MISCELLANEOUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2326, 29 September 1898, Page 8

MISCELLANEOUS.

SIMPLE ASPARAGUS CULTURE. Asparagus, tho choicest of vegetables, is not

very extensively grown by amateurs, and yet there is no valid reason why it should not be. True, it may be found in most gardens attached to the homes of the middle classes, but, as a rule, the beds are old and utterly exhausted, and the produce poor in size and quility. Tho shoots of asparagus when cut for culinary purposes should at least be as thick as one's finger, this being the average si-se to which it is grown in France. It in a much easier matter to grow good asparagus than is generally supposed. To a very great extent success depends upon the selection of (.he sile. Asparagus thrives best on rather a dry, sandy, or loamy soil, which has been made rich by the addition of plenty of inanuie. In such ground as this, asparagus will grow well with very little attention other thin keeping clear of weeds. If the soil in any garden should be heavy, and inclined to be wet, where it is intended to grow asparagus, then the cite must be well drained, and plenty of sand — sea sand if available — mixed with the earth previous to planting or sowing. In &11 cases a sunny position is most essential. In mxny gardens a&raragus is grown on raised beds, but this method involves a considerable amount of trouble, and is not really nec3£.fary, except in very heavy soil. A simple way for amateurs to grow asparagus is to sow seed at once in rows about 15in apart on the site wl ere they depire tho plants to grow permanently. It is more convenient, however, to form beds, as it were, by making three rows each 15in, and then, if necessary, to sow more seed ; leave a path or alley 2ft in width before marking out the next bed. This will allow for proper attendance to the bods as regards cutting the produce and weeding. Tho seeds, it may be stated, should be put in groups, iLree seeds in e-tch, about a foot apart, so that when they have germinated the weakest pliu.ts can bo pulled rut ;md the strongest left. Cover tho seed to the depth of 2in or 3in with fine soil. The after-management of the plant is a most important item. None of the shoots should be cut for culinary purposes for at least two or three years after sowing, and this point amateurs will do well to boar in mind. To many it may peem a long time to wait, but when recognising the fact that if so treated the plants will continue to produce good shoots for nearly a lifotime afterwards it is worth doing. An annual top-dressing of manure, and a sprinkling of salt in early spring, just before growth commences, will w;>rk wonders. Of comse beds c&.n be formed by putting out two or three-year-old plants in spring ; but, even thon very little time is saved, since it is not wise to cut the shoots for the first year or two, and it certainly is a much more expensive method. It is, tberofore, only after considerable experience that I recommend raising plants from seed which, as already said, should be sewn during the early spring m>»ths. — "Practical," in Amateur Gardening. CORNFLOWERS AND LIKE PLANTS. Among tho native and other flowers which eofflo with tho least amount of trouble is the beautiful cornflower, now in such pretty bloom, not only in gardens but occasionally in fields and grassy places. Where its flowers are seen among grass and wild plants the effect is perhaps all tho belter. It is a plant of which tho seed can be easily saved, or is very chea.p, and which can be sown about in ba *o or rough places, or wherever in planting, ov fence-making, or in any other way the ground has been moved, and by merely shaking a pinch about in the early autumn we can often establish it in rough places. The foxglove, which abounds in many districts, may be sown in the same way, and perhaps to still greater advantage, especially in woods, ehrubbeiies, and copses. Even where the wild foxglove is plentiful, in its purple or ordinary form, it is well worth while to have some seeds of the white and spotted forms, which are as pretty in their various markings as any flowers of the summer. Where Uieso good forms are grown, saving the seed is a very simple matter ; in any case, it is very eatily obtained. Some seed in the pocket is a very good thing to take with one on a woodland walk. The coming months are the best for the foxglove and cornflower, wood forget-me-not, or any pretty annual or like plant we wish to establish outside the garden. Tho large evening primrose is admirable sown in the same way, and, in many places, will held its own for years. Tho large mullein known as Verbascum phlomoides is an admirable plant for tho same work, flowering nearly the whole summer. In Touraine this grows about dry banks in a country as cold as our own in winter. Among other plants which could be used is Rose Campicn, a pretty plant for chalky banks, and the Sweet William, though a dwarf plant, we have seen take to warm soiio very well, even among grafjs. Snapdragon is excellent for walls and stony places, and on chilky and warm soils the common chicory is well worth sowing for its beautiful spikes of bloom. The same may be said of the wallflower if there are old walls and ruins ; and some of the large garden harebells, which take up bo much space in tho garden and do not last for long, sre also most excellent for naturalising. So also are the wild or single rocket, common honesty, and the great bindwe3d — not the common bindweed, which is too much of a weed, but the European one, which in its pink and white forms is so handsome ; it should ne\ er be put in the garden proper, as on rich ground it becomes a weed. Corncockle is one of our native annuala, which might be worth sowing, and for very bold effects the cotton thistle is very fine, as are also the poppies in some cases. For instance, pretty forms of the field poppy, where they are established, are better outside the garden than in it, owing to their very strong odoar. Much depends on the kind of soil and situation we have to deal with. In marshy and boggy places totally different plants, such as the yellow monkey flower and the croeping bog Arums of the North of Europe, would be placed. — The Field. PLANTS WORTH FABULOUS PRICES. Some little time ago as an inducement to orchid hunters an advertisement appeared in spooimen of <he "lost orchid" known in the the Indian papers offering £1000 for a living botanical world by the awe-inspiring title of Cypripedium Fairricanum. The " loet orchid " 20 years ago was cultivated by connoisseurs in some profusion in Great Britain, and could be had for a guinea a plant, but then it vanished owing to lack of the proper fertiliser, and its value correspondingly advanced with its rarity. This is not the first occasion when a flower has vanished mysteriously. For instance, tho " Fleur do Paradis " was lost for 70 years, and a specimen owned by Lord Howe was valued at over 500gs. The most notable English collections of orchids include those made by Baron Schroeder and Sir Trevor Lawrence. The former's oollGotion is said to have cost £W,OOO, whilst the letter's outlay is calculated to have been but £10,000 less. On one occasion the Baron sold a solitary specimen, for £365. whilst Sir

Trevor had the felicity of refusing an offer of 803gs for a plant of his. Though not a plant, it may be mentioned here that the cabbages grown on a piece of waste ground bought by the French Government at the corner of the Rue Colbert in Paris have cost something like £600 a heart. Tho plot purchased for £280,000 in 1880 for building purposes has never been utilised for any other purpose than the growth of 23 cabbages a year, which repi'esent the interest on the capital expended. The palm that forms one of the chief foitures of interest in Miss Helen Gould's conservatory, at Tarrytown in America, must be mentioned as one of the most valuable plants in existence. The plant is described as not being so much remarkable for elegance as for scarcity. In the world of science it is known as the Ravenala Madagascariensis, but its best friends style it the " traveller's tree," because of its property, when properly tapped, of contributing a stream of clear water to assuage the thirst of the weary wayfarer. Miss Gould's specimen post her £7000. Apparently to invent a popular flower is about a 6 profitable as turning out a novelty that can be sold for a penny, for we loom that a New York florist paid £2000 for the sole right to tho Michigan carnation known as the " Murella." THE VALUE OF BATS TO GARDENERS. If any bats are found about your barn or other buildings (says a writer in a Home paper) encourage their presence. Dr C. F. Hodge, of Clark University, Worcester, Masa., in "The Country Gentleman," says that in an orchard near hid home he lound nine 'grubs of tho codlin moth in one minute, dancing to visit another orchard not a mile from the first, ho found only four grubs in an hour's search. The owner of the farm said that in an old barn near by lived 75 to 100 b.ils, and his apples were always froe from worms. The naturalist caught a, bat and offered it some of the grubs, which wore greedily accepted. The codlin moth flies only at night ; so does the bat — good circumstantial evidence that the bat w a'usoful friend to the apple grower. Dr Hodge took half a dozen bats homo and kept them in the parlour. They made their home in the top folds of the window draperies, flying about at night ond sometimes :n the daytime. From time to time netfalft of night-flying insects wero released in the room and never a bug remained in the mon ing The kits took everything, from a spider to a. Polyphemus moth. Ono morning tha doctc counted while a bat de voured 68 house flies. CHOICE HARDY FLOWERS. Spiraea callosa is one of tho best of the shrubby species for late summer flowering. Its rosy rod, terminal, flat corymbs are especially showy where the plants Are associated with evergreens such as thuias ai.ri darkleaved yews. Not only does this species flower frealy in midsummer, but it continues in beauty tor a couple of months in situations where the plants grow freely. This spirtea can be kept within moderate bounds by an annual pruning of tho shoots after flowering, removing weakly growth. When the bushes becoi-ie too big for their position they should be cut down to within a foot of the soil, when vigorous new shoots will spring up from the base and give a few trusses of bloom the same year i.nd a full crop tho next Arnebia echioides, or the Prcphot flower, is a pretty subject, but it is a pity the perfecc colouring of this plant is so shorVJived ; it is only disappointing in this sense — the blackbrown spots on the gold-yellow petals last so short v, time in perfectim that n avy a one has had his estimate of this flower ruc'ely shaken when an hour or two of bright punshine has removed the_ spots wh'^h provide the great attraction of this flower. To ihose who cultivate a quantity, this loss is not very apparent, but to individuals who see but few it is different. Helenium magnifica is an improved form of H. pumilum, having larger flowers, with a more pronounced diso. Although H. pumilum is a grand border plant, H. magnifica is likely to supersede it, in the same way as H. autumnalo is excelled by H. pumilum. The colour of H. autumnalo is not nearly ho intense i>s IIW of H. }»uixiilum, an.l colour — especially yellow — is all the better for being of a deep shade; at least, tho general opinion inclines that way. Spirasa callosa alba is one of the most showy and useful plants we hyve blooming on the roekory. The habic of growth is dwarf, n't more than 15m high. We pruno our plants down to within a few inches of the soil every year, in early spring, and the shoots produced afterwards give good trus-ses of bloom. In this way wo are enabled to keap the plants dwarf and suitable for thc-ir positi mi for many years. Thk spirasa is quite the best of the lato pummer-fiowering kinds, n,n.l in no situation does it «ho>v to greater ndvantjuje thnn in a nook ->n the rookery which is not too dry — even on the south side this plant succeeds. Rudbeokia purpurea is a handsome Cone flower, often known iinder tl c name of Bohinacea purpure-i ; it is a most desirable plant to grow for the sake of its colour — reddish purple with a brown disc — a colour rare in the herbaceous border during late summer. Wellgrown flowers are nearly 4-in across, borne singly on stout, erect peduncles, which renders it all the more useful for cutting. It grows from 3ft to 4ft high when well established, and is readily increased by division of tha roots. H&ucbera hispida is well worth cultivating for the beauty of its leaves alone. The rich purple-red blotches produce a fine effect when a plant attains a good size, while the inflorescences are attractive. For the herbaceous border or the rookery this subject deserves eixcouragement. — M., in Amateur Gardening.