April, 1911 



THE GARDEN AND FIELD. 



481 



Garden Notes for April. 



April may be said to ccnnmcnce the 

 planting which for the next six- 

 months will keep gardening busy. 

 First in importance come the ever- 

 green trees, shrubs, palms, and clim- 

 bers, which if put out early will get 

 the benefit of the summer warmth, 

 which still remains in the ground; 

 without the sun heat, which makes 

 the result of earlier planting more un- 

 certain, whatever is put out this 

 month, will, with reasonable care, get 

 well established, make good root de- 

 velopment, and perceptably increase 

 top growth before winter. If we get 

 the proverbial but uncertain April 

 showers, the reasonable care is reduc- 

 ed to a minimum, but if the month 

 is dry, watering must not be neglect- 

 ed. In planting from pots, it is not 

 wise to make too much disturbance 

 of the ball, but the longer roots 

 should be straightened out. If the 

 ground you are working on is not 

 nicely moist and mellow, have a sup- 

 ply of fine sandy soil at hand, for 

 packing around the roots. Any trou- 

 ble taken at planting time is well 

 repaid later on. 



— Don't Scamp. — 

 It is a pity to scamp any garden 

 job, but more particularly tree plant- 

 ing; for mistakes and neglect are 

 difficult to rectify in after years. If 

 the tree or shrub to be planted is one 

 cf the larger growing sorts, be sure 

 that it is placed in just the position 

 you want it, not as it is now, but as it 

 will be in time to come.. Dig the 

 position selected deeply, and do not 

 grudge doing a good wide margin 

 around it. See that no impervious 

 layer pf soil is allowed to remain 

 which might block the roots from 



getting down to cooler, moister con- 

 ditions than they can get near the 

 surface. If the ground is poor, thin 

 and hungry, remember that to some 

 extent it can be cheaply improved; a 

 pound or two of bone dust well scat- 

 tered through the patch turned over 

 may do wonders, not to-day or to- 

 morrow, but a year or two hence. If 

 you have no bone dust, you can take 

 comfort in the thought that there is 

 must virtue in old bones, and some 

 in old boots, either of which are not 

 difficult to come by. There is also a 

 lot of solid stick-by-the-ribs or roots 

 nourishment in the hoof, hide, or 

 horns of any animal. This is the 

 sort of manure which pays you back, 

 like some debtors, after many days. 

 Good, but slow. 



— Gerhera Jamesoni. — 



The Gerhera Jamesoni and its hy- 

 brid varieties are not perhaps the 

 easiest plants to handle, but they 

 make up for it by being some of the 

 most beautiful. A day or two ago 

 we had the pleasure of seeing a bed of 

 them, splendidly grown, and just com- 

 ing into bloom; an ornament to any 

 garden, and a delight to any gar- 

 dener. As yet only a flower or two 

 had opened, a beautiful pink, and a 

 vivid crimson, three inches, perhaps, 

 across, but the wealth of buds poised 

 gracefully above the handsome foli- 

 age gave promise of exceptional 

 beauty to come. The grower gave us 

 their history in brief, somewhat as 

 follows: — "Small packet of seed, April 

 last year; Hackett's; sown singly; 

 small pots; cool frame; germination 

 not too good; early growth slow; 

 planted out, October; kept growing; 

 quite simple; cost, half-a-crown. 

 Pleased? "Well, what do you think?" 

 We did. It was not untinged with 

 regret that circumstances rather than 

 inclination prevented the wholesale 

 removal of the bed to' a place where 

 we could see it more often. We cer- 

 tainly forgot a certain commandment, 

 though we do not, by the way, re- 

 member that flowers are specifically 



mentioned, as amongst the posses- 

 sions of a ncighljour which one may 

 not covet. 



— Iceland Poppies. — 



Iceland Poppies are not one of the 

 popular favourites in and around Ade- 

 laide; probably our climate is a shade 

 too much on the warm, dry side for 

 them to be perfectly happy amongst 

 us. Their name certainly seems to 

 suggest a preference for cooler con- 

 ditions. In Victoria they do grandly, 

 and readers who have visited Mel- 

 bourne, Ballarat, and the Gippsland 

 country in spring will remember the 

 beautiful displays of this perennial 

 member of the Poppy family. This 

 Iceland cousin lacks the delicacy of 

 texture and wide range of colour of 

 its Shirley relative, but in yellow, 

 orange, and bronzy-brown shades, and 

 its habit of growth, there is no need 

 for it to take second place to any 

 member of the family. The present 

 is a good time to try a packet of seed 

 wherever you are situated, but es- 

 pecially if you are gardening in the 

 hills or cool districts. 



— Mildew. — 



Mildew usually troubles the rose 

 grower at this season of the' year, 

 particularly when there is much mois- 

 ture in the atmosphere. Heavy dust- 

 ings of flowers of sulphur is the sim- 

 plest remedy. A good deal will ap- 

 parently be wasted unless you work 

 with a blower, and the foliage is 

 damp, but even the stuff which falls 

 to the ground probably does some 

 good, and certainly no harm. In- 

 deed, some people do not trouble to 

 dust the plants at all, believing that 

 just as much benefit is secured if the 

 sulphur is thrown over the bed and 

 around the plants. When the sun 

 temperature is sufficiently high this 

 no doubt is quite a good plan, and in 

 any case, in combination with other 

 soil constituents, sulphur is said to 

 rank high as a manure. 



(Continued on page 484). 



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