9+ 



IKlSll (iAJM)ENlNG 



Hints to Novices. 



\i. r 



\\'ATi;i{|Nii will .M»ii|iy a laii;.- poi t ii>u <.f t lif liiiK- 

 >|>t'iit ill till- ^'anli'ii if .liiuf coiit iiuK-s as .\ray 

 i-iuKh1. W'h.-iv p..ssit.l.' if sliollld l.r .I..11.- ill til.' 

 aftcijioniis. wli.'ii 111.' sun has lost, its stivu^'tli. 

 ami it sh.MiM h.- t liun.uulilv .l..ii.- if iUmv at all. 

 Many pt'opli- ohj.-ct to wati-iing in the late after- 

 noons for frarof frosl at niulit. Ixit that arjiuinriit 

 lan hanllv W appliiMl to tin- iu..nth of .liinc A 

 slight si>rinklini: on t hf surface is of little use. 

 and only assists in forniinu' a cake ,>\' Hie suilaic 

 soil. \Viiat is \\ anted is to soak Hie soil l'..i' as 

 far h,-l(.\v the surface as the roots .lescen.l, and it 

 is wonderful how far tlie roots of ordinary irarden 

 plants ilo travel. Water applied from a can witli 

 a line ros(> is tlie l)est method, hut wJiere tiie 

 irarden is lari;e. and wliere a lot of hardy 

 herhaceous plants liave to ho watered, a can is 

 a slow jtrocess. and a iiose is the (luickest and 

 least tn.uhle.some method, bnt to do this there 

 must he a certain jn'essure of water. As hefore 

 stated, for larece stretches of ]>lanting it is iiidis- 

 pensahle. hut for small gardens, and esi)ecially 

 for a rockery, it is distinctly a mistake. Tin- 

 force witli wliich the water leaves the hose 

 cuises. in the lii-st place, the surface soil to become 

 caked and liard : secondly, shallow rooters, small 

 delicate aljiines. and newly-planted seedlings are 

 constantly washed out of the ground, or the soil 

 round them so disturbed as to leave the roots 

 bare to the scorching rays of the sun next day, 

 and no i)lant will live under such conditions. 

 There is little doubt that hosing a rockery is 

 responsible to a large extent for many vacancies 

 either at the time or later in the season. 



Rainwatkk. — \\liat a lot of this is allowed to 

 run away off the roofs and dowr the drains, when 

 it. might with little trouble be saved for garden 

 work. Pi])es froni the roof usually run down into 

 the back yard of modern houses, and there a 

 barrell or tub could be arranged to catch this 

 water. A little bit of perforated zinc fastened to 

 the mouth of the ])ipe will ])revent much of the 

 diit from the rain gutters getting into the barrel 

 and eventually stoi)ping up the rose of the can. 

 This jierforated zinc would require to be occasion- 

 ally removed and cleaned out. 



Hoeing of beds and borders wi 1 answer two 

 puriKises. It will break up the hardened sur- 

 face of the ground, so letting air to the 

 roots, and it will also kill the weeds, and with 

 this bright sun they are very easily disposed of. 

 Tlie hoe should be freely used, and where its use 

 is not possible a hand -fork will serve the same 

 purpose. This applies to the rockery, where, of 

 course, a hoe coukl not be used, and many of the 

 pockets will be greatly improved and the plants 

 encouraged by constant forking over. 



Staking. — The true character of plants is often 

 entirely lost by cai-eless and thoughtless staking. 

 When staking plants s\u-h as Pyrethrums, 

 Oriental Poi)pies, Delphiniums, and any tall- 

 growing soft-stemmed ])lants, all the shoots 

 should be given plenty of room. In the case of 

 Delphiniums (Larkspurs), sonie of the weak late 

 shoots may be ren^oved entirely, and the strong 

 ones firmly and careftilly tied to stakes which 

 will support them until "they go out of flower. 

 No stake should ever be put in which will be 

 taller than the plant when in flower. The effect 

 of a foot of stake above a plant is not attractive. 



Stakes should I... hidden as far .is po.ssihie. but 

 thc-y cannot l.e done without. When tying 

 young growing shoots cai-e should he taken to 

 allow sullici.-nt ro.mi for the shoots to swell. 



|{<Mldingout if not iinished should be com|>let< <| 

 .IS s.M.n as possible. Isiudly (he same bids have 

 to take spring; and summer bedding, in which case 



the bulhs will h.lVe to l.e lifted whil." still green. 



Th.- Tulips .ind .Narcissus lifted in t his coiulition 

 mav !..• heeled in in som<> eornerout of sight . and 



Wh.-n the le.lVes are lucwil. the bulbs Iliav he 

 lifl.'d (Irie.l. eleaile.l .111.1 stcue.l until the>' are 



a.-.iin recpiin il for plaulinu in the .nit.iMi.n. Tlie\ 

 sh.iuld be kept in a dry shed or loft u here mici- 

 and rats cannot penetrate. 



Jf space allows it .i last hatch of annuals may 

 be sown in the open, hut satisfactory results at 

 this late season for .sowing can only he relie«l on 

 wit 11 those that gei'iiiinate (piic'kl\-, such as 

 Virginian Stock, iNemt.phila, (iilia. Candytuft. A:i-. 



The early spring rock plants will by "this have 

 gone out of flower and other ti-easures lei.laced 

 them, but the early ones will still want atti'uti.ui. 

 These must be cut over and all old (lowers 

 removeil. This applies to all the Aiabis family. 

 Cerastium. Aubrietia. Alyssum, A:c. They will 

 look bare for a few days, but very soon fresh 

 young green shoots will ap])ear forming a regulai' 

 cushion of growth. 



The useful bright and easily grown \'ioias, 

 w hich are blazing in all gardens now. can bekejit 

 in continuous flower bv carefullv removing all 

 the iH.ds as the (lowers fade. "This makes a 

 wonderful difference in the leimlli of lime they 

 remain in flower. 



The Month's Work. 



The Flower Garden. 



By W. King, Gardener 

 Ballywalter Park, 



d Dimleath, 



II EKBACEOUS Borders. — Most of the plants in 

 the herbaceous borders are now in their full 

 beauty of flowering, such subjects as lleiuero- 

 cillis. both species and hy-brids, (xeums, Trolliiises. 

 Lupins, Poppies, fleucheras, large flowering 

 Ii'ises and many others giving a gay effect. 

 Every effort shcmld be niade to maintain the 

 borders in a tidy and attractive condition by- 

 removing any dead foliage, especially froni early- 

 flowering bulbous ])lants. It is specially neces- 

 sary to remove the old flower-head of these latter 

 plants, as the formation oi seeds weaken the 

 bulbs. Co arse -growing subjects will need to be 

 restricted to their ])ro])er bounds. Where the 

 hoe can be used without injury to the plants, it 

 will be an advantage to stir the soil, as much for 

 the ])urpose of conserving the moisture in the 

 ground as for destroying weeds. This oi^eration 

 is best carried out on a dull da\^ after rain. 



Staking. — Stock-flowered Larkspurs, tall and 

 intermediate Antii-rhinums, and other plants 

 have now^ attained to such heights as to need 

 supports. The Larkspurs and Lavatei-a rosea 

 need stout stakes about 5 feet long. Antirr- 

 hinums do not need the flower si)ikes t-o be 

 siipported, so that short stakes to support the 

 body of the plant will be quite sufficient. 



Sweet Peas. — These plants are making great 

 progress, and it will be necessary to train the 

 leading shoots, so that they will grow in the 



