HORTICULTURAL JOTTINGS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12069, 12 September 1902, Page 7

HORTICULTURAL JOTTINGS.

Fop. the first time ii the history of Kew Gardens a pair of storks have mode a neat and hatched a brood. Grape vines kept properly trimmed make one of the best plants to grow near the beehives to furnish shade d»-' ■« the summer mon-h;. It has been remarked that not often Joes a really good now grape make its appearance, but Reine Olga has been awarded a first-class certificate by the Royal Horticultural Society of London. It » said to be perfectly hardy even in England, and is w superior flavour to the famous Gros Colman. Ita berries are large and black, and its bunches weigh a pound and upwards. it ripens every year outside in England. Early in August a great rest fire was raging in the Tuolumne Mountains, in California. The famous Tuolumne Grove, which contains some of the largest trees in the world, was threatened with destruction. A number of Soldiers and civilians were fighting the fire, but it was doubtful whether they would be' able to save more than a portion of the grove. The authorities at Kew Garden? appear to be determined to abate, by all means in their power, the fearful smoke-fog which hangs like a pall over the gardens all too frequently during the winter days. Sir W. Richmond recently stated that after « period of this fog no less than six tons of sooty matter were removed from, the glasshousos at Kew, so that the need for remedial measures is very apparent. It is generally considered that black currant bushes are best pruned as scon as the foliage falls. Merely thin out the older wood, find cut clean back those .-hoots which intercross or which haw got bent too near to the ground. Red currants must be very closely pruned, and, in the case of old bushes, it is a commendable praotice to allow strong, young shoots to grow up and occupy the place of those that are worn out. Fannie M. Wood writes as follows: — John tliii.-s ho has no time to tend the garden, and it falls on my shoulders," said a farmer's wife. I notice John has time to go to town for a half-day at a time. It is not the time he lacks, but the inclination. Says I to myself, indignantly, "There are too many Johns who expect their wives to look after cows, calves, orphan pigs, and lambs, arid tend the garden besides." Helianthus mollis is not a new sunflower. but it appears to have been deserving of the Award of Merit granted by the Royal Horticultural Society on account of its distinctness. It is of very erect habit, and the steins and under surfaces of the leaves are covered with a thick white down. The petals of the flower are in two rows, and the colour is bright golden yellow; the centre is darker.

A Kansas Experiment Station bulletin wisely suggests the careful selection of seed wheat from the standing grain. The heads selected should be large, well formed, well filled with plump grains. The grain from these heads should be sown thinly upon good soil, under favourable conditions, and may furnish the seed for the main crop the following year. If this process of selection bo continued wheat may be bred up to a high standard as readily as corn or any other crop. Amongst the very numerous kinds of fruit raised by Luther Burbank is a white blackberry, of winch he speaks in the following terms:—'"The well-known Lawton Is, when ripened, unsurpassed, and very generally known as the most productive market berry. Owing to its fixity of race it will reproduce itself from seed almost exactly, and its seedlings will not be influenced when raised from seed pollinated by other varieties; but it readily imparts its good qualities when employed as the staminate parent. One of the great-grandparents _of Iceberg was Lawton. The first generation of seedlings, when crossed with ' Crystal White, wero all black; the second also, though varying much in other respects; but the third produced this wonderful plant, hearing the snowiest white berries ever seen. Very little attention was paid to the long rows of crossbred descendants, until one day the berry was discovered among its black relatives, with the canes bending in various directions, with their load of delicious, snowy berries, which aro not only white but so transparent that the seeds, which are unusually small, may be seen m tho berries when ripe." AORICOLA.