74 
House & Garden 
mm 
m * 
N OTHING can compare with my 
garden! It is my delight—and the 
envy of my neighbors. 
Yet how easily they, too, could have 
a lawn and garden like mine, and how 
many happy hours they could spend as 
I do with my flowers. 
Not all flowering plants in my garden—they must 
wither in time. Some sturdy evergreens that always 
turn their trim cheerfulness skyward. 
MOON’S NURSERIES 
HELPED ME 
You will find at Moon’s varieties of almost every 
plant you could desire. For 45 years they have 
been raising trees and shrubbery which, for variety 
in assortment, shapeliness of form and vigor of 
growth are unexcelled anywhere. They have a tree 
or plant for every place and purpose. 
By all means send for Catalogue B-4. It will help 
solve your lawn and garden problems. This is 
Spring planting time.” Address 
THE WM. H. MOON COMPANY 
NURSERYMEN 
MORRISVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA 
PHILADELPHIA OFFICE 
21 Souch Twelfth Street 
THE MOON NURSERY CORP. 
White Plains, N. Y. 
The War Garden Department 
.(Continued from page 72) 
is the Reading Giant, which is very 
successfully rust resistant. This is of 
great importance, as the rust is by far 
the most serious asparagus disease. 
Even if you have to buy two or three 
times as many as you will actually need, 
it pays to allow a generous surplus. The 
roots should be spread out evenly in 
as natural a position as possible, and 
the soil filled in firmly over them to 
hold them in the proper position. Short¬ 
ly after the little shoots start, which will 
be almost immediately, a light dressing 
of nitrate of soda will help enable them 
to make a strong growth while the 
ground is still wet and cold and lacking 
in the available ammonia which is 
needed for strong growth. 
Prepare the Ground Early 
It will be many weeks yet before the 
last of the tender garden vegetables and 
flowers can be put in; nevertheless, the 
sooner you can get your garden soil pre¬ 
pared the better. One big advantage is 
that after this part of the work is done 
you can plant at any time you wish and 
need not be delayed because of the diffi¬ 
culty of getting labor. More than that, 
early preparation of the soil means that 
by establishing a dust mulch you can 
save for use in summer all the surplus 
moisture which the soil is capable of 
absorbing. Furthermore, this early prep¬ 
aration of the soil prevents the weed 
seedlings near the surface from starting 
at once. If the ground is raked over 
again in ten days or two weeks, just as 
these little weeds are coming through, 
they can be destroyed very rapidly. 
The last step in the development of 
plants which should begin in late March 
or early April is the process of harden¬ 
ing off. This is to get them used to the 
rigors of early spring weather. Cabbage 
plants and lettuce will withstand several 
degrees of frost if they have become 
gradually accustomed to it. If taken 
direct from the greenhouse or hotbed a 
single night of freezing temperature will 
be too much for them. Temporary 
board trays of almost any kind that will 
support glass or even sash will do for 
the last stages of the hardening off 
process. All that is needed is a place 
where the plants can be protected from 
hard frost or severe storms in case of 
necessity. If inadvertently the plants 
get nipped some night by an unexpected 
late frost, keep them covered with old 
bags or something similar to protect 
them from the sun early next morning; 
and give them a thorough watering with 
ice cold water which will draw the frost 
from the leaves gradually. After this, 
the sun will do no harm. 
Most of the work for the present will 
be in getting the vegetables and flower 
plants for spring into shape, and young 
plants of carnations, chrysanthemums, 
etc., for next winter’s bloom ready to 
go outdoors for the summer’s growth or 
into the benches when the spring stuff is 
out of the way. The houses are likely 
to be overcrowded at this time of year, 
and special care must be taken to guard 
against insect pests or diseases getting 
a start. Fumigate or spray regularly 
to keep the houses clean. In the frames 
the plants should be watched just as 
closely. If you can’t fumigate here con¬ 
veniently, spray with Black Leaf 40 or 
some other good nicotine spray every 
ten days or so. 
Starting Old Tubers of Begonias 
By W. R. GILBERT 
T HE time is approaching when it 
will be necessary to make prepara¬ 
tions for getting the old tubers of 
bedding and greenhouse begonias to 
start into growth. 
There are one or two different meth¬ 
ods of doing this, the more general one 
being to place tire tubers thinly in a 
seed-box, cover them with a layer of 
fine leaf mold, and stand them on a 
shelf near the glass in a warm green¬ 
house. If the leaf mold is kept in a 
fairly moist condition, shoots are quickly 
thrown up and young roots begin to 
form. When this stage is reached it 
is quite time to pot up the plants singly 
so as to grow them on to a suitable 
size for planting out or decorating the 
greenhouse. 
Another method of starting begonia 
tubers into growth which I have seen 
practised in the North of Scotland, is 
to put the tubers in a shallow frame on 
a very gentle hotbed—that is, one in 
which the heat is almost exhausted— 
and cover them with leaf mold. Before 
long strong shoots begin to make their 
appearance, and plants equal in every 
respect to those started in a warm green¬ 
house are quite easily obtained in this 
manner. 
Tuberous - rooted begonias when 
brought on in frames as described must 
always be thoroughly protected from 
frosts, and for this reason the frames 
should be covered with thick mats every 
night and also during the day when 
the frost is severe. Where neither a 
warm greenhouse nor a frame is avail¬ 
able, it is quite possible to start tuber¬ 
ous-rooted begonias into growth by us¬ 
ing a window in a warm living room. 
