Gardening Notes

Northern Advocate, 7 February 1925, Page 1 (Supplement)

Gardening Notes

(By "Tainui.")

POLYANTHUS AND PRIMROSES. These old favourites have become particularly popular during the last few years. They are excellent for edging partially shaded borders or beds, and they are also very effective .for carpeting under deciduous trees, provided they can have sufficient .root depth. They require a good, deep, rich soil, and they will repay care in planting and manuring. . Old stable manure, : cow mgjiure or rotted garden refuse dug in will help to hold moisture as well as serve to supply plant food. A sprinkling of at planting time is also beneficial. The present is a good time for dividing an.d planting. The Clumps should ibe broken up into .quite bhUIII pieces arid planted firmly rwith the crown just out of the ground. - Polyanthus may be planted from nfne to twelve inches apart and primroses a little closer. The plants should be divided eveTy twt) or three years. They may also be started from seed. Sown now, a few plants may bloom next spring, and they Will make good plants for the following spring. Polyanthuses have of late years been much improved. The new strains have much larger flowers on longer Btalks and the colours are very fine. The lavender find blue shades, are very pretty mixed with the creams and light yellows. The blue shades seem to be more delicate than the yellows, and those- plants should be carefully watered during dry weather. They also do best in a more shaded and cooler position. TWO BIG-NONIAS..

Bigncmia rosea and Bignonia grandi flora are much in evidence at the present time. These are two of our finest climbers, making gorgeous shows of liglit rose and bright orange respectively. They are quite at home here, 1 and deserve a much wider distribution. Bignonia rosea carries heavy clusters of soft rose-coloured bells which are always displayed to the best advantage, being borne on long grace- ] ful stems. Bignonia grandiflora*;—there is a nice specimen at the Whangarei t ßowling Club's green —bears fewer blooms of a much larger size than those of the first named. These plants require little support and serve a very useful purpose in covering low. sheds and unsightly fences. Either variety is readily propagated by cuttings or by suckers. COMPOST. Briefly stated, compost is the decom-, position product of vegetable matter, such as hedge clippings, grass, cuttings, etc. Every grower who has any regard for garden economy should appreciate the value of compost. It is ! hardly safe to draw an analogy, but ' the compost heap is a source of energy to the growing plant in much the same' way as fuel is a source of energy in ! developing power in commerce. What- j ever the underlying processes are, there is no doubt about the result." | You have only to crop and re-crop j your land to make it lean and hungry.. J Nor will artificial fertilisers or lime or both serve to restore fertility. Such sick worn-out land can only be restored by working in animal manure or compost, or by digging in grass cut- j tings, soft-wooded garden refuse or ] oats, mustard or any other suitable soiling crop grower in situ. Fertile soil conditions demand a base possessing special chemical and physical properties. Left to herself Nature supplies this base in the form of th@ aeeuralated debris on the forest

IMMEDIATE OPERATIONS. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Sow turnips, lettuce, dwarf beans, carrots, silver beet and spinach; the prickly seeded spinach is preferred for present sowing. Tn suitable ground—trenched and well supplied underneath with organic matter, such as rotted manure or compost— a late sowing of dwarf peas may be made, but this is the last feasible sowing. The present is a very good time for sowing some soiling crops such as mustard, oats, etc., for digging in later. This would, serve g-s a splendid preparation for later crops. Garbage and cauliflower may be sown, but it is very important? that the weather should be right at time of sowing. Sow in between showers or sow in boxes, as previously advised, planting out later. It is very important that these vegetables sown now should make uninterrupted growth. Keep the ground frequently hoed between cultivated crops. THE FLOWER GARDEN. Chrysanthemums should.be sprayed with lime sulphur as a preventive against rust, - and with arsenate of lead against caterpillars if necessary. Apply liquid manure twice a week,' watering thoroughly at each application. Dahlias will also bjenefit by applications of liquid manure. Flowers in bloom should not be allowed to go to seed, unless the seed is specially required. Continue to layer and plant slips of carnations. Sow seed of perennial climbers, shrubs and herbaceous plants. Plant'slips'of all kinds, keeping well watered and shaded. Sow seed of the following:—Cineraria, Iceland poppy, larkspur, Stock, hunnemaimia, anemone, ranunculus x antirrhinum, pansy, dianthus, delphinium, Canterbury bells, lupins, Shirley poppy and scabious. Continue to plant cyclamen corms, also gladioli. Keep old beds of cyclamen watered; they should be making new growth now. Place orders for bulbs as soon as possible.

floor. But intensive cultivation, the taking of crop after crop from the same piece of ground is, in a sense, an unnatural process; and soil, to remain fertile, demands replenishment. It is not enough that the plant food elements alone should be restored; but it is essential rather to restore the humus to the soil; and this can only be. done by adding annual manure, or by green manuring, etc., as stated above; for this rather ill-defined humus is not only to a great extent a source of plant food; it is a retainer 6f soil moisture, and it also serves as the breeding ground for indispensable soil organisms or soil bacteria—minute plant forms that permeate all fertile soils.- . ' •' At this seasbn of the year, when there is so much cleaning up, particularly in the vegetable garden, all softwooded refuse should be stored, either in a heap mixed with alternate layers of soil, or thrown into a trench a few feet deep in an out-of-the-way eorner of > the garden. This rubbish will readily break down to a spongy impalpable mass,'which may foe removed and worked into the Soil from time to time as required. This is by far the best way to deal with garden refuse. The ashes resulting from the burning of such rubbish will supply lime, potash and useful soil elements, but it will not restore, life to a degraded soil. LIQUID MANURE.

Liquid manure, properly applied is one of the best possible plant stimulants. The most common forms of liquid manure are prepared by soaking animal manure—horse, cow or fowl—in water. The manure may be conveniently tied in a sack and suspended in >a barrel of water in such a way that the bottom of the sack is quite clear of the bottom, of the barrel—indeed, the top of the manure should be just below the water level; this gives a more complete and quicker extraction. A proportion of soot might with benefit be added to the solution; and a little soot occassionally sprinkled on the surface of the liquid will render it less objectionable to handle. Before applying, the liquid manure should be broken down to about .the colour of weak tea, and applications should be made only on a wet soil.

HOW CAMPHOR IS MADE. As a perfume camphor has been known and valued by .the people of China and Japan for centuries. Originally obtained from gum deposits occasionally found in old camphor trees, !it is now extracted from the wood itself, which, after being sawn through lengthwise, is reduced to chips and heated in a still. The vapour given off in this way passes through bamboo pines into a cooling chamber, where it condenses in crystal form, known as "flowers".' * These crystals are collected and exported to Europe, where they are further purified by being mixed with lime and charcoal and refined in special Tetorts. The oil thus obtained should not be confused with camphorated oil, which consists of camphor dissolved in olive oil. In recognition of their services with the forces during the war, £10,000 is left to each of his three sons by Sir Milton S. Sharp, chairman of the Bradford Dyers' Association, whose estate j is valued at £219,528.