TO CORRESPONDENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 282, 28 November 1931, Page 6 (Supplement)

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

GARDENER (Otorohanga) writes: (1) Enclosed are twigs, and fruit from Golden Queen Peach and Goldmine Nectarine. Can you tell me the cause of the disease and treatment required. The trees were sprayed .with lime sulphur. Should the trees be cut down? (2) An azalea planted in a sheltered position has not flowered. Should it have e more open, sunny position? (3) What sort of soil is required for roses? Would" they do well near a surface drain? —(1) It is due to the disease which attacks fruit, and known as brown rot. The disease overwinters in cankers on laterals, branches and in mummy fruits on the tree, or lying on the ground. The control methods consist of removal of cankered shoots and mummy fruits, and clean cultivation of the soil round the stem of the tree, prior to blossoming and after pruning. The cutting away of effected shoots should be done in summer when they are easily seen. Spraying is a necessary part of the operation, but removal of shoots and spraying must be both used if .the disease is to be controlled. Whether it would be best to cut out the trees or not depends on their condition, etc. If badly attacked it wGuld be best perhaps to cut them out and replant, but this can only be decided on the spot. • (2) An azalea should do in a half shady position, but perhaps yours would do better in full sun. Something depends upon the soil. In a very light soil azaleas need plenty of manure, and also water during dry weather. (3) Rosea like a soil on the heavy side, and also one that is well worked and manured. They should do close to a drain, as they prefer a well drained soil. J.W.T. (Devonport) writes: I found a plant (sample enclosed) in the kitchen garden. It is about three feet high, and the same width. It had the appearance of a king fern,'but hasLnow sent up a flower stem of brownislPumbels. Is it a weed or is it worth looking after?—lt is Angelica Gindigium, -a native plant of ■ biennial duration. It is of no value except as an ornamental plant, and is easily propagated from seeds. The plant . dies after flowering, so that if you wish to perpetuate it you must save seeds and sow them when ripe;CURIOUS (Swanson) writes: I am' forwarding to-you a plant of stock which has shown signs of drooping. I would be pleased to know what 7 is wrong, also cause, prevention and cure. A bed of artirrhirums apparently succumbed to the same cause? —The trouble is due to wilt or blackleg, and is the cause in both stocks and antirrhirums. Once a soil is infected it is years before the same plants can be grown in it again. It is a bacterial disease, and once the bed is clear of plants the soil should be watered with a solution of Restar, 1-100. It is . best applied on, a wet day, and used Restar 1-50, the rain adding the further dilution. All affected plants should be pulled up and burnt.

ANXIOUS (Nelson Street) asks: (1) Is it necessary to lift the bulbs of blue bells ? (2) Stock plants about fourteen inches high look well, but no signs of flower. Can you tell me if they will flower ? — (1) It is not absolutely necessary, the blue bell will do well for years without lifting. (2) What kind of stock is it? \ From your description I should say they are Brompton, or East Lathian stocks; if so, they will flower in winter and early spring, R.N.B. (Grey Lynn): (1) Flower for identification. (2) A Northern Spy apple abbut seven years old lias so far borne no fruit; tree is healthy; it was left unpruned last winter and spurs formed, but no flowers or fruit; the tree is making vigbrous growth. Should it. be summer pruned? (3) Peach tree badly attacked with leaf curl and lost practically all its leaves. I collected and destroyed as many.leaves as I could collect New growth is now showing. Should I give the tree a dressing of anything?—(l) A variety of silene. (2) Summer pruning may help the tree. It should be done about February and sHould take the form of reducing laterals to help their length and leading shoots about onethird. Inside and useless branches should be cut out. The result of the pruning will probably cause the top bud to burst into growth, but this can be removed in winter; the lower buds will- form spurs. (3) There is only one cure for leaf curl, and that is spraying with .Bordeaux, viz., in early spring, when the buds begin to move, when the flower buds are pink, and when the- petals fall. Leaf curl is a disease . which passes the winter in the of the leaf buds, and it is only by spraying as soon as the buds begin to move that leaf infection can be prevented. A dressing of powdered napthalene on the soil around the tree, using about one ounce to the square yard/ would be best.. - The napthalene should be worked into the soil with the hoe or lightly forked in. SWEET PEAS (Eohukohu) writes: Please tell me what is wrong with my sweet peas (sample enclosed), the leaves are covered with a fine white dust and the flower stems as if they had been,broken. They are growing on a netting fence and about eight feet high. What shall .1 spray with, and what is the cause? —The cause is mildew, and spraying with Bordeaux or wettable sulnhur is the preventive, but I am afraid that your plants are too badly attacked to be of any further value. Next season take precautions to spray early in the season, plants are young and long before the disease is visible.

NAOMI (Mangere) asks: Is it advisable to use the turpentine gum for fencing posts, and what is the approximate time they will last in the ground?— Most of the gums are useful for fencing posts, and last well. The length of life as posts, however, depends upon the age of the tree; young sap wood will not last half "'the time a good heart post will. If split posts are used it will often be noticed that some last longer than others. This is due in a measure to the fact that in splitting some are almost all heart, whilst others are largely sap.

T.S. (Kingsland) -writes: Enclosed specimen of a weed from my garden; it is coming up in thousands. I have hoed them up and they come in plenty "within a day or so. Can you tell me what it is and how to get rid of it?—lt is apparently seedlings of the castor oil plant. Hoeing and hand weeding will soon gef rid of, it. No doubt the soil is full of the seed, and until it has all germinated you will have them, but it is not difficult to-control.

r F.R. (Whakawaka) writes: (1) Plants of Marguerite carnation about two inches . liigh, will they flower this season? (2) A plant growing about a foot high somewhat like a dwarf delphinium; It is a blue, and flowers in a similar manner. Is it too late to sow seeds? (3) Is it too late to sow dwarf lupins?—(l) They should flower at the end of the summer or during autumn. (2) I expect you refer to delphinium blue butterfly. Seeds can be sown now. (3) Seeds of the lupins can be sown now. R.M. (Westmere) sends a sample of soil taken from the projections of a city building where it has accumulated for years. It has been tried in a greenhouse for tomatoes and other seeds, but is not a success. Is it suitable for seed growing if mixed with other soil?— Actually it is just dust, and is a kind of sand and leafsoil. Mixed with loam in equal proportions It would act in a similar manner, making the soil more friable. A large part of it is soot, and this is inclined to make it acid, but exposure to the air should sweeten it. F.G.B. (Penrose) writes: Your notes are . interesting and instructive, and are looked forward to. Enclosed is a weed which is making headway in my garden. Can you give me its name and how to get rid of it? Just a nower stem comes up, sometimes eighteen inches high, no leaves, the base is bulbous with a mass of roots.—lt is Orabanthe minor, a parasitic weed, which is being allowed to increase too fast. It attaches itself to the roots of a plant, particularly sweet peas, and eventually causes the plant to die an early death. The method of control is to pull up or cut off every head as it appears through the ground to prevent seeding, as it is by seed that the plant is perpetuated. TULIPS (Hokianga) asks: (1) How to make a piece of light, dry clay soil suitable for growing anemones, tulips, hyacinths and narcissi? (2) What varieties of cauliflower, and when to sow. to cive a succession through winter and spring?—(l) Dig and fork the land thoroughly: A dressing of bonedust or slag at th& time of planting will be necessary, scattering it in the bottom of the drills. Anemones will require the addition of cow manure or well-rotted stable manure can be used, but cow manure gives the best results. (2) Shortstemmed Eclipse, Early London, Veitch's Autumn Giant. Sow now and again in February. The seedlings will need careful watching to keep free of fly and aphis, tand I should advise you to spray the young plants. Do not; wait until aphis appears, but spray to prevent it INTERESTED (St. Heller's) writes: (1) I am desirous of having a bed of beauty stock flowering in May. How soon should I sow the seed? (2) Does the Australian dwarf red tomato need the laterals removed, as witli tne tall varieties? —(1) May is somewhat out of season for beauty stocks, owing to the inclement and wet weather that often occurs about that time. Another thing is, the seed, having to be sown in December, often suffers very badly from aphis, and, unless carefully watched, it is difficult to raise seedlings. Should the plants start to flower prematurely, it will be necessary to pinch out the central spikes. (2) The dwarf red tomato needs the same pruning and treatment as other varieties; the only difference is that, being short-jointed, it does not grow so tall.