( 5?te £/k lontfvs Remind or 
"Come with me, then, behind the scenes, where we are concerned only with the joys of plant increase and rejuvenation ” 
The Reminder is to "suggest" what may be done during the next few weeks Details of 
taw to do each item are given in the current or the back issues of theTHE Garden Magazine— it 
is manifestly impossible to give all the details of all the work in any one issue of a magazine 
References to back numbers may be looked up in the index to each completed volume (sent 
gratis on request), and the Service Department will also be glad to cite references to any special 
topic if asked by mail. 
When referring to the time for out-door work of any sort New York Citv at sea level in a nor- 
mal season is taken as standard; but at best dates can only be approximate Roughly, the season 
advances northward fifteen miles a day. Thus Albany, which is one hundred and fifty miles from 
New York, would be about ten days later, and Philadelphia, which is ninety miles southwest, 
about a week earlier Also allow four days for each degree of latitude, for each five degrees of 
longitude, and for each four hundred feet of altitude. 
JANUARY— THE MONTH OF FORETHOUGHT 
H ILE activity in the outdoor garden is at its lowest ebb make 
%rff\ every preparation possible in anticipation of the rush of spring 
■'Mm work. Real success in gardening is only reached by having 
thorough and well considered plans ahead. Arrange, re- 
arrange, and again re-arrange the details of the coming year’s 
work (on paper) until the desired combinations and sequences are ob- 
tained. If your place is the best planned, and best kept in town, the 
example will spread so that your town ultimately becomes a better and 
more beautiful place to live in. Beauty pays in actual dollars and cents 
as well as in other less tangible ways. 
Lawn 
Have the materials on hand ready for the work of renovation in the 
earliest days of spring. 
Purchase only the best seeds from reliable seedmen who have a repu- 
tation to maintain. 
Use sheep manure, bone meal, and high grade humus for topdressing; 
and consider the matter of putting in a new sprinkling system for 
proper watering. All arrangements should be made now. 
Pruning and Spraying 
Continue these outdoor duties as weather and circumstances permit, 
using lime-sulphur or miscible oil both at the full strength while 
growth is dormant. 
Supplies to Be Ordered 
Bird baths, bird houses, new fencing, pool for the gold fish, new seats, 
vases, and baskets for summer flowering plants need to be con- 
sidered now. 
All required nursery stock, perennials, seeds of annuals and vegetables 
should be ordered as soon as the lists can be made up after the 
catalogues have been studied. 
Vegetable Garden 
Time is not infrequently lost during the actual planting season by plan- 
ning the vegetable garden for convenience in planting, whereas 
convenience in cultivation is more essential. Planting is done but 
once, while cultivation is done several times during the life of the 
crops. Arrange the various rows as far as possible to a uniform 
width so that you do not have to change the width of the cultivator 
every few rows. On each occasion this has to be done time is 
lost. Moreover, plan to hill up several rows at one time and save 
taking off the hilling accessories too frequently. Get the necessary 
tools and implements, including wheel hoes, seed drills, etc. 
Give air to the celery on all favorable occasions. 
Remove the covering from the cold frames on good days. 
Rhubarb, Asparagus may be taken into the forcing house. 
Look over glass in the sash for coldframe and hotbed. Rebuild or order 
new ready-made ones. 
Where cover crops are grown systematically, satisfactory results may be 
obtained by the use of commercial fertilizers alone, but if the soil 
“lacks body,” i. e. “deficient in organic material” don’t depend 
upon fertilizers alone. Get some barnyard manure. If the 
commercial fertilizer requirement is not great, better purchase 
it ready mixed. Get some nitrate of soda; it is a fine plant stimu- 
lant when used with discretion as soon as needed on crops that 
appear to be standing still instead of growing. 
In the Greenhouse 
There is a busy month ahead preparing for the early vegetables which 
are to mature in frames. Early Cabbage, Cauliflower, and 
Lettuce may be sown now with this end in view. Also Onion, and 
Leeks for exhibition purposes. 
Forcing Peas and Potatoes 
While it hardly pays to grow Potatoes in the greenhouse in view of the 
early dates on which new southern Potatoes are available, yet. 
where one has room, a few of an early variety may be grown in 
pots or on a bench. A cool temperature is absolutely essential 
at the beginning — it is better to start at 40 degrees than higher. 
As time passes, however, they respond to a rise in temperature, 
consistent with increasing growth. Tubers used for this mode of 
culture should be allowed to develop sprouts in shallow flats in a 
light but cool position near the glass in order that the sprouts may 
be sturdy. Give drainage in the bottom of the pots and light 
porous soil covering the sets about two inches. By using ten or 
twelve inch pots sufficient room will be left to allow of topdressing 
as growth increases. 
Early Peas may be grown under similar conditions and soil, adding a 
little bone meal. Sow about ten seeds to a pot and thin out 
later to half a dozen plants. After planting, both Peas and Pota- 
toes may set under the bench until the growth is a few inches high, 
when give all the light possible. 
Spring Flowers 
Seeds of English Daisies, Forget-me-nots, and Pansies, sown now will 
make nice plants for spring plantings. Seeds of Vincas, and 
Pentstemons, Verbenas, Aquilegias, Snapdragons, and Shasta 
Daisies may be sown for bedding. 
Wallflowers potted last fall and wintered in frames should be brought 
into a temperature of 50 degrees. 
Hardy Phlox lifted last fall, as well as Hardy Larkspurs placed in a 
carnation house will furnish new growth for cutting in four or five 
weeks. 
Sow Stocks and Clarkias for flowering indoors in late spring. 
Start Hydrangeas for Easter in a temperature of 50 degrees. 
Give Gardenias 60 degrees at night at this season. 
Plan out now how many summer bedding plants will be needed, for 
propagation indoors should be commenced. 
The Lorraine and Cincinnati types of Begonias may be propagated by 
cuttings, and the stock of Bedding Begonias of the fibrous type 
increased by cuttings and sowing seed, as also Lobelias and 
Petunias. 
Take cuttings of Fuchsia, Heliotrope, and Stevia, each from the young 
wood. 
Canterbury Bells do well in a temperature of 45 degrees; plants for 
Easter flowering and later may be brought in from the frames. 
Primulas obconica and malacoides, should be kept free from seed pods, 
and carried along in a temperature of 50 to 55 degrees. 
Look over stocks of Cannas and remove any that are not keeping well. 
Start into growth Rambler Roses for Easter decoration. Forty-five 
degrees is enough for the first couple of weeks, and gradually in- 
crease as growth develops until a maximum of 60 degrees is 
reached. 
Start Spireas toward the end of the month. 
Calla Lilies in pots will need top-dressing, or feed twice a week wit+i 
liquid cow manure. 
Asparagus Sprengerii is a prodigious feeder and requires frequent top- 
dressing, or application of liquid manure. If young plants are 
needed sow now. 
Look over the stock of Geraniums, give them room and light so that 
strong, sturdy cuttings may be produced for propagating later on. 
Giganteum Lilies will now have several inches of growth. Keep free of 
insect pests, and give a temperature of 60 degrees at night. 
For Cut Flowers 
A change from the winter flowering Roses and Carnations is always 
welcome by April and May for indoor decoration, and Shirley 
Poppies and Hunnemannias sown about the middle of the month 
will give something that cannot well be bought. Neither is 
capable of standing shipping, but cut when partly open will last 
for days in water. Neither stand transplanting very well and 
are best sown where they are to flower in the benches. Allow 
twelve inches between the rows and six inches between the plants. 
268 
