TO CORRESPONDENTS

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 225, 22 September 1928, Page 6 (Supplement)

TO CORRESPONDENTS

iOHAPB (Mangere) senrls a specimen for L identification.—lt 5s the native Passion T •• Fruit, Passiflora tetraadra. \ BLIGHT (Mount Eden) asks for the method of producing about two gallons of concentrated limcsulphur solution. —Such a small quantity i s not worth the trouble, and you would be well advised to purchase it ready, for use from the local storekeeper. Put four pounds of quick- ■ -. lime lb a tub, cover with three gallons boiling waterJ Make three pounds of sulphur into, a paste, and add if to the boiling lime. Coyer it and keep it boiling for an<-hour.f When cold it must be strained. The lime must be fresh. J.M. (Mount -Albert) writes: Last crop of potatoes were badly infested With fly. Could White Island Product No. 1 be used * to manure potato crop in the same manf ner as blood'and bone?—lt could be used as an adjunct to other manures; in Itself it is not actually a manure, although it acts on other materials in the soil and- '; renders them available as plant food. It • could be scattered along the drills after the potatoes are up, but do not let .more than possible touch the tops; if the tops are spft it may scorch them a little » whew it touches, but tf scattered with care not enough to do any serious harm. CONSTANT READER (Wbakatane) asks: ' (1) Is it too late to sow Ten Weeks Stocks? (2) When will they flower if ■ sown now —(l)'It is rather late in our climate, and according to the usual custom, but there is'no reason, why they should Hot do all right, provided they have plenty of m'aaure-and are hot spoilt by insect pests. (2) About December. The Ten Weeks Stock fakes its name from the fact that -when first introduced it was usual to flower >te about ten weeks from: sowing. Autumn sowing in a subtropical eliinate has ; altered this, but in Europe Ten, Weeks Stacks .are sown: in spring and flower about onidsummer. J.M.S. (Mt. Edea) writes j—Plekse inform me the right way' for curing ; The process of Lemon. curing is " much more satisfactory when done in a properly equipped establishment and under expert supervision.' • Home curing of small quantities is often not very 6UC-. cessfuL The. Lemons should be picked -S. r ? , F lly ' taking care that there is no in«t L^, K V^ lhe fruit should be gathered TiSmt 5k ,5' t re beginning to tutn ripe . tewd»£ 0 allowed," to stand for a linedl '™! P 2 cked away to DaDer - »■%. 2?f„ boxas J™** then be " - r° *■ *» allow a free circulation

of air around each case.' The room in which the boxes are stacked must be kept warm and the air moist. The heat needs to be kept at ■ about 90 degrees Fahr., and the moisture sufficient to keep..the fruit from shrivelling, but not sufficient to canse undue dampness. It takes two or three weeks for The fruit to properly cure, after which it can be stored and will keep for a long time in perfect condition. Curiae the Lemon is a "sweating procees' r by which the ripening process is artificially hastened, the result of whigh is a toughening of the rind. , PRIVET (King Country J Up til', about what date can I plant a Privet hedge? (2) I have never been able to get good Parsnips. All other root crops are good. Soil neavy and rich. (3) I have always raised good ■ Brussels Sprouts, but although the plants look and grow well the sprouts never heart up properly?—(l) If the weather keeps moist, up to the end of October, but under ordinary circumstances, about the end of September would be the rule. (2) I should say that you do not sow early enough. Parsnips should be sown in September at the latest; they need to make growth before the V>t weather comes. Try a little sulphate of potash or use wood ashes and also a little nitrate of soda or fowl manure. (3) The Brussels Sprouts should be sown early (August) and be transplanted twice before being planted out permanently. This transplanting produces a mass of fibrous roots. Plant in firm soil, very firm Boil, in ftrtt* is necessary. If a piece of ground used last season for potatoes or similar crop and not dug since is available, and can be cleaned of weeds, it would do without any further digging. When the plants are in, a certain amount of hoeing will be necessary to prevent the aoU cracking. The idea is to grow a firm hard stem; as a rale the trouble is the stems grow so freely that the sprouts themselves produce stems and small sprouts on them. Usually the lower ones open and these should be taken off to force the top to grow and produce good sprouts. Of course, this latter advice applies to the plants in the autumn when they commence to grow after, the summer. TREES (Papatoetoe) writer.: In a. hedge of Xawsonianas two years old a few trees are. going brown, and seem to be. dying out. Is there any means of preventing it? —It is characteristic of Lawsonianas and there is no means that I am aware ( of to prevent.it. It seems to be i» the I plants themselves, and may be due to I j some bacteria that gates an entrance to I the tissues when the small plants are > transplanted.