Februftry. 1914 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



393 



one's personal feelings in exliiln- 

 tion. I think, after years of show- 

 uijj, one experieni^es every feeliujj 

 I>(>ssil)le. There is the keen sense 

 of battle in S^^ng against a 

 toug'h competitor, the disgaist at 

 licinjj passed by, when yon pretty 

 well know yon are first, and the 

 humiliation of being placed first 

 when yon don't deserve it. Then, 

 L^ain, a run of Inck may make 

 , on careless, and behold you get a 

 well. merited thrashing. Or, you 

 may l)c constantly defeated, and, 

 undismayed, you take leaves out 

 of your conqueror's book, and fin- 

 ally turn the tables on him ; but 

 throug^h all, unless you are of a 

 narrow and uncharitable disposi- 

 tion, you peg along, sometimes 

 winning-, sometimes defeated, but 

 laving up a pleasant store of mem- 

 ories and enlarging your sym- 

 pathies by association with those 

 whose lives have inevitably been 

 softened and refined by the quiet, 

 imseen influence of the flowers. 



♦ • 



About Carnations, 



Mulch any one-year-old perpetual 

 carnations which have finished 

 their first flowering with a good 

 layer of old maniire, and water 

 the plants sufficientl}^ to keep them^ 

 nicely moist. A second growth 

 will not be long putting in appear- 

 ance. Cut away all the old flow- 

 er stems. These are of no use 

 now. 



You sow your carnation seed 

 this month at the latest. Stock 

 that you have saved from your 

 own plants will germinate like sor- 

 rel, and grow quite as readily. 

 Perpetual and the spring blooming 

 varieties go in together. The 

 " springers " will bloom in the 

 first year if seed is sown at once. 

 Hustle the plants on. Make them 

 gallop. As soon as they are big 

 enough to handle " pi-ick " them 

 out about two inches apart in a 

 bed by themselves. A little later 

 on lift them into their flowering 

 place. From the time of the last 

 shift never let them have a min- 

 ute's idleness. Use plenty of old 

 mortar rubbish, wood ashes, leaf 

 mould, and coarse sand when mak- 

 ing up a box or bed for raising 

 seedling carnations. The one great 

 necessity with this stock is a soil 

 which gets the water through 

 quickly. 



Many people have an idea that 

 carnations are only to be grown 

 in light soil. This is wrong. A 



Editorial Notice*. 



At^LiN rs — Me««r«. ATKINSON i. CO. 

 and MKS8RS. GOUDON & UOll-IH. IaH. 



I'UlU.ialHNU DATE.— On the '2f>tY\ of 

 Mch month preMdlng title dwta. 



IXJ AUV Kit l'l»t,HE>.— Allerallon ol ad- 

 vertlMnicnt* should be In our handa not 

 later than the l&tb of the month. 



tjUU&ClUl'TlON.— Posted to any part 

 ol Auetralaala 6/- per year, in advance. 

 foreign. A/. 



AUURBSS— M, Carrie St., Adelaide. 

 Tetephoae, 1384. 



lieavy loam that is not allowed to 

 get too dry does almost as well 

 for the average rxm of flower. 

 The lighter medium will give you 

 slightly bigger blossoms, but that 

 matter does not concern the man 

 or woman growing carnations for 

 pleasure. 



If betit on striking some cuttings 

 try the following plan :— Get two 

 pots, one a six-inch, and the other 

 a four. Plug the hole in the four 

 either with wood or cement. 

 Place the smaller pot inside the 

 larger one. FiU the space between 

 the two with moist sand. Fix the 

 cuttings in this. Half a dozen in a 

 pot will about use all the room. 

 Now fill the centre pot with water.v 

 See that this is not allowed to run 

 dry. Treated in this manner the 

 carnations will root very quickly. 

 It is the even supply of moisture 

 which quickens the root action. 

 A bush-house or a shady corner is 

 the best place to hold the pots. 



4 



Sunflowers. 



To observers of the early spring 

 flowers the predominance of soft 

 colours, especially in white, blue 

 and pink shades is plainly evident. 

 During sumttner we enjoy being 

 regaled with a lavish abundance of 

 strong tints, fully exhausting the 

 entire floral color scale. As a dis- 

 tinct feature of the passing sum- 

 mer and early fall aspect we noticq 

 a great volume of yellow passing 

 before our eyes — the golden waves 

 of the rudebeckia, solidago,. heleni- 

 um, and helianthus varieties, 

 gently swaying in a light breeze ; 

 hues vieing with the coloring gol- 

 den fruit of field and orchard, their, 

 intensity lending a certain element 

 of visionary warmth to the cooler 

 atmosphere of the season. It is 

 the rich golden tone of nature, in- 

 tensified in radiance in our garden. 



Being of tall growth they require 

 less tieing up when given protec- 

 tion from violent winds and heavy 

 rain storms. High woods or build- 



ings, back, in the direction where 



the most storms come from arc 

 safeguards. In agreeable contrast 

 with a solid liackgronnd the effect 

 is infinitely superior to a plain 

 outline against the sky. In such 

 positions the golden wave of color 

 gains in volume and brilliancy in 

 the clear sunlight of the early fall 

 days. We watch the interesting 

 spectacle of myriads of singular 

 flowers following with their faces 

 the moving sun, until, at night, 

 their heads bend in an angle that 

 the petals may protect the centre. 



Perennial sunflowers can be most 

 freely propagated by divisions of 

 the rambling roots. The chief 

 trouble is to keep them within 

 bounds. 



♦ 



Oil from Sunflower Seed. 



A report of the Imperial Insti- 

 tute contains the following note 

 on Sunflower seed : "A sample of 

 of this seed was received from the 

 Sudan. The kernels yielded 47.9 

 per cent, of oil, equivalent to 

 about 22 per cent, expressed , on 

 the whole seed. The oil was 

 bright yellow and somewhat vis- 

 cous, and would be suitable for 

 edible purposes after refining. The 

 residual cake would be suitable for 

 use as a feeding stuff. So far Sun- 

 flower seed has not been largely 

 worked in the United Kingdom as 

 an oil seed, but experiments in its 

 utilisation have been made recent- 

 ly in HuU." With us of course the 

 Sunflower is grown only for its 

 beauty. 



# 



Dahlias. 



Although the Dahlia has good- 

 sized, fleshy tubers, as a rule, few 

 plants show signs of distress 

 sooner in dry weather. The blooms 

 suffer in proportion, some of them 

 not fullv developing when the roots 

 of the plants are very dry — dry 

 enough to cause the leaves to be- 

 come flabby when the sun shines 

 on them. Water must be given in 

 sufficient quantity to maintain the 

 soil in a moist state as deep as 

 the roots go. Twice every week 

 apply manure-water in a weak 

 state, and the general appearance 

 of the plants will be most satisfac- 

 tory. On the young shoots that 

 bear buds the resultant flowers 

 will be very neat and refined, and 

 the supply of bloom will be main- 

 tained well into the autumn. 



