The Carden Ma 
E VERYBOD Yon guard ! 
What you can do this 
month depends en- 
tirely on the weather; 
work at the first opportunity. 
SPRING WORK BEGINS 
but you must be ready to begin 
In the meantime, check over your 
plans, give one more last look through the catalogues and generally 
get ready for the rush of April. New York is taken generally as a 
standard in these directions; allow six days’ difference for each 
hundred miles of latitude. 
If the season is forward and the ground gets in workable shape, 
prepare the garden soil late this month, as a number of the more 
hardy vegetables can be sown early next month. 
Any changes contemplated in the gardens should be started 
at the earliest possible date. All plants wanted for new work 
or for replacing old plants should be ordered now, as it is twice 
the hardship on these plants if shipped a month later. If 
you are not ready for them when they arrive they can be 
temporarily heeled in. Rather take the time now to reset 
the perennials if there is any danger of their crowding, as 
they will soon spoil if left too close together. Most peren- 
nials do best if moved every fourth year, while the slower 
growing kinds need not be transplanted for six or seven years. 
Sow sweet peas out-of-doors just as soon as it is possible 
to work the ground. The more thoroughly prepared the 
soil the more beautiful the flowers will be, so dig in plenty 
of good rich manure and leaf mold. 
This is the time to cut pea brush (before the foliage gets 
on the shrubs). Also look over and repair tomato trellises, 
and get poles ready for lima beans. In fact, all the pre- 
liminary work should be attended to now, so that when 
good weather is at hand you can take full advantage of it. 
If you intend to have beds of rhubarb or horse radish 
order the roots now, as they start very early. If you 
haven’t any greenhouse or hotbed in which to start your vege- 
tables early, make arrangements to buy some early plants of 
cabbage, cauliflower, lettuce, as these can be set out next month. 
Where cutworms troubled the garden last year, order enough paper 
pots to protect the stems of such plants as they attack. 
The ground for potatoes can be made ready late this month. 
On light 
sandy soils 
manure is 
advisable as 
it is reten- 
tive of mois- 
t u r e ; on 
heavy soils 
commercial 
f e r t ilizers 
are better. 
How about 
potato 
scab? Has 
it p v p r 
Don’t omit to spray before growth starts. This is nothing but the 
soundest kind of garden insurance troubled 
Start cannas, etc., 
in frames now, first 
dividing the old 
roots to single eyes 
your potato crop? To prevent 
its appearance, soak the seeds 
in a solution of formaldehyde 1 , 
i pint to 30 gallons of water. This treatment should be given 
for the same reason that you buy life insurance. 
Why not try some corn in pots for early garden planting? Sown 
in the greenhouse now, this corn will be ready for eating four weeks 
before corn that was sown outdoors. Golden Bantam, or any of 
the early varieties, can be used for this purpose. Sow eight or ten 
seeds in a 6-inch or 7-inch pot; when large enough they can be 
thinned out to three plants. Each pot makes a hill when setting out. 
D AHLIAS should be placed in sand and the shoots re- 
moved as they start. These are stuck in a propagating 
bed and potted up. This is by far the best way to handle 
dahlias; it also gives you a chance to increase your best 
c . .. „ . varieties. 
Starting Roots, T , , , , , , , 
Tubers etc ^ you " aven t a l rea -dy sown primula and 
’ ’ cyclamen for next winter, do so at once. 
Cannas should now be started. Simply lay them on a 
bench and partially cover them with ashes or sand. They 
will soon start into growth, when they can be split up and 
potted. 
It is time to put in chrysanthemum cuttings. Always 
put in lots more than you need and make the cuttings just 
as short as you possibly can. 
Start propagating all bedding plants, such as geraniums, 
coleus, etc. 
Hydrangeas, climbing roses, bay trees, hibiscus, genistas, 
oleanders, acubia — 
in fact, all large 
specimen plants in 
pots or tubs — should 
be looked over. Do not let 
them get stunted for want of 
soil. If necessary they should 
be repotted; but removing a 
few inches of the soil and re- 
placing with a very rich 
heavy mixture will reduce 
the necessity of repotting so 
often. 
Start now to dry off the 
calla lilies. Do this very 
gradually. 
F YOU sowed any seeds 
last month in your green- 
house, make arrangements to 
transplant the young seed- 
lings when 
they are large 
enough to 
handle; if you allow them to 
crowd they will damp off. 
Seeds Sown 
Indoors 
Cut out the old canes from the berry patches. 
Fruit comes on the new ones only 
