TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 6 (Supplement)

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

A.M. (Rangiriri) asks: Can you give me any information regarding hydrpquenaldenic? Will it grow in New Zealand?— I do not recognise the name. It' does not appear to me to be spelt correctly. Can you supply any further particulars?

W.K.B. (Napier) sends a few lemon twigs, and says the trees crop well, but have developed a small scale and die from the tip of the branch. The tree has been sprayed with lime sulphur and soapsuds, dead wood cut out, and well manured?— Do not use soapsuds or any form of soap with lime sulphur solution. ' The scale can be controlled by spraying with red oil one part, water 25 parts.

C.L. (lit. Eden) writes: I have a number of lemon trees which have developed a kind of brown rot. What can be done? —Spray with lime-sulpliur solution one part, water seventy-live parts. All diseased fruit should be collected and destroyed. Any weeds under the trees should be cleared off and the surface soil kept loose. Any branches that hang low, say, within a foot of the ground, should be pruned ofT. You should spray now, again when the fruit has set, and once or twice again during the time the fruit is swelling.

ROSE (Henderson) writes: Would you please tell me the kind of stock used for budding roses on? How to obtain them and when? Could carnation seed be sown out of doors this month?— There are several different stocks used for roses; almost every grower has his fancy, and none can agree to what is the best. Some stock do well in some soils and some in others. The dog rose, polyantha, anonettia, rugosa are all used. Probably the best stock for your district is a variety of polyantha cargelu, used by Auckland nurserymen. You would have to obtain the stocks from a nurseryman. Tliey would be obtainable at the same time as roses, that is during winter. Carnation seed could be sown outside this month.

CONSTANT HEADER (Morrinsville) writes: I intend planting zinnias and salvia for show purposes. Will you advise me of any special .treatment, if any, and the best time to plant seed, to be ready 'by the latter end of February ?-—The seed can be sown in October. Zinnias-.re-quire abundance of manure, and wellworked soil. Salvias like a wellmanured soil, "but arc not so hungry as zinnias. Both require a position in full sun, but it should be sheltered from high winds as the plants get broken and battered. A good straiii of zinnias is Bodper's dahlia-flowered; they are a Californian strain. Salvia seed is mostly liome-grown, and any good seedsman can supply seeds of a good strain. C.W. (Blockhouse Bay) writes: I have a quantity of sausage skins salted, about 40 per "cent salt. Will this be of benefit to heavy soil, used as a manure for general use?—On dry soils salt is useful; in fact, on any soil, salt is an asset, but where the land is close to the sea less is required, as a certain proportion is blown inland from the sea. For grass lands, cabbages, beetroot, asparagus, salt is very beneficial. It must be applied thinly and should be kept off the foliage. How the sausage skins would act I cannot say. However, dug into a piece" of spare ground, it would have a certain manurial value, but not a great deal. SUBSCRIBER (Ohaupo) writes: Could you suggest a suitable manure or mixture of manures that could be applied to gooseberries now? I propose using _ liquid farmvard manure. What can I mix with if—The gooseberry responds to stable manure, and I do not tliink you would need to mix anything with the liquid. The following is a good mixture for gooseberries : : Superphosphate 4oz per bush, bonedust 2oz, sulphate of potash ~oz, nitrate of soda 4oz. In the case of small bushes less would be needed, It you have alreadv applied manure to your bushes nrohabiv the best result would be obtained by applying 2oz per tree nitrate of soda before flowering, and a similar quantity after the fruit has set. A S (Richmond) writes: I have a row of 'sweet peas, but the plants, after growing about six inches high, seem to fad. away 1 specially prepared the ground Do you think I should pull all the sweet peas and put in fresh plants. If so, what can be mixed with the soil to stop the disease. The plants that do not wither get yellow, and seem very unhealthy . It appears to be due to a basal lot, although the plants themselves do not appear to be diseased. I should think it is due to something in the soil. Have you used any form of strong nitrogenous manure? An application of White Island Product No. 1 would be of value, but it must be put on the plants An application of lime worked into the soil would do good. If the plants continue to go off, I should advise you to, appij the White ' Island, and a week later either sow seed' or replant.

A.F.W. (Auckland) writes: (1) I have some Christmas lilies growing fairly close together. They are mostly young plants, a few inches high. Can these be transplanted or the bulbs be removed and kept for some time? (2) I have also a grape vine which fruited last year, but the grapes were small. What would be the cause of this? It is a very large vine. Is there any way of pruning?— You would spoil the lilies to lift them now; you must wait-till autumn, after they have flowered, and then lift and transplant them. Lily bulbs can be kept out of the ground when they are dormant, but it does not improve them, and they deteriorate very quickly. (2) The grape vine can be pruned, but it is a bit late now. Cut mway some of the thin lateral growth, so as to throw the energies into the main branches. The small fruit is due to the vine carrying too large a crop. Thinning out of the surplus growth and the reduction of the number of bunches fifty per cent would give those left a chance to make good.