SPRING FLOWER BEDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 26 April 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

SPRING FLOWER BEEEDS.

No time should be lost in preparing our spring borders if a good display of early flowers is required. Bulbs, of course, have already been planted. Blue forget-me-nots and Alyssuin maritimum Benthami makes a nice edging, and give a very pretty effect. Polyanthus also mafces a very pretty bed. Old clumps should be lifted now, divided, and planted up about six or nine inches apart. Stocks also make a fine early show, and if some of the Giant Perpetual Ten-week is used, it will be worth looking at. When planting stocks in beds, keep the varieties true to colour. The effect is much better if the colours are blended with a certain amount of precision; besides, although one would not like to be so bold as to say that coloured stock is ugly, yet there are several colours or tints that, if there are more than one or two plants, they are 'inclined' to be otherwise + han pleasing. A bed formed of white, terra cotta, salmon and yellow stocks looks very well, and one can hardly have too many of the above colours. They can be used almost anywhere and at any time. Cornflowers are other flowers that are seldom seen, yet here is a beautiful, hardy, free-flowering plant; of a colour which is very scarce, especially at that time of the year. Seed sown now, and the plants put out as soon as large enough, will mean a lovely mass of cornflower .blue. ' ■ - L

R.N. (Auckland) asks liow to treat tobacco leaf after it has been successfully harvested and dried? —When the leaf Is ready to harvest, which is as soon as it becomes mottled with yellow- either cut the plant at the root stock or pick each leaf and tie in handy bundles. Some dry and then ferment, while others ferment right away. The last method is best. When your lear Is ready, pile it in a warm corner, warmed either naturally by the sun (but not in the sun) or artificially. See that it is fairly moist and cover with damp sacKS. As soon as fermentation has gone l'ar enough, which would be in about a week, but experience is the only guide, it must be stopped. Do not allow it to get mouldy or cold and wet, or the leaf will get brittle and break up into snuff. Then dry in a shed- with plenty of air, and 1 not too hot, until the leaf shows the proper leathery texture and the right colour. Then strip the leaves from the midrib and lay them leaf "oy leaf on a table or bench, in a heap, moistening tach layer .with a sprinkling of treacle, rum and saltpetre, but not too much of the latter. If the mixture is too sticky warm it. and if you cannot sarinkle it dip a leaf in now and then and it will gradually penetrate tl»o lot. A goodsized box will do to put the leaf in, and when you have filled it, press it equally with a weight. If it should sink gradually you can leave it as long as you like, but do not let it ferment again. The above is the method for preparing plug tobacco only. To make . it into plugs, get a piece of kauri about six Inches thick and mortise holes, about the same size as an ordinary plug of tobacco, down to within half an inch of the bottom-. Then make a rough plug to fit the hole as nearly as possible, cover it with a piece of good leaf as a wrapper, and put it in. Then cut a piece of kerosene tint to exactly lit ■the mortise and put it 011 top, then another picce of plug tobacco and another piece of tin, -.and so on, so that there is a piece of tin between each plug of tobacco until the hole is nearly full. Now cut a piece of wood to fit the iiole and hammer it as tightly as possible. When a plug is wanted, cut out the half inch of wood left at the

bottom of! the mortise and drive the tobacco through and take out a plug as , needed. If made right it is a splendid smoking tobacco, but needs to be kept a long time—the longer the better. "STAR" READER (Waihi) sends a flower of a cosmos and wishes to know if it is of any special variety?— The flower is rather unusual, having quilled or tubular florets It would be worth saving seed ol to see if it would retain this charactcr. E.W. (Mount Albert) sends a specimen* of an Arbutus unedo, and wishes to know the ciiuse of the branch dying?— There is something wrong with the roots; apparently they are in some waterlogged soil. If the tree is not too. large it could be transplanted. ROSE (Mount Albert) asks: How to treat rhubarb that jhas been neglected?— Clean away all Weed!) and fork around the plants. Give a fair dressing of superphosphate, and later on when the plants start growing a little nitrate of soda, using about a tablespoonful to a plant, and scattering it round the plant but keeping it off the foliage. NIL DESPERANDUM (Ellerslie) asks: (1) Two azaleas I have are not doing 1 well, having withered foliage. (2) When to sow lielinium seed? (3) Is it too early to sow African marigolds?—(l) It is due to thrips. Spray with a solution of nicotine, or, if more convenient, use warm soapy water. You will need to spray two or three times at intervals of about a week or ten days. Next season spray periodically from spring onwards. DOUBTFUL (Mount Eden) writes) : (1) 'is there any risk in transplanting a I three-year-old nectarine? (2) When to move'it? (3) Should the tree be hard pruned or not at ail?—(1) There should not be much risk in shifting the tree, if care is taken not to break more roots than possible. (2) The -tree could be moved as soon as the soil is damp enough to work properly. If there arc a few leaves left it will not matter, as the growth will be finished. (3) Prune the tree a little either before or after shifting, so as to square up the shape. The pruning will in no way affect the result of shifting. If the top is very heavy it will make it easier to move if the branches are cut back a little before moving the tree. When planting cut any broken roots back with a clean cut.

GRASS (Mount Albert) sends a sample of grass for identification. —The sample is too small to be sure, but it looks like Poa praetensis. A.B. (Rotorua) writes: I have planted ranunculi about eight inches apart each way. Will they need to be closer to make a good display?— The distance apart is quite all right. If they do well they should make a good show. AMATEUR (Newton) asks: (1) How to treat runner beans when they have finished flowering? . (2) Swedes that have been eaten by the fly—is it any. good to leave them?— (1) Let the plants die down, then clear away the old vines and rubbish. Keep the row clear of weeds, and in the spring give a good sprinkling of superphosphate and fork it in. llie plants will give an early crop next season. (2) If the foliage and particularly the growing point, are not too severely eaten they will recover. If, however, they were large plants before the fly took them and have suffered badly, it ■would be advisable to sow some more.