1 Mar., 1902. | QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 199 
on as top-dr ssing. When used, as it should be, in conjunction with super- 
phosphate, sow the superphosphate with the seed; and when the young crop is 
up, top-dress with the nitrate. 
Potash is applied in the form of Kainit or muriate of potash, and these, 
as well as superphosphate, not being much liable to be washed out, may be 
sown with the seed at any convenient time. 
All artificial manures should be reduced to the condition of a fine powder 
before application. They may be sown broadcast with the seed or be drilled 
in to a depth of 6 inches. The operation will require to be repeated. It 
should only be done in dry weather. By not planting celery in trenches, a 
knobby stem is produced, the whole of which is fit for use. 
Parsnips require a deeper soil than carrots, and should be thinned out to 
10 inches apart. Otherwise their cultivation is the same as for carrots. 
Peas may be sown all through the winter. You can grow cabbages and 
peas simultaneously. Stppose you grow the climbing varieties, which reach 
a height of 5 or 6 feet, sow them in rows 8 feet apart; thinned out to 6 inches 
in the rows, you can grow two rows of cabbages between them by manuring 
liberally and giving liquid manure in dry weather. Stake the peas as soon as 
the tendrils appear. A good trellis for peas is wire-netting set a foot above 
the ground. Sow the dwarf sorts in drills from 2 to 3 feetasunder. Earth up: 
both cabbages and peas as they grow up. If the peas are slightly soaked before 
planting they will germinate all the sooner. 
French beans like plenty of light and air and a light rich soil. Sow in 
drills 2 feet apart, with 8 inches apart in the rows. We would not advise 
sowing after April, although we had a splendid crop from beans sown in May. 
One inch is deep enough to cover the seed. As they are liable to be blown 
over in high winds, earth them up. Give plenty of water and gather them 
regularly, as this will make them bear regularly and longer. 
Eschalots are always saleable. Throughout the year you may propagate 
them by division of the bulbs. They like a sandy soil, eh in humus. Make 
little ridges and plant the bulbs on the top of them. Thus they will develop 
large bulbs, the rootlets only having a hold of the soil. 
Seakale and Rhubarb need similar cultivation. Deep, rich soil for both. 
Get two-year-old roots and plant them 2 feet apart each way, the crowns 2 
inches below the surface. Water with liquid manure and soapsuds. The 
oung shoots of seakale must be blanched early in spring by covering them with 
arge flower-pots, the hole in the pot being corked up. Swede turnips treated 
in the same manner will send up very delicate white shoots, equal to those of 
seakale. When the shoots of either are 10 inches high they are ready for table. 
Turnips are very simply grown. Sow the seed broadcast. When the 
rough leaves have grown to an inch in breadth, thin out to 6 inches apart, water 
with liquid manure should the soil require manure, and keep the weeds down. 
MvtLcHine. 
This is what Weathers’ Garden Plants says about mulching, and you will 
do well to “read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest” what is set down here. 
During all the dry weather from November to the end of January, the writer 
of this article grew excellent lettuce, French beans, tomatoes, and other 
vegetables, as well as dahlias, carnations, dianthus, and many garden flowers, 
mainly by the help of mulch. If you cannot thoroughly soak your land in a. 
ey season, it is better to water very little and trust to the mulch. What is 
mulch ? 
“A ‘mulch’ or ‘mulching’ in gardening language means an extra covering 
of soil, rotten leaves, or manure, either separately or combined, placed over the 
roots of plants either after the latter have been newly planted, or at any period. 
during their growth when it may be considered advisable. 
