LILACS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 61, 9 September 1937, Page 26

LILACS

As flowering shrubs for early spring lilacs are great favourites, but the one complaint is that they flower so little, or fail to flower altogether. In the great majority of cases the cause is to be found, in the masses of suckers they have sent up. To produce good heads of flowers it is necessary that the bushes should have vigorous, wellripened shoots, and such a condition cannot be expected while so much of the nourishment,:is being, wasted, on useless suckers and weak branches generally. All suckers from the root stock should be pulled or cut away as low down as possible, and it always pays to remove a fair proportion of , the weak inner branches. This will;-re-sult in additional vigour to the remaining growths and better ripening

1 This is a slow, laborious task, ; and t it is not advisable to attempt, top much each season. If one quarter of ' the garden can be done each, year the ' whole will be got over every four r years. This trenching or double dig- : girig increases the depth of fertile soil , and gives the roots of the; plants a; larger field of operation, resulting in I better growth. As much - vegetable ; matter as possible should be worked ! in during the operation, especially.into ; ; the! lower portion, and if a sprinkling ; 'of lime is added to the vegetable matss ter it will help it to decay and im- ■ prove the texture of the soil immea- ; surably. Soils vary so much that no hard-and-fast rule can be laid down, as to, fertilising. It may, however, be stated definitely that sandy soils which are composed principally of finely broken stone requires as much-humus as-pos-sible, and in addition where-it is obtainable cow or pig manure. Heavy, clay soils which are difficult to keep open" should be treated with coarser humus in the form of straw tor stable manure, and always < benefit by the addition of lime which, however, should not be applied at the, same time as stable manure, as it causes-the ammonia to escape into the air. ' Frequent cultivation by means of hoe, fork, or rake is one of the most important points, regardless of the itature of the soil. This,, of course, cannot be done while the surface "is wet, but whenever conditions' are at all favourable it should . be' resorted to. It will surprise those who have not tried it to see how the plants wilt respond to this treatment. In the winter time it warms up the soil wonderfullyand during hot dry weather it does more good than a lot of watering. of the wood. A good mulch of rotted1 cow manure after flowering will give the bushes added vigour, and if the ground is inclined to get very dry during the summer a good soaking should be given once every now and again.