Practical Gardening

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 103, 3 May 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

Practical Gardening

by dian

SOME XiON'TS FOR ROSE GROWERS.

HINTS ON THE CULTIVATION or LJXIES. Before attempting to grow these flowers it should be understood that most of the lilies known were originally from collected species, practically all of which were found growing in mountain valleys, in partial shade and in close proximity to streams of water. Only a few are of garden origin. This explains why some varieties, are found difficult to grow under ordinary garden conditions, sucn conditions usually allowing too mucn sun with very little moisture as a compensation. imperfect drainage is also a common cause of failure, as no lily can thrive with stagnant water at the root. For low-lying soil- artificial drainage is a necessity. Soil must be worked at least 2ft deep, a plentiful supply of leal mould or meadow turf, well decayed, should be mixed with the soil in the vicinity of the bulbs, and shade from the hot summer sun should be ensured unless copious supplies of water are available. Many soils contain a large percentage ot lime a condition not favoured by the less robust kinds. For the growing of the Auratum family it is advisable to remove about a barrow-load of the limestone, replacing it with a small quantity of li"lit soil from some timbered hilly district. The Speciosum and Tigrinum families, together with Candidum, Longillorum, and Henryi, will grow m the open if provided with deep soil and plenty of moisture. A general rule may be set that trenching, and good drainage, thoroughly broken soil, and a l 3 tion where the plants would be in shade during the hottest part of the day, are absolute necessities for any but the really common sorts, and it will be found that even these common kinds know how to appreciate the above conditions 01 cultivation. Whether in high or low country the majority of lilies require to be planted deep—much deeper than is usually done. Nine-tentlis of the family are* what is technically called stemrooters, which means that most of the food of the plant is drawn by the roots which grow on the stem between the top of the bulb and the surface of the soil. All the Elegans, Speciosums, Tignnums, and Auratums afford visible proof, of this fact. With all of the above kinds it is safe to put the top of the bulb six inches beneath the surface, and wiiJi vigorous growing varieties such as Auiatum, piatyphyllum Henryi and even extra sized bulbs of Speciosum, the bulbs should have nine inches of soil above them. Early planting is advisable, with all lilies if they are to give good results the first season. Candidum is ready to move in January, Longiflorum about March and practically all kinds at the end of April. Lilies have scarcely any resting period, as, long before the shoot begins' to show signs of growing, the root base penetrates the ground in all directions; this root action actually takes place in May, June and July. If a stem rooting lily eucli as Auratum were planted in August no basal root growth would be made, as the bulb would shoot at once. Stem roots would assist the growth of the flower stem, but with 'the slightest dryness of the soil at flowering time the demand would be so great that the bulb must be drawn on, and if not having any roots at the base would collapse at once. This sudden collapse just at the most interesting stage of growth is quite a common experience with growers of lilies, but by planting early in trenched ground it may easily be avoided. Planting very large bulbs is also a common cause of failure, although if they can be successfully grown, the larger the bulb is the larger and finer will be the flower spike produced. Still, it is wiser to plant a fail" sized bulb which will produce some flowers the first season and if left undisturbed (as all lilies should be for at least three years) vvill the second year give a far more satisfactory result than a giant bulb freshly planted; an additional incentive to pursue this course is the practical certainty that the bulb would not be'lost. The third year after planting a lily again shows improvement in growth, and unless several are grown together and are becoming too crowded, it is best to leave them undisturbed until they begin to show signs of being on the downward grade as regards number and size of flowers produced. In planting manure of any kind should not be allowed to come in contact with the bulbs, although well decayed farmyard manure is beneficial if placed a few inches away from and below the bulb. The soils for stein-rooters should be friable and rich right to the surface, as the stem roots delight in richer food than the basal ones. In soils of'a wet nature the bulb should be enveloped in sand in order to prevent rotting before growth commences. Lilies are usually divided into groups which indicate the nature or habit, but here they are arranged in alphabetical order for easy reference. It should be noticed that lilies commence to flower in October, and with a good collection one variety succeeds another until Speciosum varieties close the season in April. The range of colours is also wide, including as it does at least six distinct types of pure white flowers, several apricot varieties, the sulphurcoloured sulphuriuin and innumerable kinds in orange, scarlet and similar shades, the most delicate pink of Rubellum and Krameri, the fiery scarlet of Concolor and Tenifolium and the purple of the Martagon and Dalmaticum Candidum. Elegans and .Longiflorum, with Tigrinum and Speciosum are the only kinds that can be termed really popular, but many other kinds are rare only on account of their not being so prolific of increase, or in some case 3 being of more recent introduction. A few kinds require extra care, which is well repaid by the beauty and rarity of their flowers. VIOLETS. Manure the violet borders, using welldecayed stable litter or bonedust. Scatter the stable manure freely. Half cover the plants if you like, but don't use new manure, or you will burn the violets. A handful of bonedust to every three yards of border will do po harm. GERANIUM BLOOMS. When cutting geraniums for use in the house, take off a piece of the wood with the flower stalk. You will get the flower to last if you do this. There is not sufficient life in the stalk to hold the blooms together. Six inches of the plant will keep the flower heads going for days.

E.L. (Epsom) and CRITIi (Cambridge) — Answers next week. —Ed. GREENWOOD (Epsom) sends a fruit for identification. —It is the pecan nut, an American representative of the walnut. SCOTTY (Huntly) sends two or three leaves for identification. —The large leaf is apparently from a gourd, probably the form that is sold under the name of guinea bean, which is no bean at all, but a form of pumpkin or gourd. The small leaves are off a variety of plum. NEW CHUM (Mount Albert) sends a specimen of hedge plant and asks: (1) Name. (2) .When aftid how cuttings can be taken. (3) Would it be suitable for a dividing hedge and stand frost?—(l) Abclia floribuuda. (2) Take cuttings now. Use pieces of young growth about six inches long. Plant in sancfry soil, shade till rooted. The bed can be made up in a shady place and the cuttings moved when rooted. Cuttings can also be planted in pots or boxes. It will stand a little frost; anyway, all you get in Auckland. It will make a dividing hedge, but is not cattle-proof. STANLEY (Auckland) writes: Would you kindly advise me as to a good method of treating tobacco leaf, after it has been successfully shed dried, for smoking. I have a small quantity of excellent quality leaf, and I have received so much advice as to future treatment that I am sure many suggestions are incorrect, and beg to fall back on your good nature? — When the leaf is ready to harvest, which is as soon as the leaf 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 leaf is ready, pile it in a warm corner, warmed naturally by the sun (hut not in the sun or artificially). See it is fairly moist and cover with damp sacks. As soon as fermentation has gone far enough, which would be in about a week, but experience is the o;.Iy guide, it must be stopped. Do not allow it to get mouldy or wet and cold, or the leaf will get brittle and break up into snuff. Then dry in a shed with plenty of air and not too hot, until the leaf shows the proper leathery texture and the right colour'. Then strip the leaf from the mid-rib and lay them leaf by leaf on a table or bench, in a heap, moistening each 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 sprinkle it dip a leaf in now and then and it will gradually penetrate the lot. A goodsized box will do to put the leaf in, and when you have filled it press it equally with a little weight; it should sink gradually. You can leave it as long as you like, but Cto 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 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 near as possible, cover it with a piece of good leaf as a wrapper, and push It in. Then cut a piece of kerosene tin to exactly fit the mortise and put in on top, then another plug of tottacco 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 hole and hammer it in as tightly as possible. When a plug is wanted cut out the halfinch 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.

ARGUMENT (Waihi) sends apple for identification. —Northern Spy. MAC (Waiuku) asks: (1) Name of creeper enclosed. (2) Name of good early dessert peacli. (3) Two good evergreen creepers. (4) Is Triumph a good peach? (u) A good strawberry for small garden. . (ti) Will apricots do in this district?— (1) Solanum jasminoides. (2) Briggs Red May or Mamie Ross. (3) Arauya angustitolia, Gelsemium sempervirens. (4) Yes, it is a good early yellow fleshed peach. (5) Marguerite or Mad. Melba. (6) I do not think so. ANXIOUS (Avondale) sends a leaf of an aspidistra and wishes to kuow what is wrong and how it can be remedied.— The trouble is at the root. The plant is in sour soil or is waterlogged. Turn out the plant and shake off the old soil. Repot, using clean pot; well drain, using either rough scoria or broken pots. The soil should be curfy loam and sand. Do not add any manure; this can bo applied after the plant starts growing again. <When potting keep the rhizome, or thick stem from which the leaves come, just on top of the soil. Press the soil fairly firm, and do not over-water until the plant shows signs of making fresh roots. CONSTANT READER (Rotorua) writes :— In the garden column a few weeks ago you advised the use of nitrate of soda or sulphate of ammonia to get rid of clover in lawn. I wish to know if it is necessary to dig out the clover roots 'after applying these remedies. (2) Will the clematis or Cobea scandens grow here? I want a quick and showy climber for the front porch. Frosts are severe and continuous here. —No. The nitrate or sulphur acts as a poison to the clover and there is no need to dig out the roots. Its effect, however, passes away, and as seeds which are lying in< the soil germinate, further applications are necessary. (2) Clematis would do all right and you would find the varieties Montana (white) and Jackmanni (blue) very suitable. I should doubt the hardiness of Cobea scandens in your district. MAUNGAKIEKIE asks:—(l) I wish to get some lily-of-the-valley from Christchurch. When would be the best time to get them up? (2) Would King ferns do any good in Christchurch ? If so, when should they be sent? (3) What is the difference between a poorman's orange and the American or any other grape fruit?—(l) The lily-of-the-valley clumps should be procured as early in • the winter as possible; in' fact, as soon as the crowns are dormant. This would allow the roots to get going before the summer. (2) King fern would grow in Christchurch in sheltered positions. It will not stand much frost, and is more or less a native of sheltered gullies, but I think it would be possible to produce conditions favourable for it. It would be necessary to prevent the soil about the roots from freezing. It could be grown in a tub and taken under cover during the winter. The best time to send them down would be spring, so that they were established before winter. (3) There is little or none. They are both from the same stock, undoubtedly, but the Florida growers by selection and a favourable climate have developed a rather larger, thinner skitmed, and less bitter fruit. The poorman's orange Is very little different to-day to what it was when first introduced. The name grape fruit applies to the habit of the plant producing its fruits in bunches of three or four at the ends of the branches. The poorman's orange also does this. The sweet orange and lemon usually produces Its fruits in ones or twos. These characters are not always very prominent, but will be found general over a number of specimens.

THE IBIS. One of the directors of the Orpington Nurseries of Kent writing in regard to tlie best varieties of Iris, says: Our main object in writing this note, however, is to criticise the list of varieties which are recommended in the article to which we refer. Some such as Micheline Chairaire, Purissina and Shasta are varieties which in our view are unsuitable for ordinary cultivation in our English climate. Others such as W. E. Dykes, Pink d'Or, Sir Michael and Golden Glory, are novelties which are still so scarce and expensive as to be beyond the reach of the ordinary buyer. This criticism is tempered, however, by the reflection that it is well to ■ draw the attention to the fact that quantities o modern and improved varieies of irises, which are a reasonable price, do exist. And further that the varieties found' in the average garden are generally vefy old and out-of-date sorts, which are no more representative of w/iat should be Grown than a collection of the hybrid perpetual roses of thirty years ago would be representative of the modern rose. We should like to urge readers: "To keep their eye upon the iris," to discard many of the old inferior sorts which are still being grown, and work up stocks of the more modern and better things. It is always risky to recommend lists of varieties, but as it may be helpful to some we suggest the following 36 bearded irises as a good §ound collection afc reasonable prices. These include some of the new colour blendings which are such a delightful feature of the modern iris.—Whites: Athene, Wliite Knight, Mystic. Yellows: Sunset, Shekinah. Variegatas: Flaming Sword, Fro, Dalila, Kuyeua, Argynnis. Yellow Blends: Quaker Lady, Steepway, Mme. Chobaute, Afterglow, Dora Longdon, Bronze Blonds: Ambassadeur, 1 rospei Laugier, Lieut. A. Williamson. Blue Purples: Harmony, Souv de Mme., Gaudichau, Yeoman. Red Purples: Imperator, Eoealba, Opera. Pinks: Seminole, Susan Bliss, Mme. Cheri. Pale Lavenders and Blues: Ann Page, Coriida, Goldcrest, Queen Catherine, Viking. Amoenus: B. G. Morrison, Eclaireur, Rhein Nixe, Salonique.

AN IMITATION TREE STUMP. A very good imitation of an old tree stump, winch can be filled with soil and planted with trailing plants, is shown in the illustration. The legs are formed of rough boughs cut in half nailed to the barrel. The other stumps (two) are also formed of pieces of branches. The barrel may be filled with water and a water lily planted in it, or drainage holes can be made in the bottom and the barrel filled with soil and a tall plant or plants put in the centre and trailing plants round the outer edge. Where the stumps are a hole can be bored in the barrel, and other trailing

plants inserted, so that the whole is covered. The soil in the barrel should be good, consisting of chopped up turf, sand and leaf soil, and if possible a good admixture of stone chips; this latter helps to keep the soil from getting too compact. The addition of some charcoal about the size of nuts or coarsely broken bones are also very useful when filling large receptacles like this with soil for plants. The barrel should be covered with picces of bark. See. that the drainage is good before putting in the soil; plenty of holes should be made. A few inches of broken bricks is a very good drainage material *15 USEFUL GARDEN BOX. Here are diagrams of an appliance which has been found most useful in a small garden. It can easily be made from an old soap box, by anyone with a slight knowledge of carpentry. Its

advantages over a garden basket are: The handle, being longitudinal instead of transverse, makes it much easier\to carry and balance, and it can be put on the ground and the rubbish raked or swept direct into it.

STRAWBERRY CULTIVATION'. Th« cultivation of strawberries on commercial lines is of sufficient magnitude in and around Auckland to warrant more attention to the production of plants, etc., than is accorded it at present. Although it does not occupy a large area of ground, the capital invested in strawberry growing is larger in proportion than most other agricultural interests. Of late years the returns have not been equal to what it should and although the retail price of the berries has dropped in common with most com modities, one would have thought ha new or improved methods of culture would have increosed the crop per acre, Jtt. result that the large,- return would have counter-balanced the lower nrices This, however, is not so, and it £. doubtful whether the actual return bv weight per acre is as large to-day as it ten years ago. By coincidence this country is not the only place has began to wake up to the fact that the strawberry is slipping back The growers at Home have found this out, so much so that some predict elimination of the strawberry as a cultivated fruit within ten years. . However, no such thing will happen, because the strawberry is too good and wdcome fruit for everyone concerned to sit down and let it die out. In England the attention has been centred on the vigour of the plants and the correct production of layers, by reducing the numbei of layers allowed each mothei plant produce. Any opinion that can throw light upon'this subject is worth considering, and the following is an opinion expressed by "The Notary" j m the "Nurseryman and Seedsman, upon a visit to the Kingsley Fruit Farm, situated upon the borders of Hampshire and Surrey. "Strawberries formed the main part of our conversation for the next quarter of an hour or so. Mr. Jones has no less than 30 acres of ground devoted to tbe growing of strawberries and strawberry plants. I found that he has actually 30 different varieties under cultivation. We hear a good deal these days about the crowing of strawberries and the fruit being no longer a paying proposition. This is mainly because the stocks ox some of the well-known varieties are played out and prone to every disease known to attack strawberries. The whole crux of the situation is, I think, that runners are rooted from weak and worn-out plants, with the result that only a half or a quarter of the crop of berries are harvested, and those of poor quality. It stands to reason that varieties will deteriorate unless reproducton is made by selection from the strongest and most vigorous plants. Some of the most prosperous nurseries I know have built up their business by keeping an iron hand on their propagating department and seeing that cuttings or seeds, as the case may be, are taken only from the most vigorous and healthy plants and those most true to type. "I mention this matter in my notes because this opinion was more than borne out by Mr. Jones, who has made a big study of the growing of strawberries and fruit, and has amply proved that if these modern and scientific ! methods are adopted, strawberry growing can become a paying proposition. One of the most popular and, I suppose, the best-known variety of strawberries to-day is Royal Sovereign, yet this is one that many would have us believe is finished* and can no longer be grown as a strawberry for market work. It is one which, I think I am correct in saying, has had special attention at Kingsley Fruit Farm and, by vigorous selection, they have now a strain that has the vigour and productiveness of the original plants first put on the market. I asked Mr. Jones to give me what he were the best sorts to grow for the market man to-day. He replied: As an early Royal Sovereign, for a mid-season Sir Joseph Paxton and as a late one Tardive de Leopold.' Tardive is a new variety from the Continent which has, I understand, proved itself to be a very welcome addition, for it is a very hardy, vigorous and heavy cropper. We left the office and gradually made our way up to the main strawberry grounds, which are well over 400 feet above sea level, and well I knew it, for a bitterly north-easterly wind was blowing. Here I was shown great beds of stock plants growing under the hardiest conditions possible. I examined some of the beds pretty closely and I must say they gave one the impression, even at this time of year, of being strong, well-grown stuff. Most of the stocks are, grown from hand-laid, open ground runners, which I think has very big and obvious advantages over those layered in pots. One other point worth mentioning about the method of cultivation here is that the ground is well dug and plenty of manure used, f and during the early part of the growing season the ground is kept well stirred along the rows."

Don't buy roses at auction sales. Go to a good nurseryman and pay a fair price. Don't plant too deep. Some amateurs plant deeper than the trees were planted in the nursery. This is a great mistake. Don t plant in holes which are too small. Take out holes which are of ample size to allow all the roots to be spread out evenly. Don't plant loosely. The soil must be well firmed about the roots, or else the frost will loosen the trees and the winter winds will damage them. Don't try to grow roses in soil only dug 9in deep. Dig at least 2ft deep, and mix in plenty of well-rotted stable manure, keeping it well down. Don't let any animal manure come into contact with the roots of the roses when planting. The manure should be placed well below, so that the roots have to go down to find it. Don't mulch with animal manure after planting in winter. The mulcH only does harm, and is quite useless if applied at that time. The proper time to apply it is in the spring.

BULB-GROWING IN ENGLAND, \ t At a meeting of the Spalding and District Bulb Growers and Market Gardeners' Association, Mr. H. V, Taylor, Commissioner of Horticulture, wag the o-uest of honour. Replying to the toast of "British Horticulture," Mr. Taylor said a member of Parliament was astonished to find that the value of the country's horticultural produce exceeded the value of the wheat crop. It was a fact of which the country could be proud. He was always preaching that a nation such as theirs had got to foster and look after the creation of the horticultural indus-. try within it. With regard' to flowers he thought the advance had been tremendous. Flowers were naturally a very important item in the commerce of this country. Last year over a million and a half of money was spent in bringin f bulbs into England. It would be a big piece of business on their part if they could capture some of that trade.