The Garden. (By Hortis in "Auckland Star.")

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 408, 5 October 1889, Page 3

The Garden. (By Hortis in "Auckland Star.")

French or Kidney Beans. For most amateurs these are a most important addition to the kitchen garden, and from now can bo sown periodically, so as to obtain a succession ot nice tender pods. The best way to grow the French bean is to cow in rows from one and a-half to two feet; apart, according to the height to which the variety grows. When sowing the seed, sow about four inches apart. After the plants come through the ground and are about four inches in height, r.hey should 'be thinned out to about eight inches apart, as for each plant to bo able to bring into existence a fine crop of pods it is necessary to give plenty of room to grow. As they advance in growth the crop is better to be earthed up, as this system of cultivation suits them. Whenever the pods are tit for use they should be gathered, never allowing a single pod to form seed, as this will greatly deteriorate the quantity of the crop. Where a few pods are allowsd to mature, the strength of the plant will be drained to those parts, and will soon cease to produce new pods. The same remark which applies to the culture of the French bean will also apply to the running varieties, < but the latter must be sown at a greater distance apart. To allow plonty of room they should at least be five feet from row to row. The bean likes a deep rich soil. well manured, and where the lato summer crop is to be grown the soil should at lenst be trenched two spits deep so that the roots may get well down into the soil, away from the effect of the sun's rays. Where a good- supply of water can easily be obtained the supply of kidney beans or running beans can be kept up from the early summer till the cold weather in the beginning of winter kills off the plants of the late crops. To be able to keep up this succession, frequent sowings must.be made during the summer, as the period in our climate that any single sowing will give a crop is only limited. ' ' ' , j

An- Uncanny Bird. -\ >i In an article on the English sparrow, and" its future ravages, published in the " Fruit • Growers' Journal," we find the following : "The sentence of condemnation against the English sparrow is growing stronger, and comes from a wider range of observation, with each year. As the noxious habits of this feathered pest become better known its defenders grow less in number. It is reaaonablo to suppose that the dangers from its ravages are mbre to be feared, when its rapid increase shall have had full play for a lew more years, than from all the noxious insects that engage the attention of the entomologists. Both fruit and gram growers are interested in the future of this uncanny bird, and the matter will soon become so serious that active measures will have to be adopted in self-protsction, and there is no time so propitious as the present. It is hard to advocate the destruction of a bird, but there seems to be no alternative."

Pruning Shrubs. George Wilson, in " Indiana Farmer," gives the following directions for pruning shrubs : — Shrubs, like trees, arc pruned for different purposes, and no one rule will apply for all cases. The shade tree requires pruning, but not of the same kind as the apple tree, which must, be pruned with the view to making it produce the best fruit, and a liberal >upply of it. Shrubs are similar to trees in this respect. Some are pruned for grace and symmetry, while others are pruned to make the production of flowers greater. Shrubs should not be cut back so ruthlessly . They should be sheared ort evenly and uniformly in growing in a border. Grace and beauty are the two ohings desired, and this cannot be obtained any hotter than by trimming the sides off in a symmetrical curve. 'Flowering shrubs should be carefully pruned. Every branch that is lopped off is likely to carry with it several buds, which would in time present handsome flower?. If the pruning is done after tho buds are formed the shrubs will attempt to repair the loss by throwing out new shoots, which will bear abundant flowers the following spring. In this way pruning will sometimes encourage a strong growth of flowering -wood. In pruning it is not always advisable to adopt a treatment that has only one season of flowering in view. The time of flowering is short, and the general shape and grace ot the shrub should also be had in view when cutting off the branches. Even in winter a gracefully- trimmed shrub has a grace and beauty of its own. As a general rule, then, no shrub should be cut back so as to impair its vigour or to ruin it* natural outlines. Weak shoots only should be cut off, and in such a way as to develop the besb form of the whole plant.