22 NEW ZEALAND GARDENING. 



Flower Garden. In the flower garden department 

 there is much to be done this month. The final clearing 

 and weeding should be given to all the beds and borders ; 

 and any dead leaves, rubbish, &c., may be buried. Bulbs 

 intended for Spring bloom should be planted now ; and any 

 bulbs at present in the borders may be lifted and divided, or 

 removed to better situations. Herbaceous plants may also 

 be divided and transplanted. All kinds of shrubs and trees 

 may be planted with success after the middle of the month, 

 though in very dry seasons or dry situations it may be better 

 to defer it for a short time. The putting in of cuttings of 

 various kinds of shrubs and such trees as strike freely should 

 be continued during the month, but no more seeds should 

 be sown before Spring. 



MAY AND JUNE. 



The month of May may be said to close the season in 

 the orchard, the kitchen and the flower garden ; and all 

 future operations will have in view the necessities for the 

 coming year. The successes and failures of the growing 

 months just past will have suggested many alterations which 

 the careful gardener, be he amateur or professional, will not 

 be slow to note and act upon. The usual routine work of 

 pruning, transplanting, manuring, and trenching requisite at 

 this season will claim attention. Continue to clear away the 

 decaying leaves and haulms of rhubarb, seakale, and aspara- 

 gus, and to treat with a liberal dressing of strong loose manure. 

 Make new plantations of raspberries. 



Planting Orchard Trees. At this season, when 

 planting is being largely carried on, it may be well to warn 

 the inexperienced against the too common practice of planting 

 too thickly. It is an every-day remark that two trees are 

 put in where there is only room for one, yet fresh plantations 

 continually come under notice in which the trees are planted 

 much too thickly. Large, strong-growing kinds of apples 

 and pears should stand at least from twenty-five to thirty feet 

 apart if the soil is strong ; for although many planters say 

 they will cut out the supernumerary trees as soon as they 

 encroach on each other, it is very doubtful whether, if they 

 are producing anything like good crops, they are not left 



