4 THE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
The Vegetable Garden. 
VOLUNTEER TOMATO. 
It is of large size, very smooth, and without any hard core or centre ; the color i8 
a dark rich shade of scarlet crimson. 
Very early and an abundant bearer. 
A Kitchen Garden Courtship. 
A potato went out on a mash 
And sought an onion bed ; 
‘That’s pie for me,’ observed the squash, 
And all the beets turned red. 
‘ Go ’way,’ the onion weeping cried, 
© Your love I cannot be; 
The pumpkin be your lawful bride— 
You cantalooupe with me.’ 
But onward still the tuber came, 
And lay down at her feet ; 
You cauliflower by any name, 
And it will smell as wheat ; 
And I, too, am an Barly Rose, 
And you I’ve come to see; 
So don't turnip your lovely nose, 
But spinachant with me. 
‘I do not carrot all to wed, 
So go, sir, if you please,’ 
The modest onion meekly said, 
‘And lettuce, pray, have peas.’ 
Go, think that you have never seen 
Myself, or smelled my sigh ; 
Too long a maiden I have been 
For favors in your eye.’ 
‘ Ah, spare a cuss,’ the tuber prayed, 
My cherryshed bride you’il be, 
You are the only weeping maid 
' That’s currant now with me.’ 
And as the wily tuber spoke 
He caught her by surprise, 
And, giving her an artichoke. 
Devoured her with his eyes. 
Operations for the Month. 
It is acknowledged that French market 
gardeners are exceedingly skilful in grow- 
ing vegetables, and raise enormous quan- 
tities of vegetables of high quality off 
quite small areas of land, depending 
chiefly on stable dung for their” good 
results. In a recent number of the 
“Journal d’Agriculture Pratique,’? an 
article, referring to the use of chemical 
fertilisers in vegetable cultivation, ap- 
peared. This is interesting and useful, 
and worth reproduction. It says :— 
We know what care and attention the 
market gardeners in France bestow on 
their cultivations. They neglect no pre- 
cautions nor the smallest detail which 
may enable them to produce the splendid 
specimens which are admired everywhere, 
yet very often we are asked how a still 
better result may be obtained in the 
vegetable garden. It is a point on which 
many desire to still further perfect their 
methods. . 
Besides the organic manures and soils 
which they ordinarily use, we should 
January 1, 1908 
re 
advise the more frequent employment of 
chemical fertilisers, as, for instance, phos- 
phates and potassic manures, for these 
have shown their value in cultivations on 
a large scale, and have rendered incontes- 
table services in increasing the fertility 
of the soil,-and at-once-improvipg the 
yield and quality of the crops. They will 
be found just as useful in vegetable culti- 
vation, where at present little are used, 
alth-ugh some gardeners have already 
begun to experiment with them among 
their vegetables. 
As they have been found to be a great 
success, it is desirable that the practice 
should become more general. By adding 
superphosphates or kainit or sulphate of 
potash to the usual manure, vegetation 
becomes more rapid, the work is more 
advanced, and the legumes are of superior 
ap,earance, besides being larger and of 
betier quality. It is a recognised fact 
that the phosphate manures forward the 
development of fruit and advance its 
maturity. 
Potassic manures act in the same way, 
and their action is particularly noticeable 
in a time of drought, like that we have 
just experienced. 
Owing to their hygroscopic properties, 
they maintain more humidity in arable 
lands, and their fertilising value, together 
with their influence in the assimilation of 
other components of the soil, increase the 
vigor of the plants 
In many places it has been noticed, for 
instance, that potatoes which received 
potassic manures remained green, whilst 
the others had yellowed wherever potash 
had not been applied. 
In Normandy, M. Levavasseur, having 
tried the potassic manures on haricots, 
stated that the manure, spread very early, 
acted immediately on the vegetation; the 
portions manured— above all with potash 
—having resisted in a remarkable manner 
the drought, which destroyed all the 
fields of haricots: in the same district. 
The use of phosphate and potassic acid 
thus presents numerous advantages in 
vegetable cultivation, Besides the fact 
that it will be able by this practice to 
overcome the pernicioas effects of drought, 
it will also allow of the crop being gathered 
fifteen days or a month earlier, whilst 
containing legumes longer and heavier, 
Their sale will therefore be more certain 
and more remunerative, and the soil will 
sooner be at liberty for another crop. 
Respecting the quantities to be em- 
ployed and the kind to be preferred, bone 
superphosphates seem to give the best 
results in doses of 8 to 12 cwt. per hectare 
(2% acres). As for potassic manures, sul- 
phate of potash may he used in doses of 
about 4 cwt. per hectare. These may be 
“applied either immediately after the ordi: 
nary manure has been dug in, or a little 
on, with a superficial working of the soil. 
The prospects of good weather condi- 
tions has improved so much that there is 
likely to be good supplies of vegetables 
ayailable for use during the coming 
month. 
