THE GARDEN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23685, 17 December 1938, Page 26

THE GARDEN

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS J. W., Port Chalmers.—Your apple trees are attacked by mildew. Spray with lime sulphur, 1 part in 60. You should not have pruned the roots of your apple trees, which are not making satisfactory growth. Give a mulch of well rotted farmyard manure or, failing that, a dressing of blood and bone manure, half a pound to each tree. W. It., Roxburgh.—A suitable dividing evergreen hedge would be Lonicera nitida. It does not grow too rapidly, and will not require any support. Ovalleaved privet would also do. , J. C. K., Milton.—Your apple tree is attacked by mildew. Spray with lime sulphur, 1 part in 60. W. C. Gaunt is a vigorous grower and should not have yellow leaves. Give a dressing of manure' as advised in this week's notes, and in the autumn lift and replant the bush in a wellmanured and deeply cultivated position. ** Amateur," Central Otago.—You should have allowed your cyclamen to ripen off, and after, a rest it would be ready to pot up again how. Keep it in a moist, partly-shaded position, and do not water too frequently. "Butter Bean," Clinton. The weather has been too cold and wet for butter beans so far, and that is the cause of your plants going off. The soil would not . be too sick and beans like lime. You should sow again in the warmest and most sheltered position vou have got. •Melbourne Street."—You should cut off the diseased parts of your lilies and burn them.' Spray with cozan sulphur or dust with White Island product. "Garden Lover,' 1 Peebles. —You should give your paeony a good mulch with well rotted farmyard manure. The plant looks starved. GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY Sow seeds of cinerarias, Chinese primulas, Canterbury Bells, wallflower and forget-me-nots. As soon as the cineraria and primula seedlings are large enough to handle they should be pricked out into boxes or pans. Old corms of cyclamen can be taken out of their pots, the old soil shaken off and then repotted into pots just a little larger than -those in which they flowered last season. Seedlings can be potted up into five-inch nots, in which they will flower. Continue to pot on chrysanthemums and tuberous begonias, and pot up seedlings of streptocarpus and gloxinias. ; Finish the thinning of grapes, pinch out side shoots of tomatoes and tie up to stakes or strings. Rooted cuttings of hydranges which were potted into three-inch pots some time ago, will now be ready to pot up into fives. THE FLOWER GARDEN

Keeping down weeds has been a problem this season, and advantage should he taken of every dry, sunny •day to'hoe the beds and borders. Continue to stake perennials, and to 'thin out hardy .annuals. . The planting of cLhlias should be completed and each plant should receive a stake at once. Stake and disbud border carnations, mow and roll lawns and keep the edges of paths and borders clipped. VEGETABLE AND FRUIT GARDEN Stick peas and beans, earth up potatoes, thin seedling crops and keep the surface soil, which has been beaten do\ra with heavy rains, stirred with the scuffle hoe. THE ROSE ; The rose, the queen of flowers, is having a rather bad time just now owing to the changeable weather conditions; still, the flowers are developing steadily, the colours of this crop were never better, and the foliage so far is clean and healthy. The duller and cooler conditions have favoured the dark reds and the art shades, and though a few of those with delicate, petals have glued together, they are the exception* This has not been a season for liquid manure, the soil has been too wet as it is, but a little stimulant can be given in the shape of a powder. What is known as Tonks mixture consists of superphosphate (121 b), kainit (101 b). sulphate of iron (lib), sulphate of magnesia (21b). and gypsum (81b). This is carefully weighed and mixed and applied to the surface soil at the rate, of four ounces to the square yard, and hoed in. This stimulates the second growth on which the next crops of flowers depends, and maintains growth to the end of the season.

As the flowers wither they should be picked off, and if the plants have made extra strong growth, a sort of second pruning can be carried out on the strongest shoots, to maintain a shapely bush. When cutting flowers for the house, it is an advantage to cut them with a fairly long stem, they arrange better and look better, and the pruning which is carried out is an advantage to the stronger plants. Though the foliage is practically free from mildew so far, it can be expected to appear on some of the

WORK FOR THE WEEICi 3.__ _ _ •'

NOTES BY nS?S^ »D. TAN NOCK, ARR.H.S^

varieties sooner or later, and it is better to anticipate an attack than to wait until it is serious. The first plants on which it appears are the wichuiarianas, and it has already been noticed on the buds of some of these ramblers. If left undisturbed it will spread and ruin the flowers altogether.

f, There, are several sprays' which can be used, and before the buds open there is none better than lirhe sulphur at summer strength, one part in 60. To help it to stick to the foliage a little soap should be incorporated in the mixture at the rate of half a pound to four gallons. While the flowers are open, it is better to , use a spray which does not stain, and Formaldehyde is recommended, a tablespoonful to a gallon of water. Bordeaux mixture, as prepared for spraying potatoes, is also satisfactory and so is Clensel and cozan sulphur.' When spraying it is most important that both sides of the leaves are reached, and it is better to spray in the afternoons than in the middle of the day, when i the sun is hot. Dusting is also effective, and some prefer to use flowers of sulphur, which can; be distributed With a powder gun. The sprays recommended for mildew are also suitable for black spot, but for green fly it is necessary to use a contact spray such as soap, or some form of nicotine. Both can be used, and one pound of soft soap can be dissolved in eight gallons of hot water and applied as hot as the hands can stand. A tablespoonful of Black Leaf 40 can be added to every four gallons. . The soapy water left after washing is quite I effective. ■ ■ \. Some years the brown beetle, the adult stage of the grass grub, is very troublesome. €riey eat off the ends of the flower buds, resulting in malformed flowers, and also attack the foliage. Spraying with arsenate of lead is the treatment for this pest. It is too soon to decide upon the merits or otherwise of the novelties, and it is remarkable that though there are numbers of new varieties sent out each year, with glowing descriptions and some with gold medals, and first-class certificates, there are only a few which are fit to displace many of the older kinds The following varieties have 3tood the wet very well and are making a fine display. They are branching, vigorous growers—just the kinds wanted for garden decoration and also for cutting for house decoration, though they may not be large or full enough for show purposes. Artgele Pernet has nice bronze -green foliage, and is vivid orange yellow and shaded fiery red. Madame Butterfly is one of the most reliable roses, and were a gardener confined tb one variety, he would probably choose Madame Butterfly, for it is equally good again in the autumn. Its colour is bright pink, apricot, and gold, and it is sweetly scented. Margaret McGredy has large, full flowers, orange-scarlet, and produced a little later than the others. Mrs C. A. Van Rossem is dark orange and apricot on a dark golden ground; Cuba has long buds, a com- | bination of orange, scarlet and Lincoln red; Dainty Bess is a most desirable variety for eutting for table decoration. It is single, salmon pink with a centre of crimson and gold. Etoile de Holland, though not an exhibition rose, is one of the best dark reds for bedding. It is very free and sweetly scented. Shot Silk is so well known that it needs no recommendation. It has beautiful foliage and a wonderful combination of colours, and remains attractive after it is fully opened. Betty Uprichard is soft salmon pink, the reverse of the petals being glowing carmine. v Mrs Bryce Allan is a strong grower and free flowerer, with excellent foliage. The colour 1 is soft silvery rose with a damask perfume. Lady Forteviot is golden yellow, deepening to rich apricot, the petals being of great substance. : America has a beautiful shape, is pink in colour, and is excellent for cutting. Barbara Robinson is cream and a vigorous grower. Mrs S. Paton is orange, scarlet and carmine, a wonderful combination, and an excellent bedding rose. Francis Gaunt is a vigorous grower, deep fawny apricpt in colour, toning to silvery flesh. Independence Day is sunflower yellow. Mable Morse has full, v/ell-formed flowers of a clear, bright, golden yellow. Ville de Paris vis a vigorous grower with branching habit, yellow sunflower in colour. Annie Laurie is an excellent grower, with flesh pink flowers with a golden yellow base. Portadown Bedder is orange yellow on the outside with a rich cerise flush. Portadown Sally is reddish crimson, running to a yellow base.' John Henry, one of the best red roses, is inclined to blue in hot weather, but is excellent this year. Covent Garden is a very vigorous grower, deep rich red in colour. The foregoing are all the varieties growing in beds at the Gardens, and one of each would make a good cottage collection. Another good dozen would be Joyous Cavalier (crimson), Ivy May rose (pink), William Orr (deep red). Earl Haig (crimson). Villa Pia (deep velvety crimson), Golden Dawn (sunflower yellow), Norman Lambert (golden yellow), Mrs G. A. Wheatcroft (salmon pink), Soeur Theresa (cadmium yellow), Picture (rose pink), Florence Izzard (buttercup yellow), Dame Edith Helen (pink).

GOOSEBERRIES AND CURRANTS Gooseberries are either pruned too hard or not pruned at all, and, when hard pruning has been carried out in the winter, the growth of young wood is excessive, choking up the centre of the bushes and preventing the sun from getting in to ripen the fruit and the wood. While still young, the unwanted growths can be rubbed out, but, if well developed, they will have to be cut. The extension system whereby fairly long growths of young wood are left is the best system of pruning, and the side growths should be pinched back to four leaves and the leading shoot allowed to develop to its full length. In the case of red currants, which bear their fruit on the old wood, the side branches can be pinched back like the gooseberries, and the main shoots allowed to develop to their full extent. With black currants it is better to rub out the unwanted shoots altogether, and allow the young wood, which bears the fruit, tc ripen properly. If either gooseberries or currants have not been pruned regularly it is better to allow them to develop as they may than to try and prune them now. They will bear quantities of fruit, but in time will become a tangled mass of branches, most of which are dead. Raspberries are also inclined to send up too many young suckers,

and as they bear the crop next season they should be thinned out, the weaknest being remved. Not more than six or seven should be left on each stool.