Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-03-30

This in-between season, when Spring
scarcely knows whether it is mere OF
not, affords excellent opportunity Ior
refinishing the interior WOODWORK.
Some way or other, the season seems
to call for a cleanup, as witness eiie
annual Spring housekeeping. olicS
SO persistently INDUCED in by all sooo
housewives.
Today modern cleaning metnoos
have made this annual trial TO nus
bands less a matter OF CONSEQUENT,
since properly kept homes are cieas
ali the time. Curtains, however anu
other hangings, will get dirty' anu
woodwork the same.
Sometimes the best way to Clean ,lle
woodwork is to paint 1t over again
Especially when fiat paint mas peen
used on the trim, a repainting at lIii,ee
is necessary and gets better resui's
than any amount of washins. .
A good point to such repalnting Is
that at any time later the householder
so feels like it ne may apply enaii,ei
over his fiat paint, without more auo
1t serving as an excellent uiioelcoal
to enamel, as well as nnlsn Il" A'9
own right.
There will always be a difference OF
opinion as to the merits OF enamel
and fiat paint. Some like one. some
the other, especially in combination
with mahogany. Personal taste must
rule.
Outside the house there Is much
that may be done at this season.
Planting Of shrubs and various bushes
is in order, including roses. If avail
able. The latter. however. may be
profitably left to later, April or even
May, without any harm to the re-
sultant bloom.
There is some danger in ambitious
gardeners becoming impatient at this
| time Of the year, planting seeds days,
even weeks before they 'can possibly
terminate. And while this may do no
particular harm in some cases, In
others it means a loss OF money as
well as time.
What may be done at this season is
the cleaning up of the garden. Every
Spring sees an accumulation Of old
leaves, brush. even papers that have
blown in from street or alley.
The ideal disposal of these, of
course, is in the compost pile, but this
is something which every gardener
cannot have, on account of the limita-
ton Of space and the clay" Of his land.
The indiscriminate heaping of old
material into piles cannot be recon-
mended In the very small garden
where every square foot of space is
under the eye of the spectator.
The only proper place to have a
compost pile is in a corner Of a large
place, where it can be shielded from
the gaze, and there allowed to take its
time about turning the material into
useful plant food and soil lightener.
A real compost heap, composed of
alternate layers of leaves and other
old material, soil and lime. layer on
layer, is the dream Of every gardener,
but until every one has a place big
enough to allow such a pile to &C.
cupy an unobserved place all to itself
thousands of gardeners in q small
way will forego such an addition to
a garden.
Cleaning up the grounds, therefore,
is about all that can be done at this
in-between season. Grass may be
raked Off. old plants uprooted, the
soil turned up to get the beneficent
action of the sunshine. Borders may
be widened, and upcoming plants from
seed which fell last Autumn uprooted
If the plants are not wanted this
year.
Kochia seedlings are very trouble
some in this respect, hundreds of them
coming up where only two or three
bushes stood last year. Right now the
cleanup campaign is the order of the
day in the home garden.