THE GARDEN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2509, 16 April 1902, Page 10

THE GARDEN.

OPEEATIOXS FOR THE WEEK. KITCHEN GARDEX.-The work in this department is limited to digging, trenching, and cleaning all plots from which crops have been removed. In heavy soils the surface should be thrown up loose and left as rough as possible for the frost to mellow it. Fill up blanks in cabbage r>lantations with the strongest ? slants obtainable, and if the soil is very dry et the holes made by the trowel be filled with ,water before planting. Prepare a border in a. sheltered poarhon by trenching 20>n deep, keeping the subsoil at the bottom. It the soil Is a hrav} clay it may be improved by -adding pand or ashes and thoroughly mixing" it. The jnanure should be taken from a spent hotjbed, and be welt incorporated with tho top upit. When the border is prepared it should aiot be trodden down, but left to settle of ltteelf. Three or four frames may be placed /upon it to protect young plants, and a few propagating glasses or hand lights will be found iuseful. £ FRUIT GARDEN.-The time for planting fruit trees being at hand, there should be no delay in getting the ground ready and in seeing to the drainage, as nothing is so productive of unhealthy trees as stagnant wet. If the giound as poor a mixture of rnanufre and Jin bones anay be worked into the top spit, so as to induce the formation of root fibres near the surface, vyhere they can be fed with stimulants according to the growth. Ovei-luxuuanco is Jto be avoided, as it means barrenness. A fruitful tree never grows more than Sin to 12m in one season. FLOWER GARDEN*.— AII the young stock ol bending plants should now be under glass, ,Lut they should be free'iy exposed during the flay to prevent them becoming drawn up weakly. Cuttings of euoinytuus, radicaus varie-gata,-loTiicera, reticulata, amea, and golden thyme will strike freely now in cold pits, and make nice plants for spring planting. Nothing of a tender nature should be risked out pf doors after this date. Of the sub-tropicals, cannas may survive in a light, dry soil if tho crown 13 covered with ashes ; but whore the fciluation is damp the roots must be lifted and kept in dry sand in a shed from which frost can be excluded. There is no time to be lost 5n planting out violas, primulas, and polyanthus for spring blooming. Reduce lar^e plants of arabis and iberis, quartering them with the spade and replanting. GREEXHOUSE.— If chrysanthemums are grown for indoor decoration they must be kept cool and well ventilated, as they are very subject to mildew in a confined atmospheic. The plants must be well supplied with liquid manure, as the large amount of bloom* nukes a great demand upon them, which cannot be met by the loots in the small compass of a pot without aitificial stimulant.