12 
THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
December 1. 1907 
keep the beds clean until the roots fil 
the soil when it should be discontinued 
as it is likely to check the growth of the 
plants by breaking the growth. 
From planting time, every detail of 
waterfng and ventilating should be carc- 
fully performed, as any check new would 
seriously injure the prospect of a paying 
-crop of flowers. As soon as planted, and 
every bright morning hereafter until es- 
tablished the plants and also the walks 
should be thoroughly syringed, and the 
beds should be watered whenever they 
show signs of drying out, but while they 
should not suffer from lack of water even 
greater pains should be observed that 
they are not saturated. This will also aid 
in keeping down the red spider, which 
only flourishes in a dty atmosphere. No 
plent requires more care than the rose 
about ventilation. Draughts of cold air 
upon the foliage should always be avoided, 
and it is genérally a good thing in a rose 
house to have the ventilators arranged 
with this idea. If there is but a single 
row, they should be on the side from 
which the prevailing winds come if hinged 
at the bottom, and on the opposite side if 
hinged at the top. 
While either extreme of temperature 
should be guarded against, it is quite as 
desirable to give the plants fresh air at 
least for a short time each day. In hot 
weather give all of the air possible, and 
leave on some even at night at the ridge. 
Exposing the plants to great extremes of 
temperature is especially like y to bring 
on an attack of the mildew, and if it 
should appear (as it often does) without 
apparent cause the hous. should be kept 
somewhat closer than usual for a few 
days, and after syringing them the plants 
should be dusted over with sulphur. As 
the weafher becomes cool, it is well to 
furnish a little artificial heat to keep the 
temperative of the house above 55 deg, 
One or two steam pipes or a low fire in 
the hot water boiler will secure this and 
often prevent a serious check of the 
plants. With this care, firm short-jointed 
wood should be secured which will give 
an abundance of bloom. While 58 deg. 
is given as desirable for a rose house in 
order to secure the best results, with the 
various sorts some little deviation is ad- 
visable. The Meteor among other kinds 
needs a few degrees higher than that, 
while some of the older varieties should 
have a temperature a little lower than 58 
degrees, if the plants have been properly 
grown. 
It will generally be found best to do 
the watering early in the morning, and 
on the warm bright days when syringing 
is necessary it should be done early enough 
so that the plauts will dry off before night, 
In ventilating care should be taken to 
avoid extremes, and it is best to givea 
little air as soon as the suv begins to 
warm the houses. and the amount should 
be gradually: increased so that during the 
warmest aud brightest part of the day it 
will be 10 to 15 deg. higher than at night. 
When the temperature is allowed to run 
up 10 or 15 deg, before the air is let on, 
and then the ventilators are opened wide, 
it will be most sure to bring on mildew. 
Plants grown with a judiciously regulated 
supply of air will be ina much healthier 
condition than those grown where ex- 
tremes prevail. 
The Oxchard. 
Oranges—Mulching 
This is an operation that is not given 
the attention that it deserves, for thongh 
no doubt the mulch forms a harbor for 
various noxious insects, there is probably 
no better treatment for keeping she trees 
healthy and vigorous. Mulching tends to 
keep down weeds, to keep the roots cool, 
and to retain moisture in the soil for the 
tree’s use, as the absorbent properties of 
the soil for water are increased by the 
addition of organic matter. On poor 
white sandy,soils mulching is of especial 
value, as the heat is radiated from such 
soils to such an extent as to often scald 
the trunk and main branches of the tree ; 
mulchiug prevents this radiation. Very 
heavy soils are also greatly benefited by 
mulching, because in dry weather they 
are very apt to cake and become exceed- 
ingly hard: this is prevented by mulch- 
ing. 
Mulching is good for citrus trees of all 
kinds, in fact there is no betier treatment 
for this class of fruit trees. The opera- 
tion may be done by means of bush 
rakings, consisting of more or less decom- 
posed leaves and branches, fine top soil, 
compost of any kind, stable manure, 
rotten straw, rotten weeds or corn-stalks. 
If there is a difficulty in obtaining smt- 
able material for mulching, then it will 
pay to grow a crop of peas, cow-peas, or 
other strong-growing leguminous plants, 
which should be cut when coming into 
pod, and placed round tae trees. Legu- 
minous plants, besides acting as a mulch, 
are a valuable manure on account of the 
amount of nitrogen they contain. 
Thinning Apples. 
No tree should be allowed to bear more 
fruit than it can miture; hence the 
necessity for thinning over-laden trees if 
you want to get good fruit 
Where the trees are heavily overladen, 
tie ivnit should be judiciously thinned, 
so that the fruit that remains may have 
a chance to attain a fair size and develop 
properly, as it will then be more saleable 
than the undersized fruit from an over- 
laden tree, and the tree itself will not be 
injured by the weight of the fruit break- 
ing limbs, or, as sometimes happens, by 
splitting the main trunk, thereby seriously 
injuring, if not actually destroying, the 
tree 
In the case of many of the earlier: 
varieties, especially cooking ones, the. 
fruit may be allowed to develop to a suffi- 
cient size to be saleable, and then thinned, 
the balance of the fruit being allowed to 
come to maturity. In all other cases 
where the trees are heavily laden and 
unable to properly develop all_their fruit, 
they should be thinned as soon as the 
crop has properly set, and there is no 
further chance of any fall ‘taking place. 
The amount to be thinned will depend 
on the kind of fruit, the nature of the 
soil, age of the tree, and the brittleness 
or toughness of the wood, as different 
varieties of apples vary very much in this. 
With large cooking varieties the thinning 
should be severe so as to produce a large- 
sized fruit, yet not so severe as to produce 
oversized fruit. which are usually of little 
value, being soft and coarse, With dessert 
apples, where a medium-sized fruit —that 
is to say, a fruit not exceeding 3 inches 
in diameter—is required. it is not neces- 
sary to thin so severely, but as many fruit 
should be left on the tree as the tree is 
capable of growing to perfection, without 
breaking down or otherwise injuring it. 
There is another danger from over-crop. 
ping, and that is the danger of opening 
the head of the tree too much by the 
wei.ht of the fruit spreading and bearing 
down the branches, thereby exposing the 
inner parts of the tree to the direct action 
of the sun, which, strlking right on the 
uuprotected bak, is often the canse of 
sunburn which is usually the immediate 
cause of several diseases, notably scald, 
or, as it is generally called. fire-blight. 
ALTHOUGH it is not by any ineans likely 
that the day of the cactus type of dahlia 
is nearly passed, actual experience tells 
that these are in no way so predomin- 
antly prominent as they have been ; other 
types are regaining lost ground with sur- 
prising rapidity. This is not more the 
case with decorative dahlias than with the 
show type, although in time the decora- 
tive type may outrank the latter, especially 
in the opinion of growers of flowers ior 
_ commercial purposes. Taking these facts, 
as facts they certainly are, into cousidera- 
tion, growers should not ruthlessly de- 
stroy any good varieties of the one-time 
little thought of types o° dahlias. 
THE AUSTRALIAN 
BEE BULLETIN 
A Monthly Journal devoied to 
Bee-keeping. 
Edited and Published by E. ‘Tippur, West 
Maitland; Apiary, Willow Tree, N.S.W. 
Circulated in all the Australian Colonies, 
New Zealand, and Cape of Good Hope. 
Per Annum 5s., booked 6s. 6d., in Aus- 
tralasia, outsiie N.S.W., add 6d, postage. 
