STOCKS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 81, 17 March 1933, Page 14

STOCKS

AVOID IROI BLE \\ HEA PLAMIAG I 01T. Mail) failures occur with the early lloweiing stocks and gardeners are con- I imually complaining about the plant j dying off without cause. The main i thing m growing good stocks is a sunny, dry position and a well-drained free soil. They cannot stand an excess of wet, and half the failures in growing stocks can be put down to excessively wet spells and indifferently drained soils; once the plants ar e thoroughly 1 checked by excessive wet at the roots they become diseased, and failure is then certain, 'lhe only way to combat 1 this is to plant them in a very open, t

sunny, well-drained bed. A tine bed of stocks can be absolutely ruined by a too free use of the sprinkler in a ' drought season. All stock seed will produce a fair proportion of single flowers. The very best strains, however, will give nearly 70 per cent, of doubles if every plant is put out, but if only the strong and earlier plants in the seedbed are used the proportion o( doubles may be increased to 80 per cent. When this is done all weaker and later plants should be rejected. As with most garden plants, the more select and choice the strain the more expensive it is to produce the seeds, the double Howers do not seed, ami the'greater proportion of them the less the yield. It is therefore essential to secure your stock seed from a reliable source, and do not under any circumstances use cheap seed.