li 
of care any suitable plants which are ready. 
Do not stint the application of manure. All 
the cabbage family are gross feeders and 
need abundance of good food if the besb 
results are expected. Cauliflowers need to 
be grown well from the start, and on no 
account should suffer any check, or they 
may produce nothing but “button” heads. 
‘Carrots may be sown as extensively ag 
may be required in drills about 1 ft. apart. 
Drop the seed thinly and see that the seeds 
do not stick together. Thin out the seed- 
lings well when they are large enough to 
handle. 
Celery—Plant out a few good strong 
seedlings in richly manured land. Water 
them well as they grow should the weather 
be dry.’ 
Endive.—Sow a little seed. Plant out 
strong young seedlings as required. 
Leek.—This needs soil that has been 
heavily manured. Sow seed from, time 
to time and transplant the leeks when they 
grow to a height of 6 or 8 inclies or so. 
Lettuce—Seeds of this vegetable may be 
gown as extensively as may be required dur- 
ing the month, and young lettuces may be 
planted as soon as they are large enough 
to move. They should be transplanted 
with care—lifting them so ‘that as few 
- roots as possible may be broken. The best 
way to manage this is to water the plants 
well, soaking the soil thoroughly before 
transplanting. Use plenty of good man- 
ure, and try to bring the plants on 
quickly. 
Onion.—This is a good time in. which to 
sow seed largely. Use manure liberally, 
dig and drain well, and finish off with as 
fine a seedbed as possible, and the more 
level it ig made the better. Indeed, all 
vegetables will succeed best where the 
ground has been made quite level. Sow the 
onion seed ini drills about ai foot apart, and 
just cover the seed with fine soil. If pick- 
ling onions are required, sow seed thickly 
' broadeast, preferring a white varicty in 
preference to a brown or red. The white 
Spanish ig an excellent mild sort, but the 
brown kinds keep best when stored! for use. 
Parsley—Sow a little seed of this most, 
useful herb, and never be without a few 
plants. 
_ Parsnip—Sow a few rows in deeply dug 
soil. The parsnip is a very deep-rooting 
plant, and needs good jpreparation if good: 
roots are required. 
Peas.—Sow largely from time to time 
during the month in rows 3 or 4 ft. apart, 
or they may be sown in double rows, as is” 
sometimes preferred. When the peasy have 
grown. to a height of a few inches stick in. 
light brushwood or sticks along the rows, 
to enable the plants to grow to the besti 
advantage. 
Radish.—Sow a little seed now and then 
during the month’ to keep up a sufficient 
supply. 
Shallots and Garlic.—Plant a few bulbs 
in rows, setting them about a foot aparti 
in the rows. 
Herbs.—Sow seed of any kinds that may 
be required. 
Agricultural Gazette of N.S Ww. 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. 
April should see a reversal of form in the 
surface arrangement of soil for winter and 
early spring crops. Plenty of water is 
necessary for vegetables even in winter, but 
the drainage must be more perfect, the 
planting more open, and the soil arranged 
to attract more heat than is necessary in 
summer time. Well raised and narrow beds, 
or lands rising in such positions as will 
allow of the sunlight falling on the largest 
possible proportion of the surface will en- 
sure the soil being “quick” and suitable for 
winter cropping. Rank manures should 
not be placed in heavy or lowlying soils in 
autumn or winter. Such soils may nee 
feeding badly, but the manurial dressing 
must be of a short or warming character ; 
thus, well rotted and spent: dung, ashes, or 
clean fibrous loam will attract more heat, 
preserve the soil sweeter, and is better able 
to support vegetable life in a low tempera- 
ture. Clay pits can easily be made to hold 
liquid manure, and a few arum lilies or a 
shrub or two planted round keeps the spot 
sightly.. Material from the stable, cow- 
shed, pig-sty, and poultry run are all ex- 
cellent, and go further if placed im a. pit, 
where they may dissolve and combine such 
properties as ordinary garden crops “can 
promptly take up. Crude dry manures 
may he for weeks in a winter soil and do 
no more than prove a positive hindrance to 
root formation or extension, where the 
same material, if properly treated and given 
in liquid form, would lead: to free, strong 
growth. A little lime, as well as bonemeal 
or superphosphate, should be added to the 
liquid manure pit or barrel occasionally, in 
order to make the dressing a complete one. 
Wood ashes, too, break down) more readily, 
and are, therefore, of much, earlier value if 
placed in a strong liquid manure. For: 
economy, the pit or pits should be small 
and the contents fairly turgid, as here the 
waste by evaporation is less, and, further, 
the labor of distribution is less, as fresh 
water about the garden may be used for 
diluting whenever crops are dealt with. 
—Agricultural Journal of Victoria, 
foseesssssssesensseiesndsnestieniamintstnsnenseneeees onan] 
THE GARDENER AND LANDSCAPE 
GARDENER. 
Think over the lawn problems, Good 
taste is no longer in sympathy with dotting 
the surface of a well kept lawn with! indi- 
vidual trees out of proportion, to its real 
needs, with the result of breaking up its 
continuity, lessening its apparent size and 
rendering it more expensive to maintain, A 
few dignified specimens may be desirable, 
but groups, or masses, arranged with a 
double purpose of adding depth, or to serve 
as a framework to important vistas over the 
lawn, or the equally important service of 
acting as screens to objectionable views or 
divisions to various portions of the estate. 
constitute the best treatment. Shrubs, too, 
should not unnecessarily break: up the lawn, 
but should be grouped, or massed, on the 
boundaries, or against the base of trees, 
masses often serving the double purpose of 
screen and ornament ; again planting at the 
April 1, 1905 
base of buildings may add much to their ~ 
attractiveness—the grouping of the 
shrubs should be studied out with a view 
to making harmonious combinations of 
foliage and with an avoidance of spottiness. 
An arboretum of shrubs should 1ot be at- 
tempted in a private place, but rather 
strive to make mass effects with due regard 
tc the proper use of occasional selected in- 
dividuals whose character should be empha- 
sized. Do not overlook the advantage of 
using some of the vigorous perennials in 
such shrub borders; for instance, the sil- 
phiums, eulalias, helianthuses, and others, 
may be used more effectively in this way 
than in a strictly perennial border; and 
the blooming season, of the shrub border 
can be materially lengthened thereby. 
Give the area of the lawn careful study, 
and limit the closely trimmed portion to 
the immediate vicinity of the buildings, cr 
paths, or the strictly formal gardens; make 
easy transitions from this more expansive 
greensward to less frequently trimmed, less 
used lawns, and finally to a field condition 
on those portions of the estate where such 
would be in better keeping with the needs 
and uses. In such cases, improve the op- 
portunity for the naturalization, of hardy 
bulbs and wild flowers thati would lend ad- 
ded interest at the spring season when such 
things are most appreciated. How many 
of you apply your old bulbs to this purpose, 
or, better still, buy an inexpensive class of 
bulbs for this purpose alone? You can well 
put much study into all these lawn prob- 
lems and the questions of shutting out ob- 
jectionable views, retaining distant. vistas, 
viewing the same lawn from distant ‘and 
varied points, making properly iramed 
glimpses between tree trunks under their 
canopy of foliage or through their branches, 
and many other such details, comprise the 
very essence of the fiighest types of lands- 
cape gardening. 
A: vast improvement thas been accomi- 
plished by abandoning the meaningless 
fancy beds cut into the lawn, destroying 
its continuity ; their use is properly rele- 
gated to one spot, perhaps adjacent to the 
house, or, better, in a formal garden <ci 
aside for that purpose. How mucli better 
to carry the eye over an unbroken turf tc 
the lawn margins made interesting by 
shrub, herbaceous or tree borders, than’ the 
incongruity of placing meaningless geomc- 
trical beds in the foreground to such an in- 
teresting picture. 
The formal garden frequently is a most 
important feature of a place; but: its size, 
situation, and effect is a serious problem. 
It is difficult to maintain, a constant flower 
effect therein. It is the most expensive 
form of gardening. It should usually be 
adjacent to the residence and form ceaily | 
an outdoor apartment of the home. Its 
interest is as much centred in its formal 
design as in the details of its make-up, 
and unless it is particularly good the dis- 
appointments may be serious. Be careful, 
therefore, in recommending such a feature, 
unless you are convinced it may be har- 
