Kitchen Garden.

Auckland Star, Volume XXII, Issue 139, 13 June 1891, Page 2 (Supplement)

Kitchen Garden.

The late moist weather will have nearly brought all operations bo a close in this department, but by a judicious application of labour on all favourable occasions, will greatly lighten the work as the season advances. All the green tomatoes should now be picked off the plants and placed on a shelf in the house, where the fruib will ripen. The old haulm from bhe plants should be cleared away off the ground,and the piece of ground they occupied manured and re-dug. Lettuce : Still conbinue bying up a few more of bhe old planbs so that bhey may blanch. Another bed should be pricked oub, so as bo keep up a succession. Conbinue earthing up cabbages and cauliflowers as bhe young plants advance in growbh, and sbill plant oub for succession. The labe crop of celery earth up, leaving about nine inches of the foliage above tho ground. This should only be done while the soil is in a comparatively dry state. Thin oub all labe-planbed crops, such as spinach, burnips, carrots, onions, etc. Earth up 3uch as may require the hill system of cultivation, and occasionally break up the surface soil between the rows of such crops as require the flab system. The above should only be done afber we have received a few fine days. All debris of vegetable crops, weeds, etc., should never be allowed to litter the ground where they grew. They should ab once be cleared away to the rob heap, and as they aro placed bhere in layers eaoh layer should receive a good sprinkling of lime and salb, so as bo kill all animal and vegetable life. Allowing debris oi crops or weeds bo lie aboub only provides hiding and feeding places for slugs and snails, %vhich create such havoc in bobh the kibchen and flower garden. The slugs are now occasionally doing a little damage to young tender seedlings. To atop their ravages a dusting of lime should be occasionally given in the evenings. This, if persisted in bill bhe planbs gain sbrengbh, will be bhe means of saving many a crop. Flower Garden. During the last week or so we have had a little experience of our wet, sloppy, wintry weabher, and it is only to be hoped thab a favourable change will have taken place before this reaches the hands of my readers. All work on bhe flower border should cease as long aa bhe showery weabber lasbs, especially on stiff, wet, or clayey soils, till a, few fine days have occurred, so thab the soil has some chance bo geb a little drier before it is wbrked. Tho above only applies to stiff or retentive soils, as on some of the warm scoria or light, sandy soil working them while they are wet cr in a moist state improves bhem. Where alterations have been proceeding they should be brought to a close now as soon as possible, All planting of trees and shrubs should be continued with vigour so as to get them in their permanent places as early as possible. Wheuever a favourable opportunity occurs all hardy annuals already established should be planted out in the flowering positions in the mixed flower borders. Anemones \vhich have been planted out moderately early, will now here and there be showing a few flowers. To still further encourage them a little liquid manure should be given occasionally, and the surface soil frequently stirred around them, especially after heavy beating rains. Ranunculus and other , spring bulbs which are now showintthrough the soil should receive the same treatment. Cinerarias which have been properly hardened off, may still be planted out in the border; these will give good flowers late in the spring. Those which were planted out early, and are now growing strong, should have bhe surface soil broken up, so as to admit of a free circulation of air to bhe roots ; also a little liquid manure occasionally. Cineraria plants olanted in

the open, in positions subject to frost, are liable to get damaged. To lessen such damage a sprinkling of water over them with the syringe just before the sun's rays touch them will have a good effect. The wabering should only be slight, just suffi. cienb bo web the foliage. In sibuabions where bhe frosb will be melbed before the sun's rays reach bhe planbs, water will no. be required. Lawns : All top dressing should now be finished, as bhe season is getbing well advanced. The grass is no. growing quite so fast now ; still, where it is rank, keep ib cut as short as possible, and roll occasionally. Drainage (Continued). On examining a perfectly dry soil we perceive that there are two distinct classes of pores : —lsb, bho large ones, which exist between bhe particles of soil ; and 2nd, the ver3' minute ones, which occur in the particles themselves ; and whereas all the larger pores—those between the particles of soil — communicate most freely with each other, so that they form canals, the small pores, however fieely they may communicate with one another in the interior of the particle in which they occur, have no direct connection with the porc3 of the surrounding particles. Leb us now, therefore, trace tha effecb of this arrangement. It the soil is perfectly dry, the canals communicating freely at the surface with the surrounding atmosphere, the whole of these canals and pores will, of course, be filled wibh air. If, in this condition, a seed be placed in tho soil, you will ab once perceive bhab it ia freely supplied with air, but there is no moisture ; therefore, when soil is perfectly dry, a seed cannob grow.

Leb us burn our attention now to thab state of the soil in which water has taken bhe place of air, or, in other words, bhe soil is very wet. If we observe our seed now, we find ib abundantly supplied wibh waber, bub no air. Here again, therefore, germination cannot take place. Ib may be well to state here, thab this can never occur exactly in nature, because water having the power of dissolving air to a certain extent, the seed is in "fact supplied with a certain amount of this necessary substance ; and, owing to this germination does take place, although by no means under such advantageous circumebances as ib would were the soil in a better condition.

We pass on now to a differenb state matters. Let us suppose the canals are open and freely supplied with air, while the pores are filled with water. While the seed now has quite enough of air from tha canals, ib can never be without moisture, as every parbicle of soil which touches it is well supplied with this necessary ingredient. This then is the proper condition of soil for germination and in facb for every period of bhe plant's development, and this condition occurs where the soil is moist bub nob web, bhab is bo say, when ib has bhe colour and appearance of being well wabered but is sbill capable of being crumbled to pieces by bhe hand without any of its particleadhering'together in the familiar form of mud. (To be Continued.)