The Flower Garden 
CONDUCTED BY GRACE TABOR 
of The Landscape Gardening Book, The Garden 
Primer, Old-Fashioned Gardening, etc. 
T HE garden should have one big sur¬ 
prise for the month of April, and 
the surprise itself is dependent upon just 
one thing; that is mass. The startled ex¬ 
clamation is absolutely certain if enough 
of any April blooming flower lies suddenly 
spread at one’s feet. Crocuses numbering 
a thousand, pushing up through the sod¬ 
den leaves of the previous summer, and 
scattered seemingly as if they had fallen 
of themselves and taken root haphazard, 
are as delightfully surprising as the sun 
bursting through black and sullen clouds. 
Creeping Phlox is as sweet an amazement 
as the soft airs and the warm glow of the 
summery day following the chill one. 
Somewhere in every garden there is 
space that will admit of such planting 
—a space that can be suf¬ 
ficiently shut off from the 
general view of the gar¬ 
den to ensure the effect 
desired without loss to the 
rest of the garden. 
Choice of Plants 
OME of the plants 
which may be used, 
beside the Crocus and 
Phlox already mentioned, 
are the Jonquils and the 
Daffodils, the grape Hy¬ 
acinth ( Muscari Botry- 
oides), the poppy ane¬ 
mone ( Anemone coro- 
naria ) and the checkered 
Lily ( Fritillana melea- 
Iasi is orkv'oj 
, thee very best plants 'for 
naturalizing that there is. 
The latitude will, of 
course, vary the season of 
blossoming of .anything 
planted, "and Ay-hat .may 
bloom, in April in the lati¬ 
tude of Hew York may 
not do so until May far¬ 
ther north. Generally 
speaking, however, the flowers that have 
been named will be on time. The spring 
snowflake ( Leucojum vernum ) may be a 
little early, and likewise the dog’s tooth 
violet ( Erythronium Americanum ), but 
this must not be counted against them. 
The yellow bird’s eye ( Adonis Amurensis) 
is an April flower that is not a bulb, as 
most of those named are; so is the blood- 
root ( Sanguinaria Canadensis), which 
prefers a place like the woods, with rich 
earth and shade. 
It is not so much a matter of what is 
used, however; any one of these or any 
other April blooming plant will be satisfac¬ 
tory, provided a great colony of them is 
established—enough to make them the 
dominant thing of their particular locality. 
Whatever space is given up to them should 
be filled completely, and with the one kind 
selected— not with two or several kinds. 
The Earth and the Seed 
HIS is, of course, the planting month ; 
and everyone is busy planting some¬ 
thing. Ground where seeds are to be sown 
must be very carefully made ready for 
them, and the annual spading is essential 
if the seeds are to have half a chance for 
their lives. If you will try to push a straw 
into the ground you will realize as never 
before, I think, the immense energy re¬ 
quired to push the plant roots through it. 
Mellow and soft and yielding the earth 
must be, especially for the small seeds. Dig 
it up to a depth of a foot and turn over the 
clods and hammer them to pieces with the 
spade; then rake it and get out the coarse 
stones and the lumps that will not break 
apart. If it is heavy and stiff, stir lime 
through it, with some sand or sifted coal 
ashes to lighten it. Sandy and dry soil on 
the other hand, will need humus added; 
that is, organic matter, capable of holding 
moisture. Manure well broken down and 
rotted will furnish this; or old sod scrap¬ 
ings, the tiny fibers of grass roots min¬ 
gled with the earth in which they grew 
which the under part of sods will yield, if 
shaken or scraped. 
Make up your mind that you cannot 
have it too fine and soft, no matter how big 
and sturdy the seeds are which you are to 
sow; but if it is very light and powdery, 
press it together after all the raking is fin¬ 
ished, by rolling it or by spanking it with 
the flat of the spade. For its tiny particles 
must be close enough together to let the 
moisture pass through it readily by means 
of the capillary attraction, and to prevent 
the presence of too much air about the 
roots. Then too, they must be close 
against the roots as these grow—for it is 
from these particles that the roots draw in 
through their soft walls the 
plant food in solution—in 
quantities so minute that 
they are quite beneath our 
conception, and yet in enor¬ 
mous quantities, taken in 
the aggregate. So the 
earth must be dense enough 
to lie close to the roots on 
every side, without press¬ 
ing them or offering too 
great resistance. 
Do not cover seeds with 
too much earth. Remem¬ 
ber what they must do— 
and that their strength is 
puny after all. Protection 
from sun and rain and tem¬ 
perature changes they must 
have, of course; but more 
than this means just so 
much extra work for the 
little plant as it makes its 
way to the surface. Never 
cover the seeds with more 
than four times their own 
diameter; usually three 
times is quite enough, and 
even less is not too little, if 
the conditions are all fa¬ 
vorable to quick germination. An even 
degree of moisture is necessary; therefore 
the greater depth is the best, unless you 
have them where they can be watched 
closely and watered promptly to prevent 
drying out. 
Keep the earth evenly moist, but not 
wet. More seeds are drowned annually 
than die of thirst in several seasons, 
through mistaken zeal in watering. The 
ideal condition is indicated by soil that 
will gently crumble apart after being 
squeezed in the hand. There is more 
water present than one would suppose. 
A well arranged flower garden where space given up to one variety is filled with 
it in profusion, excluding all other kinds 
( 3 ° 2 ) 
