AUCKLAND DAHLIA SHOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 49, 27 February 1937, Page 6 (Supplement)

AUCKLAND DAHLIA SHOW.

The annual dahlia show or the Auckland Horticultural Society is to take I place in the Town Hall on March 4 and •">. and the promise nt the moment is tor a good display. The season so far has l>ecn good. and although tliere has I been the usual troubles as regards pests ! and diseases none has Keen beyond the i average, perhaps because we know better i how to deal with them. Tliere is ~tili the weather to ho considered, and every precaution should be taken to see that : stakes and ties are secure. Although t there are only a few days t.> the actual 1 show there is time for a storm to do a lot of damage. It is too late, for this ? show, for manure to have any effect ii|>on the blooms that are opening, but if feed- ? ing has been generous up to this, and I the plants are vigorous the blooms r should be of good quality. Whether c they are better than your neighbours' c can only be told when they are I measured tip on the show bench. The !> dahlia has made a permanent home in i> Auckland and is grown by everybodv. and from it< popularity a stranger t> would certainly anticipate that the Town !i Hall would not hold half the exhibits. To those who have to run these shows j, the plain truth is that it is sometimes difficult, owing to lack of exhibits, to . fill the hall. It is not due to want of t enthusiasm either, for on boat. bus. and tram, one can hear so and so's dahlias are the finest and largest ever seen, etc., t showing that we appreciate and like to c produce and look at the largest and best blooms. It must bo due to what scientists might term a "dahlia inferiority complex.'' and there is only hi one cuie and that is to get right in on p the exhibiting craze. You will havt ii no inferiority complex once you get a •. dose of dahlialgia. The time to start v is right now, and if you have not yet e eent in your entries, just write or ring e the secretary. Auckland Horticultural s Society. Imperial Kuildiug- Queen Street. Auckland. 1.. u :■! _i,. \ ( >u e every assistance. .L lit lies close "on , March 2.

- Mire pan.-v bloom next spring. True, | one seed in every four, or even less, | will develop into a sturdy plant because i of the struggle for existence, so do not ■jexjiect too much. Seed of the best j | pansies comes to us from England, but f ! «'(' have socialists of our own who r : have devebqied strains in which size and " colour are the chief characteristics. ? With us. form has been given less con- ? sideration: in fact, diversity is an added r I attraction: but some wonderfully deli- ' cute colour shadings are to be had. ' l'ansy seed is best bought by strain 1 rather than by named varieties, for the 1 maintenance of quality is accomplished ' only by rigid selection by s|>ecialists. I If it is desired to perj>etiiate any parti- * iiilar flower, it can be done by taking II cuttings. Seed may be sown this month " i in a freshly-made soil ;?iat is a little j -andy and was well manured for a pre *" | vious crop. Water, sow. and cover one--1 sixteenth of an inch with light, sandy -oil: press lightly, and water again. l> Damping off is the cause of many e losses. As a preventive dust over the " bed with powdered sulphur. The young ; plants must lie kept watered and grow - I iug. If the seeds dry after germination II i all is lost. Seed can be sown in the '• "pen and lightly mulched. Pansies arc * easily grown if started in summer, and > nothing will add more to the gaiety ol ® the garden all through the spring and j until next midsummer. c!

.j PEACHES. o!

t " t I'eaches from wliicli the crops lia\ • Ihhmi jrathered should receive attention, v Tlie tree* always iiroilnci far moiv n shoot- than can he acconi'iioda ted. If e they were <li*htiiMe.l art lie proper tune a in spi-ii|._;. tiicr,> will l>e little to cut awa\ t now except the shoot- that havi hornc t fruit or should have done -o. These will g fruit next \ear. and they should lie tied iljup temporal il\ . witii raflia. aftc: the o'i Hi fruitiii.lt snoot has ecu cut awav at tl: u, point indicated. Thi- shinning enaliicn | them ;o jr< t more liplit and air, and thev will rij'eu their vvochl better.