February, 1917 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE' 
17 
the expense. Plants can be put out — or 
vegetables sown or planted in them for extra 
early results some two weeks earlier than they 
can under an ordinary single glass sash, and 
they will require a great deal less time: — no 
mats and shutters to be put on at night or on 
stormy days, and the plants get all the sun- 
shine there is and show their appreciation of it 
in extra rapid development. 
All frames which have not been in use 
during the winter should hafu the sash put on 
now so that the ground can be getting warmed. 
If the soil has been protected by a mulch, 
remove it before putting on the sash, as leav- 
ing it would keep the soil cold. 
Begin work on the hotbeds by the 
end of the month, so that they will be ready 
for the first planting of seed. As soon as 
possible get the manure for the heating ma- 
terial as it must be allowed to heat with 
repeated turnings, for several days before it is 
placed in the frames. Get short, compara- 
tively fresh manure from the horse stable. 
As soon as it is decomposing through and 
through put it into the frame, a six or eight 
inch layer at a time — thoroughly treading 
down, to a depth of 18 inches or so, according 
to conditions — more in very cold climates 
or early in the month. Cover this with from 
four to six inches of soil and do not plant 
anything until a thermometer in the frame 
shows that the heat has decreased to eighty- 
five or eighty degrees. 
MEETING AN EMERGENCY 
E VEN if you have no equipment, and want 
a hotbed this spring, you can have it. 
Order at once a frame and sash. Then get the 
manure, and as soon as it is actively heating, 
pack it in a long low pile, two to three feet 
deep and from eight to nine feet wide, and of 
sufficient length to tak« the frame, which on 
arrival is placed in position and banked up 
on the outside with manure or with leaves. 
Even frozen lumps of soil will thaw out very 
quickly over the hot manure and you can 
have a large part of your garden several weeks 
before you would if it was planted outside. 
SPARE THE SWITCH AND SPOIL THE TREE 
W ITH a good pair of pruning shears and 
a sharp saw, it is a real pleasure rather 
than a nuisance to prune up the fruit trees, etc. 
With dull tools, however, it is anything but 
pleasant. 
Look up the December Reminder and other 
spraying information which you can easily 
find by referring to the index of your back 
numbers of the Garden Magazine. Do 
not let this month go by without getting 
all dormant pruning well under way, if not 
entirely finished. It will be much harder 
for you to find time to do it next month. 
There will be many afternoons this month, 
when the thermometer will be comfortably 
above freezing and the wind is not blowing, 
when you should get your second application 
of spray on the trees. With the prepared 
sprays which one can get now ready to use by 
simply diluting with water, there is no excuse 
for not getting this work done. 
AIDS TO HURRY-UP 
IJ AVE you tried out yet the many practical 
-*• accelerators for the outdoor garden 
which have come into use during the last few 
years? For instance: paper pots and dirt bands. 
The former are merely pieces of cheap tough 
paper of such a shape that when folded 
over a block and held in place by a single 
tack, they make very good pots. For start- 
ing plants for the vegetable garden, and 
for many flowers, they are better than clay 
pots. Their greatest advantage is the fact 
that they do not dry out quickly, and good 
results can be had without expert management. 
Further, they hold a good deal more soil 
than clay pots of the same size, growing 
stronger plants; and the plant is less disturbed 
in the process of transplanting. 1 hey are 
especially valuable for starting melons, lima 
beans, sweet corn, etc., which cannot be 
handled in the ordinary way; and also for 
growing extra strong tomatoes, peppers, and 
egg plants. If you want to get cabbage — 
cauliflower, and lettuce earlier than you ever 
have had them before, get the small size — 
two or three inch — pots or bands for these 
plants. A still more ingenious device is a 
take-down flat with cheap paper partitions 
or “fillers” which give pot plants without 
the trouble of handling individual pots. For 
planting outdoors, either in the vegetable or 
the flower garden, and for starting hills or 
DO THIS MONTH 
Send your orders as soon as possible. 
Start early vegetable seeds. 
Start flower seeds for fall and winter plants. 
Start cuttings for spring plants. 
Make flats and seed boxes. 
Clean old pots and order new ones. 
Hare a general cleaning of the greenhouse. 
Continue dormant or winter pruning. 
Continue winter spraying. 
Go over stored vegetables and fruits. 
Go over roots and dormant bulbs. 
Order new frames and sash that may be needed. 
Make up the hotbeds, or get everything in readiness 
for making them early next month. 
PLANT THIS MONTH 
Vegetables Inside; for forcing from seed, toma- 
toes, cucumbers, melons, cauliflower. 
To transplant later: beans, carrots, radish, spinach, 
where they are to mature. 
From roots: asparagus, rhubarb, sea kale, and 
French endive, or Witloof chicory. 
In frames: lettuce, beets, cauliflower, carrots, 
with radishes interplanted. 
Inside for plants: cabbage, lettuce, beets, and 
Spanish onions. Toward th&end of the month: — - 
Cauliflower, tomatoes and celery for extra early 
plants. 
Flowers; for next fall and winter: Asparagus, 
Begonias, Cineraria, Cyclamen, Fuchsias, Gloxinias, 
Smilax. 
For plants for spring setting: Ageratum, Alyssum, 
Antirrhinum, Begonia (free flowering), Beilis, 
Canna, Chrysanthemum, Coleus, Dahlia, Shasta 
Daisy, Dianthus, Forget-me-not, Gladiolus (Colvil- 
lei varieties), ornamental Grasses, Heliotrope, Holly- 
hocks, Lobelia. Moonflower, Nymphea zanzi- 
barensis. Pansies, Petunia, Phlox, Pyrethrum, 
Salvia, Verbena, Vinca. 
Bulbs; for inside: Gladiolus, Amaryllis, Calla. 
Bulbs and Tubers; toward the end of the month: 
Canna, Dahlia, Calla, Oxalis. 
rows of plants, there are various “protectors" 
and “forcers” which enable one to plant in the 
open a week or two earlier, and which with 
care can be used for years, so the cost is very 
little. Most of these things are not mere 
“novelties,” but are really practical and help- 
ful. It will cost you but a few cents to make 
yourself familiar with the different types, and 
you will find yourself well repaid by trying 
out a few this spring. 
GROWING STRONG PLANTS 
CUCCESS in' starting plants for setting 
^ out later depends largely on getting a 
quick, strong germination. It conditions. are 
such that the sprouting seedlings have a life 
and death struggle to get above the soil, it 
will take them a week or two longer than it 
should to be ready to transplant, and they 
never make first class plants. If you have 
had trouble in starting plants in the past, 
the chances are that the fault lies with you 
and not with the seedsman — your own opinion 
to the contrary notwithstanding. An occa- 
sional failure may be due to poor seeds, but 
that is by all means the exception and not the 
rule. 
WHY SOME SEEDS FAIL 
T TNSUITABLE soil is probably the most 
^ general cause of failure in starting seeds. 
Average garden soil is not adapted to the 
starting of seeds without some “altering.” 
Here are the most obvious remedies for 
poor soils: 
I. Humus and Sand: To each shovelful of 
garden soil, add from one to two shovelfuls 
of commercial humus or of cocoanut fibre. 
If you live where you can obtain leaf-mold, 
chip-dirt, or tree-punk, any one of these may 
be used as a substitute for the humus. Leaf 
mold, the decayed accumulation of years of 
falling leaves, can be gathered in any woods; 
chip-dirt you can find where wood has been 
sawed or kept for a number of years, and the 
saw 7 dust and small particles have rotted and 
mixed with the soil; “punk” can be obtained 
from the decayed stumps of old apple or forest 
trees. 
If the soil is of the clay type, add sufficient 
sand to “cut” it before mixing with the 
other materials. The result will be a porous, 
fluffy, very light material that will hold mois- 
ture a long while and will not pack or form a 
crust through which the developing seedling 
could not easily push its way. 
, The soil is usually kept too wet when the 
seeds are first put in, and not moist enough 
while they are coming up. I he surface of the 
flat or pan is frequently packed down by 
repeated waterings until it crusts or cakes. 
II. Drainage: Put a layer of drainage ma- 
terial in the bottom of each flat or seed pan, 
then fill in with soil nearly to the top; water 
thoroughly until the soil will take no more and 
allow it to stand until the surface has had a 
chance to dry out enough so as not to be 
sticky when you plant. After planting, cover 
each flat or pan with a piece of glass which 
does not fit on tightly. This actually makes a 
miniature greenhouse, keeping the surface of 
the soil and the air just above it moist, while 
admitting air. As soon as the surface shows 
the first sign of drying off after planting, 
water again with a syringe or a very fine 
spray. If the soil is properly prepared most 
seeds will have germinated before another water- 
ing will have been required. 
III. Depth of planting. Don’t bury seeds 
beyond chance of resurrection! For medium 
sized vegetable and flower seeds, such as 
cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, celery, asters, 
and zinnias about j inch; small flower seeds 
should be merely pressed into the soil and 
covered with a mere sprinkling of humus or 
leaf mold, without soil added. 
IV. How warm? Give plenty of heat until 
the seedlings are well started — it takes more 
to get them started than to keep them going! 
Give the hardier things, such as cabbage, let- 
tuce, beets, Asters, Verbenas, and Snap- 
dragons, fifty to sixty degrees; and the 
tenderer ones, like tomatoes, egg plants, 
Heliotrope and Salvias, sixty to seventy de- 
grees. Light is not necessary until after 
the seeds sprout. You can put them on the 
pipes under the benches or in any warm 
corner — but remove to full light as soon as 
they have sprouted, or you may ruin the 
whole planting by a day’s neglect. 1 he 
more light you can give, and the nearer you 
can get them to the glass for the few weeks 
after sprouting, until they are big enough to 
transplant, the better. Also give plenty of 
water and plenty of fresh air. 
