THE GARDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2051, 15 June 1893, Page 4

THE GARDEN.

WORK FOR THE WEEK.

Vegetable Garden.— All beds of asparagus Bhouldnow be cleared off, if not already done, and a good mulching of manure, or of seaweed and manure, given, to the depth of from 2in to 3in— this will serve the double purpose of keeping down the weeds and enriching the bed. If you wish to renovate an old bed, clear away the soil till the crowns are reached, and any decayed roots may then be removed and good plants put in their place, covering over the whole with a good mixture of fresh soil and manure, then over this laying a Rood mulching of manure, or manure and seaweed, as described above. It should be borne in mind that the natural habitat of the asparagus is along the «ea coast, and therefore it must receive a fair amount of moisture, combined with free drainage. In choosing a place for the plant, the ground cannot be too rich, but the drainage must be good, find the ground well trenched to the depth of from jfflin to 24in, and the more manuro that can be dug ia during the process of trenching the. better,

The ground may then be laid off in beds (sft is a very convenient width), and the plants placed in rows, taking care not to plant too close, for when this precaution is neglected the plants are drawn up weakly and are not suited for the table. Cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli, savoys, and Brussels sprouts should now be planted out if this has not already been done, and small sowings of each may be made for successive crops. In wellsheltered nooks with a somewhat dryish soil, a sowing of peas might still be tried ; broad beans may also be put in if required. Any crops ought to receive all necessary thinning out aa soon as they are large enough to handle, and all weeds should be kept down— these should never be allowed to make headway. Onions should now be thinned out, and as when transplanted they yield as good a crop as when allowed to remain where sown, it will be as well, if ground is available for the purpose, to utilise the thinnings. It will be as well to thin out carrots, parsnips, red beet, and similar crops, if the plants will pull without breaking. Globe artichokes should now be divided and planted out at once, working the ground well and ÜBing plenty of well-rotted manure. Seakale may also be planted out where 1 the ground is moderately dry ; but if the ground is liable to be saturated with water it will be better not to plant till later in the season. Flower Garden.— The general -pruning of Bhrubs should be gone on with during this month, regulating the growth of such trees as are liable to grow out of shape. Pruning should be performed more with the knife than the shears, which are used much too often, producing the most unnatural-looking shrubs. Pruning should i have the effect of assisting, not deforming, nature, as is too frequently the case, by shearing every shrub into a stiff, unnatural shape. A choice selection of herbaceous plants, combined with bulbous and tuberous rooted plants, will not fail, if properly arranged and managed, to make their respective beds or borders gay for the greater part of the year. Fruit Garden.— Prunirg and planting will be the principal work to be done in this department for some time to come. Where the latter is intended, it is necessary to plant early to secure the best results. Plantations of raspberry canes and strawberry plants may still be made. Greenhouse.— Careful attention must be paid to watering during the present dull weather, as too much moisture in the greenhouse or frame is apt to cause plants to damp off. All dead or decaying leaves should be cut away. Air should be given upon all favourable days, avoiding cold, cutting winds ; it is better to allow the tenroerature to rise higher than usual than let the plants suffer from severe cutting winds. Primulas and cinerarias which may be growing on for large plants should have the assistance of liquid manure if the pots are well filled with roots. Potting Plants. In practice, " Pot that plant " really means give it a larger pot — that is, more room for its roots. Re-potting, however, sometimes in practice comes to just the opposite of this, and the experienced potter in shifting his plants determines his course by root-condition. If that is good, vigorous, and obviously cramped, he gives a larger pot ; if otherwise, he not unfrequently puts it into a smaller one. There is no resuscitating process so prompt and effectual as this in the case of many plants. Worms, bad drainage, indifferent or unsuitable soil, unskilled watering, may have converted the rootruns into quagmires of sour, putrid earth, in which the roots are sickening towards death. Remove the whole, wash the roots clean if needful, as it often is, and re-pot in very light, porous, sandy soil, or fine sand, placing the roots in the smallest possible pot, and give such extra nursing as advised after potting off, and the roots may be re-established in health and quadrupled in numbers in a few weeks, and the plant saved. So scon as this renovation is effected, the plant may b& re-shifted into a larger pot, and treated as advised for others. The time for shifting plants must be determined by condition, and with but little reference to the calendar. At one time, however, the spring and early summer months were

mainly devoted to the potting of plants. This was carried so far that plants were shifted in spring, whether they wanted it or not. No doubt these general pottings at such seasons suited the majority of plants ; hence the practice survives to this day. Accepting it as an axiom that no plant should be pruned and potted at the same time, whatever its condition, as such a double check hinders alike the formation of roots and the growth of top, there are three general conditions of plants favourable to their re-potting or shifting. The first is soon after starting ; the second, in the middle of their growth ; and the last, just before their growth is ripened. And these seasons, determined by condition, apply to all plants without exception, whether hard or soft wooded, herbaceous or bulbous, exogens or endogens. — From Cassell's Popular Gardening. Roses Which Change Colour. The Chinese, the Japanese, and the Siamese know a thing or two about botany and floriculture that would be of much value to British botanists. One of their achievements— the one on which they pride themselves above all others — unless it is the art of raising oaks in thimbles— is the "changeable rose," a real rose in everything except that it is white when in the shade and blood-red as soon as the sunlight strikes it. During the night, or when in a dark room, this curiosity of the rose family is a pure, waxywhite blossom. When transferred to open air the transformation immediately setß in, the time for the entire change of the flower from i white to the most sanguine of all sanguine hues depending on the degree of sunlight and warmth. First the petals take on a kind of washed or faded blue colour, which rapidly changes to a very faint blush of pink. The pink gradually deepens in hue until you find that your lilywhite rose of an hour before is as red as the reddest peony that ever bloomed. Hawthorn Blossom* Few bushes in England are more timid of flowering than the common hawthorn. I have seen the hedges in bloom — here and there, at least— as early as the middle of April, and I have seen them as late as the middle of June. No doubt the buds wait patiently for such weather as will bring out in numbers the particular flies on which, as a rule, they depend for fertilisation. One year, I recollect, I noted the meat-fly abroad on the 24-th of April, while the mayblossom broke into bloom on the 27th. For— must I tell the sad truth ?— painful as it is to relate, the hawthorn flowers are fertilised for the most part by carrion insects. A certain undertone of decomposition may be detected by keen nostrils in the scent of may, which is indeed more agreeable in the open air than in a warm room ; and it is this curious element in an otherwise delicious and pure perfume that attracts the meat-eating insects— or rather, to be more accurate, the insects that lay their eggs and hatch out their larvsa in decaying animal matter. The hawthorn, however, keeps the unpleasant meaty odour well in the background, so that the perfume as a whole is decidedly agreeable in the open air. — Longman's Magazine. Mr J. Veitch, of the well-known English horticultural firm, who is travelling the world in search of new plants, is at present on a visit to Wellington. He has spent two years in the work, and expects to be 10 weeks in New Zealand. He says that a good many New Zealand plants are already acclimatised at Home,

including pittosporum and veronica ; but many of them are only grown in a half-hearted way. A Valuable Orchid. — As an instance of the great value some collectors attach to large specimens of fine species or varieties of orchids, may be cited the case of a plant of a very fine variety of Cattleya Mendeii with 32 pseudo bulbs, eight of these with sheaths, which was sold by Messrs Protheroe and Morris, at the Quorn House sale, on April 10, for the sum of 220gs, the purchasers being Messrs Hugh Low and Co.