HH 
50 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. {1 Jay., 1902. 
All liquid manure must be given in a weak state. The gardener must 
consider for what purpose he is using it, whether for foliage or flowers. 
If used to excess, the former will be at the expense of the latter. Plants like 
pelargoniums, zonales, cinerarias, petunias, calceolarias, and some other soft- 
wooded plants, for these once a week will be ample, until such time as they 
show their bloom buds, when twice a week, easing off as the flowers expand, 
and ceasing altogether when the plants are going to rest. Never apply to newly- 
potted or dormant plants, especially in winter time. Many greenhouse plants, 
palms, aspidistras, &c., that have become potbound, will be greatly aided by 
a judicious application of manure in a liquid form when they are starting to 
grow. 
Perhaps the most simple, best, and most easily procured form is made by 
taking one kerosene tin full of fresh cow or horse manure (cow preferred) ; 
put in a branbag and suspend in a barrel containing thirty gallons of water. 
Keep this stirred frequently for a week, and let it settle. When clear, one 
quart of liquid to two gallons of water will be sufficient to use. 
Soot makes an excellent fertiliser. This may be prepared by putting a 
couple of gallons of soot (in a bag) to the same quantity of water as above, 
using a quart of the liquid to three gallons of water. This manure produces 
fine, dark foliage, and may be given to almost any plant requiring a stimulant 
without fear of injury. Ammonia, guano, superphosphates (besides fowl and 
pigeon manure), in fact, nearly all artificial manures, when the quantities and 
strength are known, may be dissolved in water, thereby bringing their fertilising 
properties into direct contact with the roots in the best possible manner. 
Besides the above directions, some judgment is needed. Amateurs should 
use their intelligence, and they will soon learn how to vary treatment when it 
becomes necessary to do so.—@arden and Field. 
DO PLANTS WEAR OUT? 
By JAMES PINK. 
Beyond doubt, after plants have been brought under cultivation for a 
number of years they degenerate. When we look upon the great world of 
plants, the mountain, the hillside, the valley have each a vegetation adapted to 
the several situations. Here the species appear to haye grown during the 
present dispensation, each producing its kind true from seed, generation after 
generation without showing any debility. Some appointed law seems to have 
rendered the several specific peculiarities eternal, each species reproducing its 
kind by Nature’s law of propagation by seed. Man, to supply his wants, brings 
certain species of plants under cultivation, and by cross-breeding and cultivation 
so changes their character that the species often almost loses its individuality, so 
that it can no longer be raised true from seed, and is propagated by other methods. 
Being artificial eae they become subject to the natural law of deteriora- 
tion, gradually lose their vitality, and in time suffer from all the ills incidental 
to old age often hastened by bad cultivation and general neglect— 
Thus by destiny all things decay, 
And retrograde by motion unperceived. 
The Marguerite strawberry appears to have reached this period, and by 
degeneration to have become so subject to leaf disease that Bordeaux mixture 
ceases to be a remedy for the blight. These plants are suffering from debili 
incidental to old age. Some growers are obtaining plants from the other States 
for planting during the coming season, but this will not be found to be a 
remedy for the disease, because the plants so obtained will not be new, but 
only a part of the same old stock grown elsewhere. New plants and varieties 
