THE GARDEN

Evening Star, Issue 19724, 26 November 1927, Page 19

THE GARDEN

'wmK FTO TOE WEEK* ;

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THE VEGETABLE GARDEN Keep down weeds by the frequent use of the hoo and rake. Do this often and when the ground is dry. Do not allow them to become so large as to go to seed, or the after trouble will be greatly increased. French and runner beans may still be sown. : Sow peas for succession. The main crop varieties should be used for these sowings. Take advantage of cool damp days to plant out celery. Give the trenches a liberal supply of w'cll-rotted manure. Plant out leeks in trenches similar to those for celery if good large and long sticks or roots are required; hut where only moderate size sticks are the object then they may ho planted in double or treble rows aud not quite so deep as with celery. Another point is that leeks will endure a warmer and dryer situation than celery requires. Earth up potatoes before they become very large, or they will be injured in the process. If desired, late kinds may still bo planted, provided good sits can bo procured. There need bo no fear of them not doing well. They will thrive, planted now, as well as if planted earlier. Plant.cabbage, cauliflower, and first division broccoli, also Brussel sprouts and savoys. Thin out beet. By careful management tho thinnings may bo transplanted wbon not sufficient lias been sown at tho start, or another sowing may still bo got in. Sow lettuce, radish, mustard, and cress, also onions for salading. Marrows should be planted, as previously advised. Cucumbers in frames wall require attention by way of airing and thinning out of young side shoots to prevent over-crowding. JSlaters or wood lice are very troublesome where cucumbers are grown. They attack not only the young leaves, but are very partial to the fruit. Thank goodness there is something that will keep them in check, and I know of nothing better for tho purpose than Paris grun. Put some of the powder in a pepper castor or a cocoa tin with a few small holes in tho lid, and dust this around the woodwork on tho inside of the frame, and they will soon disappear. THE VINERY Continue with the stopping or pinching out of latterals and sub-latterals. This work should on no account be neglected, for good fruit cannot be had otherwise. The vines in cold vineries should be setting their fruit now, and these may be assisted to set their fruit more freely by occasional sharp raps or shako of the vine. By this sharp shake the capsules of tho bloom will be released more readily and fall to the ground and consequently will give a better set of fruit. Ventilate freely from the top only. During the sotting of the fruit the bottom or front vents will not bo required in use until tho ripening process starts, except on very warm, sunny days where tho temperature is inclined to go very high. From 75 to 80 degrees is a good growing heat and quite safe when, the top vents arc open. Keep the vines growing freely by occasional good waterings. If the vines bo planted on the inside that is where the vinebordcr extends both inside and out. Needless to say, outside vino borders do not require waterings. This season they get enough from above. THE FRUIT GARDEN A very important work in this department just now, and a work which no good fruit grower will neglect, is thinning out tho fruit, apples particularly. Stone fruits, such as apricots,' peaches, and nectarines, if showing largo numbers of fruit in clusters, should be thinned out. First-class fruit cannot bo procured when grown in bunches. Apricots are very free setters unless lato spring frosts have occurred. These will thin them for you, and, unfortunately, too severely. By regular attention to thinning out the fruit when grccu and small you are i not only improving the quality of your fruit, but it keeps tho trees in hotter fruiting condition year after year. Even the good old gooseberry should be attended to. You benefit here in two ways: By thinning out the fruit now vou have green gooseberries for tho market which fetch quite a fair price should one wish to dispose of them, or bo used for culinary purposes at home. Then where the thinning has been carefully attended to much finer fruit will develop for the ripening, ranch superior and linex* than those nob attended m this way. . Wall fruit trees require attention by thinning out surplus growth aud tying in or nailing in leading shoots wliere vacancies occur. All surplus or breast wood should be removed to allow light and air to have full play upon tho fruit and wood for its development and ripening in due season. - Keep down suckers of raspberries by digging out or frequent use of the hoo. Keep a sharp look out for recently grafted fruit trees to see that all wax or other covering are still made secure. Topdress between tho rows of strawberries with stable litter or lawn grass mowings if this has not already been done. THE FLOWER GARDEN Continue the work of planting out all kinds of bedding plants. The ground conditions have been very favorable of late for this work. Usually one has to advise giving young plants a good watering after planting to settle the soil about them, but there have been rare occasions when this has been necessary this season. Remove all dead flowers- and seed pods from spring flowers.' Polyanthus do much, better the nest season if seed beads are removed before they, become a. drag on tho plant. Pansies and violas are kept in flower for a much longer period, and do better if tno faded flowers are kept regularly picked off. Even narcissus tulips, aud suchlike plants should nob he allowed to , develop seed pods unless it bo desired to save the seed. Rhododendrons remove all faded flowers from these as 1 soon as flowers have faded. They will 1 develop tho young wood much better 1 for next season’s flowering. ' Disbud roses aud keep a sharp lookout for leaf grub and green aphis. | Hand picking is tho only remedy for . tho former, but green fly is easily got ; rid of by spraying with aphis wash or hot soft soap water with a teaspoonful of nicotocide added to a watering can of the wash. Hoe and rake beds and borders to keep down weeds and admit air to the soil. Mow and roll. lawns regularly, and clip verges to give a neat and tidy appearance. ANSWERS “Tomato.”—Tho tomato leaf or shoot forwarded is affected with whah is known as brown stripe. I have seen several this season affected 'in a like ’ manner.' 'lt is a fungoid disease generally affecting the top of the plant first and working downward. There appears to be no real remedy for tho trouble ■ onoe the plant is attacked. I advise pulling the affected ones out, and dust around and over the surface soil with quick lime and spray the plants with , Bordeaux mixture. ’ This will keep mildew in check, which may make its appearance now at any time. I have geen it already at one place I yisiteo.

“ Beginner ” asks what is tho cause of his tomato blooms dropping off mstead of forming fruit? Tomatoes dropping their bloom as you describe is caused by two extremes—excessive moisture with a stuffy atmosphere and being too dry at the roots, also rank growth through overleeding. Admit air freely on warm days, but avoid .cold draughts. Not • knowing conditions, I could not say which of these causes is responsible for tho trouble. ‘‘Learner” wishes to know ■when broad beans should bo topped. It is when they have set a fair crop of beans rather more than halfway rip the stem. , The object of pinching out tho tops is to check top growth and cause the beans to fully develop - to the top, which they would not do ii left to continue growing. A good many pods near the top would not fill at all. 1 H.C. LARGER-FLOWERED TULIP SPECIES The larger and moro showy tulip species possess a very real garden value, which may be turned to good account if only they were moro easily obtainable in quantity (writes Ralph E. Arnold, in the ‘Gardeners’ Chronicle’). I well remember reading an eulogy by that lover of bulbous plants, tho late Rev. Joseph Jacob, upon a long border of T. praestans, which he had seen in full flower in the Zwancnburg Nursery, Holland. Even to imagine such a feast of color is wholly pleasant, and to actually visualise such a display must be to witness something incomparably sensational in its intensity. However, such species as may ho obtained at reasonable rates are well displayed on a rock garden or in a border devoted to choice bulbs, where little .colonies will render an excellent account of themselves. Tulipa Kaufmanniana is, of course, easily procurable, and is a choice and well-known species; it is a variable flower, usually with a ground color of palest primrose, sometimes with flames of carmine on the exterior of tho perianth and the same color round the yellow base; this same base is gloriously displayed by tho open “ WaterJily-like ” flower —a sunset suffusion of orange and yellow. T.K. aurea is deep yellow, and T.K. coccinea is bright scarlet with a yellow base. There are several other more or less distinct and wholly varietal forms of this fine tulip. T. Kaufmanniana came from Central Asia in 1877, and is figured in Bot. Mag., t. 6,887. It is early flowering. T. Grqigii is a gorgeous tulip, introduced from Turkestan in 1873, and has never been very plentiful; a distinctive feature of this species is the chocolate markings displayed by the broadlyoblong,, glaucous leaves. The perianth is colored an intense flame red, and possesses a dark base bordered with yellow: the stigma is large, tho anthers bright yellow, and tho peduncle pubescent. T. Fostcriana, introduced from Bokhara, is intense vermilion, a wonderfully, colored and noble flower; there is variation in tho basal coloring, some flowers having dark bases and others pure yellow. • T. Eichleri bears some similarity to the foregoing species; the coloring of the large flower is bright crimson-scar-lot, with a black blotch spread over the whole claw of the perianth segments and bordered with yellow: it somewhat resembles T. Gesnenana, the chief point of difference being tho pubescent peduncle, not present in Gosner’s groat tulip. T. Eichleri was introduced from Georgia so long ago as 1874, and is figured in Bot, Mag., t. 6191. T. praestans was introduced from Bokhara in 1902, and is a singularly striking species with very light, bright green foliage and brilliant vermilion flowers, several on a stem. T. .Oculns-solis is very near to and possibly synonymous with T, praecox, and is a very fine, bold-growing tulip 1 from tho South of Franco and Italy, whence it came in 1825; the segments arc bright red, with a black blotch that is bordered with yellow; tho flower is supported by a stout stem. It is a very desirable plant. T. Mauritiana is an attractive species, with a bright red flower and a. yellow base; the flowers are unusually persistent, and tho species is a “good doer.” It is probably a variety of T. Diclicri. T. Gesneriana is a variable species. The typo has a large perianth, campanulate, the segments sometimes bright red ‘with a very obscure basal blotch. The quaint and variable Parrot tulips are referred to T. G. dracontia. Tho form sold as T. G. major is a magnificent garden tulip. T. fulgens is a scarlet species, with a yellow baso and yellow stamens. T. Kolpakowskiana is also a variable plant, the color of the segments ranging from bright scarlet in some forms to bright yellow in others, with a basal blotch of black and yellow. . A pretty variety has deep golden yellow flowers, shaded externally with rose. T. Kolpakowskiana is a very fine and very old large-flowered species; it was introduced from Central Asia so long ago as 1577, and is figured in Bot. Mag., t. 0,710. T. Hagin has dark brick-red flowers, occasionally tinged with yellow, ou stems 14in to i6in long; the flowers possess black and yellow basal blotches. T. Sprengeri is one of tho latest of tulips to bloom; the flowers are fiery orange-scarlet, shaded externally with yellow and embellished with golden anthers. Wo owe much to the Russian botanist, Regel, who introduced several tulips from Central Asia , some fifty years ago,, including T. Greigii and T. ' Kaufmanniana, and to Mr C, G. Van Tuhergen, jun., who organised expeditions, and was responsible for such i fine gems as T. Fostcriana and T. praestans. The lato Mr H. J. Elwes | did much good work in this direction, | introducing some superb species. I have not referred to tho score or ; more of smaller and very pretty tulips, but have confined my remarks to those | larger-flowered species which should bc- ; come popular and magnificent, garden plants, so soon as they 'are available in quantity. REGISTERED PLANT NOVELTIES L * ; The following plants have been registered with the Federation Horticolo > Professionelle Internationale: — > Rose Distinction.—Polyantha, dwarf > (remontant); a fixed sport from Joseph ’ Guy; a flower of similar size; color rose neyron red,' turning to deep rosy pink. Rose Marie Gouchault.—Hybrid of Wichuriana and multiflora; light red, ' turning to salmon pink, flowering three f weeks before Dorothy Perkins; good 1 for forcing. 1 Rose Tis Blanc.—Polyantha, dwarf, • clusters of twelve to fifteen flowers, j large for the section pure white, centre i suffused with cream > Rose Seduction.—Dwarf, clusters of ) fifty to sixty flowers; very lasting; : peach blossom color. i Rose Madame Dolmas.—Very vigori ous, large foliage; color cherry red; • very scented; keeps well and does not • get blue. i Rose George Perdoux.—A H.T. . variety suitable for grouping, Flowers

light copper and carmine, in bundles of five or six. ' • Rose Mario Menudel.—Flowers single, on long and strong stems. Color similar to that of Her Majesty, with a lemon-pink centre. Good for forcing. Sambucus nigra splendcns.—Large foliage with golden-yellow markings; very consistent. CLOGS FOR GARDEN " Many year? ago, when in Lancashire, I rather pitied tho vast . army of people who wore clogs, as it seemed to mo that they must be hard, uncomfortable, and -heavy ” (writes a correspondent in tho ‘ Gardeners Chronicle’). “However, finding ordinary boots of a typo substantial enough for tho garden utterly unwearable, as they hurt my feet badly, I tried a pan 1 of light clogs with low uppers, and was astonished and delighted to find they kept my feet dry and comfortable, and wero far easier to wear than hoots. Clogs aro not quite tho thing for long outdoor w&lks, but for field or garden use there is nothing better or more comfortable. They aro cheap, hut the leather in them is not so good as it should be for resisting wet and must be kept well oiled. There is no reason, however, why ono should not have a pair built of better leather. No gardener who has one© used clogs will go back to boots for uso_ in his work. I am very enthusiastic in advocating clogs, after years of experience of them in my own garden.” BOW TO STRIKE CUTTINGS. Some plants, particularly those that are hard-wooded, are difficult to propagate by striking if ordinary methods are employed. Try this plan: Tightly plug with a cork a din pot; place it in a Gin pot; fill the intervening space with loam carrying a top layer of sharp sand; insert the cuttings between tho two pots; and keep the inner pot filled with water. By means moisture is applied to the cuttings in just sufficient quantity through tho pores _of the 4in pot, and no further tending is required. If tho grower will take the extra precaution of sterilising the loam in an oven before putting it in, no weeding or other irritating operations will ho necessary.