FARM and GARDEN OPERATIONS FOR DECEMBER.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 227, 2 December 1874, Page 2

FARM and GARDEN OPERATIONS FOR DECEMBER.

YBOM HAWKE'S BAY ALMANAC. Kitchen Gabden.—Sow peas, kidney beans, swede turnips. Plant out tomatoes. Cease cutting asparagus, that the plants may gain strength for next season ; mark such plants as you may lequireto save seed from. Prick out celery plants when about two inches high ; let the soil be very good, and keep them watered and shaded so that they receive no check. Reserve radishes for seed; be careful not to save more than one kind for that purpose, as the different varieties cross and eventually become useless. Stop cucnmber plants to induce them to throw out fruit-bearing laterals.

Fruit Gabeen. —Summer pruning should now be done; those shoots that are ill-placed or crowded, which cannot be rubbed off with the thumb, should be cut away close with a sharp knife. Bud peaches, nectarines, apricots, almonds, plums, and cherries. Strawberries will require abundant and constant watering. Vines will non require stopping; two eyes beyond a bunch.

Flower Garden.-Stake lilies, hollyhocks, foxgloves, Canterbury bells, and other tall growing flowers. Dahlias, planted in October, will require attention; to obtain good flowers, allow only one shoot from each plant; keep them tied to the stakes as they advance in growth. Roses may now be budded: when the bud has been inserted about three weeks, it will be seen whether it has taken or not; if it has, loosen the bandage and cut back the shoot, two eyes above the bud ; cut away all shoots from the stock below the bud. Pinks and carnations should now be in bloom; make layers, and pipe the choicest; should the w'eather

be dry, frequent waterings are necessary to the full development of the flowers. Take up ranunculuses, anemones, and Cape bulbs, as soon as they have ripened. Save ixia seeds. Strike side shoots of pansies.