FOR GARDENERS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 412, 22 January 1909, Page 2

FOR GARDENERS.

THE MYSTERIES OF COMPOST. 1 Tho construction of compost heaps is a, ' work worthy of attention in any' city garden.' ' le restricted area of these gardens and the great dematd exercised upon-, their produce make ; it necessary that every thing; that. I the - .gardoner docs in. thorn shall bo. done well, ne compost heap, in a sense, increases the ize or the garden, because it inoreases it 3 capacity to prodnce. -It helps tho gardener .• ; paM^s"< "f quickly,.-and? to,-get.-moref• P e J! : aiuln ® from his land than he could 7 . get by the unaided:;use -of . the plain. garden For Baby Plants. ffnrrW.*'' 16 ™ seei^s .^ 0 ho sown in boxes when abroad? tC° 1S cr ™ ded and slugs are / "W»•-- 1 "..Wost .is wanted. :It is the • ' iWiwd-, m,lk" of. the; baby,plants. Or Vare.' the seedlings too crowded and pinine. (:w» more roo j n „' )cforc their permanent q'uar- 1 ters are ready? A trenchful or compost is . ' the very, place, to get them half grown before fc re s c lll ' 0 the. place where they aro ~ to mature. . By. such means,: a gardener can. tW ln -n i0 ! lt cro P s with a rapidity • : tha.t will gratify both him and the lady inside the house; and in reality, it is almost : as good as if he doubled the size of his ■ garden. : A Believer In Compost. ■ ' . One of our gardening friends who is firmly weued to. compost is very -anxious that- we should impress upon -readers its importance. i Here are perhaps' some who. hare not' pr6vi-:'.' V ousiy. had occasion to usothafccoinmodity," v £>r who have nover kept a heap till it was " whose, ideas are really vaguo as to 1 '.' what : ripe compost really, is. The raw material, of course/is.weeds,.vegetable "wasle, soil, ashes, ; bone-dust,: slops,: soap'suds, and v " ' such other fert^hsing;lnatters^as;''the•■'h6«se'■■■■'■•■^■ : •••. and, garden may providea]l ' in' ; a well-distributed mixture. Tho Workshop of the Cerms. The speed . with which- weeds;?decay: and. . • apparently dissolve into brown, rich soil ia remarkable. Tho changes that take place are que_ to ibjqteria and- othei 4 , microscopical' ' lite, which break down the tissues of the plants, shattfer. their chemical combinations. ! - and leave .them.; in' a state of half-digested , > r°pts of fvitur© crops to. feed-, "r : ; on., \\hilo tho' weeds, etc., are going ' through, this process of fermentation' the sou with which they are mixed- preserves'the mass,: sweet and inoffensive. or- : dmary soil is a -splendid deodorant. .It also = holds on to some of the fertilising elements'', v whicm would: otherw jse .be- lost, : such as tho .- valuable ammonia. When bone-dust is oc-- : V casionally-sprinkled ?.oi> as the.'heap grows '■ up, it joins in the general fermentation: . and the .warmth which usually .prevails, in a':'' ' ■ moist decaying mass-indicates the mysterious • ' \ v ™n"°al. processes that are -going on jnsido; "■ v • what interest there would be if one. could . - 1 ' see, and .-understand /exactly .every '■ stage of what,, is happening 1 in 1 that workshop of the""■ -V industrial members : of germland. Tho new •;. compounds that -'are '.there... fashioned '- are probably more, numerous varied-'than • " the_articles mado in a toy factory; and'the- : - workers.themselves—many of whom the men : v'i who devote': hours of.. their. time -quizzing " through miscroscopes ; have nained" and bio-. graphed—would form interesting acquaintA Sample of Compost, • , 0n0 ,.e.?"] e e n . n S f riond already referred 'fa : ..boxful of his. eight-months-old'compost, for':- 1 v : jnspection.- . It was a .clean," brown.-, mellow," : lich-lookmg' sample I 'of,"crumbly soil/ with'-no'/ ■ >v "'- trace;ofJea f ' or any vegetable'matted let it. had been made ~up.- of- "weeds, tops -'- ' pt,;.carrots ) ':.pea haulmV : washin'g-up'^water^ slops, (stich as cabbage stumps), or docks,'or'jsorrer/'-'.' - or, wiuoh 1 , - Even these Mast things - pould 'probably ■ have T been 'added;.with;im- ■ .punity.'.for - the ;whole ; mass . was "quite homogeneous. .' There could have b'e6n: ncr roots ; of'■ sorrel or couch grass or docks surviving to : f give future, trouble,and,. indeed, 'l^a'small, , ' f city garden, weeds.' are never a ; nuisance, '' because they;are so easily, pull^dVout./.tßut: the sample -came'from.a large garden;where',"l K,■ risks are hot'-invited.. The compost" is even' '• Sifted ■ before; use. Tho owner says, "Com- : post .has this.advantage, that 'it; keeps':-more uioifst in dry weather, than any other manure - . that I know.",: Horo isone of.- the- prime >•' / advantages ,of compost—an ; advantage . that: results .'from the . large proportion: of. .Vege-. : .L" table matter - iiv its. "vegetable ; matter in; soil - being the' best of 'all things Co-help the plants : to resist'droughty- :v: ' _ One. of tho i interesting features of'. the •' Karori i'lower; Show/next week ' (Wednesday '■ v - .and Thursday) will be an exhibit of. compost. —which shows what practical;, people ..they 'v are at,Karori. ■.?••■/:. 'iv,,-.; V '. - r ' Pumpkins in Tronohas. . Speaking about, droughts and: compost re- • minds one of the subject of pumpkin-groTviiig in trenches. Usually it is considered orthodox to sow; pumpkin and jnarrow and melon ■ seeds, on little, mounds.v' Exactly why some ■ of our .friends do this they would ; probably v be quito .unable to explain, beyond declaring■ that , it. is. "the. right way.". It is quito ' time , that somebody stood up and declared ; - emphatically that is "tho wrong way." Doea' it give earlier or bettor crops? • Certainly not.: It courts trouble all along from drought. In a- district'iblessed with' too miicir rain, mound planting : might bo right, but - in Wellington.the:correct practice is to adopt methods which will best endure a-'dry sum-' mer. This can best bo dono by sowing - the seed in tranches. • But ono.must not ■= do this' in. such a :way -that the sun cannot' • shine- over -.them.' ' One 'gardener: who:'get« l - ' good results.makes a..deep trench about•'■ a' -- - yard wide, fills compost into the bottom, sows v ' the. seeds' here, and then as. the plants grow' ' ' up he fills the ..trench ■ up . gradually with' ' all the'; garden rubbish that comes : to hand '■ —even,- cabbage: stumps.- . ,-:Thus he secures ' several advantages. • : He has tho roots far down away from the surface droughts:, he : provides them'with. warmth early in their I growth by reason of -tho ifermentihg of the- "■'• compost rubbish, and he;, provides I ■ rootinc v; ' ground for new roots to emerge all up the ' " sto"> of the plant, until-,4he .trerich 'is com- ;• ■■ pletely filled.. This taust .m'oduco ail enor- : inous system pf,:root.s, . and;- roots- that are' ' in: a soil medium .-that'.retains a maximum : - amount of. moisture.:. Pumpkins grown' likf •! - this ought'to take the. prizes anywhere. •