NARCISSI AND THE R CULTIVATION.

Otaki Mail, 21 September 1923, Page 4

NARCISSI AND THE R CULTIVATION.

ADDKESS BY A. J. SIIAILEE, I 1'.8.H.5. ; j

A most interesting and instructive address, under the auspices of the Foxton 'Horticultural .Society ;nid given • in connection with Friday's show wns J delivered by Air. A. J. Shaile-ry F.K.H.S. I "In dealing with this subject,'.' said j Mr. Shailor, ''l should like first of all I 10 refer to the old adage 'Narcissi J .'w.Jll .grow' (anywhere/.' For ait least J twenty years you have probably found ' the same old instructions for tuj eiiltiI vation of these beautiful spring .lowers i J and the conclusions that one would j naturally come to are:—(l) They must bo easily grown; (2) Horticulture has made very little progress with these flowers; "and (.'!) the specialists arc . keeping their knowledge a cU-se secret. I I will give you. in the light of my own eticfu, and il'osc study, the corvee! nvctii "■ of successfully growing'

■ Narcissi fur show blooms. 1 (Site for bulbs:—J will advise that . all bulbs for show nurnoses lie planted, if possible, in the south-west' corner. with shelter from south and west winds, which usually prevail in this district. 1 Preparation. ,taf beds: —Beds should , be sft wide (so that they can be hoed I and weeded without trending on the plants) and as long as it is thought I necessary. Take two sound tixl ! boards each as long as the bed, and two I a x 1, sft long for ends of beds. Place these in position on the ordinary level of the ground. Next remove the top seven inches of soil, and bank it up outside the board frame. To the sunk-

en surface give a dressing as follows: lib fresh lime, Soz soot, 4oz bone dust

per square yard. With a good spade thoroughly dig this into the bed, breaking up the soil well. Now make the sunken surface level and next, if possible, obtain from cow pasture land, enough good turf to make a double lavcr of turf, placed upside-down. This will raise the bed six inches above the surrounding level, thus ensuring a perfect drainage. The bed should be prepared about the end of the present month and a crop of cabbage or other plants for transplanting before Jariuarv may be sown. This will help to germinate weed seed in the soil. In January give a dressing of lime Moz to the'square yard) and lightly fork over. Rake the surface level and proceed to plant as follows: Measure your first row nine inches from the end ol the bed, ami then mark your rows lu inches apart lor each succeeding row. Allow foil:' inches between each bulb in the row. Depth to plant bulbs nli'-.Tue sal est method is to plant the bulbs according to size and variety for strong growing trumpet, liieomparabilis, Barrii, and Leedsii. Set the neck of the bulb three to four inches below. If in doubt, be on the deep side, as this ensures a more even temperature, and will enable you to hoe over the whole bed during December. January and February, without

any fear of cutting the bulbs. Gating blooms for shows: —There is no safe method of retarding a bloom which may lie too early for a certain date, but a bed which is backward may be safc'lv forced a good .deal, by an application of nitrate of soda (20Z to a gallon of water four weeks before show day) and again, if still backward two weeks later, always remembering that by a liberal use of lime in the making of the bed. you are safe in using nitrate of soda, the one being acid and the other anti acid. Picking versus pulling blooms: —I have seen some growers pull the blooms or flower stalks to obtain a larger stem but in my opinion this is wrong for the following reason: A bloom pulled loaves a hole right down to the base of the 1 bulb, thus making an easy method of , entrance for the worst eneini.es of the 1 Narcissi, viz., Kelworm and bulb mite. therefore the blooms .should be picked at ground level. Time to pick blooms before a shovr; —I have found that by leaving the trumpets to develop on the plant they grow much larger and I would advise that they be given a suitable covering and left* till the day before the show. This applies to most other varieties cx- ' cept red cups. These with a few exceptions, are ruined for show purposes by a couple of hours of sun on them. Therefore I would advise you to pick your red cups when they begin to open and to leave them in jars in a cool place to develop, changing the water cverv day. When the show is over: —Do not on anv account remove the foliage from your bulbs after the flowers are done. The bulbs keep on growing for about eleven weeks and during this time the growth for next, year is being prepared in embryo, and 'as the leaves are the recognised lungs of the plant, they are wry essential to ensure good blooms next season. So do not attempt to remove the old growth until it has separated from the bulb. If the bed has been prepared as directed the bulbs may remain, down for three years without anv further trouble, and the best blooms"will be obtained the second and third year, after which the bulbs will have so increased that they must be lifted for division. As each variety is lifted the bulbs should be placed in , a sieve and the high-pressure hose turned on them until all soil and decayed scales are removed, when they should be placed in a cool place till planting time. Next season prepare a new bed and proceed as before. : He bulb disease: —Eel worm. The latest aiid worst pest that has attacked I the daffodil is certainly the stem eelworm which did an enormous amount ol* damage before it was discovered us the cause of wholesale destruction of many stocks of daffodil bulbs. It was most unfortunate for the growers iu lljis Dominion that via» iuot known earlier, as quantities of bulbs were sent here that contained eelworm, and most of the gardens in the Dominion where imported bulbs were planted beeame infested with this pest. It was not until 1917 after the Royal Horticultural Society made a research into the cause j of the disease in daffodils, that the I eelworm was found to be the almost j

entire cause-of daffodil. losses, and a I cure was recommended later, viz.. to i soak the bulb in wafer at a temperature jof 110 to 115 degrees F. for about I three hours, which quite killed the eelf worms in the bulbs without any notice- >: able harm to the bulb itself. But this 1 leaves the question of sterilising the soil of eelwonn an open question. On I different lines a Mr. Jardine expen- * mented with a"solution of bichloride or 1 mercury, one part to 3000 parts of water, "in conjunction with nitrate 01 j soda, i ounce to each gallon of water Very satisfactory results were obtained ! and"he recommended it as a cure."