GATHERING APPLES AND FEARS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 49, 26 February 1916, Page 17

GATHERING APPLES AND FEARS.

The gathering of apples and pears at the right time is a very important matter. Often these fruits are gathered before they are ready, with t<he result that in a lew weeks from gathering the fruit shrivels. It is not wise to gather all the fruit off one tree at one time unless ail are ready, as many fruits set later than others. A good test of proper maturity for harvesting is the raising of a specimen , from the perpendicular to the 'horizontal position; if it readily parts from the branch when the horizontal position is gained the fruit is iit to gather. The fruit should never be forcibly polled away from the tree.

The sketch A shows a pear suspended naturally from the branch. When raised from C to D the pear 13 will part from the ibranch if it is ripe; the arrow X points to the parting of the stem. Unsuitable, badly ventilated rooms, tho temperature in which rises and falls considerably, causes the fruit stored in them to shrivel even, when it k harvested in good condition.

DELPHINIUMS. The delphinium is a power in the flower garden, and that power is increasing each year. What is it that makes the delphinium so popular and so much admired! Surely its statcliness, its great beauty and effectiveness in the garden and case with which it can be cultivated. One of its chief weaknesses is the love of slugs and snails lor the young growths in the early spring, but this difficulty being surmounted by careful watching it is at once unsurpassed by any other genu.* of plants. Some of its popularity is duo to the wide range of colour and form, for in any good flower garden n wide range 'of form and colour always cnsuree a large patronage, as so many tastes are provided for. Certainly tlw main colour is blue, but in what other variety of plants can the same range of blue tones be found as in the delphinium? At the present moment there is no finer sight in the garden .-than a bed of delphinium in bloom—their tall, noble spikes; a solid mass of open flowers; some feet in hoight, with smaller, lateral bpikes showing up all around, making a well-grown specimen a noble, impressive, pleasing and not easily forgotten sight. Delphiniums will grow in almost any soil, but there is a- marked difference in the results obtained when good culture and an open situation are afforded, as compared with poor cultivation, overcrowding with other plants in an already overfilled border or in a position overshadowed by trees. Some amouut of shelter from the prevailing wind is desirable, because their tall, succulent stems are readily snapped !by wind pressure, unless there are several ties and stakes, and even these are not wholly successful when the clumps are large and a gale follows rain. Good sol, mulchings, due thinning of the shoots, and careful staking are the chief points to be considered in delphinium culture. Now is a good time to sow seeds of delphiniums if their culture is intended to be taken up. Plants, of course, may bn obtained in the autumn, and Bhould give a good show nest year, but seeds sown now will also give plante that, with good treatment, will (lower next year. The spikes will not be so good as from two or three-year-old clumps, but they will, nevertheless, show their character, and the best varieties can be picked out and the wasters thrown away, for it is only in this way or by purchasing named varieties that a good selection can be obtained. The seed should be obtained from a good source, and should be of an approved strain; it is better to have a little seed of a good strain than a lot of rubbish. Delphinium seed is usually of good germinating quality, and as they are plants that are only required in small numbers one only wants the very best. Sow the seed out of doors, where it can be watered, protected from elug3, etc., and shaded from the hot sun until the seedlings arc through the ground. When large enough they should be pricked off into a bed ot nice, -rich, fairly light soil ,and given attention to watering, etc. In the autumn the plants should be put into their permanent quarters. This should bo in a sunny position, and should be well enriched with manure, delphiniume delighting in a soil rich in humus. When growing delphiniums "will stand a largo quantity of feeding with liquid manure; in fact, it is almost impossible to overfeed so long as discretion is used in applying it. Once a good selection of varieties is obtained the plants will continue to improve year by year, and there is no need to replant every season, but they wiJJ continue to be a perennial delight, and taking this into consideration there is no doubt that delphiniums will give a greater display with Jess trouble and expense than the majority .of'plants that .at present fill our border^.

"Goodness knows what butter has in it nowadays; it certainly ia not.a disinfectant," eaid Dr. Wynn Westcott at a Bethnal Green inquest on Lilian, Ellis, aged two, of Treadway Street. The child was sitting by the fire and a hot cinder flew out of the grate and burned the infant's leg. Some butter was applied to the burn, which, however, became septic and the child died. A verdict of accidental death was returned.