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 enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope 
January 
F course you are going to have a 
garden this year. That point has 
been passed where there is much choice 
in the matter—the cost of living has in¬ 
creased sixty-two per cent, during the last 
decade. What are you doing to make 
up the difference? If you are so fortunate 
as to possess a bit of fairly good ground, 
you can do a good deal to solve your 
personal problem, whether you are the 
money-earner or the money-spender for 
your household. But it can't be done in 
a haphazard, careless way; you should 
give it the same thought and attention that 
you would any other “side line’’ which 
you could see would increase your in¬ 
come to a very worthwhile extent. New 
methods and systems in gardening have 
made possible a greatly increased produc¬ 
tion from the small plot of ground, and 
even if you are not a garden crank, you 
should look into them from the point of 
view of economy. So let one of your 
resolutions for the coming year be the 
making of a ioo per cent garden — one 
that is capable of putting on your table all 
that the garden space can produce. 
Planning for This Year’s Garden 
EMEMBER that simply making up 
your mind that you are going to 
do things that will make the neighbors sit 
up and take notice, will get you nowhere; 
that if you are going to score ioo points 
you must start now — long before a fork 
or plow can be put into the soil—and let 
no opportunity pass to make certain of 
the final results. For a starter, suppose 
you send for three or four good seed 
catalogues — not that it would necessarily 
be advisable to split your order up into 
that many parts, but to be able to compare 
notes on varieties. Secondly, determine 
just as accurately as possible the size of 
your garden-to-be, and the supply of the 
various vegetables your family is likely to 
want. You should have kept a record of 
last year’s operations, but even if you 
didn’t, you probably remember if there 
were more beans than you possibly could 
use, early cabbage that had to be fed to 
the chickens, and a shortage of early beets 
or cauliflowers, and will thus have some 
basis for the year's planning. It is nor 
a bit too soon now to see about engaging a 
few loads of manure to be delivered in 
March, and to begin sawing up boxes to 
make into flats, and overhaul your cold- 
frame or hotbed sashes, in preparation for 
starting your early flower and vegetable 
plants. Don't be in too much of a rush 
to order your seeds; you should know 
where every packet and ounce is going, 
led from one pot to another 
have it down in black and white on your 
plan, before you buy. But it will require 
several hours’ careful study for you to 
determine just what varieties you want, 
and it is a good plan to have that definitely 
settled before you determine the amount 
of each, that there may be no shortage 
and no waste. 
The vegetable garden, however essential 
it is both for pleasure and for profit, 
should not receive all your attention in 
planning for the new year. What_are 
you going to do for the grounds? With 
ten minutes’ thought you can probably 
put down a dozen things you’d like to 
do, and in fact have been intending to do 
for several years. But many things, in¬ 
cluding perhaps that sixty-two per cent, 
increase in the cost of living, have pre¬ 
vented you. Perhaps part of the trouble 
was also that you never settled on any one 
definite thing. This year, this day, decide 
definitely on some one thing you will 
plant, or feature you will carry out during 
the coming year—if it is only the planting 
of some new rambler rose, such as Tau- 
sendschon (Thousand Beauties) which 
you have admired the past summer; or 
the setting out of a lot of sunflowers to 
screen the fence at the back of the yard. 
The great secret of getting these things 
done is only to decide definitely what you 
will do. Get it down on paper but don't 
stop there; get your order in for spring 
delivery of whatever it may be you want, 
and then the chances are you will get it 
done. 
Small Greenhouse Work 
ANUARY is one of the most im¬ 
portant months for work under glass. 
If they have not already been planted, 
start cucumbers and tomatoes now for 
early fruiting indoors; a few plants of 
each will supply the home table with these 
delicious vegetables. Davis Perfect and 
Vickery’s Forcing are both excellent cu¬ 
cumbers, and for tomatoes you cannot do 
better than Comet, for both quality and 
quantity. If you are running the house 
at a low temperature, say 45 0 at night, for 
lettuce and radishes, construct a small 
frame on one of the benches over some of 
the heating pipes. It need not be ex¬ 
pensive ; a good one was made out of some 
old windows, and the bench boards were 
spread half an inch or so apart and 
covered with moss, in which the pots were 
placed, so that the heat could come up 
through, and moisture might be retained 
at the same time. The tomatoes should be 
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