538 



May 1914 



Australian Plants for Garden 

 Culture. 



A leecture on the above subject 

 was given before the Canterbury 

 Horticultural Society by Mr. E. E. 

 Pescott, principal of the Burnley 

 School of Horticulture is reported in 

 "The Leader" as follows: — Commen- 

 cing with the Wattles, the lecturer 

 said there weree 500 different forms 

 comprising at least 400 species and 

 their variants, but those who know 

 the plant best are only familiar witli 

 some sixty varieties, and have a bot- 

 anical acquaintance with about 150. 

 Ma ny of the wattles are suitable for 

 garden culture, notably Acacia Pyc- 

 nantha, or Golden wattle; A. Bailey- 

 ana, Cootamundra wattle; A, specta- 

 bilis, a shrubby variety with very fine 

 flowers; A. leprosa, with spotted 

 leaves, which flowers within twelve 

 months of sowing the seed; A. pro- 

 minens, which may be cut and trim- 

 med for hedge purposes; A. pody- 

 lariaefolia, the favorite wattle in 

 Queensland; A. pravissima, and many 

 others. All the wattles can be 

 grown from seed, but the latter 

 should be soaked in hot water, chip- 

 ped, or even boiled for a few min- 

 utes before sowing. Most of them 

 may be cut back with advantage after 

 flowering. The/ only eucalypts grown 

 for their flowers are E. leucoxylon 

 rosea, the red flowering iron-bark; 

 E. calophylla and E. ficifolia, the 

 scarlet and pink flowering gums of 

 Western Australia. The eucalypts 

 are fairly hardy and stand water well, 

 but must not be given manure. 

 Neither will the wattles tolerate man- 

 ure, and they thrive best in poor soils 

 and dry situations. The tea-tree (so 

 called because Captain Cook used an 

 infusion of the leaves to cure his 

 crew of scurvy) makes an attractive 



flowering shrub, and is excellent for 

 hedges. Then there arc the clema- 

 tises of several different kinds; Hard- 

 enbergia, or sarsaparilla, Eriostemon, 

 Boronia, Stenacarpus, Beckia placata, 

 Thryptomene, Swainsonea, Darling 

 Pea, and a great variety of heather, 

 all of which are susceptible to gar- 

 den culture, and may be grown from 

 .seed. Amongst the herbaceous flow- 

 ers there are terrestrial orchids, sev- 

 eral kinds of which are native to Vic- 

 toria, and a fine dendrobium, the New 

 South Wales rock lily, which needs 

 a dry stony soil and freedom from 

 frosts. The lilium and iris families 

 are also represented, but for some un- 

 accountable reason the Australian 

 species are smaller than those of cor- 

 responding latitudes in Asia, where 

 the climate is similar. 



In reply to questions the lecturer 

 said the best time to transplant wat- 

 tle from the bush to the garden is in 

 spring; use a round trowel and take 

 a ball of earth with the roots. Clem- 

 atis seeds should be sown as soon as 

 ripe; they sometimes take six months 

 to germinate. It is essential in grow- 

 ing native plants to reproduce as 

 nearly as possible their natural con- 

 ditions; they must have what a gar- 

 dener considers poor soil, no water in 

 summer and not too much in winter. 

 Manure is absolutely fatal; if you 

 want to kill a gum tree whose roots 

 are intruding in your garden, heap 

 manure on them. The only kind of 

 soil enrichment permissable is the ad- 

 dition of a little leaf mould. Cultiva- 

 tion in the way of digging should not, 

 hfjwever, be ommitted. 



♦ 



Dentist's Wife — " Why do you 

 open the door of the i)atients' 

 room when I .sing ? " Dentist — 

 " Want to let the waiters know it 

 i.sn't the patients." 



Removing a Large Yew Tree. 



The directors of the Old Botanical 

 Gardens at P>ankfurt-on-Main some 

 years ago were compelled to remove 

 their old gardens to a new site near the 

 new Palm garden, a distance of two 

 miles. In the old garden stood a Yew 

 tree, which was planted when the Bota- 

 nical Society was formed 300 years ago, 

 and the directors did not like the idea 

 of leaving this tree behind. The tree 

 stood 46 feet high, with a spread of 

 branches 40 feet wide, with a girth of 

 bole 8 feet. The services of an Eng- 

 lish firm of landscape gardeners were 

 requisitioned to^carry out this important 

 work, with the result that this large and 

 old-established tree was moved. Plans 

 drawn to scale, of the ti|?nbers, boxing 

 and other accessories were furnished by 

 the contractors, and one of the firm's 

 foremen superintended the removal of 

 the tree. When out of the ground, dur- 

 ing transit, it stood about 55 feet high, 

 and weighed ^learly 50 tons. The re- 

 moval, in face of many difficulties, was 

 perfectly successful ; the tree is now 

 looking very well. Besides the obstruc- 

 tions overhead, such as narrow streets, 

 sharp turnings, electric tram-wires, and 

 overhanging avenue trees, in many cases 

 the roads had to be securely timbered 

 on account of the subterranean canals, 

 of which there are many in the city. 



^ 



To Get Rid of Tree Roots 

 in a Small Garden. 



The gardener in town and suburb is 

 usually more anxious to get rid of trees 

 than to plant them. His garden is too 

 small, the space too precious to allow 

 of 4iis thinking of tree planting. Often 

 a large tree with its trunk in the gar- 

 den of a neighliour — who values it, per- 

 haps, for its welcome shade in summer 

 time, and who, having no instinct for 

 gardening, thinks nothing of its hungry 

 depredatory roots — is a source of annoy- 

 ance and sometimes despair to the en- 

 thusiastic gardener whose garden is 

 overshadowed by its shoots and leaves, 

 and whose border is permeated by its 

 roots. He has a right, it is true, to cut 

 off the branches that overhand his pro- 

 perty, but even when that is done mat- 

 ters are often hardly improved. In the 

 treatment of the encroaching roots, 

 however, he can lie more drastic, and 

 can, although not without considerable 

 trouble, completely rid his ground of 

 them. The way to do this is to dig a 

 trench, 3 feet or 4 feet deep, quite close 



ALBERT O. PIKE, 



(Late CtAMEAU BROTHERS). 



Clairviiie INarsery, Hectorville. 



All kinds of fruit trees for sale, Citrus trees, Lemons and Oranges a 

 speciality. Send for illustrated Catalogue. 



Telegraphic Address — Pike, Hectorville, Payneham. Telephone — Cen- 

 tral 2768. 



