THE GARDEN

Southland Times, Issue 20670, 17 December 1928, Page 3

THE GARDEN

WORK FOR THE WEEK By J. A. McPherson. THE GREENHOUSE. Calceolarias, Schiyanthuh, Primula obconica and Hydrangeas are the chief attractions under glass at present, while begonias are rapidly coming into bloom. Keep staking out the shoots of the latter and continue to supply liquid manure to the Hydrangeas. ♦ Sowings must be made of Calceolarias and Cineraria seed to provide plants for next season. As soon as the seedlings are fit to handle prick them out into plant trays of good soil consisting of loam, sand, and leaf-mould, (well rotted stable manure if leaf-mould is not available). Streptocarpus (the Cape Cowslips have commenced to form new roots and leaves; keep them growing steadily on and apply liquid cow manure once a week. Keep ferns from direct sunlight, especially maiden-hair ferns. Soot water given in a diluted form once a week is splendid for imparting a rich green to the foliage. Spray foliage of growing plants to keep down red spider and fumigate if necessary to kill green fly. The Reserve Garden. Do not neglect the sowing of Wallflower Sweet William, Canterbury Bells, Forget-me-nbts, and Polyanthus besides Gillardias and other perennials mentioned in last week’s notes. Prepare ground for lining out Wallflower. It is not long after the seed is up that they will require this treatment. Dig the ground well, adding plenty of well rotted manure and dust a dressing of lime over the surface. Hoe between rows of young plants and cuttings. The Flower Garden. Immediately Lupins have finished flowering, cut off all old flower-heads; this induces many of them to send up several smaller spikes later on in the summer and it is not at all detrimental to the plants. Hoeing is essential at this period of the year and not only to keep down weeds which rob the flowering plants of food; but | to create a surface soil “mulch” thus conserving moisture in the soil. Attend to the staking of Sweet Peas and other tall growing plants. The staking of many of our garden plants is, unfortunately necessary; but by carrying out the operation so that stakes are hidden as much as possible, the general effect is not interfered with. Should Asters and Stocks show signs of damping off in beds or borders, water the ground thoroughly with Chestnut compound at the rate of two ounces to four gallons of water. This solution will not injure the plants and may be used with safety on the smallest seedlings. The many species of Dianthus, Potentillas and Saxifrageas are in full bloom on many rock-gardens. Cut off the old flower-spikes as soon as the blooms are over in order to save the plants from exhausting their strength should the summer be a dry one. Carefully weed the rock garden and cut back any plants which have a tendency to crowd out choice small growing subjects. Roses. The present time is very suitable for beginners to make a list of roses they fancy. Since some of these varieties are limited in quantity it will be necessary to place all orders as early as possible, thereby saving much disappointment. The following twenty varieties may be . relied upon to suit local conditions. | Betty Uprichard, H. T. petals salmon i pink inside and outer side carmine-copper, j Caroline Testout, H.P. a well known large pink. I Fraul Karl Druschki, H. snowy white. | Geo. Dickson, H.T. deep velvety crimson i with scarlet tips. ■ General McArthur, H.T. bright crimson. | Lady Hillingdon, T. deep apricot, long buds. 1 Mdme Edouard Herriot, H.B. bright coral i red shaded with yellow. Mrs W. Quinn, H. T. a bright lemon chrone shaded with orange, the outer petals being touched with orange-crimson. This rose secured the champion bloom at last week’s rose show. | Shot Silk, a most beautiful colouring of cherry cerise tinted with orange-salmon. j Souv de Georges Pernett, H. B. bright oriental red shading to carmine and yellow, j Theresa, T. this is an old variety well suited to Southland, colour orange apricot in bud and opening to flesh pink. I Alexander Hill Gray, T. a good yellow. Dorothy Page Roberts, H.T. copper-pink j tinged with apricot. I Duchess of Wellington, H.T. a rich saffron yellow. Gorgeous, H.T. orange yellow, vein- , ed with copper. | Lady Roberts, T. rich apricot. ■ Lieutenant Chaure, H.T. a very fine cupshaped crimson red. Mrs David McKee, H.T. a very fine cream. Mrs Herbert Stevens, T. a long pointed white bloom of wide popularity. - Golden Emblem, H. T. a fine bloom of deep golden yellow. Beginners requiring single blooming roses cannot do better than procure Isobel, a carmine red flushed with orange scarlet; Irish Fireflame, deep orange shaded with crimson; and Irish Elegance, orange scarlet changing to apricot as the flowers expand. Mention must also be made of semidouble roses which are very useful for cutting and in this respect it is better never to prune them severely otherwise much of the bloom is lost. Sunetar, H.T. is a good semi-double orange edged with vermillion. Red letter Day a glowing scarlet crimson is too well known to need describing. Midnight Sun is rich crimson flushed with velvety black, while K of K is crimson throughout. Hawlmark Crimson is also a semi-double rose of rich crimson shade. In many respects it is difficult to confine one’s self to twenty or so varieties since many others equally worthy in many respects must be omitted. Next week a few notes will be given on the newer varieties and novelties. The Fruit Garden. Continue to remove suckers from Raspberries, leaving only those which are required to furnish next season’s canes. Excessive growth and snappy shoots are best removed from the base of gooseberries; suckers must also be pulled out. Mildew is making its appearance on some of the apple trees and must be held in check. Bordeaux mixture in its summer formula is best suited for this purpose and also keeps down black spot on both apples and pears, besides shot-hole fungus on apricots and plums, and leaf curl and rust on peaches. The following is the proper method of preparing the summer formula of Bordeaux mixture. Obtain 41bs of copper sulphate and 41bs of shell lime. Dissolve the sulphate in hot waler and make up to 20 gallons. Slake the lime slowly up to 20 gallons so as to form a milk. Pour the milk of lime into the copper sulphate stirring constantly all the time. The* lime is best strained through a piece a coarse cloth and must not be added unless properly cooled. This will give 40 gallons of good spray. Both lime and copper sulphate must be prepared in wooden vessels. Should a much smaller quantity be required it can be purchased ready prepared from the seedmerchant. The Vegetable Garden. Brussel Sprouts and Broccoli in seed beds should be in a healthy condition and soon ready for planting out. Do not neglect to sow a little Red cabbage. Marrows and Pumpkins may be planted out as soon as possible. In order that sup- | plies of liquid manure, which will be given

them later on, may reach the roots and not run off a dry surface soil, bury a pot or small tin which has been perforated near to the young plants. This is filled frequently with the liquid and one is sure of it reaching the roots. Thin out. all crops and sow for succession. Silver Beet may be sown this week. Plant out Celery and water the plants immediately they are placed in position. Hoe up cabbages and cauliflowers to steady them in the soil and attend to potatoes. Silver Leaf Disease. This disease, known by the name of Stereum purpureum, has caused enormous damage in England and South Africa and unfortunately is present with us in New Zealand. It is characteristic of the Order Rosaceae especially plums and often attacks apples, peaches, almonds and in a lesser degree the portugal Laurel. The disease takes its name from the silvery coating or sheen it makes on the leaves. It usually shows on a branch first, spreading rapidly as it moves along. Sooner or later infected branches die back and if not checked will gradually kill the trees; poor soil and bad draining hastening their death. The fungus itself comes out only when a tree or branch dies. The fructifications varying in size, are purple on top with a thin margin of white, while the under surface is also a dull purple. When occurring on a perpendicular branch, the fructifications stand out at right angles to the branch; but when occurring on a horizontal branch, cling close to the bark. The spores appear on the underneath side of the fungus and are readily blown about by the wind. Autumn is the best time to see the fungus fruiting, though a mild winter does rot hinder them fruiting also. Frost will check their growth. It is very important to note that this disease appears in the wood and npt in the leaves and it is supposed that the fungus forms a toxin which assists in giving the leaves their silvery appearance. The pallisade cells shrink away from the epidermal cells and the air in the spaces thus created cause the leaves to have their silvery appearance. All the spores of this fungus enter the stems through recent wounds caused by pruning, bruising and splitting of branches during a heavy crop. The fungus germinates on the raw wound and sends its shoots both up and down, thus causing a dark colouration which is easily seen in a transverse section. Older trees are more infected than the younger ones. Plums severely attacked are Victorian and the Czar, while apples attacked are Lord Suffield and Lord Grosvenor. Remedies may be applied as follows. Cut out all diseased wood and tar over I all wounds. Badly attacked trees are better dug up and burnt. When trees are bearing heavily support all branches liable to crack or split. As the fungus fruits on dead wood, burn all Rosaceous trimmings and dead wood. Always keep the trees in good health. Fairly good resistant varieties are Pond's Seedling, Monarch, Purple Egg, and Damson, while a few such as yellow Pershore and River’s Early prolific are practically immune. A great deal of work has yet to be done in discovering better ways and means of dealing with this destructive fungus. SUMMER PRUNING Summer pruning is one of the most important operations connected . with handy fruit culture, for if overcrowding of the growths is allowed one of the most essential items in the management of hardy fruits has been overlooked. When intelligently and rationally carried out, summer pruning does a vast amount of good, as it not only allows air and sunshine to reach every part of the trees, but helps materially in building up and maturation of fruit buds to a greater extent than it is ever possible to obtain by the method of non-pruning. The checking of exuberant growths by summer pruning diverts the flow of sap into other channels, and instead of the tree producing a quantity of wood, to be later cut away as uesless, larger and better developed fruit buds are obtained as well as an increase in size and finish of the present season's fruit. Do not prune too early, for if this is done a large amount of growth is made, and many of the basal buds, even if they do not burst, are unduly excited. It is a safe rule to prune stone and bush fruits during January in New Zealand, and leave apples and pears until February. But summer pruning must not be carried out in an indiscriminate way, as there are cases where it would be folly to prune away the summer shoots. In the case of a naturally weak-growing tree, the young growths have a beneficial effect by stimulating root action. Leave the young growths, in a case of this description, until March, when they may be stopped.

Then we have the neglected trees which are prone to make too much growth; these may with advantage be considerably thinned, removing one-half or perhaps twothirds of the young shoots. This will lead to a greater number of fruit buds, also strengthen existing fruit spurs, and check rampant growth. Any side shoots growing out of the branches should be cut back to four or five leaves. The treatment of leaders depends to a certain extent on the age of the trees, and time they have been planted. In the case of quite young trees merely tip them, and, for established trees, leave them seven or eight inches long. The two top buds on the shoots, of course, break, and make sundry growths after, the first stopping, but are rather weak and may be cut awav in March. The basal buds remain dormant and later form fruit buds. If the trees have been properly attended to the branches should have the appearance of cordon trees, well clothed with fruit spurs their entire length. The foregoing advice is suitable to apples and pears. As to cherries and plums, it is as well to point out that when pruning shoots should be left*to supply any gaps caused by branch-dying or accident. —Exchange.