60 
House & Garden 
January THE GARDENER’S CALENDAR First Month 
Fenis planted along 
III? greenhouse walk 
will improve its 
appearance 
Narcissus bulbs 
planted in pans and 
forced can be 
brought into bloom 
Keep the red spiders 
and aphis in check 
by s p r a y i n g on 
bright days 
SUNDAY 
MONDAY 
TUESDAY 
WEDNESDAY 
THURSDAY 
FRIDAY 
SATURDAY 
This Calendar 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 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 per¬ 
forming garden orerations. The dates 
given are, of course, for an average 
season. 
That nwht the 
s7iout fell be- 
tivecii six and 
SCl'C7l, 
A little feath¬ 
er}; fall so 
light, so 
dry — 
An aimless dust 
out of a con¬ 
fused heaven. 
Upon an air no 
steadier than 
a sigh. 
^Masefield 
1. Start the 
year right by 
making an in¬ 
ventory of j’our 
garden sup¬ 
plies. Tools, 
fertilizers 
seeds and other 
necessities 
should be list¬ 
ed and orders 
placed early 
where new ones 
are required, 
lie sure your 
list is complete. 
2. Make a 
blue-print of 
your garden 
and lay out 
the crops in 
proper rota¬ 
tion. A plant¬ 
ing plan that 
has been well 
studied out will 
save time and 
space, and cer¬ 
tainly increase 
the yield of the 
garilen the 
coming season. 
3. The .soil 
in the growing 
beds in Mie 
greenhouse 
should be loi.- 
dressed with a 
mixture of 
etjual parts of 
turfy loam and 
sheep manuriL 
This should be 
scratched into 
surface wit h 
rake or claw 
tiien thorougb- 
ly watered. 
4. Itisquite 
safe now to 
lorceany of t he 
bulbous plants 
that have been 
buried long 
enougli to liave 
built up a sub¬ 
stantial rooting 
system. Most 
of these bulb¬ 
ous plants call 
for low tem¬ 
perature and 
plenty of wa¬ 
ter. 
5. Nitrate of 
soda is one of 
the best plant 
invigorators 
that we have. 
It must not be 
used exclusiv(;- 
ly. as it is not 
a balance d 
food: but to 
hasten growth 
and increase 
root action it 
is indispens¬ 
able if used 
properly. 
0. Have you 
ever thought 
serioiLsly of the 
advantages of 
an orchard? 
Don’t reason 
that it takes 
too long to 
grow a produc¬ 
tive orchard— 
if our forefath¬ 
ers had feltr 
that way about 
it, we should be 
thelo.sers. Start 
one this year. 
7. In case of 
severe freezing 
w'eather, don’t 
fail to pile 
plenty of leaves 
on the vege¬ 
table trenches 
to protect them 
from the frost. 
Always keep 
tar-paper over 
the leaves, to 
keep out the 
water. If any 
gets in the frost 
will follow. 
8. The soil 
in the house- 
pi a n t pots 
should be top- 
dressed with 
sheep manure 
or some of the 
regular plant 
foods that 
come for the 
purpose. And 
do not forget 
to sponge the 
foliage fre¬ 
quently with 
insecticide. 
9. Do not 
postpone the 
ordering of 
your garden 
seeds — make 
the order out 
now. If you 
have made the 
proper garden 
notes this will 
beanetusy task. 
Our advice to 
expert, as well 
as beginner is 
to buy tlie best 
quality. 
10. The gar¬ 
den furniture 
should be 
painted while 
it is stored for 
the winter. All 
tools that are 
iett out during 
the growing 
season should 
also be painted. 
This is much 
better than fre¬ 
quently buying 
new ones as 
replacements. 
11. "Why not 
buy some 
houses for the 
birds, those ne- 
ver-tiring 
friends of the 
gardener. 
Rustic ones are 
practical and 
ornamental, 
and there are 
other good 
styles. They 
should be put 
up before 
spring opens. 
12. This is 
the logical time 
to plan a small 
fruit garden 
comprising 
blackberries, 
rasp berries, 
dewberries, 
currants, 
gooseberries 
and strawber¬ 
ries. It may be 
located at one 
side of the gar¬ 
den or entirely 
separated. 
13. Specimen 
trees of all 
kinds can be 
easily trans¬ 
planted if they 
are cut out 
with fair-sized 
balls of earth 
and allowed to 
freeze before 
handling. This 
is a very safe 
m e t li o d of 
handling sub¬ 
jects of this 
class. 
14. The green¬ 
house plants 
must be 
sprayed fre- 
(luently with a 
strong force of 
water to keep 
the red spider 
in check. This 
is one of our 
worst green¬ 
house pests if 
neglected, yet 
the easiest of 
all to keep un¬ 
der control. 
15. h a t 
about the per¬ 
gola j'ou liave 
been consider¬ 
ing so long. 
You might as 
well order the 
arbor and vines 
at the same 
time, which 
m cans n o w^. 
Rear in mind 
that goods will 
be scarce, and 
that orders are 
filled in turn. 
10. Roses and 
carnations 
must be kept 
disbudded if 
you want high 
quality flowers. 
It is important 
that this be at¬ 
tended t o when 
the buds are 
small, in order 
to conserve the 
strength of the 
plants and con¬ 
centrate it in 
the blossoms. 
17. All hardy, 
hard - wooded 
plants such as 
lilacs, wistaria, 
deutzia, etc., 
may now be 
brought into 
t h e w a r m 
greenhouse. 
Keep the wood 
well moistened 
by frequent 
sprayings until 
the buds start 
to open along 
the stems. 
18. The soil 
on top of the 
benches and 
pots in the 
greenhouse 
should be kept 
stirred con¬ 
stantly. Plants 
that are being 
forced suffer 
because of lack 
ol air. the sup¬ 
ply of which 
can be in¬ 
creased by 
cultivation. 
10. Do not 
scrape loose 
bark from trees 
with a scraper; 
it is impossible 
to get into all 
the crevices, 
and much live 
bark is re- 
moved in the 
operation. In 
this way more 
h a r m t h a n 
good will be the 
probable final 
result. 
20. Trees 
that are cover¬ 
ed with moss 
can be easily 
cleaned by 
scrubbing with 
wire brushes, 
or spraying 
with a light so¬ 
lution of caus¬ 
tic soda. Damp 
weather is the 
best time for 
the former 
method of 
treatment. 
21. Rhubarb 
may be grown 
successfully 
under the 
benches in the 
greenhouse, or 
in the cellar of 
the dw^elling. 
Lift good-sized 
clumps from 
the garden and 
plant them in 
light soil, keep¬ 
ing the tops 
dark until the 3 ' 
develop. 
22. Why not 
get tlie manui e 
carted into the 
garden w’hile 
the ground is 
still frozen. 
This is some¬ 
times left until 
spring, a n d 
then the paths 
and borders 
are torn up un¬ 
necessarily by 
tliew’agonsand 
horses going 
back and forth. 
23. Pea brush, 
bean poles, etc., 
maj' be gath¬ 
ered any time 
now and 
stacked away 
for use at the 
proper time. 
Their but.ts 
should be prop¬ 
erly pointed 
with an axe to 
save work later 
on in the sea¬ 
son when time 
presses. 
24. f^eed sow¬ 
ing time will 
soon be here. 
Have you all 
the material 
ready —’»soil 
which has been 
screened, sand, 
stones or brok¬ 
en flower pots 
for drainage, 
moss, boxes, 
seed pans, label 
sticks, etc. If 
not. better get 
them at once. 
25. Destroy 
all caterpillar 
nests on the 
trees. An as¬ 
bestos torch is 
a good tool for 
the work, al- 
t h 0 ti g h o n e 
made of burlap 
and soaked in 
kerosene so as 
to burn will 
answer every 
practical re¬ 
quirement o f 
use. 
20. All edged 
tools should be 
gone over and 
sharpened for 
the coming sea- 
s o n. N e w 
handles should 
be placed in 
tools that re¬ 
quire them, and 
the 1 a w n- 
mowers should 
be overhauled 
while you have 
ample time to 
do it right. 
27. One of 
our finest salad 
vegetables is 
what we call 
chicory or 
French endive. 
From mature 
roots this plant 
is easily forced 
in any warm 
house cellar or 
under the 
benches in the 
greenhouse. It 
yields abund¬ 
antly. 
28. Why not 
order or build 
some forcing 
frames to helj) 
t li e garden 
along this sea¬ 
son. You will 
be surprised to 
find how easily 
they can be 
constructed 
and how’ much 
bettor garden 
you will have 
by using them 
consistent \y. 
29. Now is 
the time to or¬ 
der garden fur¬ 
nishings — a 
settee, an 
arched arbor, a 
sundial or urn. 
Soinewiiere on 
your grounds 
there is a point 
which can be 
made more at¬ 
tractive, more 
interesting by 
adding one of 
these. 
30. C u t 
branchesofany 
of the early 
flowering 
shrubs .such as 
pussy-willow, 
fire bush, gold¬ 
en bell, etc., 
will flower if 
placed in jars 
of water in a 
warm room. A 
little later, 
cherry and ap¬ 
ple can be 
forced. 
31. Prepara¬ 
tion should be 
made to re-pot 
all exotic 
plants, as they 
will soon begin 
active growth. 
U.se plenty of 
drainage in the 
bottom of the 
pot and have 
the soil so that 
it will not bc- 
c o m e sodden 
if over-watered 
by mistake. 
l\/fy daughter Bh'iry she come back from the cheiilatin' tibr'y tas’ .Sat’day with the alt-firedest fool 
IVl hook tcllin' hozv plants are nios’ the same as htinian bcin's. an' think an' feel an' reason like zee 
do. ’Course, 1 don't reelly knozv nothin' about it. but it struck me that durn near ev'rythin' in the 
hook 'Was bunco — the feller that zvrote it 'went too far. On 't'other hand, they ain't no manner o' 
doubt but zvhat there he p'ints 'where zvc're eonsidcrahle tike plants — or them tike us. Take, for in¬ 
stance, the 'way c'Crythin’ stops grozvin' in the 'winter an' kinder takes a rest so’s it can start up fresh 
in the spring. Ain't that jus' about the same as us humans gain’ to steep at night? Ev'rythin’ that 
liz'cs has got to slack up an' take things easy no'w an’ then, else it’d die a blame sight sooner. An' a 
cur’ous thing about it all is that when the plants goes to sleep — I mean them as comes up fresh from 
the same roots year after year — they're coz'cred up jus’ as neat as can be zeith a blanket o’ dead Ica'ves 
an’ the like o’ that. Ain’t that a pretty near human zcay o’ doin'? 
Old Doc Lemmon. 
Flowering plants 
should be removed 
to cooler quarters 
to retard them 
Paint the tree 
trunks with 'white¬ 
wash as a general 
disinfectant 
Succession planting. 
Background, fir st 
crop; foreground, 
second 
Callas need plenty of nourishment and should 
be watered often with liquid manure. This 
is an excellent treatment for many other 
greenhouse plants 
The bottom view of a bo'wl in which a 
bulb is growing. When the roots reach 
this stage the plant may be brought 
into the light for blooming 
Keep the greenhouse 'working—the use of 
shelves will increase its capacity. Cuttings 
of many kinds may be taken now to supply 
plants for next season 
