THE GARDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 1943, 14 February 1889, Page 10

THE GARDEN.

OPERATIONS FOR THE MONTH. (February corresponds with August at Home.—Average temperature, SS-4.) SEEDS TO BS SOWN. American Cress Cabbage Carrot (e.h,) Cauliflower Corn salad Cress Chervil Lettuce Mustard Onion Radish Spinach Turnip Melon (in heat) Hardy annuals for spring blooming. SEASONABLE MEMS. Roses on walls will require nailing up and attending to. All the fading flowers should be kept carpfully cut off, and the ground well mulched with short stable litter. Also, during spells of dry weather syringing should be resorted to, aud some of the shoots cut back. By thus taking care of the plant, and feeding, if j necessary, with liquid manure, a crop of autumn , flowers may generally be secured. Roses on I their ovett': rdo < tsla'n3'sfefi<3ai'd§ fo'ajHbeHirt&teß*m the same way with the &ame result, both as to

the production of autumn blooms and also to the general health of the plant. Where the mulching with stable litter is considered unsightly the surface soil may with advantage be covered with cocoannt fibre refuse, the warm colour of which forms an excellent groundwork for plants of all kinds, and the fibre is useful by reason of its checking considerably the evaporation of moisture from the soil. The delphiniums are magnificent just now with every tint, from pale pink and bluish grey to deep bine and rose colour. No garden should be without some of these handsome hardy flowers. Evergreens may now be propagated from cuttings, a ehady moist situation should be selected ; the cuttings should be half their length in the ground and firmly planted,.when they will by next spring become rooted plants, but they should not be shifted till next autumn. The delphiniums and phloxes continue to render the borders where they obtain bright and beautiful with their handsome flowers. These plants, which are among the very best of subjects for any garden, large or small, thrive best in rich, open soil, but will do very well in any ordinary garden ground. In addition to the delphiniums and phloxes, many of the latter of which ate beautifully scented, may now be seea in perfection the barpalium rigidum, chrysanthemum maximum, gaillardia superba, and helianthus japonica, a new variety of sunflower, Asters are now coming into full beauty. They are invaluable plants, not only in the borders, but also for growing in pots for window decoration. The compact, various coloured flowers last a long time and {make a good show among the foliage plants^ which should always be used largely for winter gardening. By foliage plants is meant those which are grown for the beauty of their leaves only. One of tho most particular things to be observed at the present season in tjhe flower garden is the keeping within bounds the growth of all plants occupying the beds. Straggling verbenas, petunia?, geraniums, and the like spoil the appearance of that part of the ground they are intended to beautify, and reduce the number of flowers considerably. Therefore all exuberant growth should be cut off. In the kitchen garden department, where peas were sown in December they will require frequent watering to promote growth, well earthing up, and supplying with Sticks. A piece of good rich ground should now be prepared to receive a sowing of winter spinach at once. The ground should lie as open as possible to the winter sun. The prickly seeded variety is the kind to sow at the present season, the summer or round-seeded will do very well. After sowing, the ground should be made firm with the back of a spade, and then very lightly raked evenly over. The hoe should be frequently used among all kinds of growing crops to keep down weeds and benefit the plants by stirring the surface soil. This is an operation most essential to the welldoing of all vegetables, for it not only keeps the ground clean, but also in a healthy condition. Every available yard of ground should be planted with coleworts, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, &c., the first-named requiring but a foot of space every way, for the plants will in a few weeks produce nice little heads for thinning out for use. The last sowing of early horn carrot should, if not already done, be made without delay on a warm border, that has been well worked, and otherwise prepared for the crop. Now, also, is the proper season for sowing cabbage seed for autumn planting, to come in use next spring. A sowing, als6, of onion may be made at ouce for planting out next spring. Upon a plot of ground, from which pstatoes have been lifted, a sowiDg of turnip may be made for winter use, leaving a few to afford early green tops in (spring, which are not only sweet and pleasant to the palate, but are likewise very wholesome. Tomatoes and vegetable marrows should receive plentiful waterings. It is also an excellent plan with both these plants to spread round about them on the surface soil a quantity of material such as can be got from an old hotbed or the stable, or farmyard. A sowing of Bath cos or brown Eyptian lettuce should be made ; some radish seed may also sown, and the little bulbs will be found exceedingly sweet and crisp later on if [attention is paid to watering the plants when the sun shines full upon them. Some endive should be planted out for autumn and winter salad. Trained fruit trees should have all useless growth removed, and those shoots which are required to make laterals should be cut back. All spindling, weakly shoots should be carefully cut away from gooseberry and currant bushes without delay. New strawberry beds should now be plauted, selecting good, plumpj well-rooted runners for the purpose. Vines should be gone over, and all unnecessary shoots removed, and the berries thinned. Careful and frequent search should be made for slugs, snails, caterpillars, and other garden pests. If caterpillars are much among cabbage and kindred crops, the ground should be well scattered with lime or soot, but the former is best ; and it will further benefit the plants if they are syringed with salt and water, Strawberry Culture. With reference to forming strawberry beda early and planting in autumn, I have found the white grub completely spoil the whole plantation before the first spring growth. lam told the first thing to be dons is to thoroughly lime and Bait the ground the year previous, so that there can be no insect life or eggs left. Again, the ground it is said should be trenched 2ft deep and well manured. This I have done, but in spite of strong growth the white grub has eaten out the whole bed, and the crop was really not worth picking. Notwithstanding the general opinion that good crops cannot be obtained from poor shallow soil, I may say that the rule does not always hold good. Borne of the very poorest ground I have ever seen was the strawberry growing district on the North Shore, Auckland. It is simply miserable hard clay, with short manuka scrub — clay so hard that even the white grub beetle was unable to burrow in it. While plentiful on the Auckland side of the harbour, the pest, had only once been seen on the other side, and had failed to obtain a lodgment there. The strawberry plants were gmall, but there was any quantity of fruit, though I must say the sample was poor. Still no doubt some people grow a better sample than others, as I saw some very good berries, both La Marguerite (their main cropper and early sort) and " Trollopes Victoria," or as they call them, " The Duke/ I was told all sorts of manure had been j tried, out that bonedust was the best. Some 25 miles north of Auckland I Raw a small break of ' strawberries showing more fruit than leaves. Needless to say there were no blackbirds there. I heard of men making over £50 per acre I from strawberries, and yet they did nob get more than about 4d per pound for their whole crop, strawberries for eating being sold at from Is down to 8-1 (the usual price) per box, which is, I believe, sin square, holding about 21b of fruit ; boxes not returned. This season I have bought a quantity of fruit in Dunedin, and invariably found it washy and stale, having been ( bronght long distances in large cases. In Auckland they are carried in open wood crates, e^ch, holding say 10 of the small boxes. The air gets '

through between the boxes, and the fruit is not Crushed or musty.— J. H. E. Kerosene Emulsion. Mr John Deem, Two Rivers, Waihemo, has given the kerosene emulsion a trial this season, and with satisfactory results. He writes :—: — As I promised. I now forward you a report on my fruit trees dressed with the kerosene emulsion. It has done them a lot of good, but I think they will require another dressing next winter to clean them properly. I nearly killed three or four by dressing them a second time last winter, as they were very bad, but now they are putting out fine healthy shoots from the stumps, the branches leing dead. The other trees look healthier than -they have done for years, and are growing vigorously. The trees that suffered most were the Irish peach, My Celini, ripston pippin, winter peach, Queen Anne, Warner's kiug, golden rennet, flower of Kent, scarlet nonpareil, aud Pledger's seedling; but they were all more or less attacked, young and old. I lost about a dozen of one and two year old trees laat year. The scale also got on the gooseberry, but I see noDe this year. The late spring and early summer frosts played the mischief with the fruit this year up here. The stone fruit was nearly all killed, while many of the apples, pears, and even gooseberries, currants, and walnuts suffered considerably. It has been the worst year for frosts I have seen yet. Changed Habit in Peas. Some sixyears ago I obtained from Messrs Bliss and Sons, New York, a quantity of the then new pea, " Bliss' Abundance." These I grew for seed, and found them according to description and dwarf, say 18in. Two years ago I sold some of the produce of these peas to a seedsman in Invercargill. He now assures me that they are growing higher each year, and now stand over 4ft. How is this ? I have a break of them also this year in a sheltered position, and they seem to run nearly 2ft 6in.— J. H. B.

KOADS IN THE CATLIN'S DISTRICT. The settlers of the Catlins district have been for sotjie time, through the member for Clutha, urging on the Government the necessity of pressing forward the formation of roads which will give access to their holdings and a means of conveying their produce to market-. In the appropriations for roads in the Otago district which appear in the Estimates for the current year, there are three items under the heading of roads to open up lands before sale. These are Waikawa to Catlins, £1000 ; Glenomaru to Owake, £700; and Catlins district, £1000 ; and all who are acquainted with the magnificent district which these roads traverse, concur in tho opinion that the aggregate sum voted is only a bare measure of what the district is entitled to. An extension of settlement in the district will undoubtedly be very materi lly assisted if proper facilities are afforded for the conveyance of produce to the nearest railway station; and it is therefore very desirable that Government should give the necessary instructions to the Land department here, which has the construction of these particular roads under its charge, to use all possible despatch in completing- them. We understand that one of the reasons for delaying the expenditure of that portion of the money voted for roads which have not yet been cleared of bush and scrub, is that the subsequent burning of the felled material is a very difficult matter unless the felling is done when the sap is out of the wood. The department, therefore, intends to hold back this preliminary work for several months. This seems a sound enough reason for not proceeding at once with the work in question, and as this particular road — Waikawa to Catlins — runs through a district present almost devoid of settlement, very little objection can be raised to the delay. With regard to the delay in expending the votes of £700 for the road Glenomaru to Owake, and £1000 for the Catlins district, no legitimate excuse can, however, be' advanced. We learn from settlers in these districts that the roads are already formed and now only require to be metalled. The road from Owake to Glenomaru especially, is a highway which the whole of the settlers throughout the district must traverse before they can convey produce and necessaries from and to their holdings, and it is of the utmost importance that it should be made fit for traffic before winter sets in. We therefore impress upon the Government the necessity of at once placing to the credit of the Lands department here the sums required to complete these particular works. We are given to understand that the full amount voted will require to be expended, and it will therefore be false economy to withhold any portion of either of the sums. There can be little doubt that when the roads of the district are completed, the local railway returns will be materially benefited.