THE GARDEN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXII, Issue 9991, 30 November 1895, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE GARDEN.

THE FLOWER GARDEN". The floral carnival, arranged to take placo at Potter's I'addock next Saturday, promises to be a most brilliant success, and is befitting the season, ;i3 flowers are now everywhere so plentiful. Although a novel undertaking for us in this colony, floral fites such as now contemplated are of common occurrence throughout the States of America, where they are gone into in a whole hearted manner. Judging by tho interest now being shown, and contemplated preparation?, our citizens mean to have a good time, and display the floral products of cur province, in a manner that will bo a revelation to most of us. Our benevolent ladies are on the right track this time to enlist public sympathy, and bring together a vast crowd to participate in the festivities. The idea is a most beautiful one, tho picturesque surroundings, too, of the ground selected will add to the charms of the undertaking. The garden is now replete with a great variety of flowers, chief amongst them being the rose, owing to the very backward state of the season roses are now at their best—everywhere blooming in the greatest profusion. The climbing varieties trained up against the sides of houses and -verandahs, and also rambling over bushes and intermixed in tho hedgerows, present a wonderful display of bloom. Several of the early-flowering varieties of lilies are also in full bloom.

KITCHEN' GARDEN'. Now that the busy time of planting and sowing is over, with the exception of tho?e varieties such as peas and beans,' lettuces, radishes, mustard, cress, etc., that are wanted to keep up a constant succession, the cultivator will be ablo to enjoy a little leisure and watch the result of his labours during the last two or three months. All vacant spot! should now be fully occupied. Operations for tho next few weeks will chiefly consist in maintaining order and neatness, by keeping the hoe occasionally going to destroy weeds and cultivate the surface soil, staking tall-growing varieties of peas, tying up tomatoes to their trellises, thinning out and regulating their growths. Walks should also be kept clean of weeds and have the line stretched along the edges and inequalities rectified. The various crops present a healthy and flourishing appearance with the exception of melons and cucumbers, the cold wet unseasonable weather that wo have experienced for so long a time has been against tho:u, and many failures are reported, especially with those that were sown early, the ground being so cold and web the seedlings have made little or no progress. Slugs, too, have been more troublesome than usual. Fresh sowings should be made even at this late season with the hope of obtaining a late crop. Potatoes aro also doing badly where the land is wet and heavy, and those that are being dug for use are of poor quality and very watery when cooked," which is due to the excessive rainfall and sunless weather during thoir season of growth.. THE ORCHARD. This department will now require a good deal of attention. Tho numerous insect pests that fruitgrowers havo now to fight against render it necessary to use stringent measures to prevent as far as possible the destruction to fruit and foliage caused by the ravages of these enemies of the orchard. A short time ago I recommended the syringing of all apple and pear trees with Paris green, but tho weather so far has been so unsettled, rain falling at short intervals, that little good would result from the labour bestowed. However, if satisfactory returns are to be obtained the moth must bo attacked in all stages of development; not only is persistent spraying necessary, but traps should bo laid "to catch any grubs that escape from the fruit. Tio arouud the trunks and place in the forks of the tree bands of sacking, cloth, hay binds, in fact anything that- will form a harbour for the insects to crawl into. Although this may appear somewhat early to commence tho bandages it is better to be on the safe side. Early varietiee, such as the Irish Peach, Red Astrakan, and others, are soon pierced if they escape the poison and fall to the ground, when the grub emerges and escaves unless trapped by the bands. These bands should be examined at least twice a week, and the grubs destroyed. In this way hundreds of grubs will be destroyed that would otherwise soon develop into full-grown moths ready to attack

other fruits. ! If, syringing tha trefea with arsenical solutions and bandagiug was persistently carried oub by all growers of fruit, the moth would soon be reduced to a minimum,! and ,' very little loss would be felt. The fruit, too, should be - occasionally looked over, and any. that are pierced with the moth, immediately gathered, and the grubs destroyed. In addition to the codlin moth,'there, are many other pests that are a source of annoyance to fruitgrowers, throughout the spring and summer months. Leech, woolly aphis, black aphis, beetles, and other enemies all help to give trouble and labour to the orchardisfcs. The leech is the most troublesome and destructive of tho above pests, and need persistent efforts to keep them under, for they increase so rapidly and feed so ravenously upon the foliage of plums, pears, quince, locpiats, and others as to soon stop all growth. The most effectual means of destroying the leech is to syringe the trees with. hellebore powder, using a tablespoonful of the powder to lour gallons of water. The best plan is to fill small tins with water and place the tablospoonful of powder in each according to the number of gallons required, and allowed to soak about twelve hours. When using pour the contents of the small tins into each four gallons of water. If the trees ate attacked by the small beetle (calaspis), a small quantity of Paris green may also be added. Kepos.