Evening star., 1932-02-15
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.
Early gardening seems inevitable.

Early gardening seems inevitable.
Warm days, following cold ones, OF
warn, DAYS following warm ones, alike
call the gardener into his garden.
There seems to be no escaping the
urge to dig in the soil. although the
mind tells one that 1t Is much too early
to begin.
Too soon to begin work in earnest
perhaps, but not too early to do certain
necessary tasks.
If the degree of warmth In the air Is
enough to make the tasks pleasant, they
might as well be done as not.
OF course. the exact temperature at
which garden tasks become pleasant
will not be the same for all persons.
Hardy souls revel in sleet and frost
Nothing delights them more than to put
on stout shoes, an old thick sweater
and an old hat, and to sally forth with
chilled fingers to dig in the garden.
Still others demand the air to be at
least 60 degrees before they get any
real pleasure out of gardening.
Another group must have tempera-
ture of 10 degrees. Then they come
forth, eargerly snufing the air and
paving at the earth.
X X
One thing which can be done now,
whether 1t Is cold or warm. Is prune the
rose bushes. (Not the climbers)
II freezing weather comes, then,
nothing will be harmed: after it Is over,
such wood as is killed may be cut back,
thus giving the bush second pruning.
Most people are much too tender
with their rose bushes. A rose bush is
a shrub, and has all the hardness OF a
shrub. What it does not like Is to have
its roots disturbed This is not to say
that rose bushes may not be moved
easily and safely.
They do best however. when they are
left alone. The larger they get, the
more they resent being disturbed. If
moving must be done, 1t should be car
ried cut while the plant Is dormant, or
resting.
Pruning a bush IS another matter.
Rose bushes not only do not mind a
severe pruning, but actually seem to
like it. 1t gives them chance to start
all over again. an opportunity winch Is
denied most human beings.
Down to the ground, almost, Is the
proper way to prune rose bush. Then
it feels stirring In its roots to get up
into the air again. A sort of vegetative
thrill runs through it: warm air and
sunshine literally pull it up.
1t grows.
1t grows so fast that In few weeks,
a month at most. it is as high as ever.
and usually a great deal more bushy, a
desira be quality in bush.
After pruning the roses. care should
De taken to refrain from stimulating
them by the application of fertilizer OF
any sort at this tine. Permit Nature
to take charge Of their growth, which
will be slow until real Spring gets in.
Then fertiliZe them.
II a heavy fertilizer, such as blood
meal, is given a bush at this time. 1t
will stimulate the plant to an unwise
growth at the wrong time. II tender
leaves bud forth and then frost
should occur, the plant may be seriously
damaged.
X \
Trees and evergreens may be topped
now. Topping is an interesting opera
ton which had better net be done at
all unless one uses discretion. What
often passes as topping" is nothing
less than sheer hutchery.
An evergreen may be topped about
one fifth, if it is Of the tall sort. with
benefit. Just how much Of tree to
take off is more difficult matter to de-
eide. The trouble arises in the common