The Garden.

Te Aroha News, Volume IV, Issue 130, 26 February 1887, Page 1

The Garden.

Kitchen Garden Now is the best season of the year for draining, trenching, and manuring any new or old cropping ground. The soil being in a dry state, it breaks into large pieces, which will soon be reduced to a fine state for cropping immediately we receive the first heavy rains. All Tacant pieces of ground should aleo be dug over, learing it quite ( rough, so that the sun and atmosphere have as much surface to act on as possible. Before either the digging or trenching takes place, all the manure to be applied to the ground should be wheeled all over it in small «onvenient heaps, so that it may be put under the surfaco with as little trouble as possible. Where the garden requires draining it should be done at onte, or before any late autumn cropping takes place. The tiles ought to be put 2\ to 3 feet deep. Lift, dry, and store onions aa they ripen. They keep beat if tied in bunches and hung up to the rafters of a dry airy shed. Sow a few rows of French beans. Continue earthing up the growing crops, and stake the ruaning varieties. Pick fruit as soon as reudy. Plant out the main crop of broccoli and knle, alto cabbage and cauliflower. Use puddle and water as recommended a few weeks ago Make another sowing of each of the two Utter for late autumn planting. Celery : Give plenty of water and liquid manure Tie and earth up as they require it. The late crop should be planted out now Tomatoes : Since the late welcome rain these should be makiDg a good deal of growth. Tie up the fruiting phoutri, pinching off all superfluous growth. Thin such old leaves as may bo debarring the free access of the sun's rays to fruit ripening Give plenty of liquid manure to each plant. Cucumberp, marro^a, pumpkins, etc : Thin superfluous ehoots ; give plenty of water. Musk melons : Keep pretty dry ; thin out shoots. The fruit should be lifted out of the ground. Take a (5 inch pot, place a alate on top of it, then the fruit on the slate, so that it may get all the force of the sun's rays. All pieces of ground bad with weeds should be forked ovor frequently co ai tn get rid of them during the hot weather. The dirtiest piece of ground can be thoroughly ridded in one season if proper attention be given to hoeir.g and forking ac soon up ever the foliage of the weeds makes its appearance. The roota of weeds cannot live long if the foliaae is continually cut off

Flower Garden. All improvements or alteration? in the flower garden should be made during the dry weather where possible It made now, the ground would get well sweetened and be in splendid order for planting early in the autumn, which is a great consideration. Where grass has to be sown, it is better, if possible, to get the ground ready for it in time for sowing early, so an to get it well established before the winter seta in. The different border plants ahould now be i gone over and all debin cleared away. Cut back pelargoniums and such others as may require it, .-o that they may make as earl> agrov/th as possible. Chryfantbemums : Stake and tie up ; give plenty of water ; a lirfc.'o liquid manure will help them greatly. Dahlia will also require considerable attention. Pinch back shoots and tie up as they glow to their ntake* ; water freely with liquid manure. Carnations, pinke, and picjtees should now be layered. Place übout two shovelfuls of sand around each pant, and layer ou the pand. Givo a good supply of water to each plant when layered. Gladiolus bulb? v, hich were planted early should be lifted as they ripen off. All good varieties should be diied and put past for planting early next spring. Thope of inferior quality should be placed in the eun for about a week, and replanted so as to give early flowers. Late-planted bullis should not be Jiffeed for some time yet. Cockscombs, balsams, and other strong-feeding plants will require a good deal of water during tho rest of the season, also occasionally liquid manure. When giving watei try and keep it oil" the flowers, as this will cauee them to decay rapidly. See that all dtbria is cleared off the borders as soon as ft accumulates. Try and make[things look as tidy as possible, Lawn : Where water can be procured apply it heavily and roll frequently. Wherever the lawns want top-dresßinir, the material" should now bo procured, so aa to get it in good order for use. Nothing: but good rich noil should be obtained, 'A' he liehor the better. Poor, hungry soil i? of very little use

Greenhouse. Give plenty of air and water. Seeds of cinerarias, calceolarias, and primula should now be sown in shallow pan?, using a light rich compost. All hardy plants done lloworing place out of docr^, choosing a cool shady placu. Use Irq'ud manure freely to growing plants, especially to thope growing in small pot 3.

Castor Oil Plant. From its hardy nature the cahlor oil plant is easily acclimatised in any country whore tho mean anriual temperature is over f)6deg., eepecially in insular climates, where it is not liable to bo killed with frost in wintor, and consequently becomes perennial (it is grown as an annual in England). But it must be remembered that thid plant is naturally a tropical one, and in temperate climates cannot be expected to attain the same Bize or to produce as many seeds aa ib would where the heat w groat and constant. Consequently in cool climates it ia nearly a fcerba caoua plant with a eoft stein, bearing seeds which yield a mild oil ? but in warm countries tho atem is ligneous and strong. The plant grows to a height of over eighteen feet, and the oil ia powerful and drastic. A candy loam is the best soil for this plant ; clay does not suit it. There aro eovoral varieties of the castor oil plant, of which the liicimis sjwctabilis ia eaid to bG the most valuable. These varieties may bo divided into the large-eeeded and smalleoorfed, the latter yielding most oil of a superior quality. The oil from the largeseeded varieties is unfit for use in medicine,

and is generally used for purposes of illumi nation, etc. The cultivation is simple. In Illinois (America) the Boil iB prepared as if for maize, laid off seven feet apart each way. The seedß are soaked for from twelve to twenty four hoars in warm water, and two seeds are put into each hole a id nown like maize April is the planting month (corresponding to our October) When the plants are three inches high the land is ploughed, the plough gome first elope to the plants so as to put sorre fresh eaith round tt era, after which the middle of the row is cleaned by either the plough or cun tivator. When the plants are eight to telinches high, thin them so as to leave oen plant to each hill. When from a foot to eighteen inchee high, the plants cun take care of themselves if the weeds are kept from the middle space betvneen the rows The seed ripens in August (February in N Z.) (Sixteen to twenty bushels is a fair crop, though in California and Texap thirty to fifty bushels is ufu»l, the bushel weigh* ing forty six pound*. Where the climate is warm, the plants must be farther apart, as they grow larger. The eeeua are gathered when they turn from a redd is colour to a green brown. A cart goes be tween the rows with the pickers in it, who select the ripe seed. This is done evory other day. The see^s are thinly spread on a barbecu, or level piece of beaten ground, and frequently turned. When well dried they are fanned. The °eedB are shelled and pressed in hemp baga by hydraulic presses, the pressure being gradually applied. The shelling, crushing and pressing muBt be performed as quickly as possible, for exposure to the air diacoloura the oil at this stage. When the oil is expressed it is heated with water in tinned vessels until the water boils and the albumen and gum separate as a scum, which is removed. The oil is filtered through Canton flannel and put in canisters. One buehel of beans yields five to fcix quarts of oil, Mr Haldane eoh gives a number of other methods of extraltit.g the oil From all the data which I can guher ot the captor oil plant, the hotter the climate the greater the yield of seed and oil t cannot procure any data whereit is in cultivation for producing oil in climates where they have such low aummer temper*? turea as we possess and would like to hear of a good practical test aa to the weight of seed per acre, quantity of oil extracted, and value of such oil in the market, also cost of cultivation