| TApnrr, 1900.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 335 
! 
Horticultural Notes for April. 
By PHILIP MAC MAHON, 
Curator, Botanic Gardens. 
| Tit mean shade temperature of April at Brisbane is 70 degrees, a drop of 3 
| .“8rees from March. The mean rainfall for thirty-eight years has been 4-44 
| thes, with an average of 14 wet days. Thus it will be seen that the weather 
-} ecoming cooler and drier. The days are more pleasant to persons of 
| penne birth, and outdoor labour becomes exhilarating, and there is plenty of 
ab, 9bedone. Your garden wants thoroughly overhauling now, and you must 
| ork early and late. Digging and trenching, walk-making, ground formation, 
] dal similar work may be taken in hand. If the weeds have gone ahead, as 
| &y are apt to do during March, especially if that month, as in this year, is warm 
fn muggy, they must be tackled now, and the final deathblow given to them 
| Sr this season. You may still sow all the annuals recommended to you last 
| nth. If you have already sown the bulk of your stock you may still make 
( Te sowing, and you will find the seedlings come in very handy later on. 
ab; se which are already up will keep you busy to get them pricked out into 
ian er beds, or into their permanent positions, before they have smothered each 
| of &r. The growth will not now be so luxuriant and rampant, and, whether 
| shrubs or creepers, may be shortened back. Plants from which much flower 
a. ®xpected are always the better of being afforded an opportunity of thoroughly 
; Ee uing the wood formed during the period of rapid growth; and this is 
Anes by cutting out any weak straggling growth at this time of year, and 
| ging the sunshine to ripen and the air to fully circulate around the wood; 
af is left. The final pruning may be delayed a little, and the plants will be- 
j lt le better for this gradual thinning out. 
Manure may be applied to land as it is being prepared for the winter 
| at ebents. Your compost heap, which has had such a large share of your 
a ntion all the summer, and to which you have added all the prunings and 
| hia of your garden, watering and turning it, will now repay you for all the 
} ,, our you have bestowed upon it. You have a large heap of unctuous-looking 
| , ture ready to be dug lightly into the soil. There is not much use in burying’ 
“soil Sreat depth readily decomposable manure for temporary occupants of the 
| aay A little thought will teach you how to place the plant-food so that the 
| y (ate mouths of the plants can get it most readily when they want it most. 
| Bits: can plant out shrubs of all sorts, taking care that the sites are well 
1) tte Stagnant Jake. Around Brisbane a layer of good soil usually overlies a 
bs, Fi of clayey earth formed of decomposed rock; and when a hole is made in this. 
th filled in with good soil, all seems right for the reception of the tree, but 
fhe Poor thing has no chance whatever in the bog which this becomes when the 
| a4 Moisture is applied. All beds and borders should be rough dug first, 
Why then the manure applied. This can then be dugin. It will pay to apply 
' choomeal to land, only lightly turning it in, on which you propose to raise: 
rece flowers or vegetables. Wood ashes, too, are amongst the very best 
me ‘Sings you can give to land. Have you not noticed how luxuriantly 
Station springs up where there has been a bonfire ? 
Roses.—Prune out in the way suggested above for other plants. Most 
ffeple will tell you to wait for some months before you plant out roses. Well, 
Nd that if your plants are well grown and hard you can plant them now with 
‘ned and not mere pot-holes, in which the first shower of rain will form a. 
