TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue LXI, 12 July 1930, Page 6 (Supplement)

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Correspondents wilt greatly oblige by observing: the following rules in sending questions ror publication In these columns.-— i—Letters should be; In not later than Tuesday to bo answered the*-same .week—addressed to Garden Editor, "Star" ofllco, Auckland. ; ; 2 —Write on-one side" or the paper, ana make all communications as concise as possible. ' / . : - 3—Flowers, etc., sent Tor naming, must .be.sent separately, and, If possible, packed In a tin or wooden box—cardboard boxes are very liable to be broken In transit and the contents damaged. I —The Tull name and address or the sender must always be sent, but a nom de plume or Initial may be given for publication.

SUCCESS (Ponsonby) asks: (1) How old is a guava tree' before it bears fruit? Do they grow big, and, do they need any special treatment? (2) When are chokos ready to put in the ground, and what depth are they planted?-—(1) Guavas will bear when quite small, two or three years old. They make bushes up to ten feet high, but four to six feet is tho usual height. They need a warm, sunny, well- ■ drained position, but cannot be said to be particular as to soil or need any special treatment. (2) Chokos should be planted about September. Keep them till the shoot,appears, then plant with the shoot . above ground. The fruit is planted so that the top, the broad end, is about an inch below the surface.

SPRAY (Onehunga) asks how to make the caustic-nitrate soda wash. —One pound caustic soda, 10 pounds nitrate of soda, 10 gallons water. The water is placed in the spray barrel or container; add the nitrate of soda and well agitate, so.as to dissolve the nitrate. The caustic s*>da is then added, and when thoroughly mixed is ready for use. The trees should be thoroughly drenched; any that falls : becomes useful as a manure. Fine, still weather should be chosen, and the spray should be kept from the eyes and face. Tho hands should be protected with gloves or a coating of heavy grease. It must be applied when the trees are dormant, and will clean off moss, lichen, in fact, is death to any vegetable or animal life. It must not be used on lemons; it is only good for deciduous trees.

,A.F. (Newton) writes: (1) I have seen your *v cdvico to store onions in a dry, airy and cool place. Should this place be dark, or not? Mine of lust year were kept under the house in the dark. The wiseacre of ; the family says that being in the dark has caused them to grow more quickly than if . kept in the light, and instances potatoes in support, of this contention. Is he right? (2) I have used Bordeaux and Burgundy mixture for leaf curl, with but moderate success. Can caustic soda he used instead of washing soda for Burbundy mixture?— (1) Keeping onions in the dark docs not cause them to grow any sooner than in the light, but once they start growing, being in the dark causes the shoots to lengthen much more quickly, and in place of -a short green shoot you get a long white growth. The damp, warm atmosphere of Auckland is against the keeping of onions, and it is impossible to save more than a small percentage of the locallygrown bulbs throughout the winter. In colder districts, where the air is drier, it is no diiliculty to keep onions till the late spring, but in Auckland the local-grown are "off" soon after mid-winter. (2) I have never heard of caustic soda being used in place of ordinary washing soda, and I do not think it could be used without a modification of the formula. To control leaf curl it is most essential that the first spray be given as the buds begin to move, th» next as the flower buds show pink, .but before they open, and the next immediately the bulk of the petals have fallen. Leaf curl is essentially a hud disease, and is most active in early spring, control methods must be adopted before the leaf has developed. The wellknown curly leaf stage is actually the'end, when the fruit or seeds are' produced.