Garden Notes.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIV, Issue 4, 26 January 1910, Page 41

Garden Notes.

Now that rain has fallen no tine should be lost in getting in planta and seeds which could not be done when the ground was too dry. Broccoli and winter greens, lettuce, swedes, and turnips. Plants are best set out just before a shower, but seeds can be sown where land is dry, and there is sufficient moisture now in the soil to germinate the seed. We hear several complaints that the codlin moth is much more in evidence this season than last. Of course, we usually reply to sueh complaints that “spraying has not been attended to at the proper times,” but this reply is not always conclusive. In two cases we know that spraying has been carried out according to up-to-date methods, and the fruit is worse infected than last year. There must be some cause for this, and we should like to Know what it is. Assuming that the trees have been properly sprayed, then it is possible the arsenate of lead may not have been of the right strength; the fruit blossoms may have closed earlier; the first spraying may have been too late. Our Government experts appear to be silent on the subject. One would expect that after all the expenditure on State farms and orchards, we should hear something regarding the State experiments and the prospects of the fruit crop. We sometimes have the question asked, “Does the public get value for the money expended on State farms and orchards?” We are sometimes inclined to think we do not. For one thing, the experiments are not carried out on commercial lines; nor are they conducted continuously for a length of time sufficient to establish results. We are not contending for one moment that experiments should pay —- such a thought is absurd; but when we say they should be carried out on a commercial basis we certainly mean that the exact cost of each experiment or series of experiments should be stated, so that all interested may know the cost, as well as how the experiment has been conducted. We have advocated before, and still think, that an advisory board of commercial men should be set up in each province where an experimental farm or orchard is located. Such a board could advise on what lines the various experiments should run; length of time to continue, soils and manures, etc. Now, suppose a board of, say, 12 members were to have the direction; we should say it could be elected by the various societies interested, viz., three farmers from the combined agricultural societies in the province, three members from the combined horticultural societies and nursery and seedsmen; three commercial orchardists from the Fruitgrowers’ Union; the farm manager, and two to be nominated by the Government. This body would be purely advisory and honorary; three or four to retire each year. We Irelieve good results would follow the appointment of such a board. The crimson flowering gum (Eric Ficifolia) is now in bloom, and makes a most conspicuous free in the garden. Many people are enquiring for its name, and where there is a good-sized garden, it is a splendid subject, and appears to do well in most places, but wc' should not advise anyone So plant it in a small plot. Band around Auckland is now so valuable that many people are erecting quite large dwellings on what appears to us very small allotments. One reason we have heard is that ;t saves the bother of a garden, and also a gardener’s wages. This may be so, but vegetables and fruit cost money, and ladies must have flowers, end these can’t always be had for love, so at the end of the year we doubt very much if sueh people will be any richer. But a house without a garden is nearly as bad as a farm without a cow. Messrs. C. S. McDonald and Sons, Epsom, showed us a very line bloom of that grand begonia Queen Alexandra. Those who grow tuberous begonias should have this handsome variety in their collections. It is very double, large, well-built flower, rich cream ground edged with bright' crimson like a picotee. Messrs. McDonald's begonias, like their rhododendrons, are well worth seeing. They arc lines in which these gentlemen have specialised for years, intensely interesting work; but in the Dominion It does not pay. However, we believe it will come, and may the “Macks” be here to greet if. Referring to the recent sweet pea and carnation show held in Auckland, which was got up in a great hurry and was so successful, we would like to point out to the Auckland Society that' if they intend to make the sho.” a fixture, they should set to work before long. First

of all we should strongly rerommend them to import sufficient Sydenham sweet pea stands to stage all tho;r flowers at next show; then start out and secure two or three real goad prizes worth winning, for, be it remembered that if valuable prizes are offered, competition is sure to follow. The s?he«iule should be printed early and posted to all growers in the North Island. Keep the matter stirring, thereby creating an interest, which deepens as show day advances. We advocate introducing the single bunch sections, giving every one a chance to compete. Some people advocate altering the date of the rose show'. I would suggest that a rose show' should be held on the same day and at the same place as the Agricultural Show. The society might make terms with the executive, or at all events the roses could be shown in a tent; make a fid charge for admission, and we believe it will pay the Horticultural Society handsomely. Wc hope the executive will consider this suggestion. VERONICA. J* DAFFODILS IN NSW ZEALAND. The following article from the “Scottish Gardener” will be read with interest by daffodil growers throughout New Zealand: —"That magnificently illustrated paper, “Weekly Graphic and New Zealand Mail,” for Ist September last, devotes seven of its big pages as a. “special” on Daffodils, with no less than tw'enty-seven plates of the very best blooms. Articles by several experts are given, and the editor, “Veronica” (Mr. Allan), sums up the whole by giving a column or two of selections 4Jrom the great number specified) of those suitable for general culture, with an idea of the cost, which is admirable guidance to new growers. It is all very well to adivse amateurs to choose Weardale Perfection as a first-class sort, but Mr. Allan points out the cost in the Dominion as 7/6. Now, there are numerous enthusiasts who have the cash and don’t grudge it. but there are thousands more who have not . the money, and therefore must be contented with Emperor and Horsfieldii at a very few coppers. Of course, in making the list, rich and poor had to be advised, and we must say that the cream of Narcissus is noted, from Bedouin at £24 a bulb, Incognita at 25/-, to Madame de Graaf at 1/6, and King Alfred at 10/each. Our home prices are, in most cases, much less than these, as Ariadne is 4/-, but we can buy it here at 1/9. Then in New Zealand that grand one named after the Daffodil King, who earned the honour notably. Peter Barr is quoted at £lO 10/-; Gloria Mundi costs 2/6 (with us 2/-). not so great a difference there. When we eonsidet that it is the bulbs we have raised, and the cost of freight, with losses on stocks thereby, the prices are hot so high if we allow a fair profit, for seedsmen are not philanthropists, but tradesmen, who must buy and sell to pay dividends, yet so adjust their prices to encourage business and make customers come again. Already, however, hybridising has begun across the' seas, and with soil and climate in their favour, not to speak of ability and “go” of a great race, stronger because of transplantation to a new land, free of the deteriorating occupations in factories and civil life so marked here, why, in a few years we may be importing from them. As they have most of our best varieties, old and new, they have more than an equal chance of producing results in the future. We welcome this “family competition”; it gratifies fatherly pride to see sons and daughters delighting in the works and recreations of the “old home.” One paper, by “Duff,” gives a succinct account of the advance of the daffodil, from old Parkinson far back in 1629. who raised seedlings, of course, from self-fertilised pods, to Miller, who wrote in 1724 on the “Management of Seedlings” in the “Gardeners’ Dictionary.” Then Dean Herbert, in 1843, in Manchester, to whom he ascribes the honour of being the first real practical exponent of cross fertilisation, while Mr. Leeds, of the same “City of Calicoes,” followed, and it was his collection Mr. Peter Barr and others bought, from which we now have obtained such great floral riches. It is rather strange that our great Dutch nurserymen do not seem to have done much in this work. England has always led the van —still does so—while Scotland is never once mentioned. “Alas! my country!”

Ireland, however, with Burbridge, of Dublin; William Baylor Hartland, of Cork; and now Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth, of Lissadell, Sligo, have gone m wholeheartedly for raising new sorts and growing bulbs second to none in the market; so that the cult is an active one, all sections of narcissus being raised. Old John Horsfield, of Sale, Manchester, gave a great impetus to the business when he raised the Ix-autiful one, N. Horsfieldii, with yellow trumpet and white wings. He was a poor artisan, but sold his stock for £lOO, it is said. Mr. Backhouse, of Durham, was a great grower of new sorts; some bear his name as a class, and the great kinds he raised. Emperor, Empress, Barri Conspicuous, etc., are the foundations from which much of pre-sent-day specimens spring. We remember being at the Daffodil Conference at Chiswick twenty-three years ago, when the Rev. C. Wolley Dod lectured in the tent on “Daffodil Culture,” and Mr. Peter Barr and others were on the platform. These gentlemen carried on the work, and now the Rev. G. 11. Rngleheart, Rev. J. Jacob, Messrs. Cartwright and Goodwin, Messrs. Barr and Sons, are, with many more, busy producing new sorts, which are at present very high in price, but which will shortly be cheaper, and soon be in the gardens of the ever-increasing lovers of this gem of spring. The growing of daffodils as cut flowers for the market has been a godsend to the Scilly Isles, who now send tons every season to London. Norfolk and the Fen lands have followed; Ireland is almost as early, while wonderfully adapted for growing blooms of the very best... Even in Scotland several lovers of the flower, like Dr. (rawford, who years ago grew largely on Loehfyncsido, Mr. Spier at Newton, Rutherglen, and others have been pioneers in this work. Of course, the varieties grown for sale cannot be the newest forms, like the Irish Lorna Doone, AV. B. Hartland, Cleopatra, I. Sangster, Will Scarlett. Narcissus Dream, and Rosamond and Lady MeCalmont. These are “select,” but Ard High, Maximus. Cernuus, Victoria, Stella Superba, Sulphur. Phoenix, and Poe.ticus kinds are always wanted, and the ever-increasing sales indicate the widespread love of this queen of spring, demanding fresh fields to be sot apart yearly for the supply of the public need. Like “gowff,” the cult has become general, and we congratulate our “Dominion” growers and Mr. Allan on their spirited adoption of both these charming hobbies from the Motherland, the one for the body and the other for the soul.