WORK FOR THE WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 1583, 25 March 1882, Page 8

WORK FOR THE WEEK.

Kitchen Gahdbn, — The small cabbage plants remainim. iv the seed-bed, af lor supplying the plant wi'»n for oarly use and general crops may bo pricked out about three inches apart' on a piece of well-manured ground. These will make nice stocky stuff for transplanting in spring, or for filling up vacancies occurring in the plantations. The oaiiicr section of cauliflower plants will also be ready for putting out in a plot which has been previously prepared, by digging or forking in a dressing of threo inches of thoroughly decomposed manure. Later sorts will tdso bo^ ready for pricking out, where they can remain through the winter. If the plants are allowed six inches space, and the soil is not over rich, good Bturdy stuff will be ready for spring planting. If a rough framo can be put together in a aheltjered comer, and filled with a light, rich compost, good lettuces may be grown for winter supply. Black-seeded Brown Cos and Stanstead winter cabbage are the sorts to use, and strong plants being selected from the seed beds, they may be planted in tho frame aboutsix inches apart. Flower Garden.— The work of propagation of bedding plaiits should not bo delayed. All the strong-growing ssonalo pelargoniums can bo put in boxes of sandy' soil, moderately moist and stood in the full sun, all the leaves except the top pair being removed to prevent the exhaußtion of the cutting by evaporation. They will callus in three weeks, and begin to form root by the time they must be taken under cover. Verbenas, heliotropes, and ageratuma should be inserted in boxes of sand and placed in a cold pit, keeping close during the day and giving them ah- at night. They must be shaded from bright sun, and occasionally dewed with a fine rose syringe if they flag. In taking cuttings of verbenas, &c, it is a Sood plan to examine them for thrips, and if lieso pests are upon them, the cuttings should be drawn .through tobacco Avatei- without wetting the' ends. This little precaution will savo a lot of trouble hereafter, and a larger proportion of the' cutting* will succeed. ' ' G-BKKNiiousE.— There is yet time for another sowing of calceolarias for late spring blooming; scattering the seed thinly on the surface of damp soil, covering with a square of glass and a' piece of slate over that to keep the seeds m darkness until they havo germinated. This is a sure way to raise most seeds, but after the first week they must 'be examined every day to remove thd slate the moment germination has taken place.' The first batch of calceolarias, cinerarias, and primulas will be ready for prickingout in of turfy soil. They seem to come.on .better in boxes, haying more root room,- and they can be potted into three-inch pots, singly, when large enough. Bignonia fasminoides is enowc now a great ornament of the conservatory, and where stock is required the cuttings taken now will root pretty freely if putinsmall'potsof sandy soil. Sometimes it & found difficult to bloom, and if this is the case it is probably the shy-blsoming sort, there being two varieties in cultivation. The true sort >yill bloom freely in small pots when nb more than six inches high.'