TO CORRESPONDENTS,

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 83, 8 April 1933, Page 6 (Supplement)

TO CORRESPONDENTS,

ONIONS (Tauranga) . asks : Will you tell me the reason why. young onions die off? Each year my seed comes Up all right, but after a few weeks most of them gradually disappear. TO try and. avoid this I SOW my onion seed in' a different place each year, but in fairly rich ground.—lt must be duo to disease present in the soil, probably mildew. Try the following method: Prepare a piece of ground, make it firm, water it with a solution of disinfecting fluid (this can be obtained at-any store), 1-100, allowing about one gallon to the solution to eacn square yard or to each three-yard run of drill. Let the ground lay for a week, then sow some onion Seed. JUBt before sowing the seed wash it or let it soak for a few minutes in a Wine-coloured solution of permanganate of potash. The use of horticultural naphthalene sown on the prepared ground and raked In a Week before sowing could be used as an alternative. Shall be glad to hear result of- above. W.M7R. (Matata) asks: (1) How to grow seedless barberry from cuttings,- and what wood to take for cuttings, (2) Can seeded barberry and fcoxthorn be grown successfully from seed, and how to grow?—(1) Vake cuttings of seedless barberry now. The current season's growth makes good Cuttings. Make them about nine inches long, remove lower leaves and insert the cuttings just over half the length in the soil, (2) Sow barberry and boxthorn seed now. The seed is best sown in drills in the open ground, or you can make up a small bed and sow broadcast, The seeds must be kept down. The seedllngß grow quite readily, and if they do well they can be transplanted into lines about next September, but if too small they can be left till autumn, when they can be transplanted.

AMATEUR (Morrinsvnie) writes: I have . had some cabbage- and cauliflower plants growing in a very warm place, and at the end of the week only the stalks were left, the leaves having disappeared. Could you tell me the cause and the best way to cure It?—lt must be due to an insect pest. If the plants were small seedlings it may be due to cabbage fly. Prepare ft piece of ground and scatter horticultural naphthaleno at the rate of one ounce to the Bquare yard to three yards run of row. Rnko it in and then draw the drills, sow the seeds, cover them and scatter another dusting of the naphthalene on top. Let me know the result. E.C.S. (Hount Eden) writes: I planted a . lot of gladioli bulbs. Out of these only about half a dozen bloomed at all, some of the others threw up What promised to be a bloom, but only resulted in a green stem with empty pods. About half of these bulbs were planted in a bed cut out of a lawn, which was well trenched nnd fairly well manured; also a good coating of wood ashes. The soil is a good loam. Can you tell me, through your gardening notes, what was wrong, and if it is any Use planting the conns again next season?—A sample of the corms would have given a better idea of the trouble. I should think it is due to scab. The cure for this is. to soak the corms in a solution of formalin, one ounce to tour gallons of water, for thirty minutes, then dry them. The soil is not at fault, and the idea of the corms being spent and useless is also faulty.

Letters received from C.W.H. (Thames) and J.D.J. (Auckland) answered next week (Ed.)