Home Gardeners’ Meeting

Northland Age, Volume XVI, Issue 22, 13 December 1946, Page 3

Home Gardeners’ Meeting

Beautiful Display of Gladioli Last Tuesday was Gladioli night at the Kaitaia Gardening Circle’s monthly meeting, the table in the Library rooms being none too large j to hold the collection of glorious blooms exhibited by members. Mrs. J. B. Dykes gave a very interesting and informative talk on the growing and showing of gladioli. In addition to derailing the type of soil, situation and treatment most suited to these blooms, Mrs. Dykes passed on a number of hints on preparing spikes for show purposes, and even touched on the fascinating study of hybridising. At the conclusion her talk, Mrs. Dykes, assisted by Mr. Moor of Oruru, selected a number of spikes from the large variety displayed, and on these members tested their judging ability. First award went to Mrs. K. Douglas, whose spike of Picardy was outstanding. Mrs. W. Flinn secured second place with a beautiful sample of John Ramsey, and Mr. Roberts obtained third place with a “Roberts special’’ (Ninth Symphony, according to the nurserymen). These three exhibitors will receive respectively 3,2 and 1 points towards the season’s points trophy. A Sense of Humus A short, informal discussion was held on the production of and benefits to be obtained from compost. Mr. A. F. Garton, who has experimented extensively with compost, passed on to members much of his experience. “To my mind,” said Mr.

Garton, “soil must live—and to live it must be fed.” He stressed the need for developing “a sense of humus,” and pointed out the advantages of securing fermentation instead of decomposition ifi the compost heap, mentioning milk as an excellent activating agent. He illustrated this point with the experience of a southern farmer who kept two large tanks at his cowshed for the storage of liquid manure to be later spread on the pastures. The odour from the decomposing manure was not always pleasant, hut the benefit to the pastures was immense. One day this farmer accidentally spilled a large quantity of milk into one of the manure tanks—and within a few days the unpleasant odour had entirely disappeared. Decomposition had given place to fermentation. Carrying the experiment further, the farmer discovered that his pastures received an increased fillip from the milk-impreg-nated manure ; in fact so great was the increase in growth and butterfat i production that pigs have now been banished from the farm —all skimmilk going back ohto the pastures. Both Mrs. Dykes and Mr. Garton were thanked for their contributions to the Circle’s knowledge. New President Elected Mr. A. F. Garton 0 f Oruru was j elected. President of the Circle, re- j placing Mr. J. Archibald whose resig- ; nation was accepted last month. j Next Month's Meeting The competition for January’s meeting (to be held as usual on the second Tuesday of the month) is a collection of six varieties of flowers or vegetables.