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158 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Fes., 1) 
oy Fl 
Kitchen Garden.—Dig or plough up roughly all unoccupied ground, al! 
necessary add well-decomposed manure. Such land as is not requir@’ ‘| 
immediate use will benefit by exposure, and what has been fully prepared 
be ready for sowing at the first convenient moment. Many market gare 
will have cabbages and cauliflowers ready for transplanting. ‘This ® 
be done during the month; but a lookout will have to be- ep 
the fly, which will be troublesome probably. Some consider that it 1s VW. 
defer sowing cabbages and cauliflowers until March; and for the warm © 
lands it is not quite safe to sow until then. ae 
If the aphis appears, a sprinkling of tobacco solution will have a good ie | 
in banishing them. The slug is also now much in evidence, and is very 4 5 
tive. A sprinkling of tobacco powder, the refuse of the tobacco factories 
effectually put an end to this pest. Sow French beans, butter beans. a 
carrot, turnip, radish, cabbage, cauliflower, cress, peas, mustard. 2%) 
sowings should be kept clear of weeds. Mulch round melon and cucumber, 
with a good dressing of long stable manure, as this assists in keeping the a! 
clean and free from dampness. Should the weather be very dry after the ( 
rains in January, and the plants appear to suffer, give them a good soakite | 
water. Less than soaking is useless at this time of the year, when the Pi, 
are exposed to the heat of the sun. It is better to depend entirely on M al | 
than to give a mere sprinkling of water. Seeds of selected plants shoul 
gathered as they ripen, or they become too brittle, and the pods shed the” J 
Examine the cucumber, melon, French beans, butter beans, and tomatoe ‘ 
gather the fruit whether it is required for use or not; for if left on the wm 
plants to perfect their seed, the plants will soon cease to be productive, 7 | 
form ill-shaped, inferior, unsaleable fruit. | 
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Horticultural Notes. 
By PHILIP MAC MAHON, 
Curator, Botanic Gardens, Brisbane. 
QUEENSLAND, perhaps more than any other country, combines in itself 
climates of the tropical and temperate zones, and that not only in 8% } 
places, one more elevated than the other, but in one and the same pee 
little time ago I took a man from Covent Garden market to see the pe 
gardens at Nundah, near Brisbane. He knew something of horticultul® i) 
one of those on whom the special medal granted by the Queen for 
rendered in horticulture during her reign had been granted. He oral 
himself amazed at seeing the large plantations of pines growing so lux nih] 
and bearing such magnificent fruits amid surroundings which even t0 “49 
stranger, seemed to tell of a temperate climate. “If you could only po? ja 
gown in Covent Garden market,” said he, and the grower wistfully © | 
GRP? ; lft 
This kinship to the temperate climate of England is one of the reaso iy 
there is always a hankering after the “English” annuals and flowers: i) 
are called. As a matter of fact there is nothing English about them. ~ ji 
them had their origin in South Europe, California, Central and South 4” 
India, Japan, China, and not a few in Australasia. ‘They have been imp a) 
by selection and cross-fertilisation, so that if the ghost of a gardene! t 
years ago were to revisit the glimpses of the moon he would not recog gi} 
old favourites in their new fashions. ‘“ Now, what annuals am I to sow yy ofl 
to have my garden gay for the cool weather ?” is a question which is V&. ‘o) 
asked here, and it is a question which, like many others, is easier to ask" 
