TO CORRESPONDENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20288, 22 June 1929, Page 5 (Supplement)

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

'•Section." To Puke.—Almond nuts to hand It is not the variety Burbauk, which is a thin-shelled almond. The proper name is jMona Vale, a hard-shelled kind, and is easily distinguished by its habit of growth. Tho common European or Italian olive i 3 very erralio here in fruiting, often taking 10 years or more. Tho worked varieties fruit much sooner J.A.R., Mount Albert.—The caustic --odaalkali wash is not recommended for peaches and nectarines. Lime sulphur and Bordeaux are tho most approved sprays for those fruits. S 8., Fukekohe.— Lemons to hand. 'I hey are badly infested with scale and the knotty condition o£ the small. fruits denoloß the disease called verrucosis. lieatmenl loi scale- Dress the trees at once, or later 11 there is still young .growth, with the caustic soda-alkali wash, using from 2oz. to 2*oz. of the prepared mixture to the gallon o£ wat«Well spray to get at the undersides of tho leaves, using a fine nozzle, lor the verrucosis: As a preventive, soon after the fruits have set, spray with Bordeaux mixture, half the usual strength, repeating the dose every fortnight until about a month before the fruit ripens. Sprar tlie trunk and larger branches with full-stieiifcUi Bordeaux mixture or thin whitewash. Apply to the surface under each tree lib. or rr.ore of sulphate of iron. (live the trees phosphate and potash manures. Avoid organic nitrogenous mauuro and see that the drainage is good. G S City.—Name of flowering shrub is Crotaiaria 'laburnifolia. belonging to the order leguminosae.

J.W.P . Thames.—Be treatment of kitchen garden wliioh ia over-run with, yellow oxalis: Spray the tops with a reliable weedkiller at once or before .tho young bulbs have formed. Take Ulb. of caustic noda and lib. of white- arsenic. Dissolve in a little water and dilute to 10 or more gu.lons. Do not, allow any of the mixture to coroe m contact with the crops.-. Dig, down deeply before the bulbs have formed or fork up to the surface, gathering up ami spray nr.'; with Btrong solution of above mixture, , Ina will soon lessen the oxa is. Dressing vacant ground with waste suit from the fellmoiitrery is an cffectunl remedy, but renders the Kround unfit for rceropping for some time. A heavy dressing of sulnhate of ammonia i 3 an easy method of killing the tops and afterwards acts as a fertiliser " Isnotus," Henderson.— Specimen to identify is tho common balsam (impatiens balsam'ina), a well-known prising several colours, some prettily olotcnea in single and double flowers. It is a native of tropical Asia. W.M., Cambridge.—Tho best system o training the vine with a singlo horizontal rod on each Bide is the vertical or upright oil wires. The extreme points Ham upright, allowing about four intermediate shoals on each side, and one central, also trained upright,, making in all 11 upright shoots from the horizontal canea. onice the one along the lion so is old, belter results could be obtained, as you suggest, by renewals " Cherry,'' New Lynn.—Naturally the black mulberry is a large-growing tree. it may be trained against a wall or dwarfed by proper pruning. Tho fruit ootained would not be sufficient remuneration for the Boace it occupies. Cherries: Chapman, a California!! variety, and Bigarreau J ellisier are both tall growers of symmetrical habit, but may be successfully cultivated as dwarf standards, or they may be trained as cordons. | A.M.11., Hanmer. —Gladioli bulbs are liable to sport, but do not revert to the original parents or species. By luting annually and planting at the proper seasons, with good cultivation, they reproduce 11no. It sometimes happens that _ the improved hybrid varieties are planted in beds, where the old sorts have been growing, whscb come up and outgrow them. E.E.F., Hiwira.—Name oE tree from which leaves (ire sent is tho Liquidamber Styraciflua. tho sweet gum of North America, a most distinct and ornamental deciduous tree in all stages of growth; It is remarknnlo for tho colouring of its autumn foliage. The leaves are very fragrant. " Ardmorc."—Name of weed is F.richtites Atkinsoiiii. It belongs to tho order tompositae, a _ small genus. _ The species are natives chiefly oE Australia and Tasmania. A feiv are of American origin. Kei>o3.