GARDENING NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXIV, Issue 119, 15 November 1902, Page 4 (Supplement)

GARDENING NOTES.

i ■ » £BY ExrEEIENCB.J THE FLOWER GARDEN. The planting of all half-hardy annuals should be completed as soon as possible, so that they may get established while yet the springlike rains are with us. It is very unwise to wait for rain before planting ; it is better to put the plants out as soon as they are ready, watering them as needed, and a good rainy day is all that is needed to start them off. Hardy annuals may still be sown in the open ground, and even Asters in anything like suitable places will be quite successful if sown where they are to grow, thinning the seedlings so as to give due space to each plant. Finish planting Chrysanthemums and also DaHias. Anemones are among the most popular of flowers ; not only are they beautiful in the garden, but for house decoration in a cut state they are equal to ' any flowers grown. The colours are very diversified, the stems are long and strong, and the .lasting properties ot the blossoms all that can be desired. There are many varieties of Anemones, the most useful being the "St. Bridget's." This strain embraces all the colours known to Anemones ; the flowers are single, of robust growth, and continue a long time in flower. Our plants began to bear flowers at the end of April, and are now only just ceasing to b.oom, after having produced flowers freely for about five months. I know nothing else to equal that for productiveness. Any one wishing to possess a bed of these flowers should now procure some seeds of the above strain. Better results are likely to be obtained by giving them a quarter to themselves. The position must be sunny, the soil of a non-binding character, and •well drained. A moderate dressing of stable manure may be dug in, and at the same time* a good sprinkle of soot. The latter serves not only as a manure calculate ed to improve the colour of the flower, but also helps ,to free the ground of insects, wire-worms, and suchlike. The ground ready, a dry day should be chosen to sow the seed, the surface of the soil also should be dry, to that end it should be dug a few days before sowing the seed. The seed is rather awkward stuff to handle owing to thei down which eurrounds it. Take some slightly damp fine sand, not made wet, but taken from a little below the surface- of a heap, rub the seed up with the sand, and it will j be quite easy to handle. Sow in drills ! made about an deep. If the bed is j circular, oval, or some such shape, the drills may run round and round, decreasing in size to the centre, the drills should be about lOin apart. Sow the seed very thinly, for uiough the plants will be a good deal of crowding, yet it must not be overdone. If these directions ate followed, given good seed, the resulting plants should begin to flower about June next, and will bear a good crop the first season. THE GREENHOUSE. Primulas — Young seedlings should not be allowed to become drawn before being pricked off ; they like a light, sweet compost/ with plenty of vegetable matter in it. The latter is best supplied by good leaf mould, but this is not easily obtainable by most people ; then try the heap where the garden refuse, weeds, etc., have been stored, and if you have a heap a year or two old some fine black mould may be obtainable therefrom, which, though not good enough for permanent plants, will answer very well for the Primulas at this stxige, as we have proved. Equal parts of this black mould and loam with a good sprinkle of sand will make a good growing compost to put in boxes, on which prick out the young seedlings. If any of the old flowering plants are to De kept to grow on again, they will require some care to j keep them healthy. Clean the outside of the pots if they are mossy, remove all old flower stalks and damaged leaves, and place the pots in a. cool semishaded place outside, or if convenient in a frame which can have the lights on in bad or rainy weather. They may remain so till January, when they must be knocked from the pots, the balls of soil and roots reduced, and repotted into the same size pots, later on to be shifted I into a size larger, when they may be expected to make ,fine plants, though as ' far as my experience has shown the flowers are seldom so fine on these old plants as those borne by first year seedlings. Freesias. — These are now just past flowering, and bo why mention them? Well, simply to give a wrinkle; try it if you like, and sec if it is worth anything. The Freesia is a very popular bulb, and the better . it can be grown, the more satisfactory it is, for it is one of those things which will bear enlarging a bit with advantage. Then, again, as a pot plant, you want to be sure that every bulb will flower to get good results. Put ting a lot of bulbs in a pot, and so crowding them, to make sure of a sufficient number of trusses, does not meet the case satisfactorily, as growth is poor, and the spikes stunted. The spikes should be from 10 to 12 inches high, and that grown in full sunlight and close to the glass; this can only be got by the use of the best of bulbs, properly prepared, and I ask readers who are growers of Freesias to try' this plan, which is the one in use in England, as I have repeatedly read. Moreover, I have seen it tried here -with perfect success, when some 250 bulbs were potted, and not even one failed to produce its trass of flowers. The whole secret is in the proper ripening of the bulbs, and never leaving them long out of the soil. After flowering is over remove the old flower-stems and place the pots outside to finish growth, or rather, the ripening of me foliage; this must be properly done, and so the plants must not suffer through any neglect of watering. When the foliage is dead remove it and cease giving water. Now comes the point of difference from the usual practice. Place the pots again glass, where they will be quite close to it, in the full glaie of the sun; the best place is a. frame over a conCrete bottom, or a shelf in the greenhouse. Leave the pots to roast in that position for two months, when it will bo time to re-pot the bulbs. Azaleas as they go out of flower should be examined to see if they require repotting. When I say examined, perhaps that is putting it rather the wrong way, and using the old stereotyped form of expression. For, as a matter of fact, if drainage is right and the plants healthy they will remain 'in the same pots for quite a number of years without repotting; but, of course, after they get hard root-bound they will make very slow growth. So that really it is a matter more of expediency as to repotting, -which should be done if rapid increase in the size of the plant is required. Again, if in any way unhealthy, find out the cause ; if the drainage has got choked that may have caused it. Probably nothing else was wrong to begin with, but as that will have soured the soil, repotting wfll be necessary. Remove sour soil as far into the "ball as possible without destroying too many roots, and in this case, if feasible, use the same size pot again, as orily healthy plants should be placed into larger pots. The time to repot is just as the new growth begins to show. All the seed-pods remaining behind the flowers should be picked off.

The Larras Lake station, near Molong, New South Wales, has only 50 lambs from 10,000 ewes, although enormous sums were Bjjent in artificial feeding.