In preparing hints for the month, we have found more difficulty about March than about any other month in the year. We never forget that our readers extend from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and that the same number which is delighting some one in Lower California, is being as eagerly scanned by some one in Massachusetts or Maine. Hence we have never attempted a monthly calendar of operations, but endeavor to suggest such general thoughts as may be of service about the time the magazine reaches any one in any part of the country. But the period which runs between March and April is just the period when we find the most extremes. It is still ice-bound in many places while in others the Spring flowers are nearly gone. Still, the gardening preparations are not over anywhere, even where begun for the season, and therefore there is much which may be said that may benefit all.

First, this is the season above all others when folks think, if ever they do think, that a little gardening is a very good thing. There is not a person doing business in a town or large city, but wishes he was in the country among the surging life of nature, and numbers do go out wherever some place can be had within a short railroad ride * from their business places. Those who cannot, still work up their little yards, and all do something with the pleasures gardening offers them. The misfortune generally is that entirely too much is undertaken on the spur of the moment, and the constant labor of a large undertaking soon takes away the pleasure with which it began. We advise, therefore, every one who has the spring fever on gardening, not to attempt too much. If he thinks he can certainly care for and enjoy a half an acre of garden, let him make one of but a quarter; and if he has means enough to keep a professional gardener, and is tempted to have twenty or more acres and half-a-dozen men. let him make one of about ten acres, and half the number to care for the garden, and even then, ten to one, he will in the long run find that he has all he cares to enjoy.

Lawns, flower beds, walks, garden ornamentation of every kind, should be reduced to a minimum, but then properly cared for and sustained. It should not be, how large a garden? but, how pretty a garden? and it should be a main idea with those who have to employ assistance in gardening, to ask themselves not how much work can we put on those we employ? but, how can we encourage them to maintain every thing in first-class order? We have often seen instances where one man is employed to look after a small garden, and who is expected to look after scores of things which all take time, and the garden looks bad, till the family begin to wonder "however John employs his time?" Of course there is often reason for this wonder, for there are shiftless employees as well as thoughtless employers; but the great lesson we wish to inculcate is, that much more pleasure will come from a small garden well cared for, than from the largest where everything is ill done, and behind time.

With March, in the Middle States, comes the annual clearing up - the final dressing over the grave of buried winter, and the planting of it with spring flowers and green things. The lawn is always the first consideration, for the "strip of green grass" is often the vivifying germ which warms the citizen's heart in to active love for country life. Much as the lawn plays a part in English gardening, it is of much more account with us. Our heats render the grass particularly refreshing. Our droughts are somewhat against our great success - but the charm of having it makes every effort for its attainment desirable.

It is well to remember that good health is the preservative of life, and that good, nourishing food is the key to health. Healthy grass will keep green in a dry time easier than weak grass. This is why top dressings of rich fertilizing materials are such an advantage to a lawn. Continual mowings, though the essential practice in making a lawn beautiful, weaken the grass, but the application of good food helps it to recover. At one time the mowings were left on the grass, to make a fertilizer, as it was said. This is not considered good practice now. The shade from the dead grass weakens the living grass in a considerable degree, though not perhaps to the same extent that mowing does.

As this is the season for work, and not for long essays, we may, perhaps, crowd in a few brief hints from experience, especially as the reasons for them have probably been often given in our pages.

Planting trees will require particular attention now; but do not be in a hurry the moment the frost is out of the ground. Cold winds are very hard on newly set out trees. Wait till they are gone. Always shorten in a little the shoots of all trees planted. They will grow the faster for it, and are more certain to live. Evergreens should be left to the last.

Dig garden soil only when the ground is warm and dry. Do not be in a hurry, or you may get behind. When a clot of earth will crush to powder when you tread on it, it is time to dig - not before.

If perennial plants have stood three years in one place, separate the stools, replacing one-third, and give the balance to your neighbor who has none.

To make handsome, shapely specimens of shrubs, cut them now into the forms you want, and keep them so, by pulling out all shoots that grow stronger than the others during the summer season.

The rule lor pruning at transplanting is to cut in proportion to apparent injury to roots. If not much worse for removal, cut but little of the top away. Properly pruned, a good gardener will not have the worst case of a badly dug tree to die under his hands. In nurseries where these matters are well understood, trees "never die".

Box edgings lay well now. Make the ground firm and level; plant deep, with tops not more than two inches above ground.

Roll the grass well before softness of a thaw goes away. It makes all smooth and level.

Hyacinths, tulips, liliums, and other hardy bulbs set out in the fall, and covered through the winter, should be occasionally examined, and when they show signs of active growth, must be uncovered; in this latitude this is not safe until towards the end of the month.