The Editor will be glad to anszver subscribers’ queries pertaining to in dividual problems connected with the garden and grounds. When a direct 
personal reply is desired please enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. 
December 
M ERRY Christmas! With this Holi¬ 
day season, when we ought to find 
a little spare time from the regular rou¬ 
tine of work, let us do a little planning 
for better gardens, better grounds, better 
homes. There is a lesson about this whole 
Christmas business which we planters 
should take to heart. To that much 
puzzling (and puzzled) person, the ulti¬ 
mate consumer, Christmas and all that 
goes with it seems to appear with annual 
suddenness and spontaniety. All at once 
more lights are turned on, the shop win¬ 
dows are filled, and it’s here again! He 
does not see the more than a year’s care¬ 
ful work back of that beautiful cyclamen 
in the florist’s glass front; even the run¬ 
about toy on the sidewalk, and the maga¬ 
zine in his pocket, were clicking through 
the machine shop and the typewriter 
months before Christmas could be found 
on the calendar. And so it is with 
spring and the flowers and the vegetables: 
to achieve the greatest success you must 
begin early — start planning even now. 
And while we're speaking of Christ¬ 
mas, why not give a few Hiring presents ? 
Why not plants for gifts? Not some bulb 
that has been forced at the florist's, and 
is in the last stages of blooming, but 
something that will grow and be a joy for 
weeks, if not years. There are many 
beautiful flowering plants which will 
stand house culture, and a number of the 
foliage ones. For instance, among the 
former, a “pan" of callas, or one of the 
flowering begonias —Begonia rex, for in¬ 
stance, and several of the ferns. 
Then there is the Christmas tree. 
Why a dead one? You don't have to 
have one so large that it is necessary to 
take out the front windows and make a 
hole in the ceiling in order to get it into 
place. A very small one will do just as 
well, and be less dangerous. And in ad¬ 
dition, you can have it alive. Put it in 
a small tub or keg, and after the holidays 
keep it in a cold place. It will not need 
water more than two or three times be¬ 
fore spring; and then set it out in some 
spot it will beautify permanently. Visit 
the nursery, not the grocer’s, for your 
tree this year. 
Is It Worth While 
AST night I stood and watched the 
sun sink down through long, 
streaky black clouds beyond a desolate 
landscape. Leafless trees and lifeless 
weeds bent before the north wind. It 
looked pretty cheerless. Yet summer was 
still there, inside the eighth of an inch 
of glass that separated me from the out¬ 
side gloom. The first carnation was 
open, and the first head of lettuce was at 
least two weeks ahead of schedule time. 
The greenhouse was built cheaply — 
"home-made.” i know there are scores 
of House & Garden readers who would 
have some sort of a glass house if they 
but realized how readily one can be made, 
and how much pleasure it would afford. 
Wouldn't you enjoy such a sunshine shop 
to work in? Wouldn't the other mem¬ 
bers of your family? Then why not get 
together and decide to do it. Start a 
"building fund" for it now, and this time 
next year will see it a reality. Begin 
by getting a sash or two this spring, if 
nothing more, just to ,>tart the ball roll¬ 
ing. You will be surprised to see how 
readily it can be accomplished, if you 
once decide to do it. And until you do 
decide you are certainly losing one of the 
greatest, if not indeed the greatest, op¬ 
portunity for sun-and-soil enjoyment that 
being free from the city offers you. De¬ 
cide. 
Don’t forget to send for catalogues, 
and to make a real plan of your flower 
and vegetable garden before January first. 
We nominate the partridge vine as a red- 
berried plant for Christmas cheer. It will 
last a long time after holly and poinsettia 
have gone 
Things to Do Now 
HIS month and next the seedsmen 
will be getting out their catalogues 
for next year. Why not take time now, 
and send a few postcards. It's got to be 
done anyway, and the sooner you get them 
the more you can study them—and it will 
pay. The farther ahead you can plan, the 
better. There was an illustration of that 
in my mail to-day. One subscriber writes 
asking what can be done to prevent scab 
on potatoes—information which cannot 
be put into use until next spring, but when 
the time comes, she will know. Another 
wants to know about taking in geraniums 
for winter blooming—and there is a good 
chance of the frost's getting them before 
a reply can reach him. Plan ahead. 
In the Vegetable Garden 
r I ' I I ERE is nothing to do, except lightly 
covering spinach, onions or other 
crops planted in September to be win¬ 
tered, or stored in trenches, like celery, 
and taking up any roots, such as par¬ 
snips, that have been left. But there’s a 
good deal to do for the garden. In the 
first place, plan it—next month you’ll 
have to think about starting seeds. In the 
second place, get everything you can any¬ 
where for fertilizer -— old lime, muck 
leaves,, refuse heaps of any sort. Put 
them on the ground in a pile, if there’s 
no place to store them. You will be as¬ 
tonished at the quality of soil you’ll get 
from that pile next year. 
For the Flower Garden 
T HE same advice may be given for 
this as for the vegetable garden. 
Unless your roses are in a very sheltered 
place, they will be better off for some pro¬ 
tection, and if that has not already been 
attended to, do it now. Cut back to 
within eighteen inches or two feet of the 
ground, and cover around the roots with 
dry, fine manure, three to five inches deep. 
Then after the first severe freezings, cov¬ 
er the entire bed with litter of some sort. 
Nothing is better than dry leaves, held in 
place by a few boughs, or a little bog hay 
and a few boards. As a rule the ramblers 
will not need protection. 
