SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 119, 22 May 1941, Page 15

SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED

LIME.

A correspondent, "Limejuice," writes from Highland Park: "I would like to know would it be harmful to apply a little more than Boz of lime to the square yard, well worked into the soil. The lime I have is that very fine white powdered variety, almost like flour." Eight ounces per square yard is the maximum amount advocated unless the ground is an old swamp, when up to 12oz may be used. A greater amount might not do any appreciable harm, but neither would it give any better results. As to working it into the soil, it is quite a good I plan to give it a raking or forking over after sprinkling over the dug ground. If merely sprinkled on the surface it is apt to form into a crust when it gets wet. As to your other question, "Where to procure reliable 'Cos' lettuce seed?" I am afraid I cannot advise you. Are you sure the fault ■was in the seed and not in the cultivation? Try sowing in boxes or on a bed with slight heat below if possible. A frame is very xiseful, while the ordinary rubbish heap gives quite a considerable heat if properly stacked and trodden down. A seed box placed on top of such a heap and covered with a sheet of glass would be almost as good as a frame. PLANTS FOR A CIRCULAR BED. "Scottie," Kharidallah, wants to know what flowers would be best to grow to make a nice show in summer and autumn and over as long a period as possible. Why not plant roses? They have a long .flowering period; in fact, two flowering periods, the autumn flowers often being as good as the summer ones. You could plant pansies, 'violas, or other low-growing things like polyanthuses, as a border, or even.all. over the bed between the bushes, and'these would sflower in the spring. Forget-me-nots also make a good carpeting for roses. Dahlias have a long flowering period. If" planted early they commence to bloom about Christmas and continue till the end of May. The "charm" varieties are

best for bedding, being comparatively dwarf and bushy. UNFRUITFUL LEMON TREE.

"Lemons," Lower Hutt, has a lemon tree which flowers all right, but from which the fruit drop when the size of a pea. This tree is thought to be a "Lisbon." Another lemon tree only a few feet away bears well. He also asks | what to do in case of blight on the lemon trees. It is hard to say why one tree should bear and the other fail to set fruit. It is possible they are different varieties. All kinds are not equally hardy, and the Lisbon may be rather tender for your locality. It might be worth while to move it to another part of the garden. This sometimes has the desired result. Liberal supplies of nitrogenous manures can be given with advantage. As much as a pound or more of nitrate of soda per tree is not too much. For scale blight, spray with white oil. SHRUBS FROM CUTTINGS. "Fiacre."—Lasiandra and Bougainvillea can both be grown from cuttings. The former can be propagated from cuttings of the growing wood under glass and the latter from cuttings of half-ripened wood placed in sandy soil in a brisk heat. The best time to take the cuttings is in the autumn and manure is not required. If used at all it should be; put well down, with the base of: the cutting resting on fairly coarse sand. SHALLOTS DYING PREMATURELY. A correspondent from Island Bay writes that about half his crop of shallots died off prematurely and discovered on lifting them that they were infested with "slaters" or woodlice. These are among the worst enemies of the gardener and being nocturnal the damage they do is not realised. They are difficult to eradicate, the best method being by trapping them under rotten boards or damp sacks laid where they are known to be. Upon lifting the boards in the morning the insects-will be found under them and they may be brushed off into a bucket of hot water. You would be wise to use a soil fumigant before using the ground again for crops of any kind, i Various proprietary fumigants may be j obtained from any seedsman. I

Now in 3 Sizes: l/ 10, 4/2, 8/3,