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Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27226, 18 December 1953, Page 8

a second iou Some summer pruning will help to improve looks also. Flowering brooms soon get top-heavy and scraggy underneath. Removal of some of the prominent branches will promote a tidy growth for next season. Trimming the hedge also of projecting branches will also be effective. The lily procession carries on. Since last week, two more have flowered—the brilliant scarlet spotted Davidu and the lovely nankeeji lily, L. Testaceum. This is the cream counterpart of the white Madonna lily'and a very refined variety, COLOUR IN FLOWERS •‘Why is there no black sweet pea?” This question by Mr J. K. McAlpine after the writers address to the Progress League last week was of as much speculative interest. The writer replied that it had parallels in most other classes where one or more colours were missing. Nature had set rules governing these things—thus far and no further.” Science cannot overcome them and produce either a black or a yellow sweet pea. The London “Daily Mail’s” offer of £lOOO for a yellow pea. which was made 30 years ago, has not yet been taken up. Will there ever be a blue rose, a green dahlia, or a blue daffodil? I doubt it very much, yellow is the commonest colour in flowers, but even so it is absent or suppressed in some species.

VEGETABLE GARDEN The very favourable season is reflected in the forward condition of garden crops, green peas and new potatoes, with lettuce and cabbage, will be plentiful in many gardens, and succession can be got by sowing a row of late peas, dwarf beans, carrot, parsley, beet and radish. . i Climbing beans should be given supports and root seedlings thinned to about two inches. Dusting hortnap along the carrot row under the foliage will help to protect the plants from aphis, but if white specks show, a spray of nicotine sulphate should be given. • . „ . . Late potatoes growing well may take blight if the weather turns warm and humid; therefore the safeguard of spraying bordeaux shbuld be considr ered. This spraying is a preventive, not a cure, so that the risk of disease should not be taken where the crop is healthy and worthwhile. Tomato plants should be given attention to tying and watering at least once a week. Liquid manuring is wise with this crop even if the plants were put in well manured soil. They benefit from applied potash, and a handful of this can be put into the watering can. Lawn clippings can be used between the rows of young vegetables and tomatoes. They will soon wilt, but keep the soil moist in hot weather. To do well, peas must have a deep moist soil, hence ih dry weather they should be given plenty of water, eyen extending to a mild form of irrigation. Celery can be planted in well-pre-pared trenches at nine to 12 inches apart, and where space is available, cabbage, cauliflower and lettuce for the summer. , Winter greens—savoy, broccoli, Brussells sprouts, curled kale, and leeks should be planted out where ground is available. Give broccoli and sprouts 2Jft between plants. FRUIT GARDEN

Just now, one really must follow a policy of waiting for fruits to develop, for where a normal spraying programme, as advised previously, has been carried out. little further can be done, except in the case of the grapevine, where mildew may appear. This is a very serious and common disease of the vine, shows silvery on the voung leaves or as greyish patches on the older ones. It is wise to spray with bordeaux and nip off the affected shoots. Thinning of the bunches should be done, taking off up to a quarter of the berries, especially the undersized ones.