GARDEN NOTES

Otago Witness, Issue 2652, 11 January 1905, Page 10

GARDEN NOTES

,Field and garden crops are not making ■ the progress that could be desired, as a result jof the variable weather we have ex'perienoed'. ' The potato crop in the Tokomairnro- district" is reported to be very far behind. No reports are to hand -of much 'injury being, done to gardens and orchards," though -in some of 'the more exposed places losses have been severe. In the Waimate district, from- which' our chief supplies are ■sent, the strawberries are said to have been almost a complete, failure, o\(fing to destruction by slugs, by which a- great portion of the district was infested. Hence the market .has this season been kept bare. The slug is scientifically known- as Limax. There are several varieties, which attack different vegetables, chiefly the Brassicas (cabbage, turnip, etc.). In appearance they " are so unattractive that even duck 3 will scarcely gobble them. Once obtaining a foothold in the 'ground they are hard to g-et rid of, depositing' their eggs in' clusters ,of up to thirty in number, which, in due season, ! are hatched out. To overcome the pest, the best method is to stir the soil well, thus disturbing the nests, giving a .liberal application -of lime, and in much smaller quantity salt, soot, or sulphur. The slug is also trapped by spreading cabbage leaves on the surface of the ground, these being a great attraction to them, and in the evening or early morning* lifting the leaves with the creatures attached and destroying them. Our . clever allies in the Far East are notable gardeners, and they have long ago proved themselves as, able and successful in the peaceful art' as' they- are now showing themselves Jn that of war. In plant dwarfing they are \especially renowned, some of the- specimens they produce, and! of which we read in the Gardeners' Chronicle, being perfect marvels of, miniature, growth, com'bined'with great age/ living witnesses to the patient' industry.-' and studious attain,ments of the great people so much sneeredat in the beginning ' of the war "as "uncivilised barbadians"' by ,- their Western opponents." - ,' - - ■ • — The Japanese Gardens, — , in the/recent St.^Louisi Exhibition/ was anoteworthy feature.- The site was . situated a little - to the south-east of the -JTrenoh section, and near the old English garden, ■ and it contrasted strongly with them, in both of the 1 latter strict formality being ■.the rule, .whilst studied irregularity and rueticity reigned everywhere in the garden of Japan. The site was a hill, around the brow of which a winding gravel walk led. from the main entrance to where a lake, fed by a miniature waterfall, had been excavated in the side of the hill. The banks were built up with natural rock,"-oia piles, etc., and suitably planted with trees and shrubs to accentuate the irregular form of the lake. This -was planted at different points with the Japanese iris, giving, in its season, a magnificent display of bloom. On an island in the centre was an artificially dwarfed, but perfectly healthy, plant of acer palinatum disssotum. It is about six feet high) and ' about 250 yeans old. Scattered in other parts of the garden were some dwarf plants ~of the conifera, ranging from" 80 to 350 years old. The gnarled stems and' "quaint forms of these excited great curiosity and admiration among the visitors. There were some" bush plants of wistaria, similarly dwarfed, though the - method, pursued j&th these ,'differa -from that>" in- the- -treatment" of the former plants,- and details of which were given by the superintendent. These wistarias produced a mass of bloom. Lanterns "scattered amongst" the- trees- kept up the characteristically" quaint appearance of the garden. »A1 large bed; of Lilium speciosum albiflorum was' also very conspicuous. • -An. arrangement of -plants called "Topical flower beds" is much in favour .with Western gardeners, and- such ■ a one, suggested by the unfortuaate^war in the East, may be seen at the present time in the Recreation ground at Penge, near London, in which the plants are so arranged at to reproduce the design of the Japanese national flag. The bed itself is 24ffc in length, of which the flag .occupies 9ft. The portion representing the sun is planted with Alternanthera versieolour, and the rays with Alternanthera. sessilis amcena, the rays being divided from eaoh other by plants of a species of antennaria, while eaxifraga® form an edging, the whole being surrounded by a broad band of the golden-leaved spergula. The design at either end is planted with speoies of cotyledon, crassula, Herndaria glabra, Alternanthera paronychioides, and a magnifica. The bed is made with a elope towards, the path, and the whole of the plants are well coloured. — I. M. I.