March, 1911 
HOUSE AND GARDEN 
175 
ity to begin the garden work. But in 
planning for that, do not neglect the things 
that are pressing now—the preparations 
under cover. All the first batches of seed¬ 
lings, cabbage, cauliflower, beets, etc., put 
in last month, will be requiring transplant¬ 
ing the first part of this month. They will 
be ready for the shift shortly after the sec¬ 
ond or true leaves are found, and before 
they begin to crowd or grow lanky and 
droop. Unless you expect to transplant 
them directly into the soil in coldframes 
or hotbeds, used “flats” such as described 
for the sowing of seed, only a little deeper 
—say about four inches. The bottoms 
should not be water-tight, but drainage 
will not be so much needed as in the seed- 
flats. Such a flat will hold from 35 to 104 
seedlings, according to the space given. 
The fewer the number, the better plants 
they will make. Fill these boxes about 
one-third full of well rotted manure, 
such as described above, and then level off 
to the top with good loam, which should 
be put through a quarter-inch or half-inch 
sieve if at all lumpy or soddy. Do not 
have this soil too fine, or it will pack and 
exclude the air which is just as necessary 
to healthy growth of the little plants as 
water is. Now take out the little plants and 
separate them carefully. Don’t attempt 
to pull them from the soil, but lift out a 
little lump at a time, soil and all, and pull 
them apart. Make a hole with the fore¬ 
finger of one hand, and holding the seed¬ 
ling between the thumb and forefinger of 
the other, lower half its length into the 
soil. Then with the tips of both thumbs 
and forefingers firm it into position. The 
little newly set plants should stand up stiff 
and stocky. A rap with the palm of the 
hand on "the side of the box will shake 
down the little mountains about the stems 
into the valleys. Then water thoroughly, 
and set where they may be shaded for 
from two to four days. As soon as the 
soil begins to dry out, give a second 
thorough watering, but do not let the soil 
become muddy at any time. On bright 
days always try to water them early in 
the morning, so that the stems and leaves 
may be dried off by night. This may save 
you the loss of hundreds of plants from 
the dreaded “damping off,” or rotting of 
the tiny stems. 
As the days get longer and the sun 
higher, the matter of watering and es¬ 
pecially of airing must become a daily one, 
for upon the care and regularity with 
which the newly transplanted flats are 
looked after will depend entirely the qual¬ 
ity of the plants that go into your garden, 
and of the vegetables that come out of 
it. 
Don’t be afraid to give them air. 
Don’t coddle your plants in a tight 
frame or wait to give them ventilation un¬ 
til the atmosphere inside is too hot. Such 
treatment is weakening and makes the lit¬ 
tle plants' unable to resist the severe tem- 
eprature changes of the garden. Seed¬ 
lings are much like young children; they 
require close attention, especially in the 
early stages of their career. 
How I Made My Poplar Hedge 
A NEIGHBOR of mine has a very 
handsome Poplar hedge that makes 
a perfect screen of green at the back of 
his house, and last spring when trimming 
it he advised me to take some of the pieces 
he cut off and put them into the ground 
to root. With many misgivings I gath¬ 
ered about seventy-five large and small 
pieces, and put them in the ground cover¬ 
ing all but a little from the tops. By fall 
I had forgotten all about them until my 
neighbor inquired about them. Expecting 
A well-grown poplar hedge started from 
random cuttings. Leave but a little above 
ground and in six months roots as vigorous 
as those shown above will have appeared 
to find nothing but dried-up sticks we 
went to inspect and what was my surprise 
to find that fully fifty of the seventy-five 
were beautifully rooted. Some of them 
had roots at every joint from the bottom 
to the top. My only regret now is that I 
did not make this attempt before. 
Mrs. Arthur Duffy 
The Grounds 
A BOUT the grounds there is not much 
to do in the first part of March, 
except such work as may have been left 
over from last month. As soon as the 
ground has thawed and dried out a lit¬ 
tle, the lawns should be gone over care¬ 
fully with an iron rake, before the new 
growth of grass shoots up, and if possible 
a light mulch of finely pulverized rotten 
manure, so old as to have no disagreeable 
odor, applied. The first few rains will 
wash it almost entirely away, and the grass 
be greatly benefited. In lieu of this, chemi¬ 
cal lawn-dressing, or any good fertilizer 
may be applied-better in several very 
light applications a week or ten days 
apart than in one heavy one. A well kept, 
smooth green lawn is one of the most 
beautiful features a place can have — and 
one not often seen. 
As soon as the ground loses it surplus 
of moisture roll it well with a heavy lawn 
roller. Frequently the top soil has been 
heaved up by the frost so that the grass 
roots are pulled away from the earth un¬ 
derneath and consequently they are liable 
to die out very quickly. Roll the lawn 
back and forth in one direction and then 
again at right angles. 
“Hardening Off’’ 
A LL your early plants should be so 
well hardened as to be capable of 
withstanding a severe freeze. 
For a week before you are ready to set 
them out, begin to harden them off, by 
leaving them exposed to all but severe 
freezing weather. If you should get 
caught by a sudden freeze, and go out 
some morning to find your cabbage and 
lettuce brittle as plants made of glass, 
don’t either give them up for lost, or take 
out a can of warm water to thaw them 
out. In the first place, keep them shaded 
from the sun; in the second, water copi¬ 
ously with the coldest water to be had. 
With this treatment they will come safely 
out of a pretty severe freeze. 
If you are crowded for room, take out 
of your frames the boxes of earliest and 
hardiest plants and set them on the south 
side of the frames or of a sheltering build¬ 
ing, with a board set up endwise outside 
of them and a few supports or old sash 
frames over them. On freezing nights 
they can be covered with old bags or rugs, 
and will withstand a low temperature. 
In the Flower Garden 
F course, all the foregoing applies to 
the flower garden as well as to the 
vegetable patch; small pots, however, in¬ 
stead of boxes, will be required for many 
of the tenderer plants to get good speci¬ 
mens ready for the border. Remember that 
pots will dry out more readily than boxes, 
and must be watched more carefully, es¬ 
pecially when they are of the small sizes. 
Have you ever tried tuberous-rooted be¬ 
gonias? They should be much better 
known, and if you had none last year 
try a few this Spring. The bulbs are very 
reasonable in price, especially if you will 
remember they last many years. You can 
start them easily yourself—even without 
frames, if you have none. Pot up, first in 
pots very little larger than the bulbs them¬ 
selves, using a light, rich sandy compost. 
Give a thorough soaking, and then be care¬ 
ful never to let the little pots get dry 
enough to bake, as they will quickly in 
the sun. As soon as the roots have formed 
a network on the outside of the ball, shift 
to a size larger, and repeat as often as nec¬ 
essary, making the soil richer until it is 
about half old, thoroughly rotted manure. 
The plants will attain great size, easily 
filling five- and six-inch pots, and the pro¬ 
fusion of color, and variety and beauty of 
bloom are wonderful. The plants do 
splendidly for bedding out. 
