OPERATIONS FOR THE "WEEK.

Otago Witness, Issue 2396, 1 February 1900, Page 8

OPERATIONS FOR THE "WEEK.

KITCHEN GARDEN.— The first sowing ot cabbage for spring should be made about the first week in February; the best varieties are- Enfield market, Carter's heartwell, ayd early York. Sow the seed in shallow drills, watering them thoroughly before the seed is sown, and covering with burnt refuse. lhe land for Tripoli onions, which should be sown 'about the same time, cannot be too rich, and the drills may be drawn Bin apart when the Boil has been well trodden down, a firm seed bed being of great importance for onions. Sorns growers sow in beds 4ft wide, but the system is not a good one, as the ground cannot be kept clean or the soil stirred between the rows, neither can the plants be thinned so readily as when grown in drills. Plant broccoli .in any vacaDt spaces ; if the giound is hard and dry, plant with a crowbar, filling the holes with water.

FLOWER GARDEN.— The propagation of roses can be carried on now by means of budfling or by cuttings. In preparing the shield for insertion in the bark of the stock, experienced propagators remove the small piece of wood, but this is not necessary, and the amateur will succeed better by placing the bud iv the stock just as it is cvi, off from the rose. Those who prefer roses on their own roots, so as to avoid being plagued with suckers, should put in cuttings of shorl-jointed wood in sandy soil in a shady place, when they will root by the end of the autumn. Teas and Chinas will do better if placed under a hand-glass. Herbaceous plants must be kept tied up, and the bloom spikes removed from those varieties which have begun to fade. Remove the seed sprays from heliotropes to prolong the bloom, and if the plants have become lanky cut them back.

- GREBNHOTJSE.— There is yet time to sow calceolarias and cinerarias for late bloom. Those sown in November will be strong plants, which should be repotted into Tin pots soon, to make good flowering plants by the middle of June. A cold frame facing the south is the place for theni, and the compost they like is a rich sandy -loam, to which a liberal proportion of rotten manure and -leaf mould has been added. Pick off the seed pods from specimen fuchsias, and give them weak manure water twice a week. With fuchsias, balsams, begonias, pelargoniums, and lilies there ought to be no lack of bloom in the conservatory for the next two months.