June 27, 1908. 
THE GARDENING WORLD. 
429 
The Flower Garden. 
,wns< 
During the time that bedding-out work 
lims attention many other things get ne- 
;cted to a certain extent; the mowing of 
j lawns being put off, in some instances, 
> long. Readers will have noticed that 
■tain grasses shoot up quickly and so es- 
oe the mowing machine. The presence of 
jse grasses makes the lawn look untidy, 
hen walking across the latter with your 
ck to the sun you will be able to see nearly 
3ry one of these tall grasses; so this is 
; direction you should take with a scythe, 
other sharp instrument, in your hands, 
d so cut off all such straggling grasses 
und. Their removal will greatly add to 
5 attractiveness of the lawn. 
;eds on Walks. 
Weeds, too, soon grow apace, and it will 
necessary for you to remove them forth- 
th. When pulled up by the roots there is 
end to them; if merely cut off at the 
rface they grow again in branching form, 
is better to do the weeding during rainy 
ather than while the paths are dry and 
rd. But in the absence of rain water the 
avel thoroughly and then pull up the 
eds. A few hours’ work will result in the 
aring away of many unsightly weeds. 
>en roll the gravel down firmly and 
oothly again, 
aking Bedding Plants. 
Specimens used as dot plants amongst 
arf-growing subjects, sub-tropical plants 
a similar kinds, should be supported with 
it stakes before they get too tall and fall 
;r. Fig. 1 shows how to stake a tall- 
nving plant. The stake should be long 
augh to support the plant when the latter 
3 grown to its full height, so that some 
Igment must be used in the selection of 
kes. The ligatures should not be made 
tight, but loose enough to allow of the 
m swelling freely without being cut into 
the matting. 
•eet Peas. 
These, plants are now flowering profusely, 
you wish to have a continued display of 
^om do not hesitate to cut off all flowers 
fast as they open. If all blooms—or the 
jority—are left on the plants the latter 
' 11 quickly cease growing as their strength 
11 be diverted to the maturing of the seeds. 
■ eet Pea plants require copious supplies of 
ter in dry. weather, mere surface sprink- 
• gs are practically useless. Give sufficient 
ter each time to thoroughly saturate the 
: 1 down to the lowest roots. Two ounces 
1 superphosphate to each yard run of row 
’ 1 greatly assist the growth of the plants 
; ^ improve the colours of the flowers. 
' >cks and Asters. 
.hese plants are now getting well estab- 
1 red and should receive a good top-dressing 
; rotted manure and lumpy loam mixed. 
1 is surface dressing should be put on while 
1 soil is moist from recent rains, or after 
=;iorough watering. Rust is sometimes dis- 
c rous to Asters and everything possible 
’ uld be done to prevent it. One of the 
t preventives is soot mixed with the soil 
' en the latter is dug in the autumn. At 
present time you may just darken the 
5 face with soot before putting on the mulch 
< loam and manure as above recommended. 
Fig. 1.—Stahing a tall-growing subject 
used as a dot -plant in sub-tropical bedding. 
Fig. 2.—Layering Strawberry runners in 
pots. 
Fig. 3.—Pinching off the side shoots of 
Tomatos to encourage the young fruit. 
The Fruit Garden. 
Layering Strawberries. 
The time has come once more when the 
layering of Strawberries should be done. 
These plants thrive well in a rather stiff, 
clayey loam, and some persons, knowing 
this, think it is quite useless to grow them 
in a light or sandy soil. But they may be 
very successfully grown in the latter kind 
of soil. Old plants—those more than three 
years old—are certainly not satisfactory in 
a sandy rooting medium, but young plants 
are, and so we must be sura that a good 
stock is raised from healthy layers. This is 
a good time to do the layering, and Fig. 2 
shows how the work should be done. It is 
best to use small pots in which to layer the 
runners; they are more suitable than squares 
of turf cut for the purpose. A good compost 
should be used : fibrous loam two-thirds, leaf 
soil, rotted manure and sand one-third. Do 
not use any leaf soil if the loam be sandy. 
The parent plant is shown at A, the first 
runner—the best one to select—at B, and at 
C the runner must be cut off. Partly plunge 
the pots in the ground between the rows of 
plants and make the layers secure in the 
small pots. 
Raspberries. 
These plants are now growing very 
rapidly and it would be a wise thing to do 
to thin out some of the weakest of the young 
canes. These only tend to cause overcrowd¬ 
ing of serviceable canes to the injury of the 
latter as air and sunshine are kept from 
reaching them, and then thorough maturity 
of wood does not result, and it is on these 
young canes that next year’s crop of fruit is 
borne. 
Protecting Ripening Fruit. 
Fruit ripening on trees growing on walls 
and in the open borders should be duly pro¬ 
tected from the ravages of birds. Do not 
wait until the fruit is ripe and the birds 
have found it before fixing the nets, but do 
this in good time. 
The Kitchen Garden. 
Tomatos. 
If you were to put out a healthy Tomato 
plant and then allow it to grow without any 
training during the remainder of the sum¬ 
mer, very few fruits would ripen on the 
plant; but a great mass of branches would 
grow from the main stems. But by judicious 
pinching of the side shoots the plant will 
become remunerative. A well-trained speci¬ 
men should have one main stem, and the 
main leaves growing directly from that 
stem; all other shoots must be removed. 
These shoots grow from the axils of the 
main leaves as shown at A in Fig. 3, and 
must be pinched out as denoted by the dark 
lines. 
Chinese Artichokes. 
When once these tubers are planted they 
seem well able to take care of themselves 
and to increase in numbers very fast. But 
it is a mistake to allow the plants to grow 
wild, as it were, as the produce, in such 
circumstances, is very second-rate. Thin out 
weakly plants freely, and when you lift the 
tubers take out every one, as new tubers 
sfiould be planted every year. 
Asparagus. 
Only in exceptional cases should As¬ 
paragus be cut as late as the end of June. 
When the stems “bolt” to grass quickly it 
is quite time to cease cutting any for table 
use. 
Keep the beds free from weeds and give 
copious supplies of water, and do not ne¬ 
glect to apply liquid manure properly di¬ 
luted. 
