The Garden.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 350, 13 March 1889, Page 6

The Garden.

Improving Old and Making New Gardens. In nearly every garden that has been es tablished for a few years there will^ always be some new improvements required in order to make them more attractive. " Nonprofessionals are sometimes puzzled as to what is the best season of the year for making these improvements. Now I have had more or less to do with gardens in New Zealand for about 20 years, and I have j found that the cheapest and best period of the season for making extensive improvements in the formation of the soil is during the months of March, April, and May. During these months the soil is generally in a very dry state, is lighter and more easily handled than at any other other period. At the same time, breaking up and moving the soil from place to place gives it a good chance of getting it well forated while it is in this dry state, which will be much better for anything that will be planted or sown thereon afterwards. Now, if improvements are left till the web weather sets in, tho soil, in a number of instances, will get puddled about and soured, which, in tho case of stiff retentive soils, will do a large amount of injury. There is another advantage in having the alterations made early, and that is being able to sow grass, plant treos, or fill up the flower ' borders with a new stock of flowers so as to get them established before the winter sets in. In the making of entirely new places the same reasons as given above will apply if the work is undertaken at once. Where draining is to be done, now is the best time to do it. Of course in draining at this period of the year it will cost a little more per chain, but the extra cost will be more than repaid by tho extra utility of the drains. If drains are opened now and left for a week or so, the air will got into the ti'enches and cause large fissures to break in the sides of the trenches, and these fissures will never entirely close again, thus giving much easier access to all superfluous water as it falls. Terraces and other made banks will also have time to come to their level before they are sown down in grass.

Transplanting Evergreen Shrubs. In most places there will always be a few large evergreen shrubs which are too crowded, and it is judicious to move them to some other situation. They can in most oases be moved with perfect safety if a few necessary precautions are taken some time before they are to be moved. Say some of my readers have one or two such shrubs ' that they want to move this autumn. Some time during the next week or so they should dig a trench all round the plant, cutting all the roots outside the ball of earth to be moved with the plant. See that you make a fair estimate of the size of ball you can move ; rather leave the ball under than over size. Do not at present cub any of the roots going straight down into the soil ; thos9 will for the next two months supply further noiu-ishment to the plants. After all the spreading roots are cut round the plant, cover up at once with I the soil and give a thorough soaking with j water ; see that the ball is thoroughly j saturated. The check on cutting the root 3 will at once cause all sap to come down the limbs and almost at once push out numeroiis fibrous roots all round the ball. These roots should be kept pretty moist till the plants are moved. If the cutting of roots is done now the new roots will have formed sufficiently to allow the plant to be moved during the latter portion of April, which I consider tho best time for moving large evergreen plants. About the latter portion ot that month the trench should again be op°ned out, taking care not to interfere with the mass of little fibres which should have formed all round the ball. The under roots should now be cut so as co lift the plant, taking care not to allow the roots to be long exposed to the action of the air or the sun's rnys Plant at once in the new position, placing good soil in immediate contact with the young fibres. Afterwards stake and tie well so that the plant may be held firmly in its position. Water should be given copiously to thoroughly saturate the ball and surrounding loose earth. Large evergreen shrubs, and also deciduous trees, can be moved with perfect safety if the above precautions are taken. For years I have been in the habit of moving large camellia and other shrubs during the autumn as above, and I have nob lost one of them when care was taken. Again, where the transplanter will take the necessary care to shade and water the plants, they can be moved at once ; but the ball of earth must be of a larger size than if not moved till the end of April. Moreover, if moved now care must be taken not to allow the roots to get moist; till we receive the usual rains aboub the end of May. The best materials that I have found for shading early-planted shrubs or trees are large branches of ti tree, the thick ends poinied and pushed into the ground, the j iDushy part covering the foliage of the plant moved — three, four, or more branches of ti-tree to each plant. These should be fixed so that they will keep their position, This shading will allow a free current of air to get about the foliage, at the same time shading from the strongest rays of the sun. Where possible the foliage of the plant should be occasionally syringed with water in the evening ; this will greatly assist in making +he transplanting a success.

Willows for Fence Posts. The fenco post question is one of much importance to the American farmer, owing to the difficulty of procuring suitable wood for the purpose. A correspondent of an exchange advocates the use of willows for this purpose, the trees being readily obtained tor transplanting and easily grown. He says : "It is frequently recommended to plant trees along the line of the fences, that when the trees have attained sufficient size their trunks may be used as posts. Thus live posts that will not rot are had, already securely set, at the cost of setting out the trees only. But to this there is the objection that the swaying of the trees loosens the nails holding the boards or the staples fastening the wires, whether the nail 3 or staples are driven into the tree or into a piece of timber fastened to the tree. One of our Western subscribers has discovered that when the willow is planted this objection is avoided, for the top of the willow can be kept cut down so closely that the trunk will be swayed little, if any. The tree should not be used as a post until the trunk obtains a diameter of six inches a foot from the ground ; and even when it has reached this size, 'the tree may be cut off five feet from the ground, making a post of the desired height, without killing" the tree. > Such cutting off would be fatal to any other tree that could be used for this purpose ; but the willow will send out a thick bunch of shoots; which will soon become respectable branches and may be cut off in their turn. Thus we may have a thick, stocky trunk five feet' high, with so little top that the wind will not loosen the nails orstaples.' The branches cut off make' good bean-poles, or summer firewood par excellence. They cut very easily when green, dry out rapidly, and when dry make a quick, hot fire that dies down at onee — just the fire the "housewife wishes - during the summer. " Other points in favour of the willow for live fence-posts are the ease with which ib can be gob to grow and, the

rapidity of its growth, '•j\lfßlips i are stuck into the ground in the spring, when the ground 13 moist, s ,fchey^\yiU at once root and grow.. Where fence-posts are scarce^tKis use of the willow can be confidently recommended ; and likely ;it will pay.tosojjse ' the willow even where posts are cheap. The willow is slow to die and will makea firm post for many years. — American press.