THE GARDEN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 224, 21 September 1907, Page 3

THE GARDEN.

ORCHARD

As pears and apples come into bloom it will be easy to discern how far each variaty of tree has been thinned and generally shaped according to its needs. While the buds are unfolding, do some thinning of crowded spurs and their blooms. See also to the tops of trees that they may have abundant light, and not be be able to make double growth at the extremities. It will be plain enough, shortly, what degree oi openness proves most conducive to setting and the even distribution of fruit. Naturally the most vigorous trees will bear with the most open branches and spur arrangement, and it will probably be an advantage to thin me new • wood as well as the old—that is, when shoots have grown to four or six inches in length, as then they snap off easily and save a lot of winter pruning. The root borer is already above ground, and it should be the rule wherever this this pest is prevalent to go through the orchard systematically every second or third day from this time on till the complete unfolding of the leaf. The eye soon becomes accustomed to detecting the borer on the bare wood, and a lot of ground can be covered in a day by one in earnest to check the pest. Bandages are a great help to trees which have been badly riddled by borers, and the bandage should be as heavy as possible. Old sacks cut into four strips cr canvas of equal size will not be too large to place round the trunks of trees. Of course, these bandages do not prevent the ascent of the borer, but they tend to keep the bark soft, stimulate the flow of sap, and thereby heal the wounds the insect has made.

Burn nothing but dangerous rubbish. All litter which is not infected by any insect pest or disease should be collected and placed where trees stand in need of mulching. Old hay and straw stacks, if they can be soaked with water, will decay sufficiently to make splendid orchard mulch. The man who keeps his eyes open to see whatever exists in the form of humus and a soil dressing, and-regularly applies it to his trees, is bound to receive a good return for his labour.

KITCHEN GARDEN. Sound carrots, parsnips, turnips and beets which are well grown and in danger of running to seed at the approach of warm weather had better be lifted, cleaned and pitted, or placed in a cool and dark shsd. Carrots keep well, and lose nothing of their flavour or crispness if their crowns are cut clean off and th%cut part dipped in fine wood ashes or dust-like earth before storing in ashes or sand. Turnips, too, keep best if all their crowns are pared off and then allowed to dry for a day or two in the open before pitting or storing. Parsnips and beets keep best when putaway with tKeir fine roots carrying a^ good deal of soil, but the leaves should' be twisted off so as to prevent rotting. Prepare all parts of the kitchen gar- ! den for crops of some kind or another, for it is a mistake to let any ground go unoccupied during the summer season. A gcod breadth of pumpkins, marrows or tomatoes may cost next to nothing once the land is prepared and planted, and one year with another these crops pay well. This is the time for preparing all available land and sowing such things as will yield a profit. Peas and other heaw seeds require to be sown a little deeper from this time onwards, and the looser and lighter the soil the deeper they should be planted, but in no case should the depth exceed 2 to 3 inches. Keep the hoe going on weedy soil carrying crops, and pick out such things from the seed beds as call for removal. y FLOWER GARDEN. Prune off all ragged and frost-bitten leaves from plants of all kinds, cut dead or dying limbs from shrubs, tie creepers and climbers into position and continue to plant out all hardy and desirable plants which are ready. Greenfly on roses.—Almost as soon as the green leaves begin to show upon the rose trees the green fly puts in an appearance also. There are few of him at first, so few that the grower is often disposed to treat the attack as of no consequence, and allow-things to take their course. A fatal step. Those early greenfly—there may be but two of them—are the potential parents ci: 'thousands. The grower need not stand upon the order of the killing. There are almost as many remedies for green fly as there are green fly, but the handiest ir> in the useful thumb and finger . With only a few green fly to kill, the use of the fingers is not unpleasant, especially if a small water-can with a lang spout, and a fine but free sprinkling rose is also used. _ This, filled with water, is carried in the right hand, and directs a fine spray upon

the death dealing fingers of the left hand at the actual time that they are engaged with the enemy. Not only does this plan do away with the unpleasantness of sticky fingers, but it also washes the rose shoot clean, and man even clear away small gresn fly, of tender moments, lurking unsuspected among the foliage. Later in the season more drastic measures may bo advisable. Any wash used should have incorporated with it something that will prolong its stay upon the pests. Soft-soap, treacle, and brown sugar are all good means to this end, but the best of the three is the first named. With soft soap as a foundation, useful mixtures may be made with either Quassia, tobacco, or paraffin; but whatever is used should be thoroughly amalgamated, and where possible boiled. Small and concertrated quantities may be prepared and diluted to any extent at the time of using them. Unless the wash is altogether too strong, it should be left on the trees, and not syringed off. Violet culture.—ln a quiet corner of England is a homestead of an acre devoted to the culture of the violet. The two women who farm the acre say that no manner of earning a living or of increasing a slender income is more delightful than theirs. A little hard digging only—only about a fortnight in the twelve-month—is done by men. Violets do not grow in marketable quantities so readily as the public might think. Long rows of frames are full of blooming violets which need tho morning five o'clock air, plenty of water, and warmth at night when frosts are about. Violets are heirs to many ills, and several sorts of affliction, especially the dread red spider. Tho women are up at five every summer morning, and seven in the winter. They send their violets to the English markets from October to April. From April to June the clumps are planted out under frames for autumn cutting. From June to August the land lies barren, when they go holiday making.

LIME FOR THE SOIL

The Ohio Experiment Station gives this simple explanation of one action of lime:—"lf the lime is mixed with manure an odour of ammonia will become apparent. This means that the lime is liberating the ammonia from the manure, and that it is escaping into the air. If lime be mixed with tha soil, similar action will take place. If a crop be growing upon soil, it may absorb part of the escaping ammonia, and a larger crop will result; but this larger crop is made at the expense of the soil stores of plant food, and if these stores 'are not maintained by manuring or fertilising, the soil will scon refuse to respond to lime, because all the material in it upon which lime can act has been drawn out, and the soil is poorer than if no lime had been used."