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Conducted by The Editor will be glad to answer subscribers’ queries pertaining to individual problems connected with the 
F. F. Rockwell gardens and grounds. When a direct personal reply is desired please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope 
G arden 
ueries 
M ARCH, for the gardener, is about 
the most deceptive month in the 
whole calendar. It is deceptive in that, 
during such rough and uncomfortable 
weather, there seems to be absolutely noth¬ 
ing that one can do as far as gardening is 
concerned. The ground is still frozen 
hard or the mud is still deep, so that one 
does not feel like going out to remove the 
bean and tomato poles which were not 
pulled up last fall, as they should have 
been. Even when the blustering winds 
have dried the soil enough so that it will 
bear up a man’s weight, one is apt to find 
that Jack Frost still has firm hold of any¬ 
thing that sticks down in the ground more 
than eight inches and the discouraged 
enthusiast returns to the shelter of the 
house with the feeling that this year 
spring never zvill come back. 
The Big Task for March 
M ARCH, however, is but the calm be¬ 
fore the storm. That may seem 
like putting the metaphor the wrong end 
to, but in reality it is not, for April is sure 
to bring a sudden flood of things insistent 
for immediate attention which annually 
swamps an army of unprepared gardeners. 
First of all March is the month to get 
quick results, both actual and potential, 
out of your coldframe. Do not let your¬ 
self off with the statement that you have 
not the time to build or can not afford to 
buy cold frames and sashes. You cannot 
afford to be without them! Here for in¬ 
stance is an outfit which would cost you 
from ten to fifteen dollars, including the 
lumber for the frames, if you are willing 
to contribute personally the work of mak¬ 
ing the frames about which, when you 
once get it started, you will become more 
interested than Tom Sawyer’s friends with 
his whitewashed fence. And I haven’t a 
doubt that some enthusiastic neighbor will 
be dropping in to offer to help you with 
it, or at the very least show you how it 
should be done, before you get the first 
row of posts into the ground. What you 
would require for this standard outfit is 
one "double-light” sash, two sash, and 
three light frames which you can cover 
yourself with “protecting cloth,” which 
can be had from reliable feed houses at 
from nine to twelve cents a yard, accord¬ 
ing to the grade that you get. All these 
sashes are 3x6 feet in size. The frame, 
consequently, will be 18 feet 5 inches long, 
inside measurements, allowing one inch 
for the elbow on the cross bar between 
each two sashes. The frame should be 
about twelve inches high in front and six 
inches in the back; correspondingly 
deeper, of course, if you expect to add soil 
or manure to the inside surface of the 
soil. There should be a light board parti¬ 
tion, such as you could make out of pack¬ 
ing or cracker boxes, between the three 
different kinds of sashes. To support the 
frames, simply drive down two-by-four 
posts firmly at each corner, and about 
every five feet of the length of the frame. 
To cover all cracks between the boards, 
you can tack a layer of old newspapers 
over the outside — you can get a large 
bundle of these for five cents from your 
news-dealer—and bank earth up against 
this at back and front and both ends. Of 
course, the sooner you can get the frame 
Old boxes may readily be converted into 
inexpensive but serviceable flats 
(198) 
made and the sashes in place, the sooner 
the frame will be ready to use; but the re¬ 
turns from this little 6x8 piece of ground 
which can be used for a great variety of 
purposes, should be at least from eighteen 
to thirty dollars through the spring and 
early summer months; and that remember, 
is for one season only, and both frames 
and sashes will last for a great many years 
if you take care of them. One of the 
main uses for it, of course, is to take care 
of the overflow of seedling plants started 
earlier either in the house or hotbed, and 
that are now ready to transplant. Cab¬ 
bage, lettuce, cauliflower and beet plants 
will be safe under the protecting cloth 
frames in an ordinary season, after the 
first of March. Extra early crops of 
lettuce, radishes, beets and carrots may be 
brought forward under the single glass 
sash and those covered with protecting 
cloth, while the glass is used elsewhere 
over more tender vegetables. The single 
glass sash may be utilized as a hotbed at 
this season for such tender things as toma¬ 
toes, peppers and egg-plants started 
therein. Seedlings and the cuttings of 
tender things for the flower garden should 
not be overlooked and the biennials and 
the perennials which may be treated as 
annuals should be included in the early 
plantings. 
Prepare for Outdoor Planting 
F your seed order has not already been 
made out and forwarded, be sure to 
order at once the seeds of such vegetables 
as beets, turnips, radishes, extra early 
peas, and anything else that you will want 
to put in at the first planting, which is now 
not far distant. 
It is surprising what a great number of 
potatoes may be had from even a few 
short rows in the garden where they are 
given very good care in the way of cultiva¬ 
tion and spraying for bugs and blights. 
The latter job is a very easy one if you 
happen to possess one of the small com¬ 
pressed air tank sprayers which have be¬ 
come so popular during recent years. To 
have the earliest and biggest crop of pota¬ 
toes possible, it is necessary to start the 
tubers before planting. To do this pro¬ 
cure a number of ordinary flats, made out 
