THE GARDEN GUIDE EOR APEIL. 



Kitchen Garden. — Successional sow- 

 ings may be made of all leading kitchen 

 crops, and where the work of the last 

 month has been delayed, seeds got in 

 early will not be much behind those sown 

 last month. Sow Windsor Longpod, and 

 Johnson's Wonderful beans ; Hair's Mam- 

 moth, Auvergne, and Veitch's Perfection 

 peas, and a few rows of the earlier sorts to 

 come in before the late peas are ready. In 

 Small gardens the dwarf kinds are always 

 to be preferred. Sowings should be made 

 of horn carrot, savoy, Brussels sprouts, 

 Scotch kale, broccoli, cauliflowers, and 

 cabbages, for autumn use, a succession of 

 such things being preferable to a glut all 

 at once for a private grower. Among 

 cabbages, Atkins's Matchless, Shilling's 

 Queen, Early York, and West Ham. are 

 good sorts to sow now, but the main 

 crop of cabbages should be up by this 

 time, and must be hoed between when the 

 ground [is in a fit state. Beet should be 

 sown in the second week, in ground deeply 

 dug, but not manured; the main crop of 

 celery should be sown on a rich warm 

 border, the surface to be made light and 

 fine ; sow thin, and merely dust the seed 

 over. Sow also onions, lettuce, radish, 

 small salad, seakale, and asparagus— the 

 two last in drills, one foot apart, and one 

 inch deep for asparagus, and two inches 

 for seakale. Another mode of raising sea- 

 kale plants is to sow in four-feet beds, the 

 seed to be in patches of eight inches 

 diameter, and two feet apart, and about 

 eight seeds in each, the plants to be 

 thinned to three plants in each patch ; the 

 ground should be rich, well drained, and 

 deep. Beds may also be formed now by 

 planting roots, but the best plantations 

 are those raised on the spot from seeds. 

 Those who purpose raising seedling rhu- 

 barb plants should sow about the middle 

 of the month in shallow drills, eighteen 

 inches apart, dropping the seeds in patches, 

 six inches from each other. Potatoes not 

 yet planted should be got in without 

 delay, and towards the end of the month 

 scarlet runners and French beans may be 

 sown ; the runnei - s should have a warm 

 dry position until the 1st of May, when 

 they may be sown in almost any soil or 

 situation without risk, but like most other 

 things yield the best cmps on ground well 

 dug and manured. The main crop of 

 carrots should be got in about the 15th of 

 the month, and there is still time for a 

 crop of parsnips, but they must be sown 



directly. Slips of kitchen herbs may he 

 put in any time this month, and will root 

 quicker if planted in a rather dry sandy 

 border. 



Fruit Gakden. — Wall trees must 

 have protection from the cutting east 

 winds, and the protection should be of a 

 kind easily removed, so that the trees have 

 free air upon them night and day, weather 

 permitting, and be covered with the least 

 possible trouble if the wind shifts to east 

 or north. It will generally be found that 

 those who exclaim against protecting have 

 been in the habit of shutting the trees up 

 as if they were muffled bells. In the open, 

 quarters, pruning and grafting mu=t be 

 completed quickly. Give abundance of 

 water to fruit trees in pots, and see that 

 the orchard-house is in an orderly state ; 

 if it is now crammed with plants from other 

 houses, as is too often the case, there will 

 be but a small crop of fruit. 



Flower Garden. — Seeds of hardy 

 annuals and perennials are to be sown 

 early, and towards the end of the month 

 the more tender kinds may he safely com- 

 mitted to the ground ; but very small 

 seeds of choice things had better not be 

 sown till next month, as heavy rains may 

 wash them down into the soil, and they 

 may be lost. Perennials may be planted 

 out, and old stools of phlox, chrysanthe- 

 mum, lychnis, etc., may be parted. Dahlia 

 roots may also be p anted, and if the 

 shoots appear before night-frosts are over,. 

 they may be protected by flower-pots 

 inverted over them, and the holes stopped 

 with pieces of tile. Tigridin bulbs may be 

 planted two inches deep. A light netting, 

 or some similar protection, will be found 

 useful now as a protection to tulip beds,, 

 and if the foliage gets frozen, water them 

 with cold water before the suu gets on 

 them. Walks should be turned and rolled, 

 and grass plots dressed, so as to give an air 

 of neatness and order to the whole of the 

 ground. 



Greenhouse and Conservatory. — 

 General collections should only have a 

 moderate heat, and a strong healthy 

 growth should be promoted by giving 

 plenty of air, with a view of putting out 

 the fires for the season. Many specimen 

 plants will want liberal shifts, and all 

 subjects not immediately required in 

 flower should be regularly and frequently 

 stopped, to induce bushy growth and form 

 good heads. Water and liquid manure 

 must be more freely given, and vigilant 



