NORTHERN EDITION 
of 
Buist’s Garden Guide 
PLANTING DIRECTIONS 
The active gardening months in the North are March, April, May, July and 
August. Monthly operations cannot be accurately given for the entire territory, 
but the following give suggestions of cropping about the period they should be 
attended to in latitudes of the Middle States. Adaptation to various States can be 
observed by noting the conditions of the climate and season. 
A chart of all the principal vegetable seeds will be found on page 143, giving 
proper planting depths and distances apart, seed required and weeks to maturity. 
Further detailed instructions are contained throughout our GARDEN GUIDE, 
alphabetically arranged, under the various varieties of both vegetable and flower 
seeds. 
JANUARY 
Out-door work is necessarily limited, as snow and ice abound and ground is 
frozen, but there are important things that can be attended to in order to be in readi¬ 
ness for Spring operations. Overhaul all tools and implements; arrange and clean 
up your barn and out-buildings; haul manure to the fields where it will be required; 
prepare compost for top-dressing; prune your orchards and fruit trees, trim up 
your hedges; top-dress your asparagus beds with well-decomposed manure to be 
forked in as soon as the frost is gone. A top-dressing of salt is also valuable. 
Lawns may be improved by a good top-dressing as soon as the leaves are gath¬ 
ered. Wood ashes, bone meal or any prepared manure is preferable to barnyard or 
stable manure, as the latter generally contains many weed seeds. By early covering 
the ground with manure, to prevent its freezing too deep, you will also be able to 
have your trenching and subsoiling done this month. Poles for Beans and Peas 
should be made ready for use. Forcing beds, with growing crops of Lettuce, Radish, 
etc., will require daily attention. 
FEBRUARY 
Very little can be done this month in the way of out-door gardening, but every 
family having a garden of any pretension should have a hot-bed. Prepare as 
instructed on page 142. This is a simple and cheap method of procuring strong, 
healthy plants of every variety of vegetables desired for transplanting in propei 
season without the trouble of hunting them up, and without the risk of buying 
plants that have been grown from inferior seeds. Time of sowing depends entirely 
upon the weather. If extremely cold, defer to the last of the month. Great care 
must be observed that the bed is of a proper temperature to insure the germination 
of seeds, especially the Egg Plant, which always requires a stronger heat than any 
other variety. Sow Buist’s Improved Large Purple. Also the Copenhagen Market, 
/-ww™ WoWfiplH snd Tersev Wakefield Cabbage will give you a full supply tor 
Dong scarlet ana vvnue dux j -- 
It is necessary that the young plants are carefully protected from frost, cold 
133 
