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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 64

Farm and Garden Operations for May

page 84

Farm and Garden Operations for May.

Farm.—The wet season will have now set in, and out-door work must be regulated accordingly. See to the furrows, ditches and Drains, and never allow water to lodge on ground under crop. Young stock and milch cows must be kept up in condition, yards and sheds put in repair. Have plenty of litter, fern, and any other material that can be converted into manure, spread in the sheds. Keen cattle Dry and comfortable, for the cold winds and rain very soon take flesh off; there should also be plenty of food, such as swedish turnips, mangolds, carrots, sugar grass and maize, with a little hay in very wet weather Prepare cleared bush land for wheat; sow and chip it in with a hoe.

Kitchen Garden.—Late crops of peas over, manure and dig the ground; if required for nothing else, sow with oats to keep weeds under. Sow last crop of turnips, also carrots, onions for spring; stir the soil amongst spinach, lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, and earth up. Clear off decayed crops; dig up kumeras and late potatoes; gather in pie-melons, pumpkins, vegetable marrow, tomatoes, and melon preserve in a Dry, airy place, free from damp; celery, earth up; Indian corn and millet gather in as it ripens; hoe and thin the crops; cut down stems of asparagus, and fork up the surface; rhubarb, if the beds have been down three years, trench it out of the ground for three months, and replant in spring.

Fruit Garden.—Gather in late crops of pears and apples as they arrive at maturity. Prepare ground for new plantations by trenching two feet deep; Drain if necessary. Have the ground well pulverised; lay in bonedust to mix with the soil at planting time Fork round established fruit trees, and add manure where the soil is poor. Strawberry plantations forked between the rows and all runners destroyed; manuring defer till spring; raspberries may be forked also.

Flower Garden.—Dahlia roots matured maybe carefully lifted; secure labels to the roots with thin wire, lay them out to Dry previous to storing away for the winter. Plant tulips and anemones, hyacinths, a few in pots; plunge the pots two inches under the soil till the leaves begin to show above ground, then remove pots to greenhouse or window to flower. It is too early to plant for flowering in the open air, as rain destroys flowers in early spring.

Greenhouse.—Collect general stock of plants, and clean before putting into winter quarters; many sorts that have ripened may be cut in, placed under the stage or Dry place. Gloxinias, achimenes, amaryllis, japan lilies, also geraniums, to occupy an airy place in front Old plants cut down previous month will require more pot room; pinch any shoots back so as to form a nice bushy head; cuttings require similiar treatment. Keep the cacti tribe rather dry, on a luck shelf—except epiphyllums, soon coming into flower, will require more air and water. Heaths, camellias, azaleas, begonias, and young fuchsias will require plenty of air and water; a watering of weak lime water will destroy worms in the pots. Chrysanthemums done flowering to back and plunge outside.