GARDEN NOTES.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXVI, Issue 130, 7 June 1890, Page 2

GARDEN NOTES.

4 ' Almighty God first planted a garden and indeed it is the purest of all human pleasures.' — Bacon. OPEBATIONS FOR THE MONTH. Floweb Gabden.— Clean borders and beds of refuse, and give top dressing of manure ; dig m, leaving ground slightly rough, prune deciduous trees and shrubs, and put m new edgings where required. A few of commoner varieties of gladiolas maybe planted to give earlier spikes of bloom. Kitchen Gabden.— Plant out cabbage and cauliflower for the spring. Plant potato onions and garlic. Plant new beds of sea kale and cover for blanching, and thin and keep clean advancing crops of carrots and turnips. Fbitit Garden.— Pruning of all kinds can now be gono on with. The weather during the week has been exceedingly favourable for out door work, and the warm temperature of the last few days has a.-sisted growing crops to a considerable extent. June is generally considered as the most tempestuous month of the year, and we may therefore look for a good deal of bad weather ahead, when out door operations m the garden will be entirely suspended. Advantage should be taken of any fine weather that occurs to transplant trees or" shrubs. Great care should be exercised m the selection of trees or shrubs, for small gardens, it frequently happening that a tree is planted m a circumscribed piece of ground, where though it may be very handsome while young, m a few years it becomes too large for the space, and has to be removed, leaving a desolate blank.. Winter pruning on established trees should now be performed. It is well-nigh impossible to give accurate directions for pruning, m print. A lesson from a scientific hand, is worth more to the amateur than all that can be written on the subject. The operation consists simply m cutting out certain shoots or branches of a jdant for the purpose of modifying its form, increasing its fertility, and stimulating particluar parts to greater vigor. A tree may be made to assume any form if it is regularly and ■ frequently pruned from an early age. If root pruning is m contemplation, the present is the best time to perform the work, whether it is for the sake of throwing unfertile trees into bearing, or renovating those" that are partially worn out by an application of fresh richly manured soil to the roots. In gardens that have been under cultivation for a lengthened period, the soil, through being regularly manured is apt to become overcharged with humus, and may be improved by a dressing of lime, which acts on the humus, and renders it more suitable to the requirements of vegetables. NEW LILY OF THE VALLEY. The garden reports a new Lily of the Valley, known as Fontin's variety, which is a beautiful plant, graceful m both leaf and flower, and of remarkable vigor. The foliage is strong, large, and oi.the richest green, the bells being twice the size of those of the ordinary variety. An award of merit has been granted to it by the Eoyal Horticultural Society of London. PERSIAN FLOWER WORSHIP. A recent traveller m India gives the following description of flower-worship as practised by the Persians of Bombay :— A true Persian, m flowing robes of blue, and on his head a sheepskin hat— black, glossy, curly, the fleece of the Kar-Kal— would saunter m and stand and meditate over every flower he saw, and always as if half m vision. And when the vision was fulfilled, and the ideal flower he was seeking found, he would spread his. mat and sit before it until the setting of the sun, and then fold up his mat again and go home. And the next night, and night after night, until that particular flower faded away, he would return to it and bring his friends m ever- increasing troops to it, and sit and play the guitar or lute before it, and they would altogether pray there, and after prayer still sit before it, sipping sherbet and talking the most hilarious arid shocking scandal until late into the moonlight, and so again every evening until the flower died. Sometimes, by way of a grand finale, the whole company would arise before the flower and serenade it together with an ode from Hafiz, and depart. A NEW INSECTICIDE. .Mr T. Adoock, of Geelong, writes as follows to the Melbourne Leader : " Sir —Having been engaged m plant growing m Victoria for 40 years, I have unavoid° ably come m contact with various f Tins of insect pests and have combatted them with some of the numerous insectides with varying results, m some cases unsatisfactorily. A few weeks ago I tried M'Leod's Magic Soap with the most satisfactory results. It is the cheapest safest and most effective of all I have tried, causing death to all insect life, without the least risk, however strong the solution, to any kind of plant, even to tender ferns and Coleus grown m heat without causing them the slightest injury We take the suds that have been used for washing linen, etc., and apply them with a syriuge or rose watering pot ; a sprayer is,,howcver, best ; for ordinary purposes aud the more delicate insects, as aphides the suds alone are of sufficient strength' but for scale on orange or other trees' more soap should be added. I have re' commended this insecticide to several of my customers, and have received their warmest hanks for the information which has enabled them to get rid of their foes so cheaply and easily. When using cleTn f ,i IIa tw 8 f TTin, me * some of Mr Aaoock'a