GARDEN NOTES.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 13876, 29 October 1910, Page 7

GARDEN NOTES.

(By HokCT-8.)

GENERAL REMARKS

Droughty weather continues, and hopo of rain is almost lost by the impatient gardener. In spite of the dry weather growth among established plants is very satisfactory, owing to tho beat which has pushed on all kinds of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants. Another reason of the continued growth is that the ground is warm in contradistinction to its condition last October, which readers will remember was very cold and wet. Intelligent gardeners would prefer the present conditions to last year's experience, and although desirous of rain, would like it in moderate quantities, spread over several days. The present dry weather has its acivantages, in that fungoid blights of aU kinds have no chance of increasing, and the fight against such blights will not bo necessary should the summer be a bright and sunny one. Tomatoes under glass are doing well, and the crop promises to be a largo one. Growers need a good season to recompense them for their los_es of last season, tliis the result of fungoid diseases. Should the summer be warm and dry, peach curl will not trouble growers very much, and growth should do strong and vigorous. Tho only fly in the gardener's ointment this season is the tiamage dove by the frosts on tho morning of October 6th. This has pioveel io be more serious than was at first known. In the fruit garden, peaches, apricots, plums, and cherries, which promised superabundant crops, aro now almost without a fruit. Walnuts also have suffered in seme places, especially in low-lying places where the frost was specially severe. Roses have sutiered in some districts, some kinds especially, the frost proving how tender some of the newer roses arc. [> {a ck and green fly are prevalent, and shou d have attention at once. They should be sprayed more than once, otherwise they soon increase. Tho best applications are often those of a cheap nature. Hot water (as hot as the hand will bear, or even hotter), if syringed on these blights, trill kill. If soft soap is added, so much the better, or common

soap as a substitute. A packet of Hudson's washing powder in about lo gallons of water, applied hot, is anpther good insecticide. McDougal's insecticide is an excellent preparation for destroying either green or. black fly. It has the merit of killing the insect without harming the foliage of tho plants.

PLANTING TOMATOES

Those who crow tomatoes in quantities ior market purnoses are now starting to set out tneir plants. If set out any time during the first fortnight in Aovembcr, the plants will vivid their | fruit quite as carlv as those who have planted during October month. The tomato requires a warm soil and climate and a sunny, open position. Its fondness for heat and sunlight has gained li U },° sobriquet of "the child of the sun. ' *fh 0 main point in the successful cultivation of tho tomato is to see that it has a steady and unchecked growth from the sowing of the seed to tho ripening of tho fruit. An American grower of considerable experience, writing about it, says:—"lt is true that the plant- will live through considerable degrees of cold, wet, drought, and other untoward conditions, and often seemingly recover from their ill-effects and make a vigorous growth. But we believe it is truo that any check in the growth of a tomato" plant, particularly if it occurs when tho plant is young, will surely lesson tho quantity and lower the quality of the fruit produced. This is a strong statement, but we are convinced of its truth by score* of experiences. All our experience with tomatoes convinces us that the first and great essential to the best results is a steady, constant growth from start to finish, but more especially when the plant is young. For tomatoes, we prefer a field that has been made rich by fertilisation in previous years; but if manure is used, we aim to havo it thoroughly worked into tho soil. There is no crop in wliich this is of greater importance than with tomatoes. If wo havo to depend on commercial fertilisers wo select those comparatively rich in nitrogen and potash, and work in two-. thirds of it just beforo setting the plants, and the balance some four or five weeks later. Wo prcnaro the field by ploughing as early as it can be worked, and repeated re-ploughings or deep working until at the timo the pLnts are set it is a deep bed of mellow, friable soil We cultivation the (lay after the plants aro set out, running the cultivator a.s deep as possible, and go through again every two 01 three days, as long as the plants will permit; but wo aim to make each cultivation shallower than the preceding one. until it becomes a mere stirring of tho surface soil."

VEGETABLE GARDEN

In the vegetable garden -work .hould now bo we.. in hand. Early potatoes will need regular moulding up, and may be stimulated with some fertiliser, applied only during showery weather; if _p, lkd curing dry weather, watering cv..h.ad v.uh boss or can will be necessary. Ihe same treatment may bo dealt out to beans and peas; sprinkle fertiliser around tho roots, and then draw the soil about the plants, after which water overhead. Late potatoes should now. bo planted, and these will stanel some stimulant in the wav of artificial manure applied at tho planting time. A manure rich in potash is the best food for tho potato, in virgin soil no such stimulant is necessary. French beans and scarlet runners may now bo sown in quantities. Avoid the common mistake of growing these too close together ; set the seeds anything from 4 to 8 inches apart; this will give much better and larger returns than it grown thickly together. Pumpkins and marrows, if sown any time now, will make immediate growth, tho heat in the soil insuring them against either retting in tho ground or remaining stunted.

VIBURNUM TOMENTOSUM

One of tho very best flowering shrubs ii bloom at tho present time is Viburnum Tomentosum. It is not well known, as there aro only a few specimen plants of it in tlie Dominion. Tho few plant-that are in bloom have attracted much attention, and thero will be a considerable demand in the future from those who have large borelers or shrubberies. It belongs to the same family as the Guelder-rose, but tho flowers are built flat and broad, and display themselves along the wholo length of tho branches, which are set out in a spreading manner. The colour is yellowish white to" almost a puro white. Later in tho season the plant is covered, with fruit, which is decorative, ospeciallv before they change to black. VIBURNUM MACROCEPHALUM. This is a glorified Guelder-rose, bearing masses of blooms of nn enormous size, and in appearance similar to a largo bloom of creamy white hydrangea. Tins novelty is represented in but very low garden.'; in tho Southern Hemisphere, and known to but very few horticulturists. It is another of tho good things from China, no doubt introeluced to commerce by the well-known botanist Fortune, after whom it is sometimes' called.