LILACS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9954, 16 September 1910, Page 3

LILACS.

How many gardeners are acquainted with the lilac as it is represented in Franco to-day ? Everybody knows the common sort, and tho smaller-leaved, bushy kind known as the Persian is fairly common; but they are to tho best of the modern lilacs what'the dogrose is to Dorothy Perkins or Caroline Testout. There are some fifty named kinds of lilac now, and, although some of them are very much alike, it is easy to pick out a dozen or so that are quite distinct from one another, and all beautiful. Originally introduced into English gardens about three hundred years ago from Eastern Europe, the lilac (Syringa vulgaris) has 'from tho first been a favourite. It grows in almost any kind of soil, and is not particular as to situation. Still, it pays for good treatment, a loamy soil, well manured, and a sunny position being what it most likes. This is also true of the varieties which havo been bred from it. To get big bunches of flowers it is necessary to resort to pruning and thinning; tho fewer the branches the larger the flower-heads will be. This is, of course, truo of most plants; if wo want size we must sacrifice quantity. Properly pruned, we have seen lilacs with heads 18in high and a foot through, and the flowers large enough to cover a sixpenny piece. The French and Belgian growers manage the lilac very skilfully, both as a bush, to be lifted and forced for a winter supply of bloom and as a pot shrub. The same varieties as they u«o for these purposes may be planted iu tho open border to form large bushes. .At the Brussels Exhibition M. Stepman, a local nurseryman, exhibited a magnificent group of lilacs in pots, superbly flowered and showing considerable.-variety. There were about fifty distinct sorts, some of them quite new. A list of a dozen of the most striking include King Albert, Queen Elizabeth, Leopold 11., C. Singelman, Lucie Baltet, Reaumur, Volcan, President Lambeau, Emile Lemoine, Marie Lograye, Louis Spath and Marly.

The celling of eggs by weight has become an absolute ne-cssitv in China. There a shade deal will extend iut-r millions, and it is obvious that tbes<" could not be c-c-i: Tired. Sale by weight has this prcp-fulerat'iig , over sale by number: it very frequently happens that small, but eMxtw.ngly active hens —birds that can, like a wild pheasant on a gocd range, find pretty nearly the whole of their living- day rather undersized egc;s. which are not so ;--tiloable as large egcjs.