Garden Extracts.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 206, 11 June 1887, Page 4

Garden Extracts.

"Stir the So/7."— A. J. Downing, who was one of the bc^t horticulturists America lias ever known, said : " If I were to preach a sermon on horticulture I should tahe for my text, ' Stir, the soil.' Frequent and deep stirrings will enable one to gvo%v fine vegetables on comparatively poos and slightly manured soil, while without* it one fails to gain the proper advantage even from the richest and finest soil." Stunted Growth and the Scalz Pest— Cessation of growth is the sure beginning of a crop of scale-insects, not to mention a smothering- coat of moss and lichens ; while the owner often wonders why his trees do not thrive as they did in their oM time. The numerous suckers sprouting from the roots are gentle reminders in many cases that borers have obtained a foothold, and if not speedily dislodged will rum the trees. To Pieserue Cuttings fiom Ftost. — To do this where there is no greenhouse, dig a pifc about 4 feet deep, strew the bottom well with ashes, and sink the pots in the same. Over it place a comraoa gai'den-frame, bank up the outside with straw and a coating oi earth. In such a pit, \erbenas, calceolarias, fuchsias, &c», may be preserved during the severest? winters, provided the pots be kept in the dark by being well covered with matting dm ing frobt. A New Foe of the Pear. — Last June Mr Inchbald, F.L. S. , received from a Sussex grower a sample of pears that had been injuriously aft'toted by the maggots of the small fly Cecidornyia nigra. These are yellowish white and legless; they lurk at the coie of the young pear, from which they throw oft* tunnels leading to the surface. Marie Louise was the variety chiefly attacked. When the fruit falls immature they enter the soil, to appear as flies in the spring, at what date is unknown as yet. How to Make a Hotbed. —To make a hotbed, let a quantity of stable-dung be got together, proportioned to the size of the frame. Two double loads for a three-light frame are usually allowed for the body of the beds, but it is as well to add an additional load if the bad is required to last some time. The dung should be turned over four or five times during a fortnight, and wetted, if dry. An equal quantity of leaves mixed with stable-dung may be used with advantage. The leaves give a sweeter and more moderate as well as more lasting, heat. When the material is ready, measure the frame, length and breadth, and mark out the bed, allowing a foot or 18in. more each way than the length and breadth of, the frame. At each corner of the bed drive a stake firmly into the ground, and perfectly upright, to serve as a guide to build the bed by ; then proceed to build up the bed, shaking up the dung well, and beating it down with the fork. The whole should be equally firm and compact, so that it is not likely to settle more in one part than in another. The frame and lights may&now be placed in the centre, but the lights left open, so that the rank steam which always rises from a newlymade hot bed may escape.