MISCELLANEOUS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1824, 5 November 1886, Page 8

MISCELLANEOUS.

Mr Butler, of -Belfast, exhibited a stand of 150 different blooms of carnations and picotees at a recent horticultural show.

As a general rule it is best in the culture of house plants to depend upon rich soil, but liquid manure is useful for rampant growers with full foliage near their time of flowering. A curious revelation has been made by a florist with regard to " Dutch " bulbs. He says that millions of the commoner bulbs are annually grown in the neighbourhood of London and exported to Holland, to be re-imported as Dutch bulbs at an increased price. One nurseryman alone sends half a million over each year. He finds it absolutely necessary to do so for the sake of his trade. People will not buy bulbs unless they come from Holland, and he has accordingly to send all his over there to be reshipped. A man who has tried putting tarrred paper around young trees to prevent mice and rabbits from gnawing the bark says it will kill more trees than the animals will.

At a meeting of the fruit and vegetable committee held recently at Chiswick, the collection of peas growing in the gardens were examined, with the result that first-class certificates were awarded to the following :— Fame (Eckford),a green wrinkled marrow, with large, deep, green, well-filled pods ; height, sft. Empress (Eckford), white wrinkled marrow, well-filled, large, broad pods, vigorous grower; height, sft. Seedling No. 16 (Wildsmith), a white wrinkled marrow, very long pods, strong grower, good cropper ; height, 4ft. President Garfield (Veitch), white wrinkled, large, well-filled pods, heavy cropper ; height, 3ft 6in. Seedling unnamed (Sharpeand Co.), a dwarf, wrinkled, blue marrow. Half a teaspoonful of liquid ammonia to one gallon of water is a good manure for house plants, and quite strong enough to be safe. A correspondent a week or two back described in our columns the trouble he experienced with a pest which he describes as the tutu bug. The following might be worth a trial in his case : — Get a number of pieces of board and tin and paint them with luminous paint; then hang them in the fruit trees and cover them with some sticky matter, such as honey, treacle, or any sticky matter sweetened. The moths will be attracted and will stick on the boards. When pretty well covered with insects they can be washed or again painted. The Husbandman recommends the following to prevent a very common trouble with cabbages. The remedy is not new, but is that adopted by nearly all growers: — "If a season of drought occurs when the cabbages have begun to head, the heads will harden prematurely, and then, should a heavy rain fall, the plants will 6tart into a new growth, and many of the heads will split in consequence. This should be carefully guarded against by going frequently over the piece while the heads are setting, and 'starting' every cabbage of which the head is nearly formed. A stout potato hook applied just under the leaves, and pulled to one side sufficient to break the roots lightly, will accomplish what is needed. If after having been 'started' in this way, some heads still seem inclined to burst, start these slightly on the other side. The heads of such plants will often attain, without bursting, to double the size they were at the time of starting." A New South Wales vinegrower asserts that the phylloxera vastatrix has existed for the last 20 years all over the Dalwood vineyards, and has done no harm. Commenting on the statement, the Australasian hazards a guess that the soil of the Dalwood vineyards is nearly pure sand, in which it is generally understood the phylloxera is unable to work, but our contemporary points out the fact that this does not prevent the danger of its spreading to other districts, but rather augments it.

The time to kill weeds is when they are growing the fastest. Soon after rain, as quickly as the soil can be worked without pasting, is the best time to hoe garden crops or to run the cultivator through the corn. The time when cultivation of the soil, for this alone and not for killing weeds is most needed is in hot, dry weather, for then the mellowed surface resists evaporation during the day and absorbs most moisture during the night.

A contemporary gives the following recipe for an insecticide: — Put half a pound of soft soap in one pint of hot water, and stir until it has dissolved ; add one pint of kerosene ; when that is thoroughly incorporated, add similar quantities of water, soap, and kerosene, and mix until all traces of soft soap have disappeared, The mixture will then be of the consistency of thick cream; then add two more quarts of water, place it in a jar, and cork tightly. The dose is one 3in (small 60) potful of this mixture to three gallons of water, and this is found to be perfectly harmless to all outdoor foliage, while at the same time it is certain death to all forms of aphides, thrips, and red spider.

The cabbage thrives best under abundant cultivation. If the soil seems to bake, or the plants show signs of disease, the cultivation should be more frequent.

If the lawn is not looked after, it inevitably gets ragged. The grass will die out in places and bare spots will appear. These may be raked or hoed to a good tilth, and grass seed sown thereon, or they may be sooner and better filled by grafting small pieces of sod therein. The best plan, however, is to graft in a few bits of sod, and also sow seed. One will help the other.

A writer on that great trouble of the gardener, the slug, says that of all the systems adopted for their eradication he considers his the best, and describes it in the Garden as follows: — The system I have adopted is, first, counter feeding; second, prompt destruction. My garden is an old one with an ivy-covered wooden fence and a long straigth hed full of perennials — so full that my friends think it dreadfully overgrown. There are patches of white rocket, oriental poppy, irises, pzeonies, lilies, carnations, and so on, and in front of all an alpine rock edging, and then the lawn. Here, then, is an ideal place for slugs, and we have had them in abundance. I put down little patches of bran on Btones, or on the bed near any plant which the slugs find toothsome. At night about 10 o'clock I sally forth, lantern in one hand and scissors in the other. At each of the little bran heaps used to be — happily not now— a round dozen or so df slugs; twelve snips across the middle, occupying the fraction of a minute, and my enemies are lessened by that number. The nightly average ww about 100, but occasionally the

sport was good and the bag doubled. The highest record for one night, with an assistant, is rather over 400. Now, however, things are different; so great has been the destruction that on the best of nights 20 is a good bag, while on ordinary nights there is no sport at all. Great is the change now in the appearance of the plants j instead of unsightly riddled leaves and flowering stems bitten through, wo have a vigorous clean growth, and even the broadleaved plantain lily is left untouched. It may be interesting to note the cannibalistic habits of snails and falugs; unfortunately they do not prey on one another in life, but a dead snail or two on the gravel path make an attractive bait. You may find the grey and black, but especially the great brown leathery slugs, harmoniously assembled around the remains, along with the common snail and his little flat relative. Still this bait does not compare with bran, and it cannot be recommended as ornamental.

The Govetnment agricultural chemist of Victoria has found in the course of his analysis of soils that the land cultivated by market gardeners of old standing is usually very rich in manurial matters, which are locked up in a slowly accessible condition. He recommends a regular application of quick or slaked lime at the rate of 3cwt to the acre in place of manure as the best means of liberating the manurial properties and make them accessible. This treatment should, Mr Pearson thinks, be continued for a series of years.