THE GARDEN.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1318, 3 June 1897, Page 5

THE GARDEN.

NOTES.

Grow the best grade of fruits. Feed the soil and it will feed you. All ground intended for fruit tree planting during the coming season should at once be broken up so that the soil may become ameliorated by the action of air and the absorption of earlv rains.

In sowing vegetables, it is an excellent practice to cover the seed ia the drills with wood ashes in a moist state, they having been exposed to the weather so as to become moistened through, and then what is known as bleached.

Lime will break up heavy clay soil and bind loose sandy. It will not, however, take the place of organic manure, but it will make the plant food already in the soil more available for absorption by the roots. When plants are re-potted they should be well watered a few hours previously. This will cause the soil to adhere together, and cling to the roots. If the soil is dry it will crumble off on turning the plant out of its old pot, and the roots will be seriously disturbed.

Keep the garden constantly cropped, and you will be surprised in how small a space you can grow all the vegetables needed for a family. Never allow a foot of your ground to be idle. As soon as one crop has been removed, put in another without delay, and make your plans beforehand as how you intend to act, so that you need not lose any time pondering over what crop to sow or plant. It is quite safe to subject all pot plants to an occasional bath of tobacco water, in strength about the colour of strong tea or weak C'llee j this can be easily made from the re fuse stems from cigar-makers, or a small package of the common smoking tobacco, by placing it in a pail and pouring over it boiling water, allowing it to stand all night, and then immersing the head of the plant entirely, and holding it so for a few seconds. The United States Department of Agriculture, as the result of exhaustive experiments in onion culture, gives the following advice to growers r—Light, jvell drained, fertile soils are recommended, especially such as are rich in organic matters. Liberal dressings of fertilisers are advocated, applications of 2001 b to 4001 b of nitrate of soda in four equal dressings, 8001 b to 10001 b of kaiaib, and a few hundred pounds of bonemeal per acre.