OPERATIONS FOR THE WEEK. Miscellaneous Notes. FRUIT-GROWING.

Otago Witness, Issue 2358, 4 May 1899, Page 8

OPERATIONS FOR THE WEEK.

Miscellaneous Notes.

FRUIT-GROWING.

KITCHEN GARDEN.—Beds may be prepared in light soils and favourable situations for a sowing of early peas early this month, •working the land deeply and well. It is useless to plant in heavy soils at this time of the year, however. Too much manure must not be put in for early.peas, choosing, rather, land that was well manured for the last crop. Early crops of broad beans must bo' hoed and the* soil kept moved about them as soon as well above the ground; also growing crops of cabbage and cauliflower must be kept open on the surface. Main crops of parsnips _ should be Bown 'during this month; the earlier*sowings must be thinned out as soon as fit to handle. General clearing up of all the "garden quarters should take place! Turn over the manure heap if not well decayed. FRUIT GARDEN.—The pruning of fruit bushes, such as gooseberries and. currants, may now be proceeded with at any time, and will provide work for any spare time. The odd canes of raspberries should be cut away, and a dozen new canes retained to each stool. These ought to be tied neatly and others dug out. The planting of strawberries may still be done. The ground intended for these should be dug deeply and have good well-rotted manure worked in. In planting the best plan is to uso either a trowel or a small hand fork, the hole for each plant being sufficiently large for the roots to be spread out, instead of being put in a compact mass, which often leads to disappointment through tho plants not making headway in the formation of ciowns. Where the ground has been prepared, as previoufly directed, the planting of fruit trees and bushes may also be proceeded with during the month, with' the advantage that they will get a good hold of the ground, and give a return of fruitnext season. ' FLOWER GARDEN.—Roses should now receive attention where it is intended to replant or increase the number of plants grown. There should be no cause for further delay in commencing to plant, which may be started forthwith. We advocate early planting, before the soil becomes too cold and wet. If planted early the roots have a chance to heal and become established before the winter sets in. The risk of failure is very much reduced by early planting. In planting, the soil should be thoroughly well worked to a depth of 18in to 2ft, adding a liberal dressing of decayed manure. jßoses should be planted in beds by themselves as far as is possible, as then special treatment can be given them as they require it. They ehould be planted 3ft apart each way; prune l>ack the roots to sound wood, removing all Ijroken or damaged parts. Plant firmly, not too deeply. Do not prunethe tops after planting; in fact, they shoiild not be touched until after the worst of the winter is over. Amateurs often make a mistake in pruning back the of plants at the time of planting. This should not be done, as it is a double check upon the plant. Sufficient time should elapse between planting and pruning to allow the roots to heal. No time should now be lost in planting out all kinds of spring flowering bulbs, such as hyacinths, tulips, ranunculi, £paraxin, ixias, etc., working the soil deeply, and enrich with well-decayed manure. This is a good time for transplanting and the rearrangement of flowering and evergreen shrubs. .Where alterations are contemplated no time should be lost in giving effect to them. GREENHOUSE.—Pelargoniums which have been repotted must gradually have more air admitted to thorn, or they will become drawn and weakly. Later cut-down plants should now be ready for striking out and repotting, keeping them close for a week or two, as before advised. Cinerarias and primulas must be looked over for green fly, upon tho first appearance of which they must be fumigated with tobacco smoke two or three evenings in succession, as this pest, if allowed to increase, will quickly spoil the plants. The greenhouse and frames must be kept somewhat warmer on the approach of frosty nights by closing up e'&ilier. The process of damping down must aleo be discontinued.

VINERY. — As soon as the leaves have fallen glape vines may bo pruned. Any time during tho month will do for the operation, but it should be remembered that vines are not so liable lo bleed when the pruning is done this month as. they are if the work bo deferred until later on- All the loose bark should be scraped off, and the vines painted with, some insecticide, Crishursl'a compound being probably the best and safest. It can readily be obtained, with directions lor use. Every part of the vine phould be painted, and tho lotion rubbed in at *U the joint*

Fruitgrowers must be on their guard against the introduction, of a scale insect, " Diaspis Amygaale," when importing trees and plants from Japan. It is a pest of the most dangerous description, if anything worse than the much-dreaded San Jose scale. This species has already attracted attention in England, America, Ceylon, Australia, Jamaica, <and other fruit-growing countries, who trace the origin, from trees, etc., imported from Japan. MANURING. HYACINTHS. The " Gardener " gives the following particulars for the manuring of haycinths: — When a hyacinth bulb, is obtained in autumn from a salesman it" 13 understood to contain embryo leaves and flower spikes and sufficient food material to develop both with. the aid of water. This supposition, is annually verified by the many thousands of bulbs grown in glasses. Knowing this the questions arise, Are fertilisers essential in the soil of those grown in pots, and if so, why? Looked at casually, we would be inclined to think fertilisers unnecessary, and perhaps when normal growth and blooms are the only aims of the oultivator this is so; but if. we wish exceptional spikes and. abnormally large flowers we are forced to acknowledge otherwise. Again, besides merely developing the embryo leaves and* flowers of the- imported bulb, it might also be desired to have a supply of ; flowers from the same bulb fort a number of ! consecutive years. By thus considering the objects we have in view, we are able to facilitate the result desired. In aiming at large flow"er spikes, fin© individual blooms, and good colour it will in most cases be nece"ssary to add potash and phosphorus to- the soil at potting time. One shovelful of wood ashes or lib of sulphate of potash and lib of mineral superphosphate to every barrow load of soil, well mixed in a month before being used-, will form an excellent compost, so far as plant food constituents are concerned. If there should be any want of vitality in the plants— apparent by soft, .flabby leaves or the leaves curled over at their edges — then' assistance will ba indispensable iii the form of a nitrogenous maaiure. The best form in which this can be supplied is nitrate of soda, at the rate of half an ounce to two gallons of water. Of course nitrate of soda should be used with discriminating intelligence, for an excess will have a tendency to the production of large, soft loaves and a deficiency in the colouring of the flowers. But being a manure that can be withheld and applied at will — not remaining long in the soil — growth can bo so regulated that all excesses can be guarded against by its rational use. Should the aim of the grower be to cultivate the hyacinth bulb for a number of years, and have an annual crop of flowers from it, the leaves ought to be encouraged immediately the flower spike is fully developed. This is done by increasing the available nitrogen in the soil. With a fortnight's treatment of an increased strength of nitrate of soda, a- top dressing of mineral superphosphate should be given, but only a light one. Repeat the> application of phonphoto every 10 days, till the leaves show signs of ripening. This will enable tho bulb to f ovm another crop of leaves^ and flower, and lay up a. store of food sufficient for their normal development.' Treated in this manner the same hyacinth bulb continue* to .annually yield good spikes of large, wellcoloured flowers, and proves that even though j cheap it might be economy in some instances j to grow the bulbs at'home. NEW AND OLD VARIETIES. There are one or two points in connection with planting fruit, that should never be lost sight of. The first is to as far as possible adapt your kinds to the soil. lam quite aware of the fact that if this rule were rigidly carried out no new kinds would ever get a chance, but I say, " Try new kinds by all means, but only plant a tree or two." Some of our best market sor{s will flourish and crop splendidly in stiff, heavy soils, whereas if planted on light, stony land they seldom ciop, and the tree refuses to thrive. "Do not plant too many varieties " ; an acre or j two of each kind is none too much, in fact ' our big growers nowadays have many pieces of 10 acres all one kind. Jumbling up some . dozen or 20 sorts in one plantation is one of the curses of our home-grown stuff. Our j friends tho Americans know far better than we how to cater for British markets, and they j restrict themselves to some six or eight kinds, ' whereas I suppose our farmers do not stop at i 106, many of which are absolutely useless for gale. DISEASE FROM PRUNING. The practice of planting varieties that are naturally strong-growing in confined spaces, where restriction is a necessity, has led to the inevitable result, that the tree 3 refuse lo bear, and the more they are cut about the more unsatisfactory do they become. Everyone wants to grow Blenheim orange, from its acknowledged excellence, but the question is, how long will it take to get really fruitful trees of it ? Of course one can get such va- I rieties as this worked on the paradise stock, i which is the most natural way of dwarfing ! trees. Unfortunately, many do not take this i -precaution, and the dwarfing has to be done ! with the knife, with the result that the trees I begin to die back, and canker soon finishes their career. Only a few days back I was looking ovei a fruit garden where the trees are of just the same size to-day as they were 20 years ago. The close pruning is slowly killing them. Some kinds that are naturally of weakly growth conform to this mode of pruning and remain fruitful for many years, but others that make strong wood are quickly ruined. We often hear it said that such kinds can only be grown satisfactorily as standards, but this is a mistake ; all that is needed is free, almost unrestricted, growth, and this can be just as well given to broad-based, widespreading dwarf trees as it can to trees that aro on stems 6ft or 7ft high lo begin with. In this locality we get very rough gales of wind, and in the autumn, when the fruit crops are nearly ready for gathering, we usually got a succession of gales of wind, and the closer we can keep the head of the tree to the poil the better. If the soil is loose on the surface, as it should be. in all well-cultivated fruit gardens, the fruit that gets blown off from low dwarf trees will suffer but little compared with that from standards. Trees that are dwarf and spreading aro very easily furnished from tho base with a succession of young and fruitful wood. All that one has to do at pruning time is to leave sufficient growths of the current year as near tho base as possible to grow on for a year or two to replace any shoots that it is de3irable to remove. There is no question but that young soft wood carries finer fruit than old, hard, knotty spurs. Every kind of apple has a distinct habit of growth, and while some bear best on spurs, there are many that make their best" and finest fruit buds on the- tips of last year's wood. Any attempt to make a collection uniform in growth must militate against fruitfulness. - i4J£Efi GSOC&L Gf}*wf)flS in th? Field,-

In view of. the approach of the planting season the following article, written by Mr ' E. J. Fitch, assistant Government pomologist, for the Wyndham Farmer, and published by our contemporary some months back, should bo of interest to fruitgrowers throughout Otago : — When recently visiting the settlers in Wyndham and surrounding districts I was surprised to see that so little interest was being taken in the fruit-growing industry. Certainly- mosfc of them have small orchards — or, more correctly speaking, a few fruit trees planted'— which are expected to produce crops of fruit without any further attention, either as to pruning, spraying, manuring, cultivating the ground, etc. It is hardly necessary to say that the results under these circumstances do not come up to expectations. I was pleased, however, to see that some of the growers who really took an interest in their orchards, and were spraying to combat the different blights and pests with the various insecticides and fungicides recommended in Government Leaflet No. 10, were well satisfied with the results obtained. In every in- • stance where the lime, sulphur, and salt wash j as a winter remedy for scale had been used, . the result was most satisfactory. One enthusiastic grower in Wyndham, whose beautifully-kept garden I must say did him infinite credit, drew my attention to the satisfactory results he had secured by the persistent use of the Bordeaux mixture (bluestone . and lime) as a preventive for apple scab. This season only an apple her.c and there was ~ affected by this fungus, whilst last season, on -the contrary, when he did not use thiß fungicide, the greater part of his crop was worthless. ■ - I should like to impress upon the minds of fruitgrowers the excellent results to be ob- ' tamed by the use of the various standard remedies recommended in Government Leaflet : No. 10. .When reading them over for the first , time some of them may seem rather complij cated, but when once having made thorn and i used them it is astonishing how simple they ! really are. Since the various blights and 1 pesta aro now so prevalent in this country, it is absolutely necessary, ir good fruft is to be grown, to use every means in our power to keep them under control, it • not eradicate ; them altogether. I noticed the various fungus blights — such as apple scab, pear scab, ! powdery mildew of the apple, etc. — very pre- | valent in this district. To successfully com- ' bat these it is necessary to ' spray with the various fungicides recommended in Leaflet No. 10, in which the correct formula for preparing the same is given, as well as the right time to apply them. It should be distinctfy understood that, in order to obtain the best results, theso fungicides must be applied as preventives : to destroy the spores of the fungus before they germinate, for should the mycelium of the fungus penetrate the tissues of the leaves or fruit, it would be necessary to destroy tho leaves and fruit to kill the par<tpito ; but the further spread of the pest may bs prevented by tho uso of the fungicide recommended. To make it moro easy to combat tho various blights and pests, it is necessary to prune tha trees so as to keep them well - down r and open in the centre to admit the sun and freo circulation of air. Trees of this sorb are easily sprayed, and the fruit easily gathered ; and a smaller surface being exposed to the wind, lees fruit is blown off. To get the best .results all orchards should be; clean cultivated, and the surface kept loose and> , open. If this cannot be done, a large circle ' at least should be kept cultivated and free . from weeds_ and grass round eaoh tree. Al- •' ways bear in mind that a few trees well at- ■■ tended to give more satisfaction than a larger ! number neglected. i From what I could see during my short I vipifc to the district,- good apples and plums also a few of the hardier pears, can be grown satisfactorily, as well as all the small fruits — ! such as currants, raspberries, gooseberries, j strawberries, etc. i The following list of fruit should, I think, j under a proper system of cultivation, do well I in the district. I would not, however, recom- { mend planting the earlier varieties to any exI tent. Tho very late varieties, such as Stunner pippin and French crab, would require to be • planted in a warm situation : Apples (Early). , Lord Suffield Mr Gladstone < Emperor Alexander Duchess Oldenburg Prince Bismarck Cox's Orange. f (Medium to Late.) I Reinette de Canada Boston Russet i Jonathan ' London Pippin Cornish Aromatic Lord Wols<-ley j Kymer Yorkshii c Greening Rome Beauty; French Crab Stunner Pippin. Pears. Williams's Bon Chretien Beurre Capianoiont "Fertility Beurre Bosc Vicar of Wakefield Winter Cole. Plums. Blue Diamond Denyer's Victoria Rivers's Early Prolific Orleans Coe's Golden Drop Grand Duke Reine Claude Bodart. Of tho small fruits, Northumberland fill- | basket raspberry is one of the best ; Carter's j black champion and Lees's prolific are good I biack currants ,- and La "Versailles is one of i the finest red currants grown. I have not j given a long list of names, as it is not advisable to plant many varieties. After finding out which do best in the district, it is better to keep to those vareties only..