DAHLIAS FROM SEED.

Auckland Star, Volume LI, Issue 242, 9 October 1920, Page 20

DAHLIAS FROM SEED.

Though tin- cactus and double forms of dahlia produce only a small percentile of plants true to type, some of the i-iuglcs are worth j;ro\vin£ for a season. Tin- pacony llowered section is easily raised, and from good seed a fair percentile come true to type. The collarette section also conic fairly true. Sow the hoeil in boxes, pots, or pans, and cover lightly with soil. L"sJ- a light compost, and place the boxes and pote in a sunny position. The seedlings are hardy doers, the only tiling to guard a?ainst is too much moisture in the early staples, slugs, and cold or heavy winds. Once, tile seedlings are larjje enough they can be. planted out; November is soon enough, and from then on the treatment is simply that usually accorded plants from cuttings or tubers. ZONAL PELARGONIUMS. Cuttings of these inserted now will make nice plants about midsummer, and will continue to bloom rifrht on till winter. Take the young soft shoots about six inches lonp;. Do not over water, and they will root quite easily. These cuttings, if patted when rooted, can be used for decorating the greenhouse, a≤ they will flower through the winter. THE NATIONAL SWEET PEA SHOW. In an article published in "The fJorden," Jlr Duncan Pearson gives a description of what he considered really good flowers, and follows on with a few' thoughts that came to his mind while looking through the extensive exhibits shown at Handsworth Park, Birmingham, on July 23. He says the blooms were little short of marvellous. Such size, colour and perfection! Uairlmark Pinh has quickly come to the top rung of the ladder of fame; it was to bo seen everywhere throughout the Show: and truly it is a fine thing, perhaps the best all round pink yet sent out. At the same time Unurin's Pink, as shown by the exhibitor, runs Ilawhnark very close; it is not quite the same shade of pink, so, no doubt, there is room for both. Tangerine is one of the greatest advances in the. orange section; it m really a startling bit of colour, and the flower is -of largest size. Elegance, as shown at Birmingham, was simply lovely. Royal Srot was very fine, a huge orange-scarlet of finest form. Mrs. Tom Jones was well shown; it is a line variety and very attractive, but I cannot stretch my conscience to call it blue. I am afraid our raisers are a bit apt to call a flower the colour they would like it to be! Personally I do not remember a single sweet pea that is really blue, the so-called blues being, to my eye, either mauve or purple. Margaret Fife is a lovely pea, but 1 cannot call it blue. Jack Cornwall, V.C., is a line colour, but there is too much purple in it to call it navy blue; and so on. Picture is a lovely variety, of largest fize: the flowers are pale pink on cream ground. Glory appealed to mc as one of the brightest bits of colour in the tent: it is a bright, glowing cerise pink. Man C'nirin i e a very fine orange scarlet. Daisybud is a very large and beautiful lively pink, about half-way between Hawlmark Pink and Alfrida Pearson. Alexander Malcolm, seems to eclipse all others in the same class of colour; it is a deep cerise. Constanrc IJinton is one of the very best of the whites. Moneymaker is also a very fine white. To say which is the best white one must see them grWn together under the same conditions. Some of the older varieties still seem to hold their own; Edrom Beauty, R. F. I'Ylton, and many other old favourites were to be seen in good form. Some of your contributors have from time to_,time bewailed the loss of scent in the newer sweet peas; they cry, "Where is the scent of the old grandiflora type, the sweet peas of our younger days?" To my mind there is quite enough scent left to be pleasant; many of the older varieties had, I think, far too much scent. Personally, I favour a more natural method of cultivation. Well prepared ground—but no 6ft trenching for me!—and plants set out in a double row, 2ft apart, will produce a fine row of peas with blooms good enough for anything but exhibition work, while tne plants themselves are an object of beauty in the garden.

SEEDLING GLOXINIAS. ETC. I Seedling gloxinias and begonias raised from seed sown this spring should be coming on strongly. Before t'.iey become overcrowded in the pans or boxei, move them into sma;ll pots using a nice fr'able well drained soil. Give them a warm, well-drained position, water carefully, and sco that the atmosphere is kept moist. As soon as the roots reach the sides of the pots the plants should be given a move into a larger pot. In this way the plants should make nice flowering specimens, a.nd give a g-ood display in the auturun. TOBACCO GROWING. J.R.R., Devonport, inquired some time ago for an article on the above subject when the time came. Tobacco can be <rrown successfully in the Auckland province. It must however, be understood that soil and position have lit great effect upon tiie aroma «f the dried leaf. It is also a crop that demands constant attention during the growing season. The best soil is a deep open loam containing a fair percentage of lime and potash. A sheltered position is desirable. The ground should be I well prepared so that the surface is in a line, tilth before the plante are put I out (iood rotted stable manure is prob- ' ably t''e most suitable,, but failing that, recourse must 'be had to honedust at the rate of 4ewt to the aero and lewt sulphate of ammonia, or nitrate of soda to the same area. Sow iiie seed in September in pots or boxes and when the seedlings are large 'enough prick them into nursery beds till large enough to plant cut. " The raising of (lie plants from wed till planting time is one part of tin , work which calls for care and attention. The seed is very line and need* to be sown thinly on very line soil, and should not lie covered, but the box or pot should have a .ulass placed over it and this shaded with paper. When large enough the young seedlings should be put into a nursery bed which must be will prepared and the surface made lino. Prick out the young seedlings four inches apart and allow Fix inches between the rows. They must be watered and shaded for a few days if the weather is sunny. When large enough, plant them in their permanent quarters; they should 'he about three feet apart each way. When lifting from the nursery bed be careful to retain as many of the line small roots as intact as possible. Do not let the plants remain with the roots exposed longer than possible so as to avoid wilting. Directly after planting water them. Tho after care consists in careful cultivation and frequent hoeings to keep down weeds. On no account should the leaves be broken, they are very brittle and care must be exercised when working amongst them All side shoots ahould be kept pinched out as they appear, and when the plants begin to show flowers these must be. pinched out. allowing each plant to develop between ten and twelve leaves. When these leaves begin to chow a yellowish reddish or brown spots they must be harvested. Gather the leaves, tie in bundles of about a dozen and hang in an airy dry shed. Dry weather is necessary and should humid conditions continue the bnndlps must be turned and opened to prevent mould. When Iho leaves are dry, which is seen when the stems become, of a brown colour and break when bent, eurinjr must be done. On a moist <lay pull the leaves from the stems, smooth them out and put in iicaps with the ends all one way. These heaps are afterwards put into one nr more conical heaps from 4 to f> feet in diameter at the base and from H to 1 feet at the top. These are covered with blankets, straw mate, or anything that will press the heap lightly and shut out the air. In 20 t<\ .JO hours fermentation sete in. When it becomes so hot inside that the hand cannot very well bear it, the heap is broken up and packed over again, putting tile, tobacco that had been outside to the inside and treating as before. In such heaps the' tobacco remains 20 to 40 days until all heat is gone. Then they are broken up in damp weather, the leaves tied in bundles of i to lib in wciffht. stretched evenly and packed pressed tightly. The usual [iractice is that the grower sells the dried leaf to a tobacco curer or manufacturer as the further process demands great skill. It cannot he Teeommended that the production of tobacco should be undertaken until manufactories have been established.

EELWORM IN DAFFODILS. This disease has become so widespread of late years that daffodil growers began to wonder whether the "Queen of Spring Flowers'' was not duomed. It appears, however, that there is an abso' lutely safe cure, and an extract from a letter written by Mr. A. E. Lowe, Otahuua, regarding this matter is interesting:—"Re eelworm." Mr. Lowe says, "1 feel quite Mire that we have an absolutely safe cure in "Jardine's' treatment. The corrosive sublimate is quite harmless, in reasonable quantities, to plant life and deadly to animal life. The disease seems very prevalent down south, and unless a cure had been found it would have wiped the daffodil out. On rich ground 1 think care should be taken not to overdo the nitrate of soda and on poor ground phosphates and potash should be worked into the soil to make a complete manure with the nitrate. 1 have tested it on unhealthy plants and urn quite prepared to take bulbs from anywhere, eelworm or no eelworm, as I am confident it is quite beaten." The following is an abridged and amended recipe of Barr's cure, which should really be Jardine's as lie was the first to use it. Perehlor of mercury (corrosive sublimate.) 1 part in 11,000 parts water. The beds should be watered three times during the growing season with the solution. First before coming into [lower, second, when in full Mower, third, as soon as flowering is finished. In all eases the application should be made after rain, or after the beds have been well watered. After applying, the plants should be lightly watered to wash the chemicals off the foliage. For the lirst application Joz nitrate of soda should be crushed and dissolved and added to each gallon of solution. For the second application the nitrate should be increased to ijoz to each lmlloh, the third being as the first. Fiich {ration of solution should be sufficient for 10 square feet of surface. After each application the beds should be hoed to prevent evaporation. KeeD the solution well stirred. The reason for adding the nitrate is that the roots will not take up the perchloride of mercury nlone, but will take up the nitrate with the perchloride of mercury in solution. The s..lntii>n (without the nitrate) can be iwd for sterilising the soil of eelworm. 11 should be watered with the solution some time previous t" planting, perchloridu of mercury soloid I Burroughs, Wellcome and Co.), 5.75 grains, .-an be obtained from chemists, each soloid being dissolved in :) pints of water, crivinc a' solution of 1 part in .'!,000. The soloids should be thoroughly crushed and dissolved in a little water before adding the full quantity. N.R.— Perchloride of mercury is n virulent poison.

After frvinp: onions pour a little vinegar into tiie pan and heat. It will quite remove- any sujrgestion °ft-" c onion flavotir.