14 : 
grown plants which are ready should be 
planted out. — 
Cauliflower—Treat as recommended for 
broccoli. The seed may not, perhaps, 
come up so well as the broccoli, for it is a 
difficult matter sometimes to procure good 
cauliflower seed. It is worth while paying 
top price for the small quantity that is 
likely to be required. 
Cucumber.—Seed may be sown in any 
part of the State if plants are required, 
and during such a season as the! present the 
growth of the cucumbers should be most 
satisfactory. 
Celery—This should be growing very 
well under the favorable weather condi- 
tions lately prevalent. Sow a little seed. 
Prick out advanced seedlings, and plant 
some of the pricked out well-grown seed- 
lings. Earth up any plants which are 
nearly full grown, taking care not to drop 
any soil within the leaf stalks. 
Cress and Mustard:—Sow occasionally 
during the month to keep up a supply. 
These salads should attain great perfection 
with showery and cool weather. 
Egg Plant.—Probably a sufficient supply 
of seedlings have been planted. But 
should any more plants be required, sow a 
little seed, which should soon come up after 
sowing. ‘ 
Maize (Sweet or Sugar)—Advanced 
plants should be sufficiently well culti- 
vated to keep down all weeds. More seed 
may be sown if a further supply is re- 
quired. 
Onion.—A little seed may be sown if an 
additional supply be required. Seedlings 
which are coming up above ground should 
be kept quite free from weeds. The weed- 
ing must be carefully done or the little 
‘onion plants may be pulled up with the 
weeds if they are thick. In small vege- 
table gardens the system of sowing onions 
for transplanting is a good one, and if car- 
ried out a good deal of trouble may be 
saved in the way of weeding, seed sowing, 
&c. The seed can be sown in small beds, 
or in boxes if this should be more con- 
venient, and when the onions are large 
enough to shift they may be planted out. 
If the soil is at all dry, the onions should 
be well watered after planting. 
Parsley.—A. little seed may be sown if 
there are no plants in the garden. 
Peas.—The season is all that could be de- 
sired for the pea. It will probably be 
found that the vines have grown much 
taller than usual, and, unless sticks have 
been provided sufficiently tall, the peas 
have grown into a tangle. Those vines 
which are allowed to grow over the ground 
are even worse, and are liable to rot and 
die off, and a good deal of loss ig the conse- 
quence. Some kind of support should 
always be provided for peas and other 
climbing vegetables. A few seeds may be 
sown two or three times during the month, 
-or when space is available. = 
Potato.—Plant out a few rows of this 
most useful vegetable. Use abundance of 
farmyard manure, and mix it well with the 
‘soil as digging is proceeded with. When 
planting, try spreading a good layer of 
‘dung along the bottom of each trench, and 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
plant the potatoes on the dung. Give the 
plants ample space in which to grow. The 
rows may be made from 2 feet 6 inches to 
4 feet apart. Lay the sets about 1 foot 
apart in the rows, and let them be covered 
about 5 or 6 inches deep with soil. 
Pumpkin.—The plants should be spread- 
ing well over the ground by this time; but 
should a sowing have been overlooked, seed 
may be planted at any time convenient, 
and a good crop is likely to follow. 
Radish.—Sow a little seed now and then 
to keep a supply going. 
Spinach.—Sow a little seed. 
Tomato.—If any more plants are re- 
quired, seed may be sown, or seedlings 
already suitable for moving may be planted 
out. There should be a good show of fruit 
by this time in many parts of the State. 
Plants which have been allowed to spread 
over the ground are not likely, during a 
moist season such as the present, to ripen 
their fruit satisfactorily; they should be 
trained to stakes or other kinds of sup- 
ports. There are various methods of train- 
ing adopted by different growers. Some 
train to a single stem, pinching off lateral 
shoots as they start into growth; others 
train, allowing the lateral shoots to de- 
‘velop, and so on. 
TOMATO FORCING UNDER GLASS. 
In the Illinois Experiment Station bul- 
letin for November, 1902, some interest- 
ing results are recorded about tomato cul- 
ture. It was found that tomato plants 
might be had in fruit 50 days after bench- 
ing, and 128 from sowing. The main 
points tending to success seem to have 
been—Ist, checking the plants by growing 
in 3} in. pots until ready to plant out, so 
stunting them when they should be show- 
ing open blossoms and be very much pot 
bound; 2nd, planting so as to allow as 
much light as possible to reach the plants ; 
3rd, hand fertilising. The pollen is shed 
only on bright days, and should then be 
collected and placed on the stigma; 4th, 
careful selection of ‘varieties. Plants 
trained to a single stem gave better results 
than those trained to three stems. 
The yield for the winter and spring was 
from 2 to nearly 24 lb. per square foot of 
bench, or from 7 to 9 lb. per plant. 51 
plants seed sown on August 20th yielded 
as follows: —December, 52 fruits, 7} lb. ; 
January, 131 fruits, 224 lb.; February, 
399 fruits, 80 lb.; March, 494 fruits, 104 
lb. : 
EVAPORATION OF WATER FROM 
SOILS aND SOTL MULCHING. 
The Wyoming (U.S.A.) Experiment Sta- 
tion, in some experiments recently con- 
ducted there, report that when the water 
level in the soil was kept at 22 inches be- 
low the surface, stirring the surface once 
a week to a depth of 2 inches retarded 
evaporation by 19 per cent., hoeing to 4 
inches by 23 per cent., and to 6 inches by 
as much as 43 per cent. 
TOMATOES IN POTS. 
Active growth and the production of 
roots entail regular attention in training, 
rubbing out side shoots, and, after fruit is 
Feb. 1, 1904 
set and swelling, top-dressing with rick 
material. Water must be supplied as 
often as the requirements of the plants de- 
mand. A constant supply of air is neces- 
sary. 
ACETYLENE GAS LIGHT FOR FORC- 
ING PLANTS. 
A series of experiments made by the New 
Hampshire (U.S.A.) Station in 1902 proved 
that no injurious results were observed on 
the plants, and that the lettuce crops were 
more erect and weighed more. The ques- 
tion of cost shows that it can hardly be 
used with econonry for forcing, but that for 
lighting greenhouses it is cheap and. easily 
piped and run. 
a 
POTATO CROPS. 
“Pater” accuses me of poking fun when 
asking for the number of cut sets produe- 
ing that 1,082 lb. crop. I am sorry they 
cannot be found; perhaps they have de- 
cayed. However, he has furnished re- 
ported particulars, dropping 410 into 672 
Ib. from 1 Ib. of seed. One hundred and 
twenty-one cut sets is getting desperately 
near the object of which I was afraid; 
eight deep eyes to 1 oz. must be terrible. 
In the first 1873 American trials, there 
were whole eyes and-sections of eyes, so 
as to give fifty to a hundred sets to the Ib. 
Perhaps “Pater” can define these half-eye 
openers. ; 
Taking these to be the actual facts, does 
it not regolve itself into more of chance. 
purchase than of culture? The competitor 
buying least tubers would gain upor 
another having tubers larger in diameter. 
TI am glad “Pater” is going to describe the 
manures used in producing what he terms 
the biggest crop exhibited in England from 
1 Ib. of seed, as an abstract. 
or a dozen tons per acre. 
The actual 
result may yet prove to barely reach 5} Ib., 
With such exceptional cultivation, it 
practically proves the value of ordinary 
2 oz. or 3 oz. sets, full of farina, gluten, 
and sugar, the only true and proper 
nourishment for the young infant buds to 
feed and strengthen themselves upon prior 
to one when roots begin working in the 
soil. 
The 65 Ib. quoted by me was the actual 
average struck between 130 lb. product 
from 2 lb. of seed planted. 
15 cwt. from 14 stone, manv of the roots 
averaging 12 to over 14 Ib. each on fairly 
rich but unmanured land; nearly fifty of 
the sets were planted whole. 
The Royal Exchange 
PRINTING OFFICE 
; Nos. 114 and 115, 
Royal Exchange Basement, 
King William Street, 
‘C. K. BALDWINSON, Manager. 
Printer for the ‘‘ Australian Gardener,™ 
r A second cul- © 
tivator had 111 Ib. from 2 lb., and a third 
A 
