January, 1917 
47 
January TPIE GARDENER’S KALENDAR First Moi^th 
Grease a 11 
the steel 
tools to pre- 
vent their 
rusting 
14. Look over all 
plants that have been 
protected, and see that 
the protecting material 
has not been matted 
down with snow and 
rains. Shake it up 
again if this seems nec¬ 
essary. 
IS. House plants must 
be sprayed frequently 
enough to keep them 
clean. Also, remove 
about 1" or 2" of the 
top soil and replace 
with a good rich mix¬ 
ture; .top-dress with 
concentrated fertilizer. 
16. All beds in the 
greenhouse where 
plants have been grow¬ 
ing since last fall 
should be top-dressed. 
Roses, carnations, an¬ 
tirrhinums, gardenias, 
etc., all need it. First 
clean all moss from the 
bench. 
21. Why not an irri¬ 
gation system of some 
kind for your garden? 
They are not so very 
expensive, and are the 
only practical method of 
watering. Work out a 
plan now, and get an 
estimate on it. 
22. Keep right on 
forcing the bulbous 
plants in the green¬ 
house. Bulbs should he 
brought in at regular 
intervals so the supply 
of flowers will he con¬ 
tinuous. .Start now the 
late flowering types like 
Larwin tulips. 
23. The supply of bed¬ 
ding plants shouhl be 
looked over carefully. 
If you are short of 
them, start now to prop¬ 
agate things like gera¬ 
niums, coleus, achyran- 
thes and all plants of 
this type. 
28. Very shortly seed 
sowing time will be 
here. You will need 
pans and flats for this 
work, so see that they 
are on hand. Also, 
have crocks for drain¬ 
age, and plenty of char¬ 
coal. 
29. Why don’t you 
take the car and gather 
some pea brush from 
the woods? You can’t 
grow first quality peas 
without brushing; and 
you can also cut some 
dahlia stakes at the 
same time. 
30. Better start gath¬ 
ering manure for the 
hotbed. Old manure is 
of no value for this 
I>uri)ose: you must have 
fresh, live manure in 
order to get the neces¬ 
sary heat to make the 
bed a success. 
17. Keep cutting 
branches of early flow¬ 
ering hardy shrubs and 
forcing them in the 
greenhouse or home. 
Simply plunge in deep 
jars of water such 
things as cydonia, flow¬ 
ering almond and gold¬ 
en bell. 
18. Look over vege¬ 
tables stored in the cel¬ 
lar. Throw out any 
that have started to de¬ 
cay, and while picking 
over the potatoes select 
the smoothest, most 
uniform ones to use for 
seed. 
24. It is perfectly 
safe now to force all 
kinds of hardy, hard- 
wooded forcing plants, 
such as wistaria, lilac, 
deutzia, rhododendron, 
cytisus, flowering al¬ 
mond, forsythia, cy¬ 
donia, etc. 
2S. Consider those 
poor quality fruit trees 
—you can improve them 
by grafting on some 
good stock this spring 
if you gather your 
scions now, bury them 
outdoors, and keep 
them from freezing. 
31. .Sun rises 7:16; 
sun sets 5.T2. 
One of the secrets of 
success with indoor or 
greenhouse plants is to 
keep the fop soil stirred 
frequently, so that fungi 
cannot form. This 
means regular attention. 
For all their beauty, 
ice-storms work more 
harm to the winter 
birds than does mere 
cold. Be sure that the 
feeding stations are 
kept supplied with seeds 
and suet. 
Use a camel's hair 
brush in fertilizing the 
cucumber and tomato 
flowers 
This is the time to 
order potted fruits for 
the greenhouse next 
summer 
Pruning can 
be done dur¬ 
ing g 0 0 d 
weather this 
month 
The days are sick and 
cold, and the skies 
are grey and -old. 
And the twice breathed 
airs bloiv damp, 
—Kipling. 
1. New Year’s Day. 
Sun rises 7:30; sun 
sets 4 ;j 7 . 
Make a double resolu¬ 
tion this day: that you 
will have a better gar¬ 
den this year: and that 
you will not lose inter¬ 
est in it around the 
Fourth of July. 
2. Start planning your , 
garden work. Send for 
seed catalogues, make 
out your seed order, 
make a small - scale 
drawing of your gar¬ 
den, and. try to work 
out a systematic plant¬ 
ing scheme. 
7. After big snow¬ 
storms, particularly wet, 
heavy ones, go around 
and shake the snow off 
your choice evergreens, 
such as rctinosporas, 
juni])ers, thuyas, large 
hedges, etc. This will 
help save breakage. 
8. Go over the garden 
tools and clean them 
thoroughly, greasing the 
steel ones. Look over 
the lawn mower and oil 
it, make a good measur¬ 
ing stick, a drill maker, 
a marker, etc. The tools 
should be hung up. 
9. What about a hot¬ 
bed? You will need 
one next month, and 
this is a good time to 
order the frame and 
sash. Or if you pre¬ 
fer, you can make the 
frame yourself and buy 
only the sash. 
3. Now is the time to 
plan any changes in 
your flower borders or 
perennial garden. These 
can all be worked out 
on paper and the new 
plants ordered at once 
so as to save time in 
the spring, when other 
things must be done. 
10. If you haven’t 
done anything with yoiur 
lawn, you should top- 
dress it now. Scatter 
on some good soil to 
fill all the voids, and 
then some manure; 
don’t believe the theory 
about manure bringing 
weeds. 
4. During winter is a 
good time to scrape the 
moss from the hark of 
trees. There are scrap¬ 
ers made for this pur¬ 
pose, hut during wet, 
foggy weather you can 
do the work with a 
wire brush. 
S. Go over all trees 
and shrubs and burn all 
caterpillar nests; a 
very little flame will 
destroy them now with¬ 
out injuring the trees. 
An old bag wrapped 
tight and soaked in 
kerosene makes a torch. 
11. Insects make this 
a trying time in the 
greenhouse; dark days, 
continued fi're heat, and 
reduced spraying are 
the causes. Keep after 
the pests constantly 
with sprays and fumi¬ 
gants. 
12. This is the proper 
time to overhaul palms, 
ferns and other exot¬ 
ics. They should be 
partially dried off prior 
to potting, so as to 
harden them up. Lise 
good, rich soil when 
potting. 
6. Now is the oppor¬ 
tune time to move that 
large tree you have 
been thinking about. 
Cut out a good sized 
ball of earth, allow it to 
freeze solid, and you 
can move a large tree 
with impunity. 
13. Cucumbers and 
tomatoes in the green¬ 
house should he hand 
fertilized at this sea¬ 
son. A camel's hair 
brush dipped in the 
flowers and transferred 
from one to anotlier 
will answer the purpose. 
Keep all tall 
floicers tied 
up to facili¬ 
tate easy 
and safe 
spraying 
Move trees 
in winter, 
wh e n the 
ground is 
frozen about 
their roots 
19. There should be 
some sort of permanent 
trellis for those crops 
that require supporting, 
such as lima beans, to¬ 
matoes and the cane 
fruits. A good trellis 
looks well, too, from a 
purely decorative stand¬ 
point. 
20. Start feeding the 
plants in the greenhouse 
with liquid manures. 
Covered barrels should 
be used to dissolve the 
manure: start using it 
gradually, and increase 
in strength and fre¬ 
quency of application. 
26. While it may 
seem a little early for 
pruning, there is really 
no good reason why 
you shouldn’t do it if 
the weather is favor¬ 
able, especially in the 
case of hardy fruit 
trees of any type. 
27. This is an excel¬ 
lent time to start a 
crop of melons in the 
greenhouse. Sow the 
seeds in 2" pots, and 
transfer them to 4" 
when well rooted; then 
plant directly into the 
hills outdoors. 
This Kalendar of the 
gardener’s labors is 
aimed as a reminder 
for undertaking all 
his tasks in season. 
It is fitted to the lati¬ 
tude of the Middle 
States, but its service 
should be available for 
the whole country if it 
be remembered that 
for every one hundred 
miles north or south 
there is a difference of 
from five to seven 
days later or earlier in 
performing garden op¬ 
erations. 
Before long 
plans may 
be made for 
maple sugar 
days 
Over¬ 
haul the 
ferns a n d 
cut out the 
0 I d. seedy 
fronds 
Neio trellis¬ 
es can be 
built n 0 w 
w i t h o u t 
h a r m to 
plantings 
