March, 1917 
51 
SATURDAY FRIDAY THURSDAY WEDNESDAY TUESDAY MONDAY SUNDAY 
All nature seems at 
work. Slugs leave 
their lair — 
The bees are stirring — 
birds are on the 
wing —■ 
And Winter, slumber¬ 
ing in the open air. 
Wears on his smiling 
face a dream of 
Spring! 
And I, the while, the 
sole unbusy thing, 
Nor honey make, nor 
pair, nor build, nor 
sing. —Coleridge. 
4. Inauguration Day. 
Propagate in the 
greenhouse or heated 
trames all kinds of bed¬ 
ding plants such as 
geranium, coleus, achy- 
ranthus, alternanthera; 
also flowering plants 
such as Stevia, agera- 
tum, lantana, etc. 
11. It is perfectly 
safe now to finish up 
pruning of all kinds on 
roses, hydrangeas, fruit 
trees, foliage shrubs, 
etc. The one exception 
is spring- flowering 
shrubs such as lilac or 
spirea, which should be 
pruned after flowering. 
18. Grover Cleveland 
born, 1837. 
Start digging under 
the mulch on rose beds, 
shrubbery borders, etc. 
In doing this you may 
cut a few roots, but no 
harm will result. Get 
the manure well under 
the surface. 
25. This is the time 
to start propagating 
chrysanthemums. Put a 
large quantity in at one 
time, root the cuttings 
in sharp sand, and 
grow them cool. Seeds 
of the single types can 
be sown now and will 
flower this season. 
S. Boston Massacre, 
1770. 
Make a practice of 
planting everything just 
as soon as it is received 
from the nursery, and 
do not let anything you 
are transplanting 1 i e 
around exposed to the 
drying winds. 
12. When pruning, 
always make a practice 
of cutting clean. Do 
not under any circum¬ 
stances split the ends 
of the shoots you sever, 
and do not leave any 
stubs or shoulders be¬ 
hind; these always rot 
back and cause trouble. 
19. Rake the mulch 
from lawns with a 
wooden rake, which, 
however, will take up 
only the coarse litter. 
Dig up and sow any 
bare spots and make 
arrangements to roll 
the lawn just as soon 
as the frost is out of 
the ground. 
26. Roses of all 
kinds delight in heavy 
pruning. Do not be 
afraid to cut your flow¬ 
ering roses, leaving two 
or three eyes of the 
new wood. Tea roses 
do not need quite such 
harsh pruning; climbing 
roses can be pruned 
after flowering. 
27. The asparagus bed 
needs attention. The 
manure mulch applied 
last fall should be dug 
under, with especial 
care to get it in deep. 
If the shoots were short 
last spring, hill up the 
earth over the row to 
give the desired length. 
This Kalendar of the 
gardener’s labors is 
aimed as a reminder 
for undertaking a 1 1 
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. 
6. Planting of decid¬ 
uous trees and shrubs 
should be attended to 
at an early date. Dig 
liberal sized holes, use 
plenty of good manure, 
firm the plants well with 
a tamp or your feet, 
and water well when 
growth begins. 
13. Perennials of all 
kinds should be planted 
now. Early planting 
means an early start, 
for the plants should 
come along with the 
weather. Late planting, 
on the other hand, 
means checked growth 
and ordinary results. 
20. This is an excel¬ 
lent time to sow grass 
seed. New lawns should 
be prepared by good, 
deep plowing, and small 
ones dug by hand. 
When graded, sow 
down, using plentv of 
best quality seed. Cheap 
mixtures contain weeds. 
7. Why not graft 
some desirable stock on 
your old fruit trees? 
This is an excellent 
time to get some good 
stock. Take strong, 
clean wood and label 
and bury it out-of-doors 
until the proper time 
for grafting arrives. 
14. Most perennials 
should be divided every 
three or four years. If 
this is not done they 
get root- bound and 
cease flowering profuse¬ 
ly. Dig the roots up 
and divide into four 
parts with a sharp 
spade. 
21. First day of 
spring. 
The litter can l^c re¬ 
moved from the straw¬ 
berries and the winter 
mulch of manure should 
l)e dug under. It is 
also a good practice to 
top-dress the bed with 
bone meal, dug under 
with the manure. 
28. Remove the mulch 
from bulb beds, a task 
which must be done 
carefully, as you will 
usually find the bulbs 
started and it is an easy 
matter to break the 
young shoots. A manure 
fork is the best tool to 
use for this work. 
1 . Sun rises, 6:39; 
sun sets, 5:49. 
Hotbeds should be 
started now if you 
want a lirst-class gar¬ 
den. A few sash and 
a load of fresh manure 
are all you need. 
8. Do not neglect to 
go over all trees and 
shrubs carefully and 
burn or destroy all co¬ 
coons and caterpillar 
webs. They are visible 
now and no harm is 
done by burning the 
webs with a rag torch 
soaked in kerosene. 
15. Andrew Jackson 
born, 1767. 
Spray now for scale. 
Select good dry weath¬ 
er and be sure to cover 
every portion of the 
bark. If it rains with¬ 
in twenty-four hours 
after applying the solu¬ 
tion, spray again. 
22. Be sure and get 
pea brush before the 
foliage comes out The 
best peas are tall grow¬ 
ers and require staking. 
You can usually get 
some natural dahlia 
stakes ai the same time, 
which will also answer 
for other tall dowers. 
29. Start removing 
protection irom tender 
plants such as ever¬ 
greens of all types, very 
tender tea roses, etc. 
Select dull, cloudy 
weather for this work, 
as the evergreens are 
liable to sun-scald if the 
day is really bright. 
2. Sow in the hot- 
bed or greenhouse: 
cabbage, cauliflower, 
celery, lettuce, toma¬ 
toes, egg-plant, peppers, 
leek, onions and pars¬ 
ley. These seedlings 
must he transplanted 
about 2" or 3" apart 
when large enough to 
handle. 
9. Why not plan 
some use for your 
greenhouse during 
summer? Some chry¬ 
santhemums, summer 
flowering bulbs, deco¬ 
rative plants for the 
house, or a crop of 
melons, can be started 
now and followed up 
by successional sowings. 
16. Rhubarb, aspara¬ 
gus and horseradish 
roots can be set out 
now. Permanent root 
crops of this kind must 
have a rich, well pre¬ 
pared bed if you e.xpect 
to get results that are 
up to the proper stand¬ 
ard of e.xcellence. 
•23. Start drying off 
in the greenhouse the 
winter flowering bul¬ 
bous plants such as calla 
lilies, oxalis, cyclamen, 
etc. Save the spent 
bulbs of hyacinths, nar¬ 
cissus, etc., for plant¬ 
ing out, though they 
won’t amount to much 
the first season. 
30. The garden 
should be made ready 
now; plowing or good, 
deep hand digging are 
the usual customs. L^se 
plenty of manure and 
get it down deep to at¬ 
tract the roots down¬ 
ward where they will 
be out of the way of 
droughts. 
3. For early flowers 
sow now in greenhouse 
or hotbed: asters, age- 
ratum, balsam, begonia, 
calendula, carnation, 
celosia, chrysanthemum, 
Clarkia, larkspur, lava- 
teria, pansy, lobelia, 
petunia, salpiglossis, 
scabiosa, etc. 
10. Next to a green¬ 
house or hotbed, cold- 
frames are the greatest 
help to a successful 
garden, and they are 
useful throughout the 
year. By protecting with 
mats you can now sow 
early vegetables and 
flowers in a cold-frame. 
17. St. Patrick’s Day. 
If you have no small 
fruits in your garden, 
you can order them now 
and set out just as soon 
as they come. Raspber¬ 
ries, blackberries, cur¬ 
rants, gooseberries and 
strawberries are good 
sorts to have. 
24. Longfellow died, 
1882. Go over all vines, 
prune those that require 
it, remove all thin, 
weak shoots, and tie up 
the shoots you wish to 
save. Early flowering 
wistarias, etc., can be 
pruned after flowering. 
31. Start rooting 
dahlia cuttings by lay¬ 
ing the bulbs in a frame 
and covering with ashes 
or sand. The cuttings can 
be rooted in the house 
or out-of-doors, if you 
protect them at night. 
Work up a good stock 
of your best varieties. 
March 
THE GARDENER’S KALENDAR 
Third Month 
About every 
third year 
gooseberries 
should have 
a hard prun¬ 
ing to pro¬ 
duce good 
wood 
If you have 
not already 
done so, 
start sowing 
early things 
under glass 
Pick your 
greenhouse 
beans when 
they are 
young au d 
succulent 
V e get able 
see dlings 
should be 
dibbled off 
into a flat 
or col d- 
frame 
Label seed¬ 
lings care¬ 
fully a 11 d 
keep the 
surface of 
the soil 
loose 
When trans- 
p I a n ting 
trees, get as 
much of the 
root system 
as possible 
Look over 
the young 
see dlings 
and small 
plants for 
insect pests 
A rag soaked in kero¬ 
sene makes a good torch 
for caterpillar nests 
Some perennials, like 
achillea and pyrethrum. 
can be divided by hand 
