Garden Work in March 
with long sprays of flowers. Cut out only the dead 
wood and weak growth leaving the young and 
vigorous shoots. If necessary shorten these in 
after they have done flowering. A few of the early 
flowering shrubs flower on the old wood, such as 
the judas tree or red bud and Pyrus Japonic a 
or Japanese quince. These as a rule are better 
left severely alone. I he later flowering shrubs, such 
as Althaea Syriacus (Rose of Sharon) and the dif¬ 
ferent varieties of Hydrangea pamculata may be 
cut back like the roses as they flower on the young 
wood made between now and their season of flower¬ 
ing. 
The lawn should come in for a little early atten¬ 
tion. If manure was spread over it during the win¬ 
ter this should be thoroughly raked off with an iron 
toothed rake. Even if there was no manure spread 
on it it will pay for a thorough raking, as there will 
be twigs, pebbles and rubbish scattered over it 
from some inconceivable source that will be very 
annoying if not cleaned up before the machine is 
used. Where the grass is poor press on the rake a 
little harder, stirring the ground up as much as pos¬ 
sible and sow a little grass seed and white clover. 
An application of Canada wood ashes or bone 
meal could be used now to the best advantage if 
the lawn is not in good condition. 
It is hardly necessary to mention that such ever¬ 
greens as were protected during the winter should 
have their covers removed as soon as the frost leaves 
the ground, and any excess of mulch be taken from 
the tulips, hyacinths, daffodils and other bulbs 
and protected plants. 
As a rule there is not very much gained by sowing 
either vegetable or flower seeds too early, but the 
good gardener always arranges to have everything 
in readiness so as to be able to take advantage of 
the most suitable weather and conditions. With this 
in mind make up your list of seeds and purchase from 
a reliable house as early as possible, so they will be 
on hand when needed. 
Sweet peas may be sown just as soon as the 
ground can be worked. Dig a trench twelve to 
eighteen inches deep, mix some well rotted manure 
with the soil and place in the bottom, fill up the 
trench with soil to within about three inches of the 
top, then sow the peas, not too thick—the seeds 
should not be closer than one inch apart—then cov¬ 
er them to the depth of about two inches. 
The vegetable garden should be dug or ploughed 
as soon as the condition of the ground permits. 
Onions, peas, radishes and lettuce are among the 
first to be sown. Hitherto perhaps the first men¬ 
tioned have always been grown from sets. It is 
well worth while to sow a bed of seed in addition, 
while the onions may not grow so large they will 
mature into fair sized ones with a good proportion 
of little ones for pickling. To those who like green 
onions, those from seed will be found to be much 
superior to the ones from sets. Sow the seed just 
as soon as it is possible to work the ground. Rake 
the soil fine when preparing the bed, make very 
firm, treading the ground evenly all over, this how¬ 
ever should not be done unless the soil is in fairly 
dry condition. With the back of the rake make 
shallow drills and sow the onion seed very thin and 
cover lightly, then firm over with the back of a 
spade. Sow the peas as advised for sweet peas. 
Provision must be made to protect them from the 
sparrows as these little robbers are very fond of 
them just as they are coming through the soil and 
will rapidly destroy a crop at this period. A small- 
meshed wire netting is an excellent protection, fail¬ 
ing this, black sewing thread stretched on pegs 
stuck in the ground will effectually keep them away. 
The thread should be strung about two inches high, 
several strands running the length of the row will be 
quite sufficient. Spinach also is one of the crops 
that should be sown as early as possible. Every 
cook knows how this vegetable seems to boil down 
to nothing, so that it is in order to plant a good 
supply. 
Those who are fortunate enough to have cold frames 
can make good use of them in early spring. Pan¬ 
sies, cosmos, tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, let¬ 
tuce, may all be had from two to three weeks earlier 
by sowing under such protection. 
The commonest mistake in sowing seed in boxes 
is that too deep ones are used. They should not 
exceed four inches in depth and should have a few 
crevices or holes in to ensure good drainage. Use 
light sifted soil. If the only soil procurable is heavy 
or clayey in texture and bakes when dry, mix with 
a good proportion of sand and well rotted manure 
rubbed through a sieve. Avoid leaf mould from 
the woods. Fill the boxes up level and press down 
firm and evenly, sow the seed thinly and cover with 
fine soil very lightly, water with a fine spray and do 
not let the soil become dry after the seeds have be¬ 
gun to germinate. 
The month of April is usually the one in which 
most of the sowing is done as the soil is not in fit con¬ 
dition except in some favored localities, so that the 
work of this month is essentially one of preparation. 
Deciduous trees and shrubs may be safely moved. 
No time of the year is better for this operation. 
Evergreens may be left with advantage until the 
weather gets a little warmer. 
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