Conducted by 
F. F. Rockwell. 
The Editor will be glad to answer subscribers’ queries pertaining to individual problems connected with the 
gardens and grounds. When a direct personal reply is desired please inclose a self-addressed stamped envelope 
April 
S the current issue of House & Gar¬ 
den goes to press, the outlook for a 
more normal summer than we have had 
for several years is very encouraging. At 
least there is plenty of moisture in the 
ground, and every indication of an early 
spring. 
With this in mind, do not let a single 
opportunity slip by you. Be ready to 
take every advantage of the first few days 
of planting weather. 
First of all, see that you have com¬ 
pleted every arrangement you can to en¬ 
rich your soil in the garden, flower beds 
and borders. Nothing is better as a base 
than old, well-rotted manure. It is the 
surest crop grower of them all. Get all 
you can of it, and spade it into the ground 
wherever you have things growing as 
early in the spring as possible. 
Secondly, get all the hardy things in 
at the very earliest possible date. In the 
vegetable garden this will include those 
things mentioned in the first planting group 
of the garden-making article on page 33. 
Also, sow under glass—if not already 
done—tomato, egg-plant and peppers, and 
on sod or in paper pots, corn, cucumber, 
melons, early squash and lima beans. 
Third, attend to all moving or dividing 
that is to be done. Many of the hardy 
and herbaceous perennials are greatly ben¬ 
efited by being taken up, the clumps di¬ 
vided and replanted. Any of this work 
which was not done in the fall can be at¬ 
tended to now. Also the moving of vines, 
shrubs, or trees, before they begin to leaf 
out. In moving these latter, take up as 
large a ball of earth as possible, and keep 
it intact. 
Fourth, there is pruning of various sorts 
to attend to, especially of blackberry, dew¬ 
berry or raspberry canes, and of hardy 
perpetual roses. (Teas and other tender 
roses are better left until after growth 
starts). If fruit trees have not yet been 
pruned, it is not yet too late to do it if 
you act at once. Pruning and spraying 
will work wonders, even the first season, 
with trees that have been bearing the 
poorest of fruit for a long or short period 
of time. 
Fertilizer 
T is from twenty-five to fifty per cent, 
cheaper to buy the components of your 
fertilizers. You are sure of getting the 
very best, and you can vary your formula 
to suit special needs, or use the different 
ingredients separately : for instance, a light 
dressing of nitrate of soda on the lawn, the 
first thing in spring, will induce a quick, 
luxuriant green growth, due to the avail¬ 
able nitrogen; or if the grape vines or rose 
bushes do not seem inclined to ripen up, as 
they should toward fall, the potash fur¬ 
nished in a light dressing of muriate of 
potash will greatly benefit them—perhaps 
save the next season’s delicious fruit or 
abundance of bloom. 
Care of the Frames 
HIS month is the most critical of all 
in growing on the small stuff in 
frames, for not only the frost by night, but 
also the sun by day, must be guarded 
against. If the sash happen to be left on 
tight on some spring morning, the sun may 
quickly run the temperature up to way 
above the hundred mark, and do serious 
A convenient way to make the drills and sow 
seed is by the use of a board in this manner 
damage to the plants therein. Great care 
must also be taken to water freely and fre¬ 
quently, to prevent flats and pots from 
drying out. While almost any plant will 
stand a great deal of neglect and abuse 
without succumbing to it, every such set¬ 
back means that the chances of bringing 
it to a perfect development are corre¬ 
spondingly lessened. 
Another thing to watch out for is the 
green plant lice which, if allowed to get a 
start, quickly work havoc on these warm 
days. At the first sign of one, spray with 
some remedy or some liquid form of nico¬ 
tine, or fumigate with one of the prepared 
nicotine papers. Either can be accom¬ 
plished in a few moments, and may save 
all your plants from practical destruction. 
Heretofore we have used square pieces 
of sod, cut out of good thick turf upon 
which to start seeds of melons, cucumbers, 
corn, lima beans, etc., as they do not stand 
transplanting very well. This year we are 
using instead square paper pots, which 
can be purchased in the flat at a very low 
price. They are just the thing we’ve been 
looking for, and will, I believe, not only 
prove better than the sods, being much 
more convenient to handle, but should 
make it possible for those who do not have 
access to sod that may be dug up, to start 
all these things early. There will no 
longer be any excuse for the gardener who 
does not have sweet corn early in July, 
and melons long before danger of early 
frosts, which so frequently get a good 
part of the crop. 
In the Flower Garden 
A REN'T you going to have a really - 
beautiful flower garden this year? 
Last summer — in spite of all the drought 
— weren’t you struck here and there, as 
you traveled about, with some startlingly 
simple but attractive effect that you in¬ 
wardly resolved to duplicate this year ? 
Let me tell you a little trick or two that 
won't cost you many pennies. 
In the first place, most flower seeds are 
very small, some as fine as grains of salt. 
What chance do you suppose such seeds 
will have, planted in a garden where the 
surface of the soil has probably dried for 
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