THE GARDEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XIX, Issue 100, 28 April 1888, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE GARDEN.

(By Hortus.)

?£ willing to answer any onpriAu

,'O CORRESPONDENTS. jWoal Drainage, Vines urn pull '"'hot hJL 1 sho«i d conmdor the intakes cam1 c.vcryono who ha"

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number of places where the owners were adding their little mite of horticultural excellence. Now, to hold a flower show in those suburbs would perhaps cause a large number more to take a greater interest in their gardens. The Society would also cause those people to take a greater interest in the" annual spring and autumn shows held in this city. It is the suburban population who will always be the leading horticulturists, and the occasional holding of an exhibition in the suburbs will increase their interest therein. The Violet,. This pretty little flower, unmatched in its delicious fragrance, is one of those general winter and spring-i' ring favourites. No garien should be w.uionfc a sma.l border or bed of violets. There is a demand for a large supply of these flowers every year, and flower vendors do a good business in little bunches when other flowers are very scarce. There is no trouble in multiplying them, as they are easily propagated irom runners and cuttings, or by dividing the old plants. It is better to renew the beds, borders and edgings every two or three years, as the plants exhaust the soil. Young plants from cuttings are the bast when you wish to make a fresh plantation in the autumn ; they will strike easily in any light, good, sandy soil in a shady place. When struck, plant out about six inches apart in any good, rich soil. Keep them moist during the autumn, nipping back all runners as they appear, and they will give abundant flowers the following spring. Fortuity of Soils. Every year we hear a good deal of the fertility of all the different soils in this colony. Sometimes I think it is often used without a proper understanding as to what the term means. When applied tosoilsit means the various quantities of plant food retained in such soil, and that can only be measured by the quantity and quality of the crops produced by such soils In travelling about some districts the practical eye can easily pick out the fertile 'spots by the quality of the vegetables grown thereon. In good fertile spots the vegetation is always of a strong growth, whereas soils which are deficient in plant food always produces vegetation of a poor, stunted growth. Now, the same conditions ate observable in all ground under crop. Poor, hungry soils produce strong, succulent crops. In cropping all kinds of soils it ought to be an object so as to get the soils in such a state of fertility that successive crops may be good, and the only way to attain this object is by supplying materials to tha soil heavily charged with plant food. The fertility of all new soils at first may either be natural or acquired according to circumstances. In all new countries the bottoms of valleys are usually fertile at first, as for centuries back the accumulated debris of the higher grounds are periodically washed clown on them, not forgetting the debris produced on the spofc. This accumulation in time causes these valleys to become very rich, and the hills and high ground get poorer in a corresponding ratio. The fertility of soils in New Zealand is either natural or acquired according to its history. Barren tracts may bo endowed with exceptional productiveness through the artificial application of unlimited supplies of plant food, conjoined with proper physical conditions. Again, there are some situations whore crops may be harvested year after year without diminishing, their capabilities of reproducing, but those are exceptional places. I here refer to land that is flooded with every heavy fresh during the winter. Soils in such situations generally receive a fresh top dressing of sediment and decayed vegetable matter held in suspension by the water and deposited on the land as the water flows over the flat lands ; this deposit is usually heavily charged with plant food, hence these locali ties generally give good crops every season without any application of manure. On other lands where there is no flood action, every crop taken oft'the ground reduces the quantity of plant food originally deposited therein. It therefore requires to be ro-ap-plied in order to ensure prolitable crops, and thus the question of manuring in its arious aspects ie an essential one to all who till the ground, and one on which the foundation of all successful horticulture and agricultural must mainly depend.