HORTICULTURE.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXX, Issue 1, 20 January 1925, Page 58

HORTICULTURE.

VEGETABLE-GROWING.

The planting of the winter crops—savoy, cabbage, broccoli, celery, and —should be completed as soon as possible. Where they are well established steady growth should be induced by regular hoeing and cultivation. Sometime during showery weather a dressing of nitrate of soda may . be applied with benefit. . If the'weather is at all dry the celery trenches must not be allowed to suffer ; similar treatment is required for the asparagus and rhubarb beds. All these crops should be induced to make strong steady growth during the autumn. Potato and onion crops should be harvested as soon as they ripen.. Nothing is gained by allowing them to remain in the ground, as they sometimes do, and very great risks are run from second growth and disease. Spinach forms a popular and wholesome dish, and helps to provide that variety which is so desirable. A good sowing now will' make rapid growth and afford early supplies. Towards the end of winter, vegetable-supplies begin to get short and the roots in store lose condition. It is then one looks forward to fresh spring cabbage and good salads. To secure these, lettuce and cabbage of an early variety should be sown towards the end of February, or rather earlier in southern districts. A piece of good land in a warm well-drained position on which to put out the plants can be prepared. The sowing of the early large white onion crop is best deferred for the present.

TOMATOES. The tomato crop under glass should be freely ventilated. Remove the leaves below the ripening bunch and give liquid manure fortnightly. When - the harvesting of this crop is completed, dig up the roots carefully and leave the plants hanging on the strings for a while till dry, when they should be removed and burnt. Clean up the house thoroughly by spraying or fumigating, and freely ventilate it. Broadcast a green crop—white mustard is popular at this season —and plough the seed in lightly with a small hand-plough.. The tomato crop outside will now be ripening, and packing and selling the fruit will be keeping growers busy. The public do not make the full use of tomatoes that they should. Many delicacies can be made from this fruit—sauces, purees, chutneys, and pastes —that -are wholesome, tasty, and useful during winter. It is somebody's business to remind the busy public when tomatoes are in season, and educate them on their many and excellent uses. It is just as important to sell the fruit as to grow it. THE BERRY CROPS. Cultivation of the berry crops should be continued. Inspecting an area in gooseberries recently many that had been fine big plantswere found to be dead. Lifting and examining two or three it was discovered that there were a number of severe horizontal cuts in the butts of the bushes, evidently made when hoeing. Cultivation among these crops requires to be done in a sympathetic as well as a thorough manner. The nicest consideration is necessary in order to obtain, good results. All necessary spraying should be attended to. Thesecrops need replanting from time to time, and such planting now requires careful consideration. The plants should be ordered early and the ground carefully prepared, special care being taken to clean it of weedsfor strawberries more .particularly. A dressing of superphosphate, and a green crop sown now to plough in later, would be an excellent preliminary preparation in many cases. TOBACCO. Tobacco-growers will now be busy harvesting and curing the crop.. Mt must be remembered that this product is very responsive to treatment, and what are apparently details have very great results in the quality of the final product. For this reason .the habit of close observation and attention to detail must be cultivated by those who ■wish to continue growing this plant successfully. The curing process must be regulated by the proper control of ventilatorsopening them in damp weather and closing them when the weather conditions are : dry, or reversely, just as it is desired to hasten or retard the curing : process. This process should finally leave the plant-stalks and leafstems well dried out, a development usually taking six or eight weeks to accomplish under the air-curing system. THE COUNTRY-HOME GARDEN. The country home for its pleasure, convenience, and comfort depends very largely on the garden. . If that is non-existent, or

practically so, a very important influence is lost. The furnishing of the interior of the home receives careful consideration, but our .genial climate affords us every inducement and opportunity to enjoy, the. pleasures and conveniences of. that outward adornment that . can •only be obtained at . great expense in less favoured lands. The essential features of a satisfactory country garden need not occasion great expense or a large amount of . work, although, of course, there are endless possibilities for those who take a special pleasure in it. Too often the ideals of many run in the direction of . a flower-garden ■only, and one which contains a large collection of plants, and sometimes gives far more work than pleasure in its maintenance. An effective country-home garden should' harmonize with the locality. It •should surround the homestead, and include effective and ornamental shelter and shade, a reasonable amount of lawn of -dwarf grasses, and paths well formed, graded, and metalled, but not in excess of those actually needed and used. The flower-garden feature is best kept to quite modest dimensions and variety, unless the household includes ■one or two enthusiasts in this direction. Shrubs, trees and palms, and bulbs growing in the grass supply in an easy way the main floral and decorative features for the majority. The subject is referred to here as we are now approaching the season of the year for making or remodelling the gardenthe autumn. To carry out the idea not so much money or work is required as consideration. The subject requires a great deal of careful thought, so . that the best, may be made , of the circumstances, and that trees and shrubs naturally suited to the locality, and purpose be selected and tastefully arranged. The short planting season commences towards the end of May, and by that time it is best to have any work of this kind completed and ready for the planting.

W. C. Hyde,

Horticulturist.