Renovating Old Trees

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22468, 11 July 1936, Page 11 (Supplement)

Renovating Old Trees

The pear is tenacious of life and responds to renovating treatment well when growing under anything like fair conditions. There are many pear trees which require rejuvenating without the need for regrafting them with other varieties. The tops have become a tangled mass of spurs and laterals of a multi-branched and impoverished character. In such cases the top leaders should he thinned out by removing any that

may be out of place or molesting others considered more valuable. Jhe spurs should he thinned off, and those remaining duly shortened back to their parent shoots. In the sketch is shown a typical old, many-branched spur of the typo seen on old trees. The renovation by priming is shown in cutting back to the cross lines. Butterfly Flowers There are so many good points about the schizanthus, commonly sailed the " Butterfly flower," that every owner of ci greenhouse should grow a few for the show they will make in the spring months. It does not require much in the way of artificial heat, and is perfectly safe in a greenhouse or frame from which frost can be excluded. _ _ Few plants will give such quantities of bloom as the schizanthus, hundreds of flowers being out at once on a wellgrown plant, and these will last a long time where the atmosphere is cool and" dry. Plants from seed sown last March should now be in sninll pots well filled with roots and ready for the final potting. Many growers, though taking the plants through the early stages safely, fail from this point onward. Ihe chief failing is that after this final potting, the plants show a tendency to become thin and weak. This is always a sign of two things being wrong—the soil used is too light, and the atmosphere is kept too close and hot. The question of the right soil for potting does not mean anything more than seeing that the roots do not have too easy a task in entering into it. To accomplish this do not nse any leaf mould in the mixture, unless the loam is very heavy and sticky. Rather add some broken brick rubble and sharp sand to keep the mixture open, but not loose. If the loam is very poor add a little old manure, but do not overdo this. If potted too low the schizanthus shows its resentment very quickly by damping off. After the potting spray the plants over at least twice a day with clear water until they have got over the check of potting. Afterward two things are essential, namely, plenty of light and abundance of fresh air.