GARDEN & ORCHARD.

Otago Witness, Issue 3549, 28 March 1922, Page 7

GARDEN & ORCHARD.

WORK FOR THE WEEK. By D. Tahxock. THE GREENHOUSE AND NURSERY. f v ;vtinue to put in geranium cuttings, to put primulas and cinerarias into their flowering pots, and to prepare chrysanthemums for housing as soon as the buds show colour. Tuberous begonias are beginning to go past now, and as they are taken out of the greenhouse they can be placed on a cool, airy shelf, and allowed to dry off gradually. After the tops fall off the pots pan lie turned over on their sides, and Ihe tubers can remain in them until the spring. Keep the chrysanthemums tied up securely to their stakes, and ease off feeding or stop it altogether as soon as the buds show colour. Small bulbs of either tulips or narcissi can be lined out in the nursery, where they will grow and develop into flowering bulbs by next season. If the soil has been well dug level and break it up md take out a shallow trench about four inches deep and the width of the spade. Place the bulbs about two to three inches apart in it. and cover up with the soil from the next trench. It the soil is poor give a dusting with basic phosphate or bone meal. Wallflowers will be growing rapidly now, cultivated and stirred up with the scuffle and the soil among them should be kept hoe. TIIE FLOWER GARDEN. Continue to clear out annuals as they bocome unsightly, first collecting the seeds from the most desirable varieties. Cut the old flower spikes off the herbaceous perennials. but do not cut them right down until the foliage has ripened, as the underground roots and tubers have to be built up for next season. Keep dahlias, sweet peas, and michaelmas daisies tied tip and the lawns as neat and tidy as possible during this unseasonable weather. Though the roses are past their best, and it is no longer worth disbudding and spraying them, they should be picked over occasionally, and all long shoots which have shot ahead of the others can be shortened hack, for if left they catch the wind, cause the plants to become loose at the neck, and wriggle round in the loose, wet soil. This is a good season to commence alterations in the flower garden and shrubbery, and to trench new beds and borders. In every case where labour will permit, and the depth of the soil warrants it, trenching should he done to the deptli of 2j,ff to sft, and during the process liberal supplies of manure can be worked in on fop of the first spit, and if grass, weeds, or vegetable matter of any kind can be spared it sin ttld be put in the bottom of the trench. This all tends to deepen and extend the rooting medium so that it will drain readily during wet weather, and retain moisture during dry weather. Tt is better to prepare and enrich the beds and borders thoroughly at first, and they will then do for several years with only a little surface dressing. Plant out spring flowering bulbs and bedding plants as soon as space becomes available, hut as it is desirable to retain all the colour we can until after Easter there will not he many empty beds for a week or two yet. Carnations which were layered some time ago will have rooted now. and they can ho severed from the parent plants, and at the same time all flowering shoots which have sprung up can be cut away. TIIE VEGETABLE GARDEN. Continue to clear away spent crops, and as disease is very common on the potatoes they should bo dug as soon as the soil is reasonably dry, -,rd stored away in a dry shed or cellar, where they can he kept away from the light, or they can he pitted in a dry part of the garden and covered with straw and soil. As digging proceeds all tubers of good sFia.po and a reasonable size should be thrown aside for seed, and these can lie spread out in the sun to green. The cold wet weather has kept away the blight front the winter greens and swede turnips which is something to be thankful for, arid as the conditions are favourable it is still possible

to plant out cabbage and broccoli for spring use. Earth up celery and leeks and harvest onions whenever the weather conditions are favourable.

If new plantations ot strawberries have not already been frimed no time should be lost ill getting the runners out, for unless they are very strong and planted early they will not fruit the first year.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. “Ophelia,” North-East Valley.—l certainly commend the trenching of your rose beds 2fc deep, and also the mixing in of liberal supplies of stable manure, as fresh as you can get it, in your heavy soil. Road sweepings which consist of particles of grit and horse droppings are cpiite useful for opening up stiff, tenacious soils, but I would not recommend burying in tan bark. Lime is also useful when spread on the surface and forked or dug in before planting. Nellie Parker and Miss Wilmott are both excellent roses for grouping. H. P. Pinkerton and Captain F. Bald are both good dark varieties, but Rawlmark Crimson and Midnight Sun are splendid for colour and of more recent introduction. Golden Ophelia was quite one of the best roses at Home last summer, but. tile weather conditions were quite different from those which we experienced here this summer, and probably in a dry, warm season it would show its true character. I have it budded, but it is not in the rose garden yet. The list you forwarded is an excellent one, but unless you already have them I would suggest Antoine Revoire, General Macarthur, Chateau -de Clos Vougeot, The Queen Alexandra, Hawlrnatk Crimson, Midnight Bur., and Lady Ashtown.

"Jersey.”—The scab on the potatoes is only skin deep, and is easily removed, but it does not look nice. It is caused ly the acidity in the soil, due either to want of drainage or too much organic matter. The scabby tubers should not be used f or seed, the insects which make holes in your potatoes are millineds, and they, too, are an indication of the need for drainage and an application of lime. “Yellow Viola.”- —You shoild cut away the old flowering stems from your violas to allow the young growths which spring from the base of the stems room to develop. You should also put in cuttings to provide plants for next season, or you can divide them up. Seedsmen can supply you with a good weed-killer, and directions for application are on the tin. You should drain the wet patch in your garden and plant a Spiraea Lindicyana. Andromeda japonica or rhododendron, Pink "Pearl cr Corner Waterer. “It. B Port Chalmers. —ITorsc chestnuts would look very well alongside the street, but if the section is not very large it would be better to plant, laburnums or Prunus pissardi. “Amateur,” Clinton. —Day lilies do not require to be lilted and dried off. Crocus will stand several years without lifting, and chrysanthemums can be grown in the same place for several years provided the ground is manured and dug and the old plants divided up. Your fuchsia would flower better in « dry position near the house. Spraying would not increase the amount of blight on your fruit trees, and you should use an oil sorav again. Repot your lily every year. Nasturtiums will flower better in dry, poor land. Basic phosphates would help your peach and apricot trees, and a liberal dressing will do no harm. Iceland poppies arc better sown in boxes and transplanted, and all the leaf and stem vegetables such cs cabbage, silver beet, celery, looks, etc., can be manured with fowl manure. Liquid manure made from fowl droppings can be applied to any kind of vegetable crop with advantage. “W.A G.,” Whangarei.—Fairy rings are caused by a fungus which extends outwards from the starting point in a circle, thereby causing it to extend from year to year. The mycelium obtains its food partly from the humus in the soil and partly from the roots of *hc grass, and the crop of toadstools is found just outside, the ground they occupied the previous year. To destroy the fungus, soak the ground with a solution of sulphate of iron, one pound to a gallon and n-half of water, and continue to give applications once a fortnight at half the strength of the first, application. About three applications ought to be enough, and if the soil should be dry it would lip necessary to water it first well with ordinary water. The ground should be treated just outside the evident ring. “G.D.W.,” Nelson. —The Cape tobacco, which is grown in South Africa, should be the most suitable for making tobacco wash. I know it is a xmry strong-growing plant and produces a very strong tobacco. Tobacco is cured as follows:--When ready, to cut, the leaves begin to develop yellowish spots, the margins bend downwards, and the tissue between the ribs becomes puffed up. The plants are cut and allowed to wilt on the ground, then tied together in pairs or bundles and carried to the drying shed, where they are hung over sticks until the mid-ribs become quite brittle. This should take about 30 days. Strip the leaves off the stem and tie them together in bundles of five by twisting a small leaf round the ends of the leaf stalks and tucking the ends in among the others. This bundle is called a hand. The hands are

next packed together in a heap on the flno and covered with sacks to ferment, for it i during the fermenting process that the ac

live principle is developed. After a few days the centre of the heap becomes warm and it is pulled to pieces and rebuilt with the hands which were outside before on the inside. Ibis is done to secure even fermentation, and for pipe tobacco if has to he regulated, but for plant wash it cannot, he too strong. Afler about 30 or 40 days the fermentation will cease and (lie leaves can be damped with a liquid made by soaking the stems in water and molasses. The hands are opened and every leaf sprinkled with the wash. Then they are packed in boxes with a weight on top until required. PRIVATE GARDENS IN DUNEDIN & SUBURBS. SIR JOHN ROSS’ GARDEN AT NEWINGTON, MAORI HILL, (See illustrated pages of this issue.) Winding down between bush-JSverecl hills Newington avenue Is without doubt one of the prettiest roadways in Dunedin. 'll passes through a sheltered but sunny valley, on one side of which is to he found the home of Sir John Ross, a handsome and commodious residence standing well Lack from 1 he street amid surroundings of great, beauty. The grounds of Morven cover an urea of some three acres, and the main

feature of the property, which undoubtedly ranks as one of the most picturesque in and around Dunedin, is the splendid collection of native and exotic trees raising their shapely outlines in all parts of the garden, which as a whole fills the eye with a most satisfying picture of the endless variety and design of Nature, and leaves a memorable impression on the mind of the visitor. •The house is approached from Newington avenue by means of a winding drive, in the design of which the art of the landscape gardener has been given full play. On each side of the distinctively tine entrance there is a noble English tree —an oak arid a lime respectively—the lime possibly owing its presence in this particular location to the quaint old legend that witches will not- pass this tree. Immediately inside the gate the tall, slender form of a cryptomeria japonica, or Japanese cedar, rises high above the other trees, and us one passes along the drive a great number of fine specimen trees are to be .seen, including an English elm, a native beech, -a well-grown Thuya gigantea (one of Ihe arborvit-ue), an eveigreen oak, a laburnum. several rhododendrons, a black bamboo, and a large number of native shrubs. The majority of these trees and shrubs are healthy and well-grown specimens, and their ornamental value is very great indeed. Rounding a turn in the drive, the visitor oomes upon a herbaceous border in which are growing some nice roses and spiraeas, and also a ehoisya ternata, a very beautiful evergreen shrub which produces a great mass of fragrant white flowers in the early summer. Nearing the top of the drive, one passes under a canopied arch of macrocarpas, with two fine Wellingtonias on th o right, and from here the visitor reaohe-s the open space surrounding the well-proportioned residence. From an upstairs balcony of the house a view is obtained that is probably unequalled in any other part of the city. Standing on this commanding eminence, the spectator has spread out before him a magnificent panorama comprising some of the outstanding scenic features of this city, including a view of the Town Belt, portions of the city and harbour, the hills of the Peninsula, and awa.y on the right a glimpse of the Ocean Beach. In the immediate foreground are the garden and grounds of the house, the spectator looking down upon a broad, green area of foliage and lawn relieved here and there by brilliant dashes of colour denoting the presence of flower-beds and borders. On the lawn below there is a circular bed of rosen surrounded by pansies and violas .and round this again are ribbon borders of asters, dianthus, cosmos, lobelia, geraniums, and poppies, the whole design being extremely effective. From this point of vantage the Japanese cedar at the entrance to the drive may be seen rising gracefully among the surrounding trees, and a. little to the right the dark green foliage of a Californian redwood is also discernible. In front of the house there are two fine specimens cf the c-edrus deodara. Til January the flower-beds made a very fine display indeed, and while they are now past their best they arc still making a very fair show. On the northern side of the house a large herbaceous border intersects the terrace of green ia-.vn. and here may lx? noted several autumn flowering plants, including Rudbeckia Newrnanii, Tritoma uvari (or redhot poker, of which there are several fine clump.-,', Californian poppy (which is just going out of flower), Helianthus Miss Mellisli, Monibretias, and some Michaelmas daisies. There is also in this border a Scottish heather, the native heath of the mountains of Scotland, and it is pleasing to note that it is doing very well, the plant at present showing a mass of its characteristic _ purple bloom. On the lawn fronting Newington avenue there is a fine specimen of the southern rat.a, as well as a magnolia conspicua, and two very well-grown and highly ornamental ebamraeps excelsa. Further on. the visitor corner across an attractive little rose-bed, containing a number of well-known varieties, including Juliet. Red Letter Day, and General M‘Arthur, a rose which is still showing a fair number of flowers. This is a variety, it mav be remarked in passing, which commands general favour both by reason of the long duration of its period of blooming and also on account of its remarkable immunity from mildew. In the greenhouse, where there are good heavy crops of both grapes and tomatoes, some very nice begonias are to be found. These are of the frilled and double variety" and their handsome shades of colour are admirably set off by the dark green foliage of a number of maiden-hair ferns. Outside the greenhouse, in a splendidly .sheltered •-osit.ion w-here they do remarkably well, are several rows of late-flowering chrysanthemums. The buds are now set on most of the plants, and they will be in bloom about the end of April, continuing in flower throughout the winter. Above the greenhouse there is a small rose pergola made up cf a collection of well-known varieties of ramblers. Adjacent to the vege table gcUt.en three ions of sweet peas are still in flower, although the recent bad •weather was rather severe on them; and set out in some frames near by are a number of healthy young cinerarias which are expected to bloom from August onwards. The garden is in charge of Air J. Whyte, who lakes murh pride in his work.