or not. 
It means close economy for a few years, 
with taxes, interest, and insurance to be 
paid, and a mortgage as the family skele- 
ton : but, on the other hand, it means, after 
