THE GARDEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 138, 11 June 1909, Page 7

THE GARDEN.

■ 03y HOBTTJS.) iHortus is willing to answer any queries. Correspondents mast give their real names and addresses, though not for publication.] NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. Grass to be Named (Old Woman). — The grass has been identified as "Panicum, crus-ga'.ll, generally considered a useless' weed." HINTS. Lawn edgings beside walks and around flower beds should be neatly cut and cleaned away. Lawns are prone to encroach upon beds and "walks, in which case it is desirable to cut away a goodly slice of turf. In any event, the edges should be given a face, along which the edging shears should travel freely throughout the summer. All recently planted ornamental trees and shrubs should be examined to see that they are properly staked and tied to prevent wind waving; likewise a good mulching will be useful to keep out frost. Make preparations for screening and protecting tender, half-hardy, evergreen trees and shrubs during a time of severe frost. Collect and Temove leaves, branches, and rubbish of every kind from the lawn and pleasure grounds in ordei to render them neat and tidy during winter. In places where the lawn is getting covered with moss, a good top-dressing of lime and earth mixed and properly blended together will be useful in eradicating the latter and rendering the grass more close and green. Clean all shrubberies and beds exposed to view from the principal walks. In the formation of new walks, use plenty of stones, brickbats, or other rough material for bottoming, so that when finished they may be dry and firm. In laying down turf edgings let the turf, when finished, be about one inch higher than the gravel at the sides, but the latter at the centre of the walk should be on a level with the grass margin. This would give a declivity of one inch from the centre to the sides - both ways. Digging operations are not infrequently "scamped" or indifferently performed. It is not enough to simply turn over the ground fo that it shows a fresh, even surface, but it should be broken up and turned over to the utmost depth a -food tool is capable of; for which reason an old half-worn-away spade should lever be used. A trench of four to >ix inches should first be excavated, and .he soil wheeled to further end of the pound for filling in with at the finish. Chen the spade should be forced down ■ n an upright position to the lowest lepth possible into the next firm ground —three or four inches from its edge, .nd the slice thus severed Vorne up and ■urned topsy-turvy into the aforesaid reneh, and so on. Let the spitfulls lie is they are dropped from the spade; lon't chop them down with the intenion of making a level surface. That ort of digging is good only in spriu-» ir summer, when plantings or powino-s _„__.,_. fr n o ... nil' d*mr* n ~ ~-„rk one first, so that the greatest -urface lOssible be promptly exposed to the elements. Trench work can be done more t leisure afterwards. Employ a medium ridth spade in -preference to a. wide, aiwieldy one. •

Manuring and fresh soiling town gardens is probably, in a general way, more conveniently done at this season, than any ether, particularly where such mate' rials iave to be carried in in baskets, or in other inconvenient methods. A coating of fresh soil will always prove of greatest benefit wherever old, exhausted black soils exist, and such a commodity is sometimes obtainable where foundations for new houses are being dug out. Manure is more readily obtainable in the most valuable rotten form during the ensuing month or two than later, when demands are larger. In ordering, "decomposed" should °be bargained for, as a bushel is equal in actual quantity to two or three times what the same apparent measurement )f green, fresh from the stable, is. This 5 important, as the former will cover i larger space when spread over the jround, giving, meantime, a far more efficient dressing. Green manure direct from the stable often abounds in grass seeds fallen from the hay consumed therein, it is of some importance, where reliance has to be placed on it, to get and pack it in mound form, some time before it is applied to the ground, whereby it will be induced to ferment and the grass seeds be induced to germinate or are otherwise destroyed. Furthermore, where soils, manures, et<x, are requiored for potting purposes, no I time is better than the present for laying in necessary stocks. The best potting loam is turfy, fibrous, from upland, pas- | tures, or sheep walks, particularly the top spit now taken "with the surface turves or Jietbage included, and should t>epaefceJl «Srf"bn turf"with the WrTsoge downwards, to hasten the decomposition of the latter. I'erns succeed best throughout the winter months if maintained quite free from incentive to active growth; hence a dry atmosphere comparatively and by contrast with the summer is most suitable for them. Under these conditions their fronds—delicate once in particular —will retain their healthful greenneßS longer; the base, meanwhile, will slowly develop a crown of young fronde, go that when warmer weather, with more atmospheric moistures, recurs, the tive to growth Will be greater. Maidenhairs in particular, if becoming discoloured, should be treated as above. Beyond this, if the fronds turn brown ( cut them away at their base and keep the roots dry for a montE. Seakale is valuable on account of its quality and short duration. After the plants obtain their natural winter rest, the young shoots growing from the crowns early in spring are blanched, and when eight or ten inchee high they are fit for the table. The ribs of the leaves are sometimes used in cummer, and eaten like asparagus. The soil most suitable ;is a mioist, rich, deep, and friable one. Strong two-year-old plants should' be procured, or bow the eeed along with and in the same way as for rhubarb. In autumn trench the ground 20irt or 2ft deep, adding a good dressing of half-decomposed manure. Lay out the ground in 4ft beds with 18in alleys, and plant the roots in patches of threes in each patch, 2ft apart each way; ho* occasionally as the ground becomes hard. In autumn, when the leaves mature or get yellow, remove them, and after a good dressing of short half-decomposed manure, fork the surface carefully over bo as not to injure the xoots. In August iorce a few plants gently by covering with a box or seakale pot, and a layer a foot thick of fermenting stable manure. A few weeks afterwards, put over the other roots, in succession, hoxes or pota so tight as to exclude the lisrht without any other covering. The plants must he cut hefore they push so much as to pipe, or show the flower stalk, otherwise they will be valueless. Make a new plantation every third year, and prefer seedlings to portions of old roots.