The New Year. 
Many New Years have come and gone 
since The Gardening World was first 
established. Through the study of its pages 
thousands of readers have received benefit, 
benefit to health, mind and pocket. It has 
been a source of pleasure — a never ending 
pleasure; it has been a source of help, and 
to all who love their gardens and wish to 
make them beautiful they will find this 
source will never fail them. 
We all wish to do better things in the 
new year than in the old — to make progress. 
Every branch of gardening is dealt with in 
The Gardening World, but I am chiefly 
concerned with work in connection with the 
Flower, Fruit and Kitchen Garden, and 
not with the Greenhouse, Conservatory, etc. 
Able hands will jot down reliable hints for 
your guidance regarding them and their 
contents. But I would like you to consider 
with me for a few brief moments the plea¬ 
sure and benefits attached to the three 
branches of gardening above-named. 
The Flower Garden. 
Compare a dwelling-house without a 
flower garden with one surrounded by a neat, 
well-kept lawn and borders filled with 
beautiful shrubs and lovely flowers. The 
creation of a beautiful garden is a labour 
of love, and the most healthy of all recrea¬ 
tions. You can always entertain your visi¬ 
tors and give them pleasure in the inspec¬ 
tion of your treasures, and you cannot fail 
to profit yourself in doing so. Then it is 
an added pleasure to be able to gather your 
own flowers for the embellishment of the 
dwelling house rooms, corridors, porches 
and windows. 
The Fruit Garden. 
This provides a harvest during the sum¬ 
mer and autumn months; but it provides 
work for the owner all the year round. The 
leafless branches of the trees and bushes 
may not appear to the casual observer as 
interesting as when they are in full leaf 
and laden with luscious fruit, but the en¬ 
thusiast delights in inspecting the fat buds 
and firm ripe wood, knowing that in due 
time the harvest will come; and in the mean¬ 
time there is the pruning, cleaning, digging 
and manuring and training work to be done. 
In fact, it is always harvest time with the 
true gardener. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
Amateurs generally like to mark off a por¬ 
tion of their garden for the cultivation of 
vegetables. Even a very small plot, if 
properly cropped and managed, may be made 
to give a big return for the labour spent 
on it. Fresh vegetables, like fresh flowers, 
are always welcome. Some amateurs prefer 
to devote their skill to the growing of one 
particular kind of plant ; others like to have 
a general collection ; but in all gardens there 
is work of various forms to be done, and it 
is said that a change of work is as good as 
a rest. Let us all make up our minds to do 
better work in our gardens' during the year 
1908 than we have ever done before, if 
health and circumstances permit. 
The Flower Garden. 
It is well to have all general work in 
hand advanced as far as possible, then there 
will be time to pay attention to certain de¬ 
tails which always crop up, instead of, 
through lack of time, letting them slide. By 
paying due attention to details we often save 
the life of a valuable plant. 
Alpines. 
Owing to the recent rainy period, Alpine 
plants on rockeries may have suffered 
through much soil having been washed from 
around their roots, and also in being par¬ 
tially buried by soil. No time should be 
lost in the placing of fresh loam around the 
roots in the one case, and in clearing away 
that which has been washed down on other 
specimens in the other case. We may natu¬ 
rally expect frosts more or less severe 
shortly, and exposed roots would suffer. 
Buried leaves, especially those near the 
centre of the plant, would decay if they lay 
under damp soil and collected rubbish for 
a long time. So that it is advisable to 
closely examine your Alpines and make their 
surroundings clean and tidy. 
Cajceolaria Cuttings in Frames. 
Do not cover the glass lights with fern, 
straw litter, or mats, except during frosty 
weather. It should be remembered that these 
plants are fairly hardy, and should not be 
unduly coddled, as it weakens them con¬ 
siderably. Admit plenty of air on all fine 
days and gently loosen the surface soil with 
a pointed stick to prevent it “ greening ” 
over. 
Zonal Geraniums in Frames. 
Where these are still growing in unheated 
frames, much loss through damp may occur 
unless care be taken to remove every decayed 
leaf and stem. Though a few degrees of 
frost will not seriously injure them if the 
leaves are dry, it would be the wisest plan 
to remove the plants and cuttings to a green¬ 
house, or, failing sucn a structure, to win¬ 
dows in the dwelling-house. The same pre¬ 
cautions should be taken with Marguerites 
and similar plants. 
Lawns. 
During mild weather worm casts gene¬ 
rally appear on lawns, but it is a mistake 
to sweep them entirely off the grass, as you 
would thus remove, from time to time, much 
good soil. Instead of sweeping away the 
casts, watch your opportunity, and when the 
soil is fairly dry brush the casts to and fro, 
the particles of soil will thus lodge around 
the roots of the grass and get washed down 
again by the rains, and the lawn will look 
neat and tidy. 
The Fruit Garden. 
Fruit trees move well enough when the 
soil is very moist, byt it is not wise to plant 
them in very wet ground, as the soil sets 
hard around the roots. In open, gravelly 
soil, much progress may have been made in 
the planting of fruit trees, but in heavy, 
retentive ground, good work was not pos¬ 
sible. However, there is still plenty of time 
for fruit-tree planting, and no time should 
be lost in getting the soil deeply trenched. 
Trenching Ground for Fruit Trees. 
Apple, Pear, and Plum trees often make 
very strong growth in heavy soil, and as our 
seasons are not hot enough to cause the 
January 4, 1^08. 
thorough ripening of the shoots we should 
do our best to prevent the shoots becoming 
too gross. A very loose soil encourages the 
spread of long, fibreless roots, whereas a 
firm rooting medium and a good supply -.of 
old mortar rubbish, free from sticks, mixed 
with soil results in the production of shorter 
main roots covered with fibrous ones. In 
trenching the ground keep the cold subsoil 
below, but thoroughly break it up. Mix the 
old mortar rubbish with the soil just where 
the trees are to be planted, but do not put 
in any manure; this is best applied as a 
mulch to encourage and feed surface roots. 
Replacing; Old Trees. 
Where pld trees have become unprofitable, 
remove them forthwith and burn the wood. 
But do not plant a young tree in the same 
position exactly that the old one occupied, 
unless it be impossible to find a new site. 
If, however, the young one must be planted 
on the old site, be very careful to get out 
every bit of old root, also remove some of 
the soil and replace it with fresh loam. 
Primings. 
These should be carefully gathered up 
and burned; on no account must they be 
left on the ground or dug in, as they would 
produce a fungus growth which would soon 
end in the death of other fruit trees. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
Take advantage of every fine day to get 
all the ground possible trenched. Every bit 
of vacant ground should be trenched at least 
two 'spits deep. It may not be possible to 
so treat all the garden during one, or even 
two, winters, but if a portion be done each 
winter the whole will be trenched in due 
time. Heavier and better crops are grown 
on trenched than untrenched ground. 
Organic Manures. 
Turn over littery manure frequently, to 
cause decomposition, and try to shelter all 
such manures from rain, and so preserve its 
goodness. 
Stored Roots. 
Where Beet, Carrots, etc., are stored in 
open-air pits, cover them with fern or litter, 
to keep them safe from frosts. 
Celery. 
Decaying leaves should be removed regu¬ 
larly; if left on, the stalks become rotten 
too. Also place some clean straw on the 
rows of Celery during severe frosts. 
A Happy, Prosperous New Year to all 
Readers. 
Foxglove. 
Orchids for Amateurs. 
Seasonable Notes. 
With the turn of the days the work among 
Orchids commences in real earnest. One of 
the first things to be considered is the pot¬ 
ting composts. Peat should be got in and 
picked and put ready for use. If this be 
done now, it will save the otherwise waste 
of time when the time comes for attending 
to re-potting requirements. Sphagnum moss 
should also be secured while the weather 
remains open, for as soon as frost sets in 
there is little possibility of getting any^ 
Leaves, where these are used as a potting 
medium, should now be collected, the wind 
having blown the Oak and Beech leaves to¬ 
gether, the driest and cleanest should be se¬ 
cured and placed in bags, or, better still, 
placed under a shed or covering to run the 
Water off them, where that is available. It 
is well to have an open shed at the ends or 
sides, so that the air may pass freely 
through. 
Before using, I find it advisable to place 
