THE GARDEN.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 354, 27 March 1889, Page 4

THE GARDEN.

IBr Hortus.]

[Hortus is willing to answer any questions. Correspondents must give their real names and addrosses, though not for publication.]

The following preparation applied to the surface will prevent any rusting on ploughs or any other metal surfaces: — Melt one ounce of resin in a gill of linseed oil, and when hot, mix with two quarts of kerosen 6 oil. This can op kept on hand and applied in a moment with a brush or rag to the metal surface of any tool that is not going to be used tor a few dayp, preventing any ru^fc and saving much vexation when the time comes to u«e it again. When fowls have to be confined to pens their supply of green food is nut off, and although they can do without if-, there is nothing they relit-h more and that will tend to keep them in better health. This can be supplied by planting in successions of two weeks muatard seed. The growth is quick and the fowls are fond of it, an I all the tioub'e you will have after planting !•» to pull and tluow it where the fowls can get it. Mustard greens are also considered very fine by some, and could be used on the table as we 1 as fed to the chickens.

Ashes as a Fertll ser. A correspondent writes thut he cnn {je* wood a&he- from a sawmill tor the hauling, and has fco haul three miles to his farm. Ho vishes to know it it will pay to haul ashes so far, and what is the manurial value of ashes ? To the first question we answer, Ye<=, even though you have to hire a team and put the as 1 c* on land that you rent. The [ reasons for this answer will appear in our attempt to answer the second question. We are nob fc •Id whether the a-hes arc mado from hard »vood or soft wood. We will see that the ash from hard wood is richer \n potns 1 ) and phosphoric acid than that from soft wood or bark. By reference to tables in Johnson's "How Crops Grow" one ran learn the value of ashes of the several kinds of wood and bark We are now not to consider the per ceiits ot soda, magnesia, lime, i silica and chlorine found in wood ashe a , \ since any of our soils has enough of the«e, and we will consider the potash and phosj phone acid. Johnson'- 1 table? give the I value from stvictly n<ue a^ies. It is evident the ashes from a s lwmill are not pure, but havea Imixtmes of sand and soil, whioh I need not bq considered in this case. Dr Kedzio, of the Michigan Agricultural Coll^fro, onue made amilwses of ashes from -•'ove, furnure and ashery in the ennditon we wo'ild find them usually if we were to buy th< xn. Hardwood ashes taken from his kitchen stove, whe»e beech and hard maple were used, '■bowed 12£ percent, of poiash and 6 per rent of phosphoric acid. Leached allies, taken fiom a tannery, showed I' 6 per cent, pota&h and 6 8 per cent, of piios >ho ie acid. Softwood as|u>f , from the pit of a planing mill, wh re pine, hr and bas^wood were burned with some soft coal, showod 12 per cent, po ash and 4 percent, plios. horieacid Tannery nsh, made from spent tan baik, mixed with some sot coal, showed 2*5 per cent, potash and I*2 per cent, phosphoiic acid. Now, it is probable the sawmill furnishinsr the ashes to our correspondent u«ed mostly haidwood. Then, a ton of hard ashc fresh from tho furnace, unlenched, would ho worth 51, 940, while potash sells at 5 cents a pound, and insoluble phosphor c 6 cents since 12£ per cent., or 245 pounds, is potash, and 6 per cent., or 120 pounds, is phosphoric aci '. As our correspondent can easily haul to his farm three tons of ashes in a d i_y from the sawmill, he had better lose no time in securing all the ashes available at that ra^. Leached ashes are not wcrth fo much, hence it will be well to ha 1 the ashes awavasfa't as m«de, and apply it to the land, or store it in a dry place. Thirty to forty bushels of itesh ashf s will bp an ample dressing, find on lijrl.t toils there is no better fe» till ser. Fruit tjets and berries are specially benefited by a dressing of wood ashe°. — American paper.

Remarkable G-ape Vines, Lovers of grape lore may be interested in a brief account of some of the most lemarkable vines which are now in existence in England, and produc ne tons of gtapes of thefinesfc quality a nually. Am ngst these, varieties of the Bluck H.-imbutg. which may be considered as the national grape and the snr lener'a friend, are the rao->t numerous. The vine at Hamilton Court, although nob the oldest, is perhaps t he best known to the general public, and on that account is worthy of the tirsto place in this rec ud. It was planted in 1769, and was raised from a cutting taken from a largo vine at the Valentine Home, E«pex. Its ffirth is now 42 inche-, and it fids a house 66 feefc long and 30 feet wide. For the pa<?t 100 years it has been an object of great interest to grape uroweis and the public, who marvel at this fine specimen of extension training. It is -ti'-l in excellent health and prod u • cs from 1,200 to 1,800 small bunches annually. In 1822 the Kirih of the stem was 13 inches, and the produce in one year amounted to 2 500 bunches of one pound each. William Cobbett, in his d-sciiption ot it fifty yean* atro, says : "Theie ia a vine in tho King'> earden which has for half u century pr - duced annually nearly a ton of grapes' George 111. must have been a good judge of their quality, as he enjoyed the fruit for riftv year->. The vine at Cumberland Lodge, which is now about seventy-five years old, is much larger titan the Hamburg at Hampton Court. It was originally planted in a small pit, which it soon tilled, then a house was ereoted over it and enlarged from time to time, until its present dimensions are 138 feet in length an-1 20 feet in width. The cironm ference of the stem is 3 feet 6 inches where it branches into two rods. Each of these asrain breaks into two stems, which extend the whole length of the house and cover every part of the trellid with b'anehes. These Branches are pinned on the close-spur system, the >-pace, 2,500 feet of trellis, for ex'ension having long since been filled. Its produce exceeds 1,200 pounds. The houses in which these two veterans are grown are heated by flue- 1 , but the vines are allowed to come on with the increasing warmth of the season, consequently little fire heat is used. A worthy descendant of the Hamburg at Cumberland Lodge may be seen at Sillwood Park, near Ascot. It is upwards of titty years old and fill" a house 120 feet in length with a raffcet of 12 feet. The vine planted in the centre is about 3 feet in circumference and throw* out eight lateral branches, which are trained horizontally the whole length of the house. These rods furnish the bearing wood, which covers 1,500 feet of tr« His, and produces about 1,800 bunches of grapes an nually. — ♦'Cassell's Popular Gardening."

Moving Large Trees. A great advantage results from preparing the roots one or two months previously, by cutting a circular trench around the tree at a proper distance, thus shortening all the roots to the prescribed circle. This is to be done during the late autumn

month. New and shorter roots will protrude, and when the tree is taken up a much larger proportion will be taken with it. In taking up a flat ball of earth on the roots, ib i« important not- to make this ball needlessly heavy. All the earth, therefore, which lests on or covers the root?, being of no u*e, should be set-aped or shovelled off, and only the earth in -which the roots are directly imbedded retained. It is more important to carry earth on the roots of evergreens than on those of deciduous trees. The reason of the difference ia that evergreens have not the power to throw out new fibres so freely as dt/oiduous trees ; and as most of the young fibres are commonly taken off from the earth, evergreens sufler the moot from the operation. Small evergreen trees from the nursery row may commonly be removed without much earth on the rootp, but larger trees from the borders of woods, of many kinds, will be sure to peri&h if removed with bare roots. Even if kept constantly wet, they sutler from the loss ot the small Hbres, which they cannot readily replace. Our own long experience has established the rule that such trees as the white pine and the hemlock, if removed from natural phntations with denuded roots, will be sure to die ; but if with enough earth to hold the tree erect when placed on the sur face of the ground, they will be suie to live. Trees may be removed when in leaf with balls of earth and a copious u&e of water. A tree growing rapidly at mid summer was removed without causing even a wilting of the broad leaves ; the growing shoots were alretidy one foot long. It was two inches in diameter and nine feet hieh, and a severe drought was prevailing. A trench was first dug about it one and one half feet from the stem, and filled with half a barrel of "•nler, which soaked well into the earth. T e shoots were cut back and most of the loliaye removed. The ball of earth wa^ litted by two men into a wheel banow, and the tree pet in the hole previously prepared for it, a half-barrel of water poured in and soil added. A mellow surface prevented crusting. The>o were eighty leaves on it several inches broad, and they remained perfectly fresh, and the shoots soon began to or.nv. The small fibres on the roots were not disturbed.