^EPt 2, 1901.1 THE TROPICA!. ACtRICULTQEIST ^9 
in pretty wild flowers from similar situations as 
regards light and soil and plant these. Remember 
not to mix inhirmonious rolours. Put the small 
plants at the front and the Itrger at the back. 
i)o not mike the bjds more than three feet wide, 
so that the children can easily get at all the plants 
in them. When first making them dig out the soil 
to a good depth and remove all the roots of trees 
from it : break up the soil fiuely with the mamoty and 
the fork if you have such a tool, and mix with it a 
supply of well-rotted manure if you have any. If 
you have not, makj a pit iti some out-of-the-way 
corner of the garden and begin a leaf mould store 
putting into it all the dead leaves and other garden 
rubbish and keeping it covered from the rain as well 
as possible. Pat your flower beds in well-Jrained 
places, not in the lo^vest parts of the garden. The 
digging up and manuring should be a yearly ope;a- 
tion and in some cases even more frequent. 
W e mu^t not forget the walks in laying out our 
garden. Do not, as a rule, make straight ones, unless 
the distance is short or between points v/here short 
cuts are possible. If the walks are in the open spaces 
of the garden let them be walks only, do not plant 
flower beds beside them. 
Dj not leave the schoolhoase or bungalow a bare 
exposed building in the middle of au open spice; 
group your trses so as to make a p'cture in which 
the schoolhouse shall ba the promiueat feature as 
seen from the principal road. For iastance, pat a 
clamp of trees near to the house on one side and 
tapsriug away into the open area, but do not let 
111 line of the trees be at right angles to that of 
the building. Put somefijwer bads near the building 
inesuitable positions. Avoid exact regularity in the 
arrangement of the g irden on t'.ra two sides of the 
buildiag, from whatever direction it may be seen. 
Now, let us turn to the consideration of the eco- 
nomic or more strictly useful plants of the garden. 
Manyofth.^se will be trees or shrubs, e.r/., cloves, 
nutmegs, sago, oranges, cacaa, limes, mangjes, 
coffee These any be planteJ, with strict regard to 
the p riaciples of ornamaatal girdeuiug laid down 
above in the places best suited to them. Cacao mast 
be intheshaie of other trees, also coffee, but not 
very dense shadt) is required. Sago palms must be 
put in damp or even swampy places. The other 
treeo will do very well almost anywliero and mrv 
be planted in clumps, but oranges and limas, whiih 
are small trees, must not be put in the centre of 
the clumps. 
Such economics as are climbing' plants may be pat 
a-noug the trees or shrubs on suitable supports if 
they require shade, or out in the edges of ihe clumns 
if they require sunshine, as the case may be. 
Pepper and vanilla need a good shade, but many 
yams, Ac, prefer some sunshine. Other economics, 
Buch as yams of some Viirieties, pineapples, ginger, 
maize, guinea corn, cassava, arrowroot, sweet potatoes, 
and other vegetables, are herbaceous or only small 
shrubby plants, and are best cultivated in special 
beds laid out in rows. Tliese beds should be in good 
sheltered parts of the garden, but need not be 
obtrusive. " They muss of course be prepared and 
cultivated with special care. 
Listly, we must have a nursery in which we may 
start our trees and shrubs, and even tome of the 
smaller plants. This also must be in a good soil, 
well-draiued, in a sheltered but not too shaly part 
of the garden, and must be the object of special 
care anJ attention. 
Now, in conclusion, let us sum up the main points 
to be attended to. First attend to the bro id 
general features of the garden, then to the details. 
Go over all the ground, dig holes here an i there if 
necessary to see what kind and depth of soil 
you have in different parts, and maka a roug'h plan 
showing the house and boundaries, and any other 
unalterable features of the land, such as neighbouring 
houses visible from the ground, pretty views &c, 
Pacide the position of your clumps of trees, with 
refeisnca to the mxl'iug of screens from wind, hiding 
ugly views cr buildings, emphasizing prett; ones 
making a good setting tor the schoolhouse &c Then 
settle the position of the shrubberies veeetabla 
garden, nursery and flower beds, and see that the 
most IS made of steep banks or of other good natural 
features, such as rivers, streams, or ponds. Then as 
your plants come on in the nursery, plant them out 
according to your pre-arranged plans, of which 
you should keep a copy, but do not try to arranc-e 
everything in an hour or two. Oo into the garden 
again and again on different days and think every- 
thing over carefully, and look at evervthing from all 
sides and decide what will be best. " 
Attention must always be paid to the special local 
or other conditions of the particular garden. For 
example, m the case of railway gardens, or of 
bungalows which have merely a narrow strip of 
garden along the front or side, the provision of onen 
spaces is impracticable in the sense described -ibove 
With a railway garden the object to be aimed at 
13 to provide for travellers by the passing trains 
and for people walking along the platform, a sucoes- 
hZ.Z P.'^'r"''' 9^ greatest possible 
beauty A long p at orm garden is perhaps best 
treated by being laid out in irregular smaller plots 
open to the platform, and with a few trees and 
shrubs at the back and sides of these and floiver 
beds and creepers in suitable places. In the case 
of a bungalow with only a strip in front, it must 
be decided whether privacy shall be aimed at, or a 
a pretty appearence as seen from the road In the 
one case shrubs and trees must be planted along 
the road, and the space between them and the 
house laid out to make the best possible effect as 
seen from the latter. In the other case the house 
hould be used as the centre of a picture as seen 
trom the road, and shrubs and trees planted near 
lu as required, the clumps tapering away down the 
Bides of the plot towards the road J " 
JOHN C. WILLIS, 
Director, Royal Botanic Gardens. 
Peradeniya, June 25, 1901, 
BASIC SUPERPHOSPHATE: ITS 
PREPARATION AND USE 
AS A MANURE. 
BY JOHN HfJGHES, F.LC, 
(nepnnted from the Journal of the Society of Chemical 
Industr;/, 30 April, 1901. iVo. 4. Vol, XX.) 
{Continued from parje 73.) 
DlSCirssiON. 
Dr. J. A. VoELCKRR said that not many weeks ago 
a lecture had been read to chemical manufacturers 
and more especially to manufacturers of superphos- 
phates, to the effect that they must "put their house 
m order. Now they had another warning— they must 
no longer use dissolved phosphates ; that seemed to him 
a retrograde step, for, when one considered the gretit 
benefits to agriculturists which had coma from the 
introduction of dissolved phosphates, one could not 
out wsnder at the proposal to dissolve phosphate first 
and then preeipiate it again ; in other words, to go to 
the trouble of undoing the work already done Mr 
Hughes had refe.red to the labours of his rthe 
speaker s; father on the subject: but it was necessary 
to consider the present question in its different as-- 
pects, and to remambar also the attitude taken up by 
the late Dr. Voelckar with regard to the compar tive 
values of dissolved and undissolved phosphates Mr 
Hu-hes had referred to one point which the late Dr." 
Voelker had always insisted upon, viz, the very 
fine state of division of the phosphate when super- 
phosphate was washed into the soil by tain ; but Dr 
Voelcker was always decidedly opposed to the viewa 
