THE GARDEN

Evening Star, Issue 18057, 26 August 1922, Page 14

THE GARDEN

Work for the Week. Jur contributor, a well-known gardener, will.he glad to answer questions, which must be received nut later than Tuesday of each week. VEGETABLES. . This is a time of the year when gardeners have to be up aiU doing if the best is to bo got from his labors in this department. Most kinds of vegetable seeds may now be' got in, though care should be taken not to overdo it by getting in too much, at one period, or there will be too much coming in at one time and not enough at another. Think out and arrange sowings and plantings, at intervals so as to have a regular supply nearly all the season through- This is done by successions! sowings. A good guide for a second sowing of peas, beans, lettuce, radislp and early •turnips is when the previous sowing is yell through the ground. Plant asparagus in prepared beds or in. di in well-trenched and manured (•round.- Seed of asparagus may be sown ao’.i in drills 15in apart. Thin out the seedlings to 12in or 15in, in the row. .Plant rhubarb in deeply-dug ground. Old clumps, in the permanent bed will fee nefil by a. covering of stable manure. ■ Plant artichokes on rich and well-culti-▼•ted soil. Early potatoes should be planted on warm, sunny ground 2ft from drill to drill, and the sets 12in apart in the drill, 6in to 9in deep—6in for heavy soil and 9in for light, sandy loam. Brussels sprouts should bo sown if not already in. The best possible bedl should be - prepared for them. They should be kept crowing from the start. Stunted growth will never give good sprouts. ‘Plant out cabbage and cauliflower as weather and .ground conditions permit. ■ ■ !sow dwarf early peas. Sow cucumbers on a- hotbed. Sow keks in seed boxes and place them oii a little heat in the cucumber frame to -brimr them on quickly. Prick them out when large enough to handle. ■Sow spinach, preferably tho round, for the summer ’ months, and when large enough thin out to 3in apart. Sow onions, early horn carrots, parsnips, and a email sowing of beet for an early •upplv. THE GREENHOUSE. Calceolarias.—Thin out the worst of the crowded leaves and peg down, the shoots to increase their strength. Sow seeds for next year. Pelargoniums will now require careful training. Remove all'dead leaves, thin out superfluous shoots, and keep the plants i scrupulously dean. Keep the plants near j the glass, and give air in quantity. i Cinerarias.—Keep them clean and free from green fly. Remove all decayed leaves and cut down arid plant out in a sunny border all those that have finished flowering, except choice k,inds, which may bo increased by cuttings. The young shoots which come up from' thd base, "known as suckers, root readily, but must be kept close until roots .have formed, and from then air should he giyeij "freely., ' . . Fuchsias that have’been . 'resting during the winter should be pushing away their voung growth, at which time they should be shaken out from the did soil, leaving only a little soil about the roots ; then pot them up into fresh pots, using rich soilthree parte turfy loam," one part leafmould, one part old manure, ana one part sand, all well mixed. Always use scrupulously clean pots,and crocks. .Trim the roofs sparingly, and prune‘back the tops to a convenient size or to near the base of the young last year’s shoots Pot on all young growing pi ants.,that require a shift. Remove all dead, leaves,, and keep pots clean by scrubbing. Plants never thrive In dirty pots. ROSES.Continue the pruning of all roses,. leaving the"teas until the last. ' The planting season is near a conclusion for this season, Roses planted now should be pruned hard back at planting. It is also advisable, to keep the roots of rose bushes in water whilst the roots are out of the ground. At planting, if the soil is light and dry, give the soil a good watering to settle the coil and give moisture to the plants. If it is desired to retard the blooming of tea roses, give them a good thick mulch of lhaif-rotted manure.

Thera fa a diversity of opinion as to the advisability or otherwise of digging in manure or using it as a mulch after pruning fa completed'. This, I am satisfied, should depend upon the nature of the soil With heavy clay soils and light sandy or gravelly soils I should say “ Yes,” and “No" with heavy soils. Dig it in lightly —not down to tho roots, but with a dressing of soil on tho surface to settle down with rains naturally. With light sandy soil, such as that of the I* lat, tread the soil firm, put the manure down on tho surface, and blind tho manure with a dusting of soil as tho work proceeds. This light covering of soil tends to keep the manure from drying too quickly. In no case should Inannro bo dug sufficiently deep to come in direct contact with the roots of the ruse '"low is the time to apply tho first stimulant to roses, either artificial 01 animal manures. Where the latter are not available apply the artificial, E?, over the surface soil neatly and tidily, and work in the manures —the rains or water will do the rest. A little nitrate of soda and sulphate of ammonia added to bone meal and superphosphate will make a good all-round dressing for roses. ANSWERS. *‘Calla,”-—There are two distinct species of that particular class of callar—-namely, Calla pentlandi and Callaellicttiana. They are both very beautiful,_ though differing somewhat, particularly in their foliage. Ellioltiana shows large while spots all over tho leaves. ■>, C. pentlandi’s leaves come nearly pure green, almost minus spots. I rather think yours is C. elliottiam as I know it is fairly plentiful in the north. I brought some from there last year, and they proved much more satisfactory than ‘I expected. _ One spike of bloom measured over sft in length, and the color was a very pure, deep, yellow. I grow mine in a rich, loamy soil, on a sunny border. Give yours similar border. They make very beautiful pot plants for greenhouse decoration. “Cucumber.” —I am sure you would not succeed in crowing cucumbers in a frame without making up a hotbed, though you may succeed with tho common ridge cucumber. Even these should have a. good thick layer of stable manure. Unless you are prepared to make up a good hotbed I would not advise you to attempt frame or greenhouse sorts; but you may, with good prospects of success, grow the ridge variety. If you are prepared to try growing a good .frame variety write again, and I will try to guide you. H.O. DUNEDIN GARDENING CLUB The usual fortnightly meeting of the above club was held on Tuesday evening, when there was a good attendance of members, in spite of the adverse weather conditions. Mr M. Barnett, of the Botanical Gardens, was the lecturer for the evening, the subject being ‘House and Greenhouse Plants.'

The lecturer, by practical illustrations, showed very clearly how plants should be potted and crown, and described the various piante suitable for window or house cultivation. Ho also dealt fully with greenhouse cultivation and the various foliage and flowering plants suitable, and their propagation from seeds and cuttings. On the motion of Mr Jas. Nelson, he was accorded a, very hearty vote of thanks for his very interesting and instructive address, and tile hope was expressed that the club would see more of him. Mr Hollingworth presided over the meeting. HOW I FELLED A POPLAR TREE. * I was standing on the top rung of the ladder painting the window sash of our smoking room window. I had laid my paint pots out- carefully below—they made a, brave show, loo —and wondered why I should, have been so unlucky as to havehad to go through my recent unfortunate experiences. Why was it, I asked myself, that everything I had touched lately in the garden had gone wrong? Why was it, too. that that man Jones, my-neighbor, should bo so peculiarly an innocent—or otherwise—enemy ot mine? The answers to these difficult problems were too much for me, and I solaced myself with the thought that in future Beatrice would look after the gardening end of the family, so .to speak, while "1 would devote myself to the more practical side of things, and look after tie artificial beautifying of our estate. This arrangement would, I was sure, be to out mutual benefit and at least to my personal satisfaction. I was jnst congratulating myself upon this successful arrangement when, for some inexplicable cause, the window sash slipped, catching my, thumb in its descent between itself and the bottom of the window frame.

What excruciating agony! I wrenched my hand free, and in the effort found myself swiftly -but -ingloriously descending the ladder, and 1 landed! -among the paint contained in the pots below! At that moment Beatrice called l out in a shrill voice:

“I think that old poplar tree ought to come down, don’t you?” “Come down? Yes, certainly.” Seeing that I had had such a recent experience of “coming down,” I felt certain that I was just the mam for tlie job. Really, my luck was. out. Nothing over seems to go right with me. “yes, I replied, “I will see to it at once.” And, rubbing my shaken frame and ■ collecting my scattered! senses, I emerged from among the paint pote just as Beatrice emerged from the greenhouse. “ What on earth have you been doing now?” asked my wife in tones of bitterest scorn.

“ Nothing,” I replied. “ I liave only just had a slight altercation with the window and the ladder, and I’m afraid I’ve lost.”

With a strange little sniff and jerk of her head—so peculiar to Beatrice—she cast one rueful glance upon my still’ more rueful countenance and vanished into the house.

Now the poplar tree my wife spoke about stood at the end) of Jones’s garden, and had beep an eyesore for some time. It not only excluded tho view -from their upper windows, but was neither useful nor ornamental, and for a long time pastI had decided to have it removed. Jones was quite anxious that tho work should be performed, and as it happened that I was the landlord of his property it remained with mo to see that it—the work —was carried out.

Agreeing with ray wife over tea that the task should bo started forthwith. I considered’ my plan of campaign. Labor being so‘expensive when contracted for, I decided to superintend the removal of the poplar myself, and having visited the local unemployment bureau —where I secured the services ot four men, whp protested that they were experts at removing anything from a pint of bitter to the Tower of Babel—l went forth to my feat of civil engineering with a light heart. One, Brooks by name, I appointed chief ganger ,and instructed him to get the stay ropes fixed from the ground to tho higher branches, so that wo might liave control of tho tree when its main trunk should be severed from the roots..

These two little occurrences certainly gave some amount of excitement to tho proceedings, but proved somewhat expensive. as the future showed.

Brooks’s views on throwing ropes lasso-, fashion were nob quite ia accordance with mine, for his first effort resulted'‘in two windows being broken of the house backing from a side street on Jones’s garden-, and hia second attempt was no less successful, for the weighted end of the" repo fell with a crash on to the top of a fowlhouse in an adjacent garden, whoso owner was incubating soma valuable strains of birds. Beatrice was so exasperated at the-com-mencement of the work, and so loudly proclaimed my inability to “down" anything, let alone, hew down a huge poplar tree, that she. decided to pay a visit to her mother’s in case some other calamity should occur.

At last, after many misgivings on my part, tho men got three staunch stay ropes affixed, and 1 then I started two men going with the great double-handed saw I had hired. ; At first they were unable to. make any perceptible impression on the trunk of the tree, and when: they did so and,' endeavored to tempt an artful little knot

in the wood to give way, the knot retaliated! so vigotously that tho saw buckled and broke in half with a report like a miniature pistol shot. - How exasperated I felt, and how volubly did I consign Brooke and hie wicked party of wage-snatohero to perdition! But it was useless to lose one s temper, and undignified as well, so I let tho work proceed.

Having secured the services of a new saw, wo went to work with a will, and in about two days had got through the trunk so well that it needed caution in manoeuvring matters now. Of course, wo had sawn through the trunk from the rear, so that when pulling on tho ropes tho treo would fall towards us, and not dash itself into anybody cfae’e garden. At least, that’s wlml wo imagined; but falling trees seem to have ways of their own, an 4 I must say they aro confoundedly obstinate.

“To the ropes!” I shouted; in line nautical fashion, and all my merry party started hauling and falling over ono another. and making such a terrible bother that half the neighborhood turned out—that is to say, they got front seats at their windows —to see what wonderful feat I was about to perform next. I presume they went to their windows'in order to avoid any risk they would have run in their gardens. Perhaps they were wise I “Haul, my men, haul!” I commanded with that air of seamanship rarely secy off the bridge of an ocean liner. And haul they did, with the unexpected result that*with a thundering crash’the tree toppled, over, dashing headlong into Jones’s garden, and taking away tho party wall wit'll 'it in its mad career. Three of my men, not antidapting such an unexpected denouement, wore tumbled together hopelessly, 1 ono sustaining a sprained ankle and another a contusion to his head. Deary! Deary!

I ivas not insured against such catastrophes. and hastened into tho dining morn for a drink with a little soda in it—ami nut much of that.

When Brooks came in he found me sitting disconsolately in my armchair. “ Gnv'imr,” he started off-with, “don’t give way Be a maul Be a. man as I am.” I waved him aside, but he would not go.

“ Xo. sir.'' ho continued, “I'll sec yer through with tho job. I’ll get my brother Bill, who is an expert feller” (in this case ho really meant what ho said'—his brother was a feller, and not a “ fellow ”). “ He’s an expert teller,” said 1 Brooks, .“ and 'he’ll .soon put matters right.”

“What on earth, jna.ii/* I-shouted, “ da you bring in your brother at this stage for? Why did you net say when wo started that one of the shining .lights of your family .possessed such knowledge, as I. was gasping for?" „ ' , , Brooks was lost in thought for a moment, and then in a, burst of confidence observed that ho thought I knew so much, or pretended 1 did, that he didn’t like to 'interfere —and at tho same time ho didn’t want the . .job to. bo over too quickly, or something to that effect. - I could' only look.':daggers, but I certainly thought the move, especially so when Beatrice came back and saw flu; havoc we had' made.

The only way, of course, to remove the tree trunk was by sawing it up into logs, ho Brooks's brother got tin's work in hand, whilst a new party of men tackled the removal of the roots.

You never saw such roots. This particular specimen of aborioulture must, have existed, or at least commenced its life, in the fstono Age, if the size and strength of the roots, were anything to go by. They tunnelled here, they tunnelled there; in fact, they tunnelled everywhere, I might say, paraphrasing the ’ famous couplet in tno,‘Scarlet Pimpernel.’ And, oh, what joy! You’ll laugh heartily when I tell you. They wanned under Jones’s flower bods to such an extent that all his seedlings were utterly spoilt for this season. . Cutting down a poplar tree is one way of getting one’s revenge, isn't it?—* Popular Hardening.’