BORDER CARNATIONS.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 168, 16 July 1921, Page 20

BORDER CARNATIONS.

WHY SO MANY FAILURES? Mr. James Douglas, of Kdcnsidc, the principle Carnation specialist in Kngland. has written a most valuable anil instructive article, which is pubi«hed in "The Garden" of April £5. Mr. Douglas says: "I desire, to point out that my own oxperjenee proves the successful developmeat of this lovely garden favourite depends more upon the observance of ihi: simplest elementary principles of gardening, backed by common sense, than upon the nature or character of tht> -oil in which it is their lot to be planted. How many intelligent people one hear? observe: 'Oh, we can't grow Carnations in Blankshire; the soil is far too heavy'! Another will say, 'Oh. it's useless; we have tried to grow Carnations at T'pcombe, but the soil's too lijrht'! Thero assertions, and others like them, are so' often heard that one becomes quite used! to them. Both, however, arc wrong: j Ino soil is too heavy, and no soil too ; light, to grow Border Carnation* to porfection, provided always that the plants I are watered with love and fed with i common sense. "I am firmly convinced that iiineteritbs of the. ailments that affect modern Carnations caused by j ground that i« too rich, not too poor I —ground that, i* overcharged with nitrogen and phosphates, often introduced year by year into the soil through tho \ medium of so-called fertilisers or plant! foods: avoid these as you would avoid j the plague! I have turned them down finally and irrevocably. If the ground needs a fertiliser 1 know of nothing to j e.jual farmyard manure, soot and lime in I proper season. l>t the farmyard ant! I the stable provide you with nil that jn ■ neeeasnry to rejuvenate tin- mn«t worn-j out border in the parden. Kor ten years we have used nothing but decayed horse manure, our soil being on the heavy or I clayey side; for soils on the light side endeavour to obtain row manure, although horse manure will answer .ir well. In clayey soil we found frrent benefit from an occasional dressing of clean road sand, untainted by varied intermittently with ;l dressing of slacked lime. An ideal soil for L'arnatione. of course, is a calcareous or <-iialk .*oil; there i.« no doubt that, any soil, heavy or lipht. naturally charged with carbonate of lime or dressed with calcium hydroxide will gruw Carnations to perfection. Kce.p your ground turned up loosely with a fork in the autumn, and when digging do not break up the lump? of earth more than you cun help. Much ground ia spoiled by allowing it to remain undug during the wjntor. "It must be remembered that Carnations of every type are oiinehine-lovinfr plants and any attempt to grow them in I a sunless position would lie courting failure. I have seen remarkably fine, displays of bloom in every position of the garden, excepting where, the border wa> entirely tsiiaded from the sun. As we arc now dealing with the cultivation of I named or established varieties as dis j tinct. from seedling,, I would impress upon my readers to remember that it i;, the same with Carnations as it is with poultry and all livestock. It is a dreadfully extravagant method to obtain cheap, unhealthy plants; set the best (it is infinitely cheaper) from a reliable firm. "There are many opinions as to the most suitable time for planting. Xo matter where the locality is I invariably advise the autumn, but they can be j planted successfully either in autumn I winter, or spring. The only difference as it appeals to mc, ia that autumn planted stock has time to root and make more and bigger eide-growths than stock I planted in the spring. Having prepared the ground and obtained thestock, plant firmly at least 14in apart, especially if it is intended to allow the plants to remain for a second or third year undisturbed—a method now much in practice with many people. I have seen as many aa 500 blooms and buds on one two-year-old plant. When planting be sure to press the ground all round, then plant firmly with the hands; if the soil is at all dry an immediate watering will be beneficial, enabling the fresh planted layers to ' vake hold.' As soon as the first weed seedling appears, thoroughly btir tho ground with the Dutch hoe to kill all weeds and to aerate the soil." HANDY TOOLS, EASILY MADE. A pair of boards similar to those shown in the illustration at A will be found very serviceable for picking up sweepings of leaves and garden rubbishThey should 'be about a foot long and eig'bt inches wide, and the lower edge should be tapered otT. Another handy tool is a stick with a nail driven in with about an inch or so left out, the head filed on" and sharpened. This is shown

at B. It is useful for picking up odd leaves without stooping, and will be found very much easier than picking them up wit/h the hands. At Cis shown a device for wheeling a barrow over tho edge of a lawn without damaging the edge- It is simply a piece of thick timber, one end cut square, the other on the slant. A piece of board is then nailed on to it.