_common sorts. 
4 THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
= 
Novemper 6, 1905 
fresh manure will help to keep, the surface of 
your seed beds moist. Let the zinnia be among 
the first of your seed plantings. 
Cannas, Carnations, Columbines, Centaureas, 
Canterbury Bells, Cornflowers, Chrysanthemums 
Dahlias, Gaillardias, Hollyhocks, Pentstemons, 
Sunflower, French Marigolds, ordinary Mari- 
golds, Verbenas, Marguerite Daisies of all sorts, 
Sweet William, Dianthus, are all in season for 
planting out in beds cr borders. eee 
Keep the hose playing on: your grass plots 
and lawns. Sprinkling the grass while the sun 
is shining keeps it green. 
Any of the ordinary Marguerite*daisies strike 
“very easily from'cuttings: Take pieces about 6 
inches long, and pot them off in a lose soil, and 
keep moist. They stand a dry climate, and 
keep the garden bright when other flowers 
fail. 
After your Stocks have flowered themselves 
out, cut them down below the flower stems 
and give them a.chance of coming into bloom 
hgain early in the autumn. Many of them will 
do this. ! : 
Delphiniums are coming into growth now. If 
-you can procure your plants get them out at 
once, without further delay. 
Dahlia Growing. 
A night or two since we met Mr G. H. Kers- 
lake and very naturally got intoa talk about dah- 
lias and how to grow them. Mr Kerslake has 
the distinction of being one of the best dahlia 
men in the Commonwealth. In the course of 
conversation he told us several things of interest 
to the men and women who number themselves 
among the lovers of this exquisite flower. 
His most important statement was’: Impress 
upon your readers the advisableness of waiting 
until late November or early December before 
they put their plants out, arly planting of the 
cactus dahlia is not a good plan. The antumn 
is’ really the best time for perfection in these 
flowers. December planting leaves you a 
chance of getting the best work from the plants 
at a time when the season is suited for both 
form and colour. Where is the sense of forcing 
frail dahlia blooms in the middle of December 
or January. They are not half as beautiful as 
those which come about March. We have both, 
and are quite of Mr Kerslake’s opinion. Show 
growers all follow the same plan. 
If you must have early dahlias plant out the 
on Let these battle through the 
hot season and reserve the best time for the 
_ best varieties. 
Queenslanders should plant about the same 
time as do the New South Welshmen ; but 
Victorians and South Australians might put 
their tubers out a month earlier. 
_ Plant the tubers out in a fairly rich soil, 
near enough to the water tap to make frequent 
watering easy. Dahlia’ need a lot of attention 
in this way. Give the holés a good bone-dust- 
ing and always keep thé’strface'of the soil well 
mulched with éither garden refuse or manure. 
There is tiothing a dahlia likés so muchas a 
Nice; cool soil, Too much’ heat only burns the 
stems and réduces the flowering. 
Propagating by méans of the young growths is. 
the method now most in vogue among show 
growers: The shoots a:e allowed to grow about 
four inches long, after which they are taken off 
and ‘potted up in a very open, sandy soil, until 
ouse ora cool — 
they have rooted. A shady bushh 
frame is the best place for this work. Too much 
water injures the cuttings and too little dries 
them off. Keep the pots buried in sand and 
protect them from wind and sun. Some of our 
friends, particularly Mr R. Henderson, who 
might be called the father of the colonial dahlia 
growers, shades all his cuttings with glass 
bottles, the bottoms of which have been taken 
off. He has an ideal shade under a wide-spread- 
ing guava tree, and has the luck of a magician in 
raising plants from cuttings. Let thé cuttings 
be about the thickness of a led pencil: Too 
much manure will make the dahlia growths 
rank. Rather a moderate supply is best, as the 
plants and flowers are more hardy under a 
moderate feeding than they are when forced by 
heavy manure supplies.—Amateur Gardener. 
_ Improving Phlox. 
C. 8. Harrison in Florists’ Exchange : 
_Along in the fifties, I used to ride over the 
virgin prairies of Minnesota. They weré immense 
flower gardens. Often I would go through beds 
of wild phlox of thousands of acres. It was a 
wonderful-scene. Those cheerful flowers greet- 
ing you on every hand, and billows of fragence 
floating in the air. 
Our wild phloxes were sent to Europe; miracle’ 
have been wrought from them, and we are at th® 
beginning of a new era in their cultivation: W® 
have depended on foreigners for the improve- 
ment of the*phlox'when we can do this ourselves. 
Note the evolution: 'The wild flowers were 
the size of a dime; under caréful training they 
grew to the size of a quarter, then as large as a 
half dollar. Then came the announcement that 
Crepuscule was larger than a dollar. I secured 
a quantity. Now, for the West we need a strong 
vigorous plant, with a full symmetrical héad and 
flowers that will sunburn when the mercury 
soars to 100 and over, as it often does. Our 
favorite met all the demands. In the West we 
want size and must have hardiness. This plant 
is of a dwarf habit. That is all right. It pre- 
fers to put its vigor into flowers rather than 
into wood. The plant continues a long time in 
blooming. 
Around the group of Crepuscule I planted 
some fine imported ones and some choice seed- 
lings. In the Fall the seeds were planted. 
They came up early, in July were in full bloom, 
so that in less than a year I knew just what I 
was doing. i 
I have seen quiet, gentle women, who would 
impress themselves on the whole community, 
and the whole neighborhood would be changed 
by their presence. It was so with our favorite 
I let the bees do the crossing, and as the 
result I found at least twenty kinds of mar- 
-vellous beauty, most of them with very large 
flowers, some larger than a silver dollar. 
Coquelicot, for instance, is from France. It 
may be alright there, but in the West it is feeble 
and the glowing scarlet flowers sunburn badly. 
But, the seeds of these, grown near this genial 
neighbor, brought plants much more hardy, 
with flowers twice their former size, which 
endured the heat much better. 
In color Crepuscule is white, with a violet 
shade, and an extra large purple carmine eye. I 
noticed with much interest the impress midde 
on. the white, for I found some nitich largér, 
with most delicate tints of tracery, which made 
charming flowers. 
, in dninial bréeditig, what is called prepotency 
is an important factor, the parent muakiig a 
patent impress on‘the offspring. This trait ‘is 
Been in plant life. The Weidlthy and. Duchess 
a pplics, the’ Coticord grape, and'itiany’ other fruits 
exhibit this trait ina remarkible dégie, 
I raised about 10,000 fine seedling phloxes this 
year, and among them are many much finer than 
we import. I notice one thing in a marked 
degree; those fertilized by that royal parent are 
very much larger'than the others. 
Now I have sent for the very largest and 
finest the earth affords, regardless of price. I 
have a dozen kinds growing. I shall take the 
choicest seedlings and plant near these, and from 
the seed I know we will have perfect surprises 
of loveliness. ; 
Now, when I went into Nature’s inner temple 
to study her miracles and aid her in these mar- 
vellous transformations, I left the door wide 
open, and all of you como in and let'us see what 
wonders we can produce with these charming 
flowers in afew years! They stand next. to 
the peony in hardness and showy bloom. 
Among peonies we must wait from five to eight 
years to know what we are doing. With phloxes 
we find out inside of a-year.. In selecting, we 
want a full head, symmetrical in form, a good 
strong'stem; contitiuous bloom, fine color and 
large flowers Remember, that with proper 
attention you can have™titese flowers in yreat 
masses from June til] November. 
The Oxehard. 
By James Lang, Harcourt. 
Cultivating. 
Ploughing and cultivating the orchard should 
be pushed on as rapidly as circunistances: will 
permit, and finished as early as possible in the 
month, After the ground has once been turned 
over, it is an easy matter then to keep itin good 
tilth throughout the summer. When the gsur- 
face of an orchard is well cultivated, it is 
astonishing how it conserves the moisture in 
the soil, and is one of the chief means of mak- 
ing an orchard a success. ‘This is more parti- 
cularly applicable to orchards in dry districts, 
where water is not available for irrigation. 
Spraying 
for the black spot on the apple and 
pear should receive errly attention. Experience 
has proved that the best time to spray the trees 
is just before the blooms burst, the spores of 
the fungus just starting into growth are more 
easily destroyed by the spray. ‘The 6—4—50 
formula (6lbs. bluestone, 4lbs. lime, and 50 
gallons water) for making Bordeaux is the best 
strength to apply. 
Codlin Moth. 
Spraying for the codlin moth will also have 
to be attended to during the month. The first 
application should be given just asthe petals 
are dropping from the flowers; the calyx 
being then open receives some of the poison 
before it closés up. One of the best sprays for 
destroying the codlin moth is arsenite of lime. 
This was used by the writer during last summer 
with great success, and without injury to foliage 
It is prepared in the following manner: 1]b. 
fresh lumpy lime should be slaked in a bucket, 
and then 1 gallon water added, and stirred well. 
This should be strainéd through a bran bag’ or 
other similar material, when you will have milk 
oflime. Put this in a kerosene’ bucket to boil, 
adding 1b. arsenic; let it boil slowly for three- 
quarters of an hour. As sonie’of the water ‘will 
ave boiled away, add sufficient water to make. 
up to lgallon. If put in airtight vessel, it will 
keep good for a very long time. This: forms. 
arsenite of lime. Usel1 pint of the liquid to. 
40 gallons water ; no further addition of lime is 
required. Itis the cheapest and one of the best. 
sprays that can be used, and will not injure the 
foliage. Bandages to trap the codlin moth. 
should also be put around the treés this: month. 
Grafting, 
5 apples may still be done if the scions. 
haye besn kept in a backward state. When the 
scions start into growth keep the stock free from. 
growths, 
