February, 1916 
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In the Julian Calendar, 
established by Julius Cae¬ 
sar, the average solar year 
was fixed at 36514 days. 
This stood until Pope 
Gregory XIII, in 1582, 
decreed that the ordinary 
calendar year should con¬ 
tain 365 days, and that 
every fourth year should 
consist of 366. Thus in 
the Gregorian Calendar the 
odd quarters are combined 
at Leap-Year in the extra 
day that is added to Febru¬ 
ary, and a standard is es¬ 
tablished for all time. 
1. Sun rises 7:12. Sun 
sets 5:16. Lat. of New 
York. 
It is now time to turn 
our attention to the out¬ 
side gardens and grounds; 
early planning and an 
early start mean better re¬ 
sults and the establishing 
of a much higher stand¬ 
ard. 
2. Candlemas Day. 
Watch the ground hog! 
Seeds for the garden should 
be ordered; go over the 
catalogs very carefully and 
make an effort to have 
your list complete, and 
bear in mind cheap seeds 
are poor economy. 
3. French Globe Arti¬ 
chokes started in the green¬ 
house now, will produce 
fruiting heads this sea¬ 
son; grow these plants in 
pots and keep them mov¬ 
ing briskly. 
4. With the aid of a 
greenhouse, most of our 
annual flowers are great¬ 
ly improved by sowing now 
such as fibrous begonias, 
ageratum, heliotrope, lo¬ 
belia, celosia, petunia, sal¬ 
vias, etc. 
5. Lacking a greenhouse 
to start the young seed¬ 
lings, we should prepare 
a hotbed, use plenty of 
good live manure; and 
this is the proper time to 
start operations. 
6. Fifth Sunday after 
Epiphany. Place about 1" 
of drainage in the bottom 
of the seed pans when 
sowing seed; sour, wet, 
poorly drained soil causes 
more losses in seedlings 
than all other causes com¬ 
bined. 
7. Charles Dickens born, 
1812. 
If you want real high 
quality sweet peas this 
summer sow the seeds 
now. Use 4" pots for this 
purpose, and after the 
seeds have germinated 
place in a cool frame. 
8. Palms, ferns and 
stove plants should have 
a thorough overhauling; 
repot those that require it 
and top dress the pots of 
others; these plants start 
a very active growth at this 
season. 
9. A mulch of good, 
well rotted manure and 
good turfy loam mixed in 
equal portions and ap¬ 
plied to the benches in the 
greenhouse will improve 
the roses, carnations, to¬ 
matoes, etc. 
10. It is a good plan to 
have the manure for the 
various gardens carted to 
same while the ground is 
still frozen; this will save 
a lot of damage from the 
wheels cutting. 
11. Thomas A. Edison 
born, 1847. 
If you want celery of 
quality for your table next 
July sow the seeds now; 
when large enough to 
handle dibble the seedlings 
into boxes. 
12. Abraham Lincoln 
born, 1809. 
Onions sown now will 
produce wonderful large 
tubers, very mild in flavor 
and equaling the finest 
Bermudas; handle the 
same as celery. 
13. Sixth Sunday after 
Epiphany. 
Stock planted of the 
various types of bedding 
plants such as geranium, 
coleus, etc., should be kept 
growing and pinched fre¬ 
quently so there will be 
plenty of cuttings next 
month. 
14. St. Valentine’s Day. 
If you want good sized 
pot plants for next winter, 
sow cyclamen and all the 
various types of primula 
now. Keep the young 
plants in good condition 
and growing briskly. 
15. Battleship Maine de¬ 
stroyed, 1898. 
The mulch applied to 
all kinds of tender plants 
becomes matted and loses 
part of its value; a good 
shaking up of the mulch 
will improve it consider¬ 
ably. 
16. With a greenhouse 
or hotbed to start them in 
there are a number of per¬ 
ennials which, if started 
now, will flower this sea¬ 
son ; examples are colum¬ 
bine, Shasta daisy, lark¬ 
spur, single hollyhocks, etc. 
17. This is an excellent 
time to go around and 
burn all caterpillars’ nests; 
a torch made of an old 
bag wrapped tight on a 
pole and soaked in kero¬ 
sene is all that is required. 
18. Full moon. 
The sash for the cold- 
frames should be over¬ 
hauled ; any broken glass 
should be replaced, and if 
you can spare the time, 
give them a coat of paint. 
19. When pruning flow¬ 
ering shrubs, cut only 
those that flower on ter¬ 
minal growth, such as 
roses, hydrangeas, bac- 
charis, etc. All others 
should be pruned after 
flowering. 
20. Septuagesima. 
All sorts of early flow¬ 
ering shrubs and trees 
such as golden bell, 
pussy willow, Japan 
quince, apples, peaches, 
etc., if cut and placed in 
water in the greenhouse or 
home will flower profusely. 
21. Bay trees and hy¬ 
drangeas in tubs should 
have some attention; those 
that require it should be 
retubbed; others should 
have all loose soil on top 
removed and replaced with 
a good rich mixture. 
22. George Washington 
born, 1732. 
Canna roots should be 
placed on the benches in 
the greenhouse; cover the 
roots with sand or ashes; 
they soon make roots and 
can be split up and potted. 
23. All ornamental foli¬ 
age trees and shrubs with 
the exception of the maple 
can be pruned now. On 
wet, foggy days remove the 
moss on the bark, using a 
wire brush for this pur¬ 
pose. 
24. This is a good time 
to start a good big batch 
of chrysanthemum cut¬ 
tings; make the cuttings 
short and keep them well 
watered until they root. 
25. Spraying material 
should be ordered; look 
over the spray pump; 
have everything in readi¬ 
ness, in fact. You can 
spray now for San Jose 
scale and other bark in¬ 
sects. 
26. The English kidney 
potato is a very fine veg¬ 
etable and deserves more 
attention; it forces well 
and can be planted in 
frames now, in which case 
it will be ready in June. 
27. Sexagesima. 
Lawns should have some 
attention now. If they 
were mulched last fall, this 
can be now raked up; use 
a wooden rake. Burn old 
lawns as the first step 
towards putting them in 
order. 
28. Seeds of nearly all 
vegetables that it is prac¬ 
tical to sow indoors can 
be sown now, in the green¬ 
house or hotbed. Lettuce, 
egg plant, peppers, cab¬ 
bage, cauliflowers and to¬ 
matoes are all timely. 
29. Sun rises 6:37 A.M. 
Sun sets 5:50 P.M. 
This is an excellent time 
to start pruning fruit trees. 
Prune young stock hard; 
trees that have reached the 
fruiting stage, prune very 
moderately. 
This Kalendar of the 
gardener’s labors is 
aimed as a reminder for 
undertaking all his tasks 
in season. It is fitted to 
the latitude of the Mid¬ 
dle States, but its serv¬ 
ice 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 per¬ 
forming of garden and 
farm operations. 
* 
Who watched the worn out Winter die? 
Who, peering through the dripping pane 
At Nightfall, under sleet and rain, 
Saw the old greybeard totter by? 
Henry Van Dyke 
As the days begin to lengthen 
The cold begins to strengthen. 
The distance from the earth to the moon 
varies from 221.000 to 253,000 miles, or about 
1/417 as far as from the earth to the sun. 
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