THE GARDEN.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 52, 31 May 1884, Page 6

THE GARDEN.

Kitchen. Garden. We have received the first of the winter rains, whioh has cooled the air and soil to some considerable extent. Have all the rough digging finished as soon as possible. Tomatoes will be nearly finished for the season ; pick off all the green and unripened fruit ; place it in some situation where it will receive all the rays of the sun— it will ripen. Take the ends of the shoots ; make cuttings as directed last week. Clear away the haulm ; take down the trellis, and put in a dry place, so as to use it next season. Pumpkins, pie-melons, and marrows collect and store in a dry place. Clear away the debris, and have the ground dug and manured. Sow a few rows of broad beans — they will come in for early spring use ; sow in rows 2 feet 6 inches apart. Plant a few more cabbage and cauliflower ; earth up those that are advancing. All late sown crops should be gone over whenever the state of the soil will admit, so as to clear them of weeds; thin out and earth up as they require it. Prick out a few lettuces ; tie up some of the more advanced plants so that they may become blanched. Rhuburb : Have all the old plants lifted ; transfer the plants to an open shade for a month or so before planting.

Flower Garden. All the digging, forking, and manuring of the flower" beds should be completed as soon as possible. Lift dahlia roots ; put them in some sunny place to dry before storing past for the winter. First-class gladiola bulbs which have thoroughlyripened off the haulm, lift and dry in the sun for a few days and store past. These bulbs, to keep them fully up to the mark, should only be flowered once a year ; only use the commoner varieties for planting out for early spring flowers. Plant out the balance of early spring-flowering bulbs as soon as possible now. Dahlia tubers : Lift and place in the sun for a week or so, and store part. See that their proper names are attached to each root. All top-dressing of lawn? should be finished if possible this month, grass edgings should now l'eceive their winter paring. With edgings which have been reduced too much by frequent parings, preparations should be made for re-turting so as to bring them to their proper dimensions. Continue the regravelling of walks. Apply the new roller as the new gravel is put down, so as to bind it and make it pleasanter to walk on.

Orchard Planting. In selecting a piece of land for an orchard, appropriate the best of level land within convenient distance of the dwelling If possible, when staking off your ground have the lines to run direct north and south and east and west, also calculating upon planting trees at least twenty feet apart "both ways and twenty feet from the fence all round. Now prepare the ground by ploughing it into lands twenty feet wide and two feet deep, and so the furrow will be just where the row of trees will be planted afterwards ; also plough it a little beyond where the fence Is to run. After this ploughing spread a liberal quantity of rotten manure or bones over the ground, and cross-plough again as deep or deeper than before, if possible, and have the furrows to come again where the row of trees will intersect each other. Care must be taken not to plough the ground when it is too wet or too dry. If it is too wet it will bake hard when the dry weather comes, and if ploughed too dry it will turn up in clods almost impossible to break up line. Now, when the land is well pulveiised, harrowed and rolled with a heavy roller, the next step is to build a fence that will, if possible, prevent cattle, horses, hogs, hoodlums and other mischievous animals from trespassing on your orchard. The fence built, we line and stake off the ground, driving a stake every twenty feet where the centre of the hole is to be and in the very spot here the ti ee w ill stand when planted. When your stakes are all diiven in straight lines both ways, take a rope two feet long, with a loop on each end ; place one loop over the stake thatis driven in the groundand put a stick through the other loop and draw it around the stake so as to form a circle, the diameter of which will be 4 feet and form the rim of the hole which is to be dug 3 feet 6 inches deep and a little wider at the bottom than at the top, throwing the earth well back from the hole and to the northwest and south-east, so that it will not interfere with the view in looking along to plant your trees in straight lines both ways,