The Weather.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 10, 12 January 1895, Page 3

The Weather.

Towards the end of last week for some days ib looked like heavy rain. Rain clouds were conbinually hovering all around us, but we only occasionally received a few lighb showers which were nob heavy enough to penetrate to any great depth in the soil. Sbill the quantity which fell has done a great deal of good. Ib has brightened up plants and has washed the foliage clear of the dusb with which ib had become covered. Plants are like animals, bhey require a bath occasionally. In dry, dusty weather the foliage gets covered over with fine dusb. This dusb clogs the pores of bhe leaves, and in time would produce diseases or disability. Now, a good shower of rain, even though ib does nob penebrabe deep in bo the soil, does good, as ib frees the foliage and planba from this accumulation of dusb. Nearly everyone will have noticed that during dry weather most trees and planba assume a burnt-up yellow and dusty appearance. Now, one hour's rain changes all this. The dusty yellow disappears and the foliage assumes its emerald appearance again. To keep up this appearance we would require heavy rain ab least once a week. Those who may have either special flowers or crops which they wanb bo keep growing will have to resort bo artificial watering. . Now, as everyone has nob water laid on they should conserve all bbc waste water from the house, and ifc is wonderful whao can be done with this if ib is judiciously applied. Pot Plant Watering. Watering pot planbs either under glass or in windowß will now occupy a good deal of time during the dry weather. Nob only will ib bake bime bub ib musb be done with care and judgment, as one class of planbs to succeed will require quite a different treatment to others. Nob only this bub even the same varieties will require different treabmenb according bo bhe various stages of their growbh and bhe density or otherwise of the roots in each pob. Anewly-pobted planb will nob require nearly bo much waber as one which has been grown for some time in bhe same pob and which has quite filled ib with roots, a3 waber applied bo the latter will sooner geb absorbed by the roots. In watering, each planb should be dealt wibh according to its requirement, and-a little intelligence and a little practice will soon beach exacbly whab is required. Before waber is applied each pob should be hib sharply wibh bhe knuckles. If the sound produced is clear and sharp bhab planb wanbs waber badly. If bhe sound be dull and heavy no water is required. Of course, between bhose two exbremea bhere will be many gradea, bub practice will soon beach how to deal wibh each. By bhe above ib will be seen bbab ib is nob enough to water inbo each pob indiscriminately. Each planb must be supplied according to whab ib requires, and when it is wabered see bhab the soil in each pot ia thoroughly saturated. Freshly-potted plants, owing to the masß of inerb soil surrounding the roots, and the less active state of bhe latter, had better have too little, in moderation, than too much. The wholesale plan, however feasible with ordinary sofb wood planbs, must nob be practised wibh hard-wood azaleas, heaths, etc., because if bhey are subject to either extreme they invariably suffer, and frequently die outright. If any planb, having its pob very fall of roots, becomes too dry, give ib bhree or four successive waberings, ab about halfhours of interval between, or plunge the pot bodily into a pail of waber for aboub half-an-hour. A good syringing overhead will, meantime, help one bhab flags 'to recover itself. Orchard. Routine work will consisb in picking ripe fruit and sending ib to market. While doing so all small or damaged fruib should be picked oub of ib and pigs fed wibh ib. Nobhing bub bhe besb and soundesb of fruib should be Benb to market. The small or damaged fruib only succeeds in lowering bhe price of bhe besb, and ab the same time gives as much labour and costs the same for freight, commission, ebc. Another class of fruib which ought also to be kept away from bhe market is fruib infested with insects, as this nob only helps bo spread pests, but also lowers the price of fruib. I have often thought tbab stringent measures ought to be taken to heavily punish anyone who may be convicted ot selling infested frnib. If such were bbc case no aucbioneer or storekeeper would allow ib within his business place. This would give a bebber market for such fruib as is free of pests, and bebter prices would rule, as by bhe above means a greab quantity of infested fruib would be kept oub of the market. Late varieties of apples may yeb be syringed for codlin moth, as ib will be months yeb before bhey are palled, and bhe poison will all be washed off before the fruib will be pulled. It is also time bo thin out bhe late varieties where bhe trees are carrying too heavy a crop. The thinnings can be given to bhe pigs, and bhe fruib lefb on the trees will give almosb as heavy a crop as if lefb unbhinned. Not only will bhe weight be almosb equal, but the quality will be a greab deal bebber and a bebter price obtained. The summer pinching back and thinning out of superfluous shoots should be attended to. When pinching out leave aboub bwo to three buds ab bhe base of the shoob. In time these will probably develope inbo fruib spurs. Pears and plum trees should either be syringed with hellebore or dusted with lime to keep the leech in check. This has been a very trying season for newly-planted fruit trees. They have had a hard struggle with the dry weather. Where mulching materials ha venot or could nob be applied, the soil around bhe trees should be often broken up, to keep ib free and open. The loose soil on the surface will keep the roobs cool and moiab. Fertilisers for the Orange. The orange is composed of aboub 38 per cent, pobasb, 24 per cent, lime, 10 per cent, phosphoric acid, 8 per cenb. soda, 8 per cent, magnesia, and 3 per cenb. sulphuric acid, wibh cerbain percentages of bhe phosphate of iron, chloride of sodium, and silicic acid. This analysis would demonstrate that to fertilise oranges potash is required ia fche largest quantity. Potash

can be obtained from wood ashes, scrapings out of the bush, composts of leaves, weeds, lime, and swamp muck, German pobash salts, or kainib guano, animal ebc. The phosphoric acid and eulpburic acid and lime can be obtained from superphosphate of bones, and soda from the nitrite of soda. Mosb soils conbain iron, magnesia, and silica in sufficient'quanbities, bub if nob they can be easily added. Salb is sometimes required in Australian soils. As a rule, well-rotted stable manures and composts make good manure for orange groves; scrapings from bhe bush are excellent; as the leaves and top soil contain an abundance of potash and nitrogen. If commercial ferbilisers are used they should be compounded in aboub bhe following proportions :—loolb kainib or 2501b good wood ashes, 5001b boned usb or 2501b superphosphate, 1001b sulphabe of ammonia, and 501b nibrabe of soda. This quantiby per acre given as-a bop dressing, wibh a moderate manuring of organic substances in the spring, should be a sufficient dressing for an orange grove in fair bearing. Guano, if good, is an excellent manure for oranges, as it contains in a highly concentrated form bhe chief fertilising ingredients which bhe orange requires. In applying ebable manure bo orange groves care should be taken bhat ife is well-robbed before application, because if applied in too crude a state ib will render the skin of the orange dark, thick, and rough for a time, and bhereby depreciate bhe value of the fruit. For this reason ib is bebter to fertilise with both organic and inorganic manures, as the latter'forms a base for bhe dissolution of bhe former, and renders ib available for planb food in a shorber time and in bebber form. If bhe orchard lacks drainage' the application of bhe manures will, however, be to a considerable extent, lost.—Australian Press.