THE GARDEN.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVII, Issue 146, 20 June 1906, Page 11

THE GARDEN.

<Br Hoarom.}

r-HortiM" la willing to umi ur eneriee. Correspondent. mt»t glre tnelr XitaST]"* addre —'• ttQU $ «* IOT

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

from "Slips - but mn£ ' bedffe P ,aaC sirs? H zj&JTsr^

HINTS.

CARNATION LAYERS.

scraping away some oftue sol? u Y rule, very brittle and mn ♦ te ***• as a Sih£ e^-S«HlT-■a planting "to* C " c before shifting the layers r wh b ° U i Or tWo take care of themsehL P wUI

GREENHOUSE AND WINDOW PLANTS.

need careful attention r^L tllree months e ifwT r bLfC^V* 3 ™™^ opened onl/on Tim lt? 3 ?"«£ £ mmm 'w a e r^ r ;h be H kiadled early In th nwrSing To : warm the hot water pipes before air is ad nutted, and keep it burnins till about 10 • a K m " soon as the temperature rises to ■about oOdeg. commence to give air gradually by the top ventTators, and later by the lower ones. Bo watchful of the weather outdoors; a sudden change may occur ! :n spite of the fairest promise of the mornins.

Much trouble and some fuel may be saved by skilful handling of the ventilators in winter when the sun breaks through the clouds. rf tbe day has been mild and the sun has shone pretty nicely, especially to- ■ wards afternoon, all air may be shut off half or three-q::anre-rs of an h-our before the isual time, which may be about four oV'nck. earlier o-r l.ateT according to the . weather, certainly some time before the sun censes to send his rays with some 1 dirpc-tnpss on the glass. The temperature o* the house may rise 15 or 20 degrees In ! consequence of this early closing; thpre Is r-o cause for alarm iu this, it Is just the object aimed at. This extra heat bottled jnp in the house will warm np everything ! within It. walls, floors, staging, flower pots. iand the earth they contain will all absorb ; more or less of it. and give it off slow:y iso that unless there Is very cold wind there will be no necessity to nse the fire if the practice Is carefully studied and carried oat. PRUNING (Continued). Whatever system of pruning la adopted, a certain amount of rest or winter prunin™ will need to be performed every winter, and I will therefore give a few of the reasons for using the knife in the winter, also try I Ing to make a few general observations • which will assist in gnidlnz the operator ! Kest-prunlng should be resorted to wit:-, trees of all ages when and where deflcien- | cies exist. The prnaer in this case may merely remember that a tendency exists In most free-growing shoots to lengthen, and . that it very frequently serves the cultivator's purposes much better to cause one , strong shoot to branch into four or five i subordinate ones. This the rest-primer's, knife can accomplish under ordinary circumstances by catting back one or more of sue!-, shoots. Immediately underneath where the limb or branch is cut a good number o: shoots are sure to burst forth In the spring. Of these shoots the best of them (especial:/ if they point in the direction where tin deficiencies exist; should be retained so ai to increase the number of branches. Those that would have a tendency to go towards the centre of the tree should also be re- ; gulated during the summer pruning. Inducing Spurs.—ln this respect the knife lof the winter pruner can accomplish much There is a vast difference In the formation of fruit and leaf or wood buds. Tha fruit are larger and rounder than the wood buds, and unless the pruner Is able to dl.s tinguish the difference between the two he iad better leave the trees alone, as he is I more likely to do more Injury than zood. W here a proper system of summer pinching |18 pursued, ail that the winter pruner ■ should have to do is to foreshorten a few ,of the leading shoots, and cut back sucii ■ spray as may have formed on the fruir I <purs. and if the fruit spurs are becomlutoo large he can also reduce them in size. When trees are making strong growth r... knife should be applied to them durlns th ■ winter unless a corresponding amount of j root-tuning aiso Is given. Every branch or Hub cut off a strong-growing tree wit'i- | out i-oot pruning will only leave lees space ] for the roots to distribute the sap fhrou-h and the result of the following season'-. growth will be ranker and stronger than the preceding season.

Proper rime fnr Rest-prnnlng.—The time for performing tula operation must vary according to :he nature of the trees to briealt with and thp objects the operatehas in view. Same cultivators have bPen misled with the opinion that early sprinor summer Is the beat time to prune from rhp fart th.it the wounds heal more readily. Fmilinjl of old wood nrter the spring has rommrnced has a tendency In nearly every Instance to check the vigour of tV rrec. for then the sap [ a f n aetlvp circulation, and if suddenly checked the plant* are apt to bleed, and thereby be-ome «Tently woakene.l. On one occasion I experimented on one spur of a vine-tie result was excessive bleeding. After the bleedinstopped, a weak shoot sprang away from the BPur-th4rt shoot never that season attained the same strength of growth as the shoots on the spurs lower down the cane There was one bunch of fruit, and It wa« not a good bunch. It nevpr attained the snme size of berry or the same flavour F"r this reason, when the rapid formation of young wood la desired, or for sood fru't the pruning must be performed immediately before the sap begins to circulare in the spring. Some planters object to shortening In the shoots of newly-set trees delay!•»« tHe shortening till the sprimr, or until" rhe buds are swelling. Some even allow the leaves to partly expand. By doing 3.> th"y u.-ive Injured, net benefited, their trees. The sap Is too suddenly checked, and Its circulation deranged. Its quality becomes altered, especially at and below the wound. Anyone may easily satisfy himself on this point by pruning back a dozen trees before che sap Is circulating, and another dozen after the leaves have opened, and the difference will be apparent at once. It is different when we have recourse to summer pinching-. The action of the sap in the youns wood Is different: and by this operation, if Judiciously performed, the whole tree, or any particular part, can be reduced <>r strengthened as well, without Impairing the constitution of the tree. I could give many more reasons to Induce cultivators to prune out old wood during the time the sap is entirely dormant, but think the above Is "ufficlent. There may be an exception to this ireneral rule, where a slight amount of pruning in summer, not sufficient to produce any material check In growth, may b< , useful in Improving the shape of the tree: such, for example, as the removal of an occasional unnecessary ehoot ir onesided branch-. Rest-pruning should he performed during June and July, or as soon after as possible. Shape the tree well: apples. plums, peaches, beep the centre open; pears mostly succeed best as pyramids. A good sharp knife only must be used, making a clean cut Just clear of the b-ud which It Is Intended to leave, tflki-ng enre that *he bud points in the dlrpctlon that yon wiah the branch to tp.ke. While rest-prnnlng, eelect ail the bset of the pruning* lor grafting tf •nch ii -wasted. /