Mr. Hall will gladly answer queries pertaining to individual problems connected with the garden and grounds. When an immediate reply is desired, 
please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope 
P ERENNIALS which are now being grown in boxes 
from the seed should, by the 15th of the month, be 
planted in the garden where they are to bloom. Protect 
them in the winter with a light covering of straw or 
manure; that will keep them from being affected by sudden 
changes of the weather. 
No ironclad rule can be made as to when and how to 
prune shrubs. In a general way such as bloom before 
midsummer produce flowers on wood grown the previous 
year, and these should be pruned immediately after flower¬ 
ing, as to prune them in the spring would be to cut away 
the wood which would produce blooms. Such as bloom 
after midsummer can be pruned in the spring as they pro¬ 
duce flowers on wood made the same season. All pruning 
that is essential to shrubs is such as is necessary to keep 
the plants in symmetrical shape and to admit unobstructed 
circulation of air and sunshine. 
In the border or among shrubs there can be no more 
attractive flower than the Larkspur ( Delphinium ). There 
is both the annual and perennial, and the shades 
of flower bloom are almost numberless, including light, 
dark, and azure-blue, white, buff, rose, apple-bloom, pink, 
brick-red, red-lilac, dark-lilac, violet and fawn. The seed 
of either the annual or perennial should be sown now in 
the open. Germination will take place early in the spring 
and remarkably early growth and bloom will be secured. 
It is almost difficult to go wrong in the selection of a variety 
— that should be left to the individual preference of colors 
and whether single, semi-double or double blooms are 
desired. A bed of larkspur is strikingly effective in almost 
any garden. It makes a good cut flower, and the plants 
will bloom almost continually if the blooms are removed 
as they fade. 
When massed in beds or borders peonies are at their 
best. This is, however, open to some objection as they 
are in bloom for only a month. If used in connection with 
other plants, such as asters, gladioli, late-booming cosmos, 
or lilies, perhaps more satisfaction would be had. Despite 
the short season of bloom the foliage of the peony remains 
vigorous and green during the summer and fall months. 
After the blooming season is over work into the soil about 
the roots of each plant a handful or so of pulverized sheep 
manure. After the ground is well frosted apply a mulch 
of stable manure of five or six inches thickness and let it 
remain until spring. That will prevent the alternate 
freezing and thawing of the ground near the roots. It is 
the freezing and thawing, and not the freezing itself, that 
damages or destroys the plants. In the spring when the 
mulch is removed work into the ground another application 
of pulverized sheep manure. Pulverized sheep manure is 
best, as no other fertilizer appears to contain all the requisite 
essentials to produce such luxurious and bounteous growth. 
T his will doubtless prove one of the most trying months 
of the year on the lawn. To keep it at all decent looking 
frequent use of the hose will in all probability be necessary. 
In using the hose do not simply sprinkle, but wet the sod. 
It is a mooted question as to whether mere sprinkling does 
The Japanese barberry makes a handsome hedge, but it is not 
so desirable as the privet 
(106) 
