lo Sept., 1908.] Garden Notes. 535 



Novelties of promise offered for sale this season are: — "Rose Pockett," 

 "W. M. Moir," " Mrs. C. H. Tottv," "Lady Dudley" and "Mrs. 

 Emily Austin." 



Roses should on the appearance of aphis or mildew be promptly sprayed 

 with a strong tobacco wash in the case of the first named, or dusted with 

 flowers of sulphur while the foliage is wet with dew in early morning for 

 the latter. Growth buds that are developing out of place should be rubbed 

 out on appearance. A fairly open and well spaced set of new shoots should 

 be aimed at. 



Kitchen Garden. 



September is a busy month in gardens where a succession of fine vege- 

 tables is desired. The soil must be persistently worked to preserve 

 moisture, destroy 'or prevent weeds, and assist the young crops by aeration. 

 Seeds of various vegetables must be sown, growing crops thinned, and 

 transplanting performed as occasion demands. 



The old method of cultivating tomatoes by sowing the seeds where the 

 plants are to remain and gathering what produce may result without atten- 

 tion to training and feeding the plants is rapidly disappearing. It is 

 found that to grow good crops of this excellent fruit a ?.ystem of early 

 raising of plants, combined with staking and training, and the use of ferti- 

 lizers to feed the fruit is necessary. Under this system crops of fine 

 appearance and quality are produced early in summer when the fruit is 

 specially valuable. The seeds are sown early in August in pans or boxes 

 of light soil, and placed in heated frames to germinate, and grow the young 

 plants for a time. Seeds are sown thickly. When the voung plants are 

 fit to handle they are transplanted into flat shallow boxes containing light 

 soil, and grown on for a time under the warm conditions, being gradually 

 hardened to fit them for planting out about the beginning of October. The 

 various transplanting tends to produce stocky and sturdy plants with a dis- 

 position to early bearing. Many market gardeners near ^Melbourne have 

 abandoned the raising of plants in hot bed frames, finding it to be more 

 profitable to purchase the plants from nurserymen who raise them in im- 

 mense numbers in hot houses and are able to sell them at reasonable rates. 

 About 3,600 plants are required to plant an acre when set out four feet 

 l>etween the rows and three feet between the plants in the row, a distance 

 that allows room for development and cultivation. Each plant is set out 

 at the base of a stake that has been driven firmly into the ground, and is 

 trained to a single stem by some growers — to two or three stems bv others — 

 and the shoots tied to the stakes as they develop. All lateral growths are 

 pinched off as soon as they appear, the flowers alone being allowed to re- 

 main. When the fruit is setting freelv a mulch of stable manure is applied 

 or a rapid acting fertilizer is worked lightly into the soil. Blood manure, 

 dessicated night-soil, and sulphate of ammonia are used by market gar- 

 deners, the preference being determined bv the character of the soil. After 

 the fertilizer is applied irrigation follows if the conditions are hot and dry, 

 the surface being cultivated as it dries to conserve the moisture. Experience 

 shows that a moderately rich soil is required to grow the plants strongly 

 enough to bear heavy crops but that an excessive amount of manure in the 

 soil when the plants are set out produces large leaf growth, and checks 

 early bearing. Popular varieties in the metropolitan district are: — Early 

 Large Red, Earliana, Keys Prolific. Chalks Early Jewel and Early Jersey. 



Celery also needs special treatment to insure a supplv over a long 

 season. It requires a deep cool and rich soil, and abundance of water 



