Dec«mb«r, 1913 



399 



Vegetable Calendar. 



Siiintncr gardening on the plains is 

 very much a matter of lioeing, watering 

 and mulching. At any rate, it is the 

 secret of successful work. We heanl 

 the case put very clearly hy one of tin- 

 Messrs, ilackett the other day to a cus- 

 tomer who had handed in a list of pretty 

 well every known in and out of season 

 vegetable. "Have you plenty of water?" 

 he asked ; "plenty of manure, and plenty 

 of interest in the business end of a good 

 hoe?" On being assured that the pros- 

 pective gardener was well fixed in these 

 three essentials, he proceeded to cut 

 out about two-thirds of the list with the 

 remark that there "were plenty left." 

 Not good business, perhaps, but very 

 kindly and helpful. Probably good busi- 

 ness too, for as we thought at the time, 

 it will be a long while before that young 

 gardener takes his custom elsewhere. 



The great standby of the average 

 amateur gardener in the summer is the 

 French bean. Most of the early sow- 

 ings are fruiting now. To keep the 

 plants healthy and the later-sown plants 

 growing, keep the ground well hoed, 

 mulch if possible, and sprinkle between 

 the rows a little superphosphate, not 

 more than lib. to, say, 30ft. of row. 

 Poultry manure is even better or as 

 good. Do this once a fortnight, and 

 keep the bushes well picked, and a bed 

 of beans will give an astonishing 

 amount of very delicious vegetable in 

 return. It is better to throw surplus 

 beans away or boil them up for tiie 

 fowls than to let them harden. If you 

 let the plants get ahead, one may be 

 picking beans which are past their best 

 all the season. Make sowing onc° a 

 fortnight from now on to February for 

 a constant succession. Candian Won- 

 ders and Improved Emperors are stanri 

 dard sort, but it is well to make, -say, 

 alternative sowings of one of the wax 

 butter or stringless varieties. 



When well grown and well cooked 

 they are delicious, though the lighter 

 yellowish colour of most of thc.n is 

 rather against tliem. Lima Beans arc 

 well worth growing now that the weath- 

 er is warming up. The beans should be 

 picked when young, and not left to 

 harden in the pods. 



Now that tomatoes arc down to 

 moderate prices in the streets, it may 

 hardly seem worth while to put out 

 plants, but the home grown fruit pos- 

 sesses a freshness and flavour vnicli 

 you cannot buy. This is especially so 

 at mid-summer, when the quicker it is 

 eaten after picking the better it will be. 

 If your plants have grown leggy, it is 

 a good plan when planting out to layer 

 the long stem about an inch below tt'e 

 surface. Roots will be put out at the 

 joints and will add to the strength of 

 the plant. Don't, however, forget about 

 it when hoeing. There are many ways 

 of training the bushes, the most usual, 

 perhaps, is not to do it at all. Often- 

 times you get as big or bigger crop by 

 this method. Pruning to a single oi 

 double stem for late grown plants does 

 not increase the quality or quantity of 

 the fruit, even if carried to the extreme 

 limit of neatness and symmetry, but a 

 certain amount of training, even if it 

 is only over some boughs, for the reason 

 that it lets in air and sunlight into the 

 body of the row or plant, and air and 

 sunlight are the very best preventitive 

 of the moulds, rots and fungi generjl'v 

 which play such havoc in many gardens. 

 The slug and snail, which seem to have 

 developed an abnormal fondness for 

 ripe tomatoes, are to a large extent left 

 lamenting. The most simple method is 

 to run a couple of lengths of 3in. mesh 

 wirenetting on each side of the row. 

 Each length to lean outwards forming a 

 roughly-shaped V or trough. We pre- 

 fer to lay a length of wire, say, 2 ft. 

 wide, 1ft. or 18in. above the plants and 

 keep them to a single stem till they 

 begin to get a grip of the netting, and 



then let them go their own sweet way. 

 Scjme old water piping for standard 

 crosspicces and rails make a very neai 

 job, with a few bits of fencing wire to 

 bolt them together, and will practically 

 last for ever. By this means you keep 

 the fruit well above the ground with a 

 free circulation of air. There is plenty 

 of room for hoeing and mulching, you 

 keep your rows tidy in appearance, and 

 you reduce training to a minimum. A 

 single row of upright wirenetting along 

 the length of the bed serves the same 

 purpose, and is perhaps better for ear- 

 lier plants, but requires more attention 

 in the matter of tying. 



Naturally one wants to grow the 

 plants as well as train them. More to- 

 matoes probably are delayed in fruiting 

 by too much water and too much nitrate 

 of soda or sulphate of ammonia than 

 by any other cause. Both are good, of 

 course, in their place, but their principal 

 mission is to make growth rather than 

 fruit. Keep the plants on the dry side, 

 if anything, till they have set their first 

 clusters, then turn on the water tap till 

 the fruit is begining to ripen, and then 

 ease off a bit. If the ground is decently 

 manured before the plants are put in 

 they won't want any addition at first. 

 A pinch, and only a pinch, of sulphate 

 won't hurt them if they seem to hang 

 back a bit at starting. Afterwards, 

 when the bushes have set to flower and 

 are making vigorous growth, a weak 

 does of liquid manure twice a week will 

 help things on a lot. If you are using 

 natural manure use it weak and often. 

 Just enough to colour the water a pale 

 straw, and if artificial (there is nothing 

 better than super) a handful sprinkled 

 along ten feet of row, once a week, and 

 hoed in, will keep things moving. 



♦ 



Fertilizing Melons. 



The ;melon has one peculiarity 

 which must be well understood, or 

 failure to obtain a crop may result. 

 This is, that if one fruit is " set " 

 a few days ahead of others on the 

 plant, it has power to absorb so 

 much nourishment as to starve the 

 later comers, and prevent their 

 growing to any size. To counter, 

 act this tendency, it is necessary 

 that all melons deemed necessary 

 for a crop should be set within 

 about twenty-four hours of each 

 other. Setting is accomplished by 

 transferring pollen — a. fine, yellow 

 powder — from the anthers of male 

 flowers to the stigmas of female 

 flowers ; the female flowers can 



MR. A. T. D. McGRATH, 



SURGEON DENTIST. 



(Registered by Exftmination). 



70. ZETLAND HOUSE. 



(Oppoiite UniTersity). 

 Only Official F. S. M. Aeaociation Denbist. — " 

 Hourt : Daily 9 till 6, (Saturday inolvdad), and 7 till 8 each OTenin^. 



Tel«|dione 3666. 



