Tools: There is always a tendency among beginners to overload with the paraphernalia of their calling, whatever it may be. When the first enthusiasm passes, and one becomes a careful and successful worker, all that is superfluous is gradually dropped, and one realises that it is brains and not tools that make the successful gardener. A hotbed, a cold-frame or two, a work-table in some convenient place, a trowel, wheel-barrow, spade, pitchfork, rake, hoe, a few yards of stout cord, a hatchet to sharpen stakes, a watering-pot, rubber sprinkler, rubber gloves, a good supply of pots and wire-netting, and a couple of good mole-traps cover the real necessaries. Incidentals, such as wire-sieves, lath-screens, trellises, and the like, may be made as they are required.

One should not have more tools than can be kept in good working order.

An excellent place for Begonias, Gloxinias, and other shade-loving plants is made by fitting a wide shelf under a north or east window on the outside, with a raised edge three or four inches high, made by tacking strips of wood across the front and ends. Inclose with window-netting, first nailing strips of wood from the outer corners of the shelf to the upper corners of the window-casing to support the netting. When the shelf is filled with wet sand, and the plants plunged in it, one has a miniature greenhouse accessible from the room, and safe from trespass of chickens, cats, or careless feet. The shelf may extend considerably beyond the window-casing if desired, and be made attractive from the outside by climbing vines. The Maurandya is fine here, as it will push its tips through the netting, and be very ornamental; the Asparagus tenuissimus and A. plumosus nanus are also good. A couple of plant-brackets fastened to the outside casing will afford room for drooping plants, and add to the attractiveness of the shelf. Primroses will bloom here all summer, and Ferns, Gloxinias, and fancy-leaved Caladiums find a congenial home.

A good supply of insecticides should be kept in store, or at least the formulas and materials for preparing them. Plant enemies have increased to such an alarming extent in the past few years that comparatively few flowers are free from them, and some kinds, as the Rose, Dahlia, Aster, Clematis, and Cosmos, are becoming more and more difficult to raise. The Rose, especially, is in need of constant care and watchfulness from the swelling of the leaf-bud until the end of the growing season. One of its most dreaded fungous diseases is known as “black spot,” which must be given thorough treatment in the beginning, before the leaves start in the spring on plants that have been previously affected. Syringe with Bordeaux mixture and repeat once or twice a week during the growing season.

Cosmos Borer is very destructive to the Cosmos, Dahlia, Asters, and Clematis; the preventive is a teaspoonful of Paris green to three gallons of water, poured around the base of the plant, using sufficient to wet the ground three or four inches deep. Begin when the plant is a foot high, and continue until fully grown.

The Black Beetle is an unpleasant pest that has become very destructive to the Asters, eating the flowers, and soon destroying an entire bed if not promptly checked. It resembles the common blister beetle, but is smaller and jet black in colour; it is easily killed by knocking off into a pan of water containing a little kerosene. In the early morning it is very sluggish, and may be picked off and killed, or the plants may be showered with the Paris-green solution, but the appearance of the first bug must be the signal for active operations.

Plant Louse or Green Fly: This little insect commonly infests house-plants; it is called a fly because in one stage of its existence it has wings. The remedies are tobacco in some form, or sulpho-tobacco soap syringed on the foliage, or the hot-water bath.

Black or Chrysanthemum Lice require practically the same treatment. Tobacco-dust on the leaves will usually prevent their appearance, and should be applied early in the summer and after every rain.

The Mealy Bug is a little whitish mass, like cotton in appearance, often found on house-plants and on the SpirÆas. Syringe with whale-oil soap solution; or, if the plant is small, work over it, touching each bug with a brush dipped in alcohol; or use the hot-water bath.

Red Spider can only be kept at bay by fresh air and the plentiful use of water; spray or syringe daily. Use the hot-water bath if the spiders have gotten a foothold.

Rose Hopper, or Thrips—small yellowish insects on the under side of Rose leaves, from which they suck the juice, causing them to turn brown; whale-oil soap syringed on the under side of the leaves is the best remedy.

Rose Slugs are small green caterpillars that feed on the Rose leaves and buds, lying on the under side of the leaves, or drawing two leaves together with a slight web. Work over the plants, pinching the leaves between thumb and finger, or syringe with whale-oil solution, or dust with powdered hellebore when wet.

Rose Bug—a small, dark bug striped with light yellow, which is very destructive to the Roses, eating the flowers. Plants may be syringed, or showered with the Paris-green solution at night or early in the morning, but must be attended to promptly, as the bugs are very destructive, stripping a bed of its flowers in a surprisingly short time. Roses treated with Paris green should always be plainly and conspicuously labelled to that effect.

Earth-worms and the like may be easily destroyed by thoroughly soaking the soil in the pots with lime-water, which is best done by plunging a pot to the brim (not over) in the solution, and removing the worms as they come to the surface. It may be necessary to repeat this once or twice.

The following formulas are from the New York Agricultural Station and are reliable:

Dissolve the copper sulphate by putting it in a bag of coarse cloth, and hanging it in a wooden or earthen vessel containing five or six gallons of water. After the copper sulphate has dissolved, dilute with water to twenty-five gallons; slake the lime, and add twenty-five gallons of water; mix the two, and keep thoroughly stirred while using. If the mixture is to be used on Carnations, or the like, it will adhere better if a pound of hard soap be dissolved in hot water and added.

Dissolve the soap in the water; add the kerosene, and churn with a spray or force-pump until they unite and have the appearance and consistency of buttermilk. Dilute with water to twenty-five or thirty gallons before applying.

Keep constantly stirred when using.

The hot-water bath will, in nearly every case, take the place of insecticides and give better results, as it thoroughly cleanses the foliage and leaves no bad effects, if not too hot. Heat to 140° if for spraying, and use before it cools; 136° if the plants are to be dipped.

Next in convenience to a pair of rubber gloves for the garden are the duck mittens sold for household purposes. All sorts of garden work may be done in these, even the transplanting of quite small plants. They have also the advantage of being very cheap, or they may be manufactured at home. Always have an extra pair on hand. Gardening without gloves is ruinous to the hands and a needless discomfort.

For watering the window-garden, a small pot with a long spout that will go between the plants will be a great convenience, as by its use the farthest plants may be watered without disturbing the others. This means a saving of time on busy mornings, and insures against neglect.

The life of the gardener who raises chickens is full of perplexities. Certainly nothing is more vexing and discouraging than to have one’s plants repeatedly scratched out of the ground by chickens. With netting so cheap there is no good reason why chickens, or other farm stock, should have the range of the yard.

Nothing is more filthy or conducive to disease than the presence of fowls in the door-yard. There are few house-yards that cannot be isolated from the rest of the premises by a judicious use of wire-netting, and where the conditions call for it this should be the first thing done. It will not be at all satisfactory to surround the beds with netting, which is inconvenient and unsightly. The whole yard, or at least the entire garden, should be inclosed, using netting high enough to turn any fowl, say at least five feet; even Plymouth Rocks will take a four-foot fence. For Brown Leghorns six feet is a safer height than five feet. There should be no place on the top of the fence on which the birds can alight. At the bottom a board will make all secure, and prevent the chickens digging under; and it will be better if set a little below the surface of the ground, which should be made hard and firm around it.

Fences may be made attractive with vines or plants. Sweet-peas, Nasturtiums, Morning-glories, CobÆa scandens, Wild Cucumbers, the Scarlet-fruited Gourd, Roses, Clematis or Honeysuckles make a good background for the lawn and beds of bright flowers.