NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 21 



Winter. It is advisable to plant rather thickly, especially in 

 damp rich soils. The remainder of the potato crop should 

 be carefully lifted and stored in a pit or outhouse. Care 

 should be taken not to place them in very large heaps, as 

 they are liable to ferment, and are often very seriously injured 

 thereby. Carrots, beet, and artichokes should be lifted and 

 pitted in dry sand under cover, after removing the tops, 

 but they may be left in the ground for a couple of months 

 longer. Parsnips will be better left in the ground and taken 

 up as required. In digging up the roots of beet, care must 

 be taken not to bruise them, for if this be done they bleed 

 and deteriorate in quality. Broad beans intended for Spring 

 use may be sown now in the sunniest part of the garden. 

 The old stalks of asparagus, &c., may now be removed, and 

 the beds forked and raked, and dressed with a coat of well- 

 rotted manure with a good sprinkle of salt. The last crop of 

 cabbages may now be put out in rows in the usual manner. 

 Celery should be carefully earthed up on fine dry days, so 

 that the soil placed against the stems may be moderately 

 dry. A few seeds of any kind of radish may be sown in the 

 warmest part of the garden. The first sowing of peas should 

 be got in towards the end of the month. The best kinds for 

 sowing now are First Crop and First Crop Blue, from both 

 of which we have had excellent dishes gathered in October ; 

 we must, however, add that we do not advocate sowing out 

 of season, except under exceptional circumstances, as to 

 situation and aspect, we have rarely seen much gained by 

 Autumn sowing. All vacant pieces of ground should be 

 either trenched or deeply dug ; and all decayed leaves, &c., 

 should be buried in digging, which will be found a more 

 profitable and cleaner way of disposing of such rubbish than 

 the old plan of piling it in heaps till the Spring. The ground 

 for young fruit trees having been prepared last month, the 

 planting may now be proceeded with unless the ground be 

 very dry, in which case it will be better to defer it for a week 

 or two ; but if the season is at all favourable, it is decidedly 

 advantageous to plant at once, as the trees will be able to 

 make embryo or young root fibres before the Winter 

 weather comes on, giving them the start of Spring-planted 

 trees. Plantations of small fruits may also be got in now; 

 and cuttings of gooseberries, currants, &c., should be inserted 

 in a sheltered border. 



