EARLY APPLES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22030, 9 February 1935, Page 8 (Supplement)

EARLY APPLES

KEEPING QUALITIES MAKING USE .OF CROP I The average home garden that contains a limited number of fruit trees seldom produces a superabandance of apples, and it is desirable that there should be no waste. It is a comparatively easy matter to look after the late and long-keeping varieties once suitable storage nas been arranged, but the early-maturing varieties, wnich are capable of retaining firmness and quality over, a short period only, need a little care to extend materially their Beason of utility. An unripened dessert apple is of no use. If the fruit is gathered early for keeping until it is ripe, it will be ruined, for the loose skin will hang in folds on the shrivelled flesh. That is the point of marked difference between the early and late sorts. Not all the apples on the tree ripen at the same time, those on the sunny side ripen before those in the shade, and full advantage may be taken of this fact, in making the fruit from a limited number of trees go as far as possible. Go over the trees from day to day, gathering as many as are required for immediate use and taking care to select the most forward at every picking. It will be found that the smaller fruits will go on improving, and will hang for a lengthy time even when fully ripe. In this way the apples from a single tree will, if there is a reasonable crop, provide fruit over a period of some weeks, and that fruit will be in first class condition.

It is worth while when gathering fruit, to notice any period during which there is a gap in supplies. It will then be possible, when the time

arrives to,> plant, to put in one or two trees of a variety which will fill the blank, so that k continuous supply may be assured during the period when home grown apples are in season. If'it is desired to hasten the ripening of a variety, an application of potash should be made. Nitrogen, on the other hand, will delay ripening to some extent. It is, of course, too late to make these applications when the fruit is on the trees, but it is a point worth noting for future use. Where two trees of one variety are grown in a garden, one may receive a dressing in spring of potash, and the other of nitrate of soda, so prolonging the season of that particular variety. In planting new varieties with the aim of giving a continuous supply and self-fertile varieties are not planted, care should be taken to obtain those which will be cross fertilised by the varieties already iri the garden. It is disappointing ,to plant a number of trees, and find when they reach the fruiting age that they will not crop because there is no apple in the garden which will fertilise the blossom when it opens. EUCOMIS PUNCTATA THE PINEAPPLE FLOWER Several specimens of Eucomis punctata have been received lately for identification. These bulbous plants from South; Africa belong to the Liliaeae family, and it may possibly be that the abnormally warm season has induced them to flower out of doors in greater profusion than usual. Though usually grown as a greenhouse plant, Eucomis punctata will thrive out of doors in a warm and sheltered position. The soil should be a well-drained, sandy loam. The bulbs should be planted three inches deep and not less than six inches apart. From the tops of the bulbs, which are three inches in diameter, a tuft of leaves appears each year; they are about 18 inches in length, by three inches wide, light green above, and sometimes spotted with purple beneath. Each bulb produces a flower stalk, about 12 inches in height, bearing a spike densely crowded with green starshaped flowers with purplish anthers. The flower spike is topped by a cluster of leaves similar to that produced on the fruit of the pineapple. ROCK PLANT SEEDS Many of the rock plants will have formed seed pods, some of which may be allowed to ripen, as the fresh seed obtained in this way is in the best possible state for sowing. Some seeds, such as those of the various dwarf dianthus, germinate quickly, while others, like the 'lris pumila and varieties, may require six to eight months before the tiny grass-like spathes appear through the ground. It is a good plan to sow theso slow-growing seeds in a specially-prepared pocket in the rock garden, marking it with a wooden label, with the name in indelible pencil, so that the site is left undisturbed. CEANOTHUS AMERICANUS The leaves of Ceanothus americanus were at one time used as a substitute for tea; from this fact arose the popular name of " Jersey tea." During recent years it has been found that an important drug, with definite blood coagulating properties, can be extracted from the root bark. It is said to be extremely valuable in cases of I haemorrhage. 1