House and Garden 
groaning under its load. Over-ornamentation is a 
relic of barbarism—one of the tokens of recent advent 
into the world of culture and refinement. And yet so 
prodigal is the output of modern factories and so easy 
acquisition, that possessions accumulate almost, it 
would seem, without personal responsibility. Try 
the effect of a good clearing up and weeding out and 
see if even the den does not become more inviting and 
livable. Try the Japanese method of changing the 
pictures and ornaments from time to time and really 
make friends of them. 
THE GARDEN 
]\/TARCH is very much a month in which to pre- 
pare for gardening. Do not fail to put a 
top dressing on the lawn. The best thing to use 
for this purpose is a pulverized or shredded cow 
ip.anure. 
In sections of the country where the frost is out of 
the ground, it is time to prune, cultivate and fertilize 
the rose hushes. In those sections general gardening 
will he begun this month. 
Many varieties of hyacinths bloom before the 
leaves appear, d his can he avoided by placing a 
tube, made of pasteboard or heavy brown paper, 
around the bulb when it is removed from the cellar 
to the open. Let the tube remain open at the top. 
In latitude of Richmond and further South, and 
in California, vegetable gardens are well under way, 
and second plantings are now in progress. 
In shaded places the giant daisy [Chrysajithemiim 
niaxnnuiii) does well. Sow the seed m March and 
get results the first year. It has dark green foliage, 
large white blooms with yellow centers, and makes an 
attractive plant. If the blooms are removed as they 
begin to fade, this variety will bloom continuously 
during the summer. 
Larkspur is a good hardy perennial of easy culture. 
The colors are of all shades. The Chinese larkspur 
[Delphiuiiwi Chnioisis) is blue, grows about eight¬ 
een inches high, and is m continuous bloom from 
June into August. Russian larkspur {D. grandt- 
florurn, var. album) is equally as desirable as the 
Chinese and usually grows from three to six feet high. 
Sow the seed in March and the plants will bloom 
during the year. They require a good soil and plenty 
of manure and sunshine. If the flowers are removed 
when matured, the plants will bloom a second time 
during the season. 
In arranging for shrubbery have in mind the time 
when the different kinds bloom. For May blooming 
plant almond, honeysuckle, Japan (juince, lilac, 
snowball, spiraea and tree peony; for June flower¬ 
ing get akebia, clematis, dogwood, honeysuckle, 
snowball, spiraea, syringa, weigela and wistaria; 
clethra, clematis, spiraea, elder and honeysuckle 
bloom in July; and for August and September 
bloom althaea, bignonia, clematis, honeysuckle. 
Hydrangea paniculata grandiflora, Desmodium pen- 
dulifolium, and baccharis give good results. The 
flowering on some of these shrubs is succeeded by 
ornamental berries which attract song birds in the fall. 
In the preliminary arrangements for gardening, 
which must be begun in earnest next month, the 
matter of fertilizing must not be overlooked. There 
is no soil but what will produce better results from 
intelligent fertilization. Every crop harvested, 
it matters not the nature of the crop, whether grain 
from the field, flowers from the garden or grass from 
the lawn, a decided percentage of vitality and grow¬ 
ing force is removed from the soil. This must be 
restored by fertilization. To do this it is necessary 
to use a fertilizer or compost which contains the re¬ 
quired chemical properties. The ordinary com¬ 
mercial fertilizer, composed quite or almost wholly of 
chemicals, will induce vegetable growth, but it does 
not supply the soil with the necessary humus, the 
foundation material, which the organic structure of 
the earth demands. 
Preferable to any commercial fertilizer is a well 
decomposed manure or compost. If it is well 
rotted it can be used in drills along with the seed or 
it can he broadcast on the lawn without leaving any 
unsightly covering to be tracked over the walks and 
into the house. 
Better than either the commercial fertilizer or the 
decomposed manure, which is difficult to obtain, is 
what is known as shredded cattle manure. This 
manure is admirably adapted to use in the garden and 
on the lawn. It supplies the necessary humus to the 
soil and is quickly transformed into plant food with 
consequent forced growth. 
Aside from the superiority of shredded cattle 
manure as plant food there are other qualities which 
commend it to the use of gardeners. It is free from 
dirt or refuse, or offensive odor, and is without mois¬ 
ture to increase its weight. It can be handled as 
easily as commercial fertilizers, and used for mulch, 
beds or for potting. When broadcast on the lawn, 
it goes directly to the roots of the grass and results 
show for themselves. 
It is the most natural thing in the world that 
manure in this form should have originated in 
Chicago, Illinois. Natural for the reason that it 
comes as a by-product from the five hundred acre 
brick-paved pens from which more than sixteen mil¬ 
lion animals are annually handled, and the people 
about the Union Stock Yards are given to the habit 
of getting all there is out of their surroundings. If 
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