76 
THE GARDEN MAGAZINE 
March, 1915 
The usual method of handling these spring seedlings is in flats 
where they are planted from two to three inches apart according to 
the kind. The plants that don’t like their roots disturbed can be 
handled in pots. For summer use you can sow now in the green- 
house: muskmelons, tomatoes, cucumber, begonia, gloxinia, aster, 
mimulus, sweet Sultan, heliotrope, lavatera, salpiglossis, celosia, 
scabiosa, and schizanthus; although most of these plants will 
grow in the open, a much higher quality is produced under glass. 
Muskmelons for planting out in the garden should be sown in 
2-inch pots. 
Sowing of all the annuals for garden work, if not already made, 
should be attended to at once. 
If you haven’t any greenhouse for the sowing of seeds, you should 
at least have a hotbed. And how about a few coldframes for 
hardening off the young plants? Although not indispensable, 
they are very useful accessories and will be in constant use. The 
double glass sash conserves heat appreciably. 
Orchard and 
Fruit Garden 
L OOK over all fruit trees carefully for scale, and if you see any 
get after it quickly. If you do not spray you will not have 
any fruit. This applies to all fruit trees. There are no exceptions. 
Pruning of fruit trees should also be attended to this month. Prune 
quite vigorously all young trees just planted 
so as to promote heavy growth which forms 
the foundation of a tree capable of bearing. 
Older trees that have reached the fruiting stage will do 
with a slight thinning out toward the centre. With this class 
of tree, I prefer to leave the pruning until summer. Trees 
that fruit on year-old wood, as peaches or plums, will stand 
more spring pruning than trees that fruit on spurs, like the 
apple or pear. 
Cut back cane fruits and stake them up. The pruning in this 
case consists in shortening back the canes about one third; if 
they were not thinned last summer, do this work now. Cut out 
all weak, thin, scraggly shoots. 
Grapes should be pruned hard in fall, but if you neglected doing 
this last year attend to it now. 
Any grafting that is contemplated must be thought of at this 
time. Grafting is the quickest and most practical method of con- 
verting an old orchard into quality varieties. Take cions from 
desirable varieties and bury in sand outdoors, which will retard 
them to such an extent that when the buds burst on the trees to 
be grafted, they will be in the proper condition. 
Vegetable 
Garden 
I F POSSIBLE, plow the soil deeply, using a subsurface plow if 
possible, and break up the strata below that which the other 
plow reaches, at the same time turning under a liberal amount of 
good manure. Most gardens have so much ornamental planting, 
or are so cut up with walks, that hand 
digging must be resorted to and here again 
trouble will be caused by too shallow 
digging. Go down the depth of a spade, at least. 
Jerusalem artichoke is a very fine vegetable when properly pre- 
pared and I cannot see any reason why it should not be more 
popular. In fact, it is worth planting for its flowers alone. 
Artichoke cuttings should be ordered now, for planting next 
month. 
French globe artichoke, which was heavily protected last 
fall, should now be hardened off by gradually removing the 
covering. 
If you are intending to have a new asparagus bed from seed, it 
should be started just as soon as the ground can be worked. If the 
bed, however, is already established, it will need attention just as 
soon as the ground can be worked. If you mulched it last fall, 
this mulch should now be dug under; if it was not mulched last 
fall, provide good manure now for this purpose. When spading 
the bed, leave it flat if you want green asparagus; but if you prefer 
the white, bank up the earth on the row. After spading, give the 
bed a good application of salt. And do not be afraid to use plenty 
of it; asparagus loves salt. 
Vegetables sown last fall and protected over the winter had 
better have the covering partially removed late this month. Do 
not take it all off at one time. 
Flower Garden 
and Shrubbery 
back or burned off. 
D IG under the mulching on all the flower beds, in perennial 
borders, rose gardens and such places, and get the manure 
under as deep as possible to discourage surface rooting. 
The covering on bulbs and tender plants may be gradually 
reduced. It is far better not to take off all 
the protection at one time. 
Ornamental grasses should now be cut 
The latter is the better thing to do as it will 
not leave any stubble. 
Remove the protection from rhododendron, boxwood and other 
tender shrubs late this month. It is a good practice, if you have 
the time, to remove only half of this at one time. 
The mulching of all borders should be dug under to get it down 
just as deep as possible. 
When preparing the ground for new plantings or individuals, be 
sure to use plenty of manure. Do not let any come in actual con- 
tact with the roots, but have it trenched in so that the roots can 
readily get it. 
I F THE lawns were mulched during the winter, this covering 
should now be raked up in heaps, using an iron rake. This is 
a fine material for mixing with soil for seed sowing and such work 
W'hen moisture, without fertilizing qualities, is desired. 
Lawns Old ^ the ^ awn was not mu lched and you take any 
and New P r ide in it, you should order some fertilizer for it. 
Bone meal and wood ashes in equal quantities is 
very good; if the lawn shows any tendency to sour, use a good 
coating of lime. 
If the lawn is small, rake it well with an iron rake; if large, go 
over it with a light smoothing harrow, before the fertilizer is applied. 
Then give it a good rolling w r ith the heaviest roller you can find. 
The rolling should be done after all danger from frost is past. 
See if you can’t make arrangements with some school boys to 
cut the dandelions out of your lawn. Be sure they get the roots. 
If there are any bare spots in the lawn, spade them up and add a 
fair proportion of manure. Sow grass seed in these places as soon 
as possible. 
Any new lawns that are to be made this season should be at- 
tended to whenever the ground can be worked. Use plenty of 
seeds when sowing, and in very dry locations, where it is hard to 
get a start, sprinkle a few oats through the seed. 
A NY extra large trees planted during the present season or last 
fall should have their trunks covered with straw. This keeps 
the bark from drying out too much. Maples are very subject to 
splitting, due to local conditions, such as location, character of the 
soil and environments. The result is that the 
Transplanted sap flows too early and is frozen in the bark, 
Large Trees causing it to split. Covering the trunks will 
prevent this; but if the bark shows any tendency 
to split, a good plan is to run a sharp knife down the north side of 
the tree, cutting through the bark, as the splitting always occurs 
on the south side of the tree, and the split on the north side attracts 
the sap to that side. 
Be sure to carefully look over all trees and shrubs for San Jose 
scale, as the only way to get rid of this pest is to be thorough. 
Spray everything that has the least signs of infection. 
Pruning is a very important work that must be attended to at 
this time. No hard and fast rule can be laid down as every sub- 
ject requires somewhat different treatment. 
All new plantings should be pruned very heavily, to offset the 
shock of transplanting and to give the plants a fresh start. 
A LL trees that require pruning can be attended to at this 
time except the maple, which should not be pruned until the 
buds burst. All deciduous shrubs can be pruned rather hard if 
you wish to promote a vigorous growth; this includes roses. 
Shrubberies that have been neglected for several 
seasons or more should have a very severe pruning. Cut 
back everything so as to give the plants a fresh start. 
All shrubs that flower on the terminal of the current season’s 
growth should be pruned severely. In this class are hydrangeas, 
Anthony Waterer spirea, baccharis, roses, etc. 
Pruning 
Shrubs 
