THE GARDEN.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1088, 14 February 1918, Page 2

THE GARDEN.

AFFORESTATION.

The visit of the Rev. Mr. Siminonds to this district will do a lot of good to the eauso of private tree growing. Mr Simmonds is a well-known authority on tree, growing, and eucalypts in particular. ' His articles in tho Government Journal have been most Widely read and thoroughly appreciated by till who have the welfare of the country at heart, Even in an article such as was written for the Journal it is impossible to do more than touch upon the main outlines of tree growing, .but it inch more could bo learnt by beginning on the work at home. There is not one 1 armor or land owner who does not, when thinking the matter over, carefully toinc to the conclusion that he ought to begin, and begin ho would if his neighbours would do tho same. All our expert authorities say that at the present rato of destruction our natural forests cannot la.st more than a few years, thirty at the most, and what are wo going to do then? Planting will have to be compulsory—that is the answer—those who could plant but wouldn't will wish that they had listened to words of wisdom years ago. If everybody planted a few trees now; and kept on doing so the shortage of timber will not be so acute when it does come. MAKING THE GARDEN. As soon as enough rain falls to .soften the surface of the soil a beginning should bo made to lay out a new garden or to remake the old one. If this work is left until the winter has pro-' pcrly sot in miich of the work has to bo done whon the soil is unsuitable, that is to say, when the noil is wot. Wot soil, when worked, is always liable to run together and get hard and once this condition of things sets in, it takes a lot of hard work to rectify the error. Taken all round more, than fifty per cent, of the soils in our gardens are what can he termed heavy and have a certain per ccntage of clay in their make up. These soils require a greater amount of work and more studying than light soils, but they have one great advantage over the lighter ones tnd that is they will grow almost anything and do not requiro the. same amount of manuring that tho Light •ioils do. Light have one advantage aver heavy soils, and that is they can be worked almost any time, even if the weather is wet, without doing them , my harm, and another thing is that (raining is unnecessary. With heavy, wils it is essential that they must be. [rained and this is the first thing that 1 mould be done before any of the ground j is broken up. The depth and distance t ipart.for. the drains depends upon the nature of the soil and the strength of, tfie clay underneath, but there is oncj ■.lung that is certain and that is the j [rains must bo below the greatest depth i •o which the soil is to be cultivated. It .vould never do to put the drains down jighteeq indies and then go and cultivate the surrounding soil to a. depth ol ( /wo feet. The soil below the level on die .drains would soon become sodden \ tnd the water would stagnate, causing; it to become sour. Water is a good ! ,'riond to a gardener, but to make the nost use of it, it must bo kept on the, novo. Moving water does not stag-, uite and therefore docs not turn the oil sour. There is one thing about Irainago that does not seem to appeal o everybody and that is that drainage locs not make the soil bone dry. It •or.tainly takes tho water away when '.hero is a surplus, but at the same ime it leaves the ground moistcr than t was before. These are hard fact* for he novice to assimilate, but they tire, levertheless, facts that are. quite beyond dispute, and once the. gardener ias found out the value of drains he annot do without them. It sometimes • appens that an outlet for the water, shard to find, but Freain, in his book' mi "Soil Drainage," advocates a sys~; cm of well drainage, which could be / easily and cheaply adopted here. An ititlet is a, dram, creek, stream, or ■ivor, whoro the surplus water can flow, ■way, but where these cannot be got ( lie "well system means digging a hole} ii the soil until gravel or sand is, •cached and then running all thoF |rains into it. If the hole is (loop it; ~,„ |,o filled with large stones and' ■oo'ders, and no harm will be done, but [ i shallow bole i.s better kept unfilled,; is there may be some sediment to clear. »ut from time to time. When drains j M-e made in lengths less than fivol •hains there is no need to go in fori ■ill traps, as in the ease when drain-j ng large' farm areas. The best thing' ;> use for drains are field tiles, which ire put into the. soil by means of spe•ial tools, which are made for the purmse but even these can be dispensed villi' and the pipes laid bv the means j an ordinary spade and shovel, there ire other materials that can bo used uch as boulders and bricks, or even -rub but none are as satisfactory as V> tiles, which, when once in tho soil. vill last for a.lifetime, ami need no 'ttontion beyond keeping the outlet dear.

QUESTION. "Apple" says: "I have twelve apple •roes, which were in this garden when I bought it a year ago. f was told hiit they wore, very good varieties, and I believe they are, but unfortunately hey are covered with scale. I tried praying with emulsified red oil, but it lid not seem to do much good, in fact he oil and water did not seem to nm roll, although I stirred it up and hook it for sometime before using tin pray pump."---The emulsified red oil. f used according to directions, should lave cleaned the trees'last winter. The .rouble is evidently that the water you ,i.-.ed is what is known as "hard." liard-

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

noss of water i« due to the presence of lime or magnesia in it, and to soften it use. ordinary washing soda. Take one ounce of washing soda and dissolve it, and add to it three gallons of water; then add the amount of red oil required to make throe gallons of spray to its own bulk of the softened water, and 'stir it up well, and then pour the whole lot into the three gallons of water and stir it up again. Stir well and allow it to stand for a few minutes. If any free oil rises to tho surface more washing soda must be added, but if it mixes all right you can go ahead with tho spraying. Spray twice, next season, fiie first lime directly the leaves havo fallen, and the second time just, before the buds begin to swell, ami you will find that you will get rid of the wale. ROSES.

Rose growers could do a lot to strengthen their plants now ji they would give the beds a good mulching of farmyard manure, and water it in well. Alter the first or second lot of blooms arc over growers aro very much inclined to neglect their plants. It is a good growth in tho autumn that cinuits when it comes to shaping up the bushes for next season's flowers, and also if a good autumn growth can bo got there will be a lot of flowers that will be greatly appreciated. This manure, after acting as a mulch during tho dry hut weather, can then bo forked into tho soil, and "will supply some ol the much needed humus. Mildew has been very bad in .some places this year, and must be kept down or the plants cannot be expected to do their best. Tho lime-sulphur solution has proved itself the best lor this pest, but it must not be used at a greater strength than me part to one hundred of water. It is a good plan before putting on the mulch to thoroughly fork over the surface of the beds and to break up any lumps to a depth of about three inches. Pick off any tops that arc on tho plants, as they cannot be expected to bear flowers and seed at the same time. CHRYSANTHEMUMS.

■ The date given by most large growers of chrysanthemums for taking buds is the middle of February, and then tho flowers should bo ready for shows in April. If flowers aro only wanted for decorative purposes it is immaterial when the buds are taken as long as tho grower does not wait too long. It must always be remembered that after the terminal bud has appeared that no more shoots will be .sent up from tho side branches, and consequently, if the terminals are picked off, the blooms are done. After the buds have been taken the next thing to do is to commence feeding the plants, and it depends a ;0(k.1 deal on how this- is done as to vhat will be the ultimate size of the lowers. It is a good plan to water the plants thoroughly, and then give them i teagpoonful of sulphate oi ammonia o four gallons of water before giving my liquid manure water. The sulphate if ammonia can be repeated about a fortnight later, but it should not ho overdone. Change the various manures that go to make up the manure water as frequently as possible, but keep soot water going all the time. II animal manures cannot be got artificial manures- may be used, bui they will not be quite as satisfactory, as the ithers, and care must be taken not to use thorn too strong. VEGETABLES.

There are a few seeds that can be sown now to give a supply of vegetables in the winter. Silver beet is one of the principal, and if it has not already been put in no'time should be lost in doing so. It is a very quick growing thing when yiven a proper chance, and to do this a ltench should be opened, and some stable manure put in the bottom and tho earth replaced ; then dibble tho seeds along the top in holes a foot apart, allowing about two needs to each hole. As soon as the young plants come up thin thorn out, leaving the .strongest to occupy the hole. When treated in this way the plants will soon begin to give plenty of green stuff, and after a while white stalks. Turnips of the yellow fleshed variety can be sown now in fairly rich ground. It i.s a mistake to put in too many at one time, a.s they do not always get used, and only cumber up tho ground. Sow a few now, and another lot a fortnight hence. Lettuces can also Ik; sown, but it is most important that the ground should havo plenty of manure worked into it, and the planus must bo forced along as soon a.s the young seedlings ire above ground. This can easily be lone by using manure water, and applying it in weak doses fairly frequently. Winter spinach can also be sown now in one lot in good soil. Make a sowing of one of the short carrots; these need not bo thinned if they are not sown very thickly, as they can bo pulled and used as they are wanted. All kinds of beans and peas must be kept picked as soon as they are ready. or they will very soon have their period of usefulness ended. A good shower of rain would bo very beneficial to all garden plants now, but in the meantime tho hoe should be kept going as much as possible so as to keep the soil open and free. These dry spclls_ havo their use, but it is very annoying to _ see pla.nts that you value looking wilted and withered. A good watering sometimes has the desired effect, but nothing is as good as a heavy fall of rain, especially when the surface soil is loose and well stirred. The rain sinks into the loose soil, and is held there while the surplus finds its way down into the soil underneath, where it is stored for the use of plants, and the ton acting as a mulch' does "ot allow it to be drawn up by the sun.