WHANGAREI GARDENING CLUB

Northern Advocate, 4 July 1928, Page 8

WHANGAREI GARDENING CLUB

TWO INTERESTING ADDRESSES

There was a giod artendanr

Monday night’s meeting of the Whangarei Gardening Chib, held In the Y.W.C.A. rooms.

Owing to unavoidable circumstances, Mr Dennehy was unal le to attend, and Air W. A. Given very kindly took his place and delivered a most interesting and instructive ad-, dress on ‘ ‘ Potatoes. ”

Potatoes were one of the most useful varieties of vegetables known The

potato belonged to a family which contained traces of poison, and even the potato itself had poisonous properties, especially when green.

'The United 'States claimed that the potato ranked sixth in the most impor tant crops, but outside it probably ranked second, after wheat or rice. Germany was one of the biggest potato producing countries in the world at present, the yield being as much as SO ■tons to the acre, of which perhaps 50 per cent, was used for consumption and the rest for stock and starch mak-

The potato is a native of Chili, Peru and parts of Mexico and it was introduced into England in Ififio by Sir Francis Drake. Afany years elapsed before the tubers assumed any size, and Italy was responsible for the potato as we have it today. In Italy it was developed during the 19th century by selection and breeding, and it amply illustrated the old saying, “Healthy parents produce healthy children.” There were various methods of propagation, the main being by artificial crossing and by natural means.

Potato .blight was first discovered in Germany in about 1840, and it rapidly spread to Europe and the TT.R.A. Ireland was affected badly, and the disease was commonly called Irish blight.

The soil for grow.ng potatoes should he well drained and plenty of organic matter should he introduced.

Mr Given then described a series of experiments ho had carried out at the Whangnrei High 'School, and illus-

trated his remarks by specimens, many of which had been kindly lent by Mr Stringer for the occasion.

“A few words might not be amiss on the treatment of blight,” said Mr Given. Spraying was the commonest means of blight control, and Bordeaux Mixture was one of the best sprays. The result of the experiments carried nut had been very instructive, and some useful information had been gained. .Superphosphate was one of the bos-, manures to use, while bonednst was equally as effective. In conclusion, Mr Given road some extracts on potato growing, but lie remarked that most articles on potatoes were very non-committal, and that a person had a perfect right to use the experience gained by -himself

Mr Given was accorded a hearty vole of thanks for his -fine -lecture.

THE ROMANCE OP GARDENS

M iss Wigley then spoke on “Tlie Romance of Gardens,” and gained the hearty applause of her listeners for the able manner in which she treated her subject. She -dealt with the gardens of our childhood, the Garden of Eden, and later, of Gethsemane, and passed on to the medieval gardens of Italy, Spain and Portugal. > New Zealand -gardens were young and simple, but there wore very many beautiful ones. In the far South the garden of Mr Sidey, of Summer Time fame, was well -earned out and full of vivid colours, while further north there was the garden of Sjr Heaton Rhodes, filled with flowers and billbs. In the -Cashmere Hills was the garden of Professor .1. MacMillan Brown, a blaze of colour, sometimes too vivid to watch. In Christchurch, Wellington and Hawke’s Bay there were some magnificent specimens, -and in Whangarei itself there were some very beautiful gardens. They looked as if their owners loved thorn, and after all the love and affection a gardener bestowed on them was what made a garden. The rise and fall of the world’s markets did not affect the average amateur, but the failure of his own crop made him a broken man.

Flowers brought back m:t 7l y romantic associations; 111 • 1 logo riels connee.te 1 wiilli their origin and the quaint old names immortalised I* y poets of bygone flays.

“The perfect garden lias never been seen,” said Miss Wigley, "but we strive ourselves to produce better gardens than ever seen before.”

■Miss Wigley was heartily applauded for ber able address and a vote of thanks to iher was carried unatvimonslv.