THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9810, 11 June 1914, Page 2

THE GARDEN.

It may seem like stretching the possibilities of a school garden that it can have any influence on the character of the children who look after them, but we must not think that education begins and ends with the acquirement of much knowledge. It means a great deal more, and that is the building-up and moulding of character, and in this direction the welfare of the future generations of men and women is more in the hands of the school master or mistress than anyone else. There cannot be any doubt that the school garden will and does play an important part in the work, for it teaches such lessons as patience, self-reliance, unselfishness and control, and it brings out faculties of inventiveness and resource. School gardeners learn to respect other people's property through the mere fact that they have property of their own in the shape of plots, and the crope growing on them. There is another thing thai they teach, and that is tidiness and order, two things which will help them well on in the battle of life. Patience is a necessary virtue with all gardeners if they are to be successful, and by instilling this virtue into the minds of the young they will grow up to possess it in a greater degree in years to come. Patience is necessary in every walk in life, and if taught by small things in the beginning how much easier it will be for the man or woman later on when greater things have to be borne or done.

Every advantage of fine weather must be taken now to prepare land for spring planting. It mii6t be dry and manured, and if it is left in a fairly rough state it will be ea6y enough to hoe it over and work it up when it is wanted for use. If the soil is still wet* and heavy after two or three fine days it is a sure sign that the drains are not in proper working order, and they should be examined, or perhaps drains are lacking; if such is the case no time should be lost in putting them there. Until one has drains in their garder. they cannot realise the valuo of them. A garden- without drains is like a house without fireplaces or places where heat can be generated. Drains mean additional warmth to the soil, for the simple fact that the sun, instead of having to draw the water out of the coil before it can warm it, can use its full power immediately the surplus water har found its way to the drains. The sun warms the air and the air penetrate* the cracks and crevices left by the water on its way to the drains. It wi'i always be found that a warm soil i? one that is well drained cither naturally or artificially, and a cold soil is one tnat is full to the top with water for ;. longer period than is necessary. Some gardeners think this is a fad, but lex them try it, and they will find that stuff can be grown with twice the ease after the soil has been drained than it did before. Sometime ago a gardener had gone to considerable expense to put up a large pergola for climbing roses, tin expensive work was all above ground, the soil had only been dug and was heavy and dank, waterlogged in fact. He wa6 telling an old friend one day that he did not believe in all this talk about the wonderful- growth climbinjz roses made, and his friend asked to see the pergola. He at once 6aw what was wrong and advised two drains being put in at a cost which was trifling compared to the original cost of the pergola. The first season after this the valuo of drainage was so apparent that the owner had the whole of his garden and lawn drained the following season. Ho is a happy man now for he can grow anything he cares lor, and grow it well. Another aspect of the case was one that was not looked for, and that was the matter of weeds. Docks grew luxuriantly before drains were put in, and they took nearly his whole time in keeping them down, but since the drainage was completed docks have become things of the past. He puts this down to drainage, but the fact of the matter is that owing to the surplus water being taken "away the land was much easier to work, and therefore got worked oftener and tlu> clocks were killed in their young stages. Sorrel is often a great trouble to somo gardeners to keep in check, but it will be found that lime will do a lot towards exterminating it combined with proper •oil working. Spread the lime over the •urface before digging operations are 'done and work it up with the soil. This is the preliminary step; when the sorrel begins to show again work in more lime, and during the work fork out the ooars-

(Specially written for "Standard.") Notes are published weekly under this heading, and readers interested in gardening are invited to send in questions relating to matters upon which they wish expert advice; answers will be published with the weekly notes.

THE INFLUENCES OF SCHOOL GARDENS.

WORK

PROTECTION FOR ALPINES

VEGETABLE GARDEN

BLUESTONE ON APPLES.

est piece* and burn thorn. In a few years sorrel will disappear. It must always be remembered in dealing with weeds of any kind that they should never be allowed to run to seed. Weed seeds last in the ground for so long that it is impossible to cope with them during an ordinary life-time if they are allowed to run to seed year after year. Ground that has been manured year after year without an application of lime will be found to give better returns if manure is withheld and lime used for a change. Ordinary well nlanured garden soils will become over-charged with acid accumulation which must be corrected before plants can be successfully grown in them. The art of gardening is bo manysided that it is impossible to lay down rules for all cases, but there are one or two that are equally important whatever the soil or situation is like. The first and most important is "Studjr your soil" and learn* to know what is needful to it to make plant culture easy. Test it for lime, and if there is enough you can safely go ahead, but if there is not enough then more must bo added. Experiments carried out at Rothamstead go to prove that all soils should contain at least one per cent, of lime and that many are benefited by even a greater supply. These are principally heavy clay soils which require drainage above all things. It will.generally be found that all soils are capable of being made so that plants wilT grow in them. In rare eases plants must be grown that suit the soil, but in most cases the soil can be made to suit the plants.

''A Lover of Alpines," in the course of a very interesting letter on the subject of alpine plants in New Zealand, Bays: ''There are few people in this Dominion who realise the numbers of l>eautiful plants that are to be found on our hills and mountains a few thousand feet above sea level. lam also sorry to say that there are some that do know of them, but have no knowledge of the way to gather a few to grow near their homos. Beautiful plants are pulled up and wantonly destroyed year after year in thousands. I am speaking particularly of some alpine fields on Mount Egmont, but the same thing is happening in the near vicinity of Masterton. Ido not grudge a fellow lover of these plants a few if he takes care of them and does not pull them up to be thrown away n few minutes nfterwards. This, however, was not what I set out to writo about, but the way to protect these plants when they have been taken from their natural habitats and transplanted in some lowland garden. The first thing to do when putting these plants in other places than their native homes is to make the surroundings as natural as possible. For instance, if the plant grew on gravel and stones give it gravel and 6tones to end ite days on, and if the position was shaded choose another shaded position for it to occupy when transplanted. If the plant grew in the full sun on the mountain give it full sun and so on. Study the natural inclination of tho plant to protect itself. The greatest trouble, I found, with alpines. was to keep thorn alive during the winter, but now I am equally successful with them in winter or summer. It occurred to me that some of the plants that I had collected were buried in snow for at least a part of the'year, and so I tried covering thorn with a substitute in the shape of straw and bracken, but this was not a success. As many died under this cover as I lost before. At last I hit upon a grand device; I put four narrow sheets of glass round the plant and laid another sheet on ton to keep the rain off. This I now believe to l)o the secret; you see, the plant ie under snow during winter and is kept warm and dry, and when tho warm weather comes the snow melts and gives a sufficiency of water to start the plant into growth. Since trying this plan my success with alpines has been phenomenal, and I am not afraid to add to my collection at any time. Native Ranunculus and Oelmesias are easy to grow when treated this way. I give you these notes in tho hope that someone may see them, who, like myself, is fond of our native alpines and tries to grow them. There is one thing you must protest against, and that is the wanton destruction that is going on in our alpine fields. A day amongst alpines is one that will never be forgotten, and I doubt if there is a more healthy or enjoyable way of taking a holiday than to make your way to somo vast field where many of our most beautiful flowers grow, at least that- is the way I feel about it."

' The vegetable portion of the garden is one that gets the least attention dur--1 ing winter, but for all that there is plenty that might be done. Manure can be spread and dug in when the weather ,is fine enough, and old spent crops 1 should be cleared away. They are unsightly and they are breeding grounds of all the plagues that troublo the gardener during the spring and summer. The compost heap can he shaken over and all the rotten material nicked out to go back ou to the soil to add to the humus in it. Drains can be cleaned out and hedges trimmed, and all such work be done in readiness for the work that will come with the longer dayß and warmer weather later on. As soon as broccoli and cabbages have been cut dig up the old stalks. They only impoverish the ground when they are. allowed to remain in it. after their crop has been harvested. It is far better that the soil should lie fallow than have a. crop that is sapping the strength out of it and at the same time doing it no good. Soil exposed to the influence of the sun and air during the winter will be in much better trim for spring crops than when it is covered uo with litter. It is not necessary to dig runner beans out as soon as they have finished their first season. They are perennials, and will stand for a number of years, and some growers consider that the crops obtained the second and third year are better than the first 6eason. This be as it may—one thing is certain, and that is, if the old roots are left in the ground and do not become waterlogged during the winter they will send up their 6h00t6 at the proper time, and will not only grow faster than seed* but have earlier crops.

• A little whilo ago, it will be remembered by those who take an interest in fruit and the export industry, that the London cables referred to bluestone being found on imported fruit. This fruit, it now appears, was imported from Virginia, U.S.A. The Gardeners' Magazine, in referring to the matter, says: "At last we seem to be arriving at a definite statement concerning vitrol deposits on the imported apples, as according to Messrs Garcia, Jacobs and Co., of Covent Gardens, the apples on which the copper sulphate was discovSrS?o ky Mr M - S * Salmon, B.Sc., F.C.S., were imported from Virginia. We may point out that the sanitary authorities of the Oity of London are giving due consideration to the subject." It was thought at first when the cables were sent out that they meant either apples from this Dominion or from Australia, and it is just as well for an industry that is trying to get a footing m the market* of the Old World that

everybody should know th«it the fruit complained of did not come froij tnese shores. The Government officials 1 W that if the llordeaux Spray is properly made that the small quantity of copper sulpfcate deposited on an apple is so infinitesimal that even if it was eaten it would ndl hurt anyone. Those Nelson peaches that were condemned at San Francisco and wore taken on to Vancouver were condemned tVere also, so far no news ha? reached lu're as to their ultimate end. but, no doubt, they were dumped ovvrboard.