The Garden. Sowing Seeds.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 216, 20 August 1887, Page 1

The Garden. Sowing Seeds.

Therk is nothing gained by hurrying seed infco the ground when it, !^ soaked, by wet, or in cold, uneonsjomal Sowings made in fine weather, and when the soil is in a good state, will make vapid progress. No kind of seed that is sown in beds and transplanted to permanent quarters should, on any consideration, be allowed to get drawn or starved in the seed beds, f-t round should always bo prepared for the* in in advance, and this should be done a^i they become ready for transplanting. Pea^ are almost universally a favourite crop, and some extra attention is noec-^nry to have thorn in season as long as possible. The earliest sowing*? bbonld be considerably thicker than the late sowings. Small rows sown about once a fortnight ought to keep ifp a pretty fair regular supply. Only seed which can be relied upon should be sown, as nothing is dearer in the end or more vexatious than bad s-ecd. Borders with a northerly aspect are the best for Bowing tlv,* early -crops on. Those parts ot the garden with a southerly aspect, should be reserved for the late crops, as during the summer crops will grow better where they receh c less of the direct rays of the sun.

Pruning Roses (Continued*. Anidtours and tyros in rose culture ore apt to Hunk that 'with the fall of the leaf their labours and duties to their n>es alike come to an end. There could hardly be a greater mistake. It is just th;n that tho cultivator can do the most and best for lm roses. During- the summer, as a rule, he can only work upon or manipulate their tops. The autumn and winter throw tho roots open to his free and safe interference. May is the best on the whole for root- | pruning. Wound? made then heal almost on the h"e!3 of the'knife. Root*; are formed it that >eison with extraordinary rapidity. Sufficient, lime ul>o entervoncs between thtj root-pruning and the growing season to enable the roots to minister to the want? of the branches after slartihg in the spring. Thk (Ikneuu, Pkunin<; of Rusks. — This, notwithstanding that tho way has been consideiably cleared to a comprehension o? its principles and practice by the preliminary sections, is .still one of the most difficult and delicate operations in vose culture. The great family of j the ro^e includes within itself plants of the most "\aried structure, character, form, and modes of growth. Some are deciduous others evergreen : some tender, others hauly : some have a spicndinjr. others a vertical habit ; some make one growth a year, otheis two or many ; tome teach to siv: , inches others are twenty feet in height ; and hence arise* the necessity for different times and modes of pruning. To cut ail to one pattern at one time "would ruin nine-tenth' of our ro^es. Long Pri*nim:. — It must be borne in mind that this term is a technical one, and does not, as might be supposed, mean that the portion pruned off is long, but the re verse. A branch long-pruned is left almost intact, with little moie than its points lemoved, and it is in this that the modern pruning of rose.*' completely reverses the older and more primitive ways. The moie a shoot grew, the more should be cut off it, was their short rule of theory and code of practice. But the plant-; would not submit to it, though forced upon them at the point of the knife and sharp teeth of tho pruning-sav,'. The harder they weie cut back the faster and stronger they grew. Aftei a vain struggle for centuries against the laws of nature, the combat has been given up, and long pruning is generally accepted as the most efficient check to over-giowth, and the .surest recipe for abundance of bloom tm q stronggrowing roses. The faster and stronger and further a rose grows, the less it should be pruned, and rice rcr^a. Hence the converse oi long pruning is Shout ok Clo«*k Pkunisu. —In this case the part removed is long, and the spur left on the tree is short. This is the best way of pruning weakly-growing roses. Notwithstanding what is advanced in this chapter, and in previous sections, on the importance of breaking up and diffusing vital force into many rather than one channel, yet ib is equally needful at times to concentrate force, for concentration of vital energy is power. And it is found that the easiest way to strengthen weakly-growing rose 3 is to shorfc-pruno them to a single or very few buds. The force that would otherwise have been diffused through six or a do/en buds and shoots is thus concentrated infco one, two, or three, as the case might be. Bub, of cour.se, there are endless gradations between those two extremes, and only practice among the roses themselves will teach the whole art of pruning. And not only the quantity of bloom, but its quality, is largely dependent on the mode of pruning adopted, and the extent to v which ifc is carried.' Prune too little, you have many blooms of inferior character ; prune too much, you may have a few fine ones or none at all. Those, however, who prune for the highest quality of flowers only or chiefly, must prune harder, that is cut closer, than those who prune- for size or form of plant as well a3 quality. Pruning as a Means of Renovation.— There is no doubt that the removal of weakly or superfluous wood has a stimulating effect on roses. This is most marked often in the ca«e of tall standard or climbing roses. These, from their wide area, and their enormous amount of foliage and bloom, naturally become exhausted i-ooner than others. Branches may not only be shortened, but entire limbs or parts of the roso may be removed bodily. Hometimes the entire head may be cut off. The best season for these radical primings is the spring. Such very extreme measures are seldom needful unless in the ca.-c of previous neglect. They are mosMy, however, when adopted, quite effecthe in reinvigorating rose trees. — I). T. Fish.

" Profound peace " in Europe ; and yet the following is the number of men now under arms, or available for fighting in case of war : Russia, 4,000,000 men ; Germany, 2,500,000 ; France, 2, 430, 000, with probably 1,000,000 more if needed: Austria, 1,077,000; Italy, 2,400,000 ; and Turkey, 800,000. A total of about thirteen million men.