GARDEN & ORCHARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3495, 1 March 1921, Page 7

GARDEN & ORCHARD.

By

D. TANNOCK.

WORK FOR THE WEEK. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. The weather should be warm enough to render fire heat almost unnecessary, except a little on cold nights, and as it is necessary to harden the foliage of palms and other foliage plants which are used for decorating rooms, plenty of air should be given on every favourable occasion. To shut up enough sun heat to keep up a growing temperature at nights the ventilators will have to be closed fairly early in the afternoons. This applies only to the tropical and sub-tropical houses; the greenhouse will require some ventilation all night, except when there is a cold _ wind blowing. As the soil in the pots is becoming exhausted by now the plants should be top-dressed with good loam and leafmould, to which has been added a little Olay’s fertiliser or Standen’s manure. THE FLOWER GARDEN. This is really a slack time in the flower garden, and the only new work which can be taken in hand is the planting of narcissi and other bulbs. Rambler roses will require tieing and thinning, and as soon as the flowers wither those growing on low rustic fences and rails can be cut over to make room for the new growths. Keep the plants staked and tied, all old flowers cut off and the soil cultivated regularly with the scuffle hoe. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Continue to clear off spent crops and to water, feed, and cultivate those which aro growing. Should blight appear on the greens they can be sprayed with soapy water applied as hot as possible. If it does not burn your hand it will not hurt the plants, but care has to be taken to spray under the leaves and to force the spray in among the young leaves. SAVING POTATOES FOR SEED. The selection of tubers for seed or sets is one of the most important operations in connection with potato growing, and one which is either entirely neglected or left to the other man. One of the largest potato growers in England stated recently that cottagers and allotment holders did not produce half the crops they should do with the labour and manures they use, and the chief mistake was faulty seed selection. Seed selection may commence as soon as the skins are firm enough to stand handling without rubbing off, and the early kinds reach this stage by the middle of January. We all understand that like begets like, and that if we plant malformed tubers, small ones taken from plants which produce nothing but small ones, and those not true to type we must expect deterioration and disease. The only time when selection can take place with any degree of certainty is when digging, and when the crop is being dug green the selection can go on as the diggmg' proceeds from day to day to supply me family needs, but if the crop is to be left to ripen, to be stored, the strongest and best plants should be dug green ana treated properly. The size of the sets will depend very largely on whether the crop is being grown for the early market to be dug green or for the main crop. To get early crops large sets should be used, but for main crops when the plants have time to grow much smaller seed can be used with success. The best size for tubers to be planted whole is from to 2 inches in width and weighmg 2oz to 3oz. In addition to selecting the right size the correct shape is also important. If a kidney variety it should be flat and rounded at the ends (not pointed), with shallow eyes; if a round it should be nearly round and not drawn out at one end, also with as shallow eyes as possible. ’Tubers should be selected from plants which crop freely, producing a large number of medium sized tubers and no very 6mall one, not piants which produce only very large tubers and no small, or those which have an undue proportion of small. Diseased tubers or worm-eaten ones should be avoided at all tunes. As the tubers are selected they are thrown on one side and left to green, or they are put into boxes at once and spread out in full sunshine to green and harden the skin. . Sunlight and fresh air are the best fungicides we can pet, and by exposmg the tubers to both and keeping them exposed as far as possible until the planting season we reduce the dangers of infection to a minimum. It is also important to label the varieties as they are put into boxes, for it is remarkable how much alike the tubers become when they aro greened. Should the weather be wet it might be necessary to put the boxes in an open shed or in a frame with the sashes on, but a little rain will not hurt- them. After greening they may be packed away in the sprouting boxes at once, the tubers being placed on their ends with the bud end upwards or they can be put away loosely and the packing reserved for a wet dav when outside work is impossible. Though a green tuber will stand more frost than one which is not green, they are easily damaged by frost, and they should be placed in the shelter of a wall in districts where there is very little frost, where they can spend the winter, or they may be placed in a cool, dry, airy shed. A greenhouse or a vinery is an excellent place in which to store seed potatoes, and in some of the large potato growing districts in England special glass houses are built in which the seed tubers arc stored By keeping them in the light there is little tendency to premature sprouting, and the shoots, which they do make at the proper season, aro short and sturdy. If stored in a cellar they should be brought out into the light as soon as in the spring to prevent the young shoots from becoming drawn, white, and spindly. The potato tuber is a stem, and the buds are placed 011 it in the usual way—the strongest at the top, the next as near to it as possible, and so on. The further from the apex the weaker the buds; and the whole effort of the grower should be to save the top bud. That is why the tubers are placed on their ends. The top bud. being the strongest, grows out first, and produces the strongest plant; and in many cases it is the only one which grows up, ai l others remaining dormant, unless it should be broken or removed, when several, all about the same level, grow out, each claiming supremacy, and unless they are reduced to one or two there is a struggle for the supplies of plant food and also for the sunlight. When seed are carelessly saved the top bud usually grows out too soon, and is removed when they are being picked over, the second-rate buds being left to produce the crop, which is an obvious mistake. Good medium tubers have stromr terminal buds, but small ones have proportion-

ately smaller buds; and very small tubers have small, weak buds. There is usually considerable difference of opinion aijjong growers as to the respective merits of’whole and cut seed; but when it is noted that there is only one terminal bud on each tuber, and that it is the strongest, it will be seen that whole seed must have an advantage over cut seed, provided it has been properly saved and properly treated during the winter, but if the terminal buds are destroyed then whole tubers have little advantage over cut ones. From the above remarks it will be seen that the success of next year’s crop depends on proper seed selection and its proper subsequent treatment, and that a little care will ensure both a heavy and a healthy crop. Sprouting boxes may be made out of old fruit or petrol cases. They need not be more than sin deep, and a little bit of 2in by lin stuff about 6in long can be nailed on each corner, a strip of a similar size being nailed across the end to Jseep the uprights in position, and another piece railed across the top to provide a handle. Holes should be provided in the bottom to allow rain to drain away, and the little uprights in the corners ensure a supply of fresh air reaching the seed when the boxes are stood on top of one another. To come this may seem a good deal of trouble, but is not really very much, and far less than hand picking the seed several times during the spring before planting. It is recognised as the right thing to do by the most progressive growers, and is worth trying.