THE GARDEN.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 24 March 1920, Page 4

THE GARDEN.

The following garden notes are written by a well-known specialist, and we rcomiuend them to the careful perusal of readers of the “Otaki Mail”.— Roses. Since the heavy rains a week or two ago roses have made exceptional growth, but unfortunately mildew has also come and should be stopped as soon as possible. We have found one of the best remedies for this purpose to be Cooper’s Bordeaux powder, at the rate of one pound to eighty gallons of water, or in smaller quantities one ounce of llie powder to four gallons of water. Mix these together and spray both the under and the upper sides ol the leaves, and in a few days the mildew will have disappeared and new leaves will come. The powder leaves a white sediment on the leaves but is not very noticeable, and is far better than having the whole plant, . leaves and thorns covered with mildew. For small

gardens a splendid sprayer can be got like u syrings with a little canister on it which holds about a quart of the mixture. Mildew is such a curse to the rose grower that special efforts should be made to stop it as soon as it makes its appearance. The causes of it are beyond control. It has been found to be much more virulent after rain than during line weather, and no doubt the rain we had lately was the cause of it developing so strongly. Green-fly have caused very little trouble this season, and where ladybirds are plentiful there is no need to worry about it at all. Quito recently wc liberated ten of these useful little insects on a plant with a lot of the pest on it, and in less th'an two days there wtts not an aphis to bo seen. The ladybirds began at the bottom of the branch and cleared the aphis as they went. It is a good lime-of the year to top dress beds of ruses with manure for digging in later on. The great trouble is to get the manure. The best for heavy soils is stable manure, but if th<ground is well drained cow manure will do .fust as well, and will last much longer. However, if neither of tlicsv etui lie got manure from sheep truck, will be found quite good, but cannot In used in such large quantities. An inch or two till over the bed would be quite enough; leave it on the surface, simply using the hoe when required, and you will And that the whole of the niauun will have disappeared by the winter time, and your plants will look all the better for it. If the tips are left on the plauts to ripen you cannot expect to have many more flowers on that plant, so it is best, to cut them off, or better still to cut the flowers off when they arc At for using for decorative purposes.

Daffodils. A fallacy concerning daffodils that should have been done away with years ago is that as long as they remain sound tliov may he planted. You will easily see that this is wrong by taking two bulbs and planting one now and , ihe other in three or four months’ time. The one planted now will give a good flower with a line long stalk, and the » other planted later will hardly be a | third the size or height. All bulbs, jf I .they are to give the best results, should ' lie planted at once, in soil that has been properly prepared by deep digging and breaking up. Do not plant too close together, but allow room for them to develop and expand. There is another thing that growers often do. that is to split the bulbs up as much as possible, it is far better when planting to plant them without breaking the young bulblets off. and leaving them until they break away themselves. When ! there are two or three side bulbs clinging to the mother bulb it stands to reason that they must have more room | than the single ones. They should alI ways be planted at least three inches I below the surface, and big sized varic- * ties cun be planted tip to six inches ■ deep to advantage. If the beds are

made narrow, the work of cleaning them is much easier and the weeds can ) be picked out without having to walk ; on the ground and tread it down hard. 1 Hydrangeas.

There are few plauts that give a bettor display of bloom than hydrangeas :tt this time of the year, and what is more, they are plants that will grow where very few others will, and that is in the shade. The ideal situation for them is on the south side of a house, and if a bed is made up there with plenty of manure they will grow and bloom profusely. At certain times of the year they want a lot of water, but they will repay for cultivation and watering. They can also be grown well in tubs or barrels as long as they can be supplied with moisture. At the pre-

sent time we have a very line lot of varieties, all of which are worth growing. Mme. Moullliere is a good khite with very large trusses of bloom. Bouquet Rose is u good strong-growing pink, but is like some of the other varieties, it is liable to change its shade to blue in certain soils. Dentelle is another good pink, with very large handsom foliage. Aceuminta is said

to bo the best blue grown, but it takes some time to get a start. The foliage of this variety is very pretty in the autumn. The colour of most of the varieties can be intensified or changed by watering them at intervals with alum Water —abour one teaspoocful to a kerosene tin of water.