FARMER'S AND GARDENER'S CALENDAR FOR JANUARY.

Southland Times, Issue 882, 15 January 1868, Page 3

FARMER'S AND GARDENER'S CALENDAR FOR JANUARY.

, ' • Mean temp 60° — corresponding to July in England, mean temp. 63 ° . The Eabm. — Turnips and Mangold-wurzel require constant attention, in horse and handhoeing, and potatoes will be ready for mouldingup — but it is a practice in some measure growing obsolete. Cross-ploughing the land broken up during the previous winter will occupy all spare time till harvest. New land should lie fallow nine months previous to cropping, and have at least two ploughiugs or scarifying. Low, level ground, with clay subsoil, should be ploughed in narrow ridges, leaving broad water furrows, 30, 18, or 15 feet off each other, as the nature of the ground may require ; or underdrain, and then no furrows will be required. Oaten hay will require close attention. Particular care chonld be taken that its exposure to the sunshine and wind shall not last long enough to make it more justifiably called straw than hay, deteriorating its quality and weight. It is a profitable and uesful crop. The dairy should be kept as low in temperature as possible. Take care of milch cows, that they are not over-heated ; their, health, and, consequently, their produce of milkj is more injured by sultry weather than is commonly supposed. £o obviate this, yarding them in a sheltered spot, with cut clover, tares, &c, wiU be found advantageous. Kitchen Gabden. — This month, like the preceding, is generally showery, and should bo taken advantage of for planting, aa, through the rapid evaporation of the New Zealand soil, several days rain will dry up in almost as many hours. Plants of any kind planted in showery weather take root immediately, being assisted by the moisture of the atmosphere, and very rarely meet a check, whereas if water is applied ever so plentifully, with a drying wind, the chances of a fair start are against them. Plant Walcheren and Cape broccoli; also cauliflowers and nonpareil, early York and Enfield market cabbage, for autumn and winter use, or, if preferred, the cattle cabbage called drumhead. Plant also, for winter and spring use, Savoys, green kale (or curly greens), and various sorts of broccoli, such a3 tbe mammoth, the brimstone, Chappies' cream, the imperial, or any other choice varieties from the seed beds sown in August or September. Brussel sprouts should now be planted. The ground for these crops should be well dug and manured. Draw drills two feet from each ther, and set the plants eighteen inches apart, except the nonpareil and early York cabbage, which may be eighteen inches row from row and twelve inches plant from plant, to allow them to be drawn out for open ones when young. Should the weather be dry, make a puddle of half cow dung and half mould, and as much water as will make it into a thick paste, into which dip the roots of the plants until they have a portion adhering to them (the more they take up the better), this will greatly accelerate their growth. Turnips may now be sown without the risk of running to seed ; the best garden sorts are the white stone, the mouse-tail, and the golden ball : the Swede is preferred by some, and should be sown now. Pease, a last crop may be sown; Sangster's No. 1 is as good as any, as it comes quick, and is dwarf in its nature, but this sowing is not to be depended on, as it may be cut off by early froat. ' Broad beans, by cutting down the old stems when the crop is oft, will shoot out at the bottom, and produce a greater supply than beans sown now ; but to be thus treated they should have their tops pinched out as soon as their bottom flowers are expanded, wliich process should never be neglected. Keep the hoe going amongst all growing crops ; this not only destroys weeds, but tends greatly to the health of the various plants ; earth up all crops requiring it, take up shallots and spread them out in a dry place to dry thoroughly before putting away, for if put away wet or sappy they will most likely rot ; gather all kinds of sweet and pot herbs while in bloom, tie them in bunches, not too large, and hang them in a dry shady place to dry, when they may be rubbed into powder and put into wide-mouthed bottles for winter use. Ebttit and Eiower Gabden. — In the fruit garden the operation of midsummer pruning must be attended to, by taking out aU foreright and misplaced shoots, that is, from all fantrained trees (whether against a wall or espalier); take ont all young wood that grows directly out from the front of the tree,, and all that run across each other ; the side or proper placed ones should be tied or nailed in, as the case may be. The same rule equally applies to standards, indeed the form and beauty of a fruit tree depends more upon this pruning than upon winter training. Strawberries will now be ripening their fruit, and, if the weather be dry, should be supplied with water to assist them to swell off their fruit and prevent their going blind; take off all runners as soon as they Bhoot from the plants, except they are required for new beds or forcing, in this case they must be fastened down with small pegs, either in pots or in the beds between the rows ; these plants will also produce runners, which must be kept cut off. to allow the plants to get sufficient strength for bearing next season. Budding should now be done where required, and, as many do not know how to perform this interesting operation, to such the foUowing instructions will be found correct : — The instruments required are either a proper budding knife, or any other having a thin smooth edge, and a piece of wood or bone having a thin flit end, perfectly smooth, with which to raise the bark or rind off the stock, and some worsted to bind with; then, suppose it is required to bud a peach upon a plum stock, take from the peach tree a shoot of this year's wood, and, with this and the above implements, go to the stock to be budded, take the stock in one hand and with the knife make a cut lengthways, just through the bark, about an inch or an inch and a-half long, then at the top of this mark a cross cut, but only through tbe bark, forming as it were the letter ""]"", then take the branch and cut a bud from it in the following manner * — Set in tho i knife (which should be sharp and smooth as a

, _ . razor) about a quarter of an inch above the bud, and cutting about an inch below it, thatistowarde the cut end of the shoot, cutting as thin into the wood as possible ; or, if too much wood is taken off, it should be pared out, the bud then, with ita leaf adhering, is fit for insertion, then with the handle of your knife, or substitute for it, raise the rind off the stock where the two cuts were made and insert the bud, then close the stock of the bud over it, leaving the leaf sticking out from the cut in the stock, then with the worsted bind tbe whole,close together, but not too tight, and the operation is finished. To be successful it must be quickly done, for if the sap dries the bud iB sure hot to take ; note also that it is not necessary to take the whole of the wood out from the bud, but it should be left in as thin as possible ; put the bud on the side from the sun, and about three or four inches from the ground, unless it is for standard trees or roses, for which any height may be chosen. The flower garden will now be giving some recompense for past months of toil, by a rich display of roses, carnations, picottees, geraniums, fuschias, verbenas, and also a number of beautiful annuals. All should be neatness in this department ; stake and tie all plants requiring it, and cut down and clear away all plants that have done flowering, and cut up weeds wherever they appear. This is the proper time for the general propagation of all hardy and half-hardy flowering plants, such as verbeans, heliotropes, scarlet and other geraniums, phytunias,ageratums, galardias, lobelias, &c, by cuttings, to be sheltered through the winter for bedding out next Bpring ; and also parsies, polyanthus, sweet williams, and all hardy plants, to stand in their nursery bet! till wanted j choose for this a shady border, but not overhung with trees ; the soil should be light and sandy, but no manure should be in it, Carnations, cloves, picottees, and pinks, are propogated by layers and pipings for layering ; get some small pegs and a sharp knife, draw some earth up to the plant, then with the knife cut at a joint on the underneath part of the shoot you intend to lay a slit up to the next joint, cut about half through the shoot, but not more, then peg the layer down with the heel straight in the soil, and cover the pegged or cut part about an inch with mould. Pipings are the young topi termed grass, snd are taken off at a joint, they should not be more than three joints long ; strip the leaves from the lower joint, and cut off about half the length of the tops, and prick them .out as directed above.

■