HORTICULTURE WHOLESALE

Shannon News, 20 November 1923, Page 4

HORTICULTURE WHOLESALE

A JLQGAL INDUSTRY

:ever, cultivate-, in manner, the.-.^. th^n^sfery-recently, was surprised at r tomSSUe : op^f ° n o tthe ••less fIA ;by-Ihe o; ( the ..methods used. ~, . • _. nr , prv is no t . The first view, of is not ■ iZur the ordklinew .of m iterate Planted in" lines whloll /re With a yiew/Q lacii- j the factttiat liardly a Wi*^ t i? sAen' over the whole area. At lnter- = : ; Sof 15 ySds pipelines are fixed on wi tin, nozzles at intervals so tnat an : SScSalaoVer can J*; jr the whole area .whenever .desired. ■ a- ? largf glasshouse in thecentre .is used tfor PifopWinei 'and wintering the {£■ Ky in toe* stag-

S hmhs grown here iall of' which, .are <>f tbe °™S£ r - ■ •kind, ™f^ *ies} rhododendrons, heatns, ciemd,us varieties), l^ lTn aur gS arum speciosum Tubrum, hiium suShuream, lilium regale, and sevv era? other/yarieties. of Uhes, daphnes, Lalead (fifteen vjaneties and cean-i oSuT The extent of the; output may, i bSSugedf by the fact that last year, .10,000 2.yeair-old 'horonia plants were, sold 'to the wholesale e -. fff *S thousand rhododendrons, of different varieties were sent o#; twenty-nve three and Wi thousand two-ye a r-old clematis >ines, .'and very large numbers of lilies, daphne, .anemones etc. Stock and novelties axe imported from many countries and are propagated, tested as' to type and. and ' thensupplied in hulk quantities to the trade. Two great .'beds of rhododehd*dhs o *\ver : e in full flower at tie tiihe: of the visit. _One \ of these was "the > famous - •■' Pmk pearl," : a variety: bearing huge trusses E> of sots&dm bloom 'and presenting a spectacle'of great .beauty; The other was the sweet scented Himalayan yarr «ie?y "Erlarantissima." The perfection of growth in each! case is remark- ." able and illustrated strikingly .the^ resalts obtainable by intelligent horfo--1 culture

PLATING HINTS., -All shrubs grown' are propagated from Bt'ock./that is from 'Cuttings orby bidding,-this being necessary, primarily, to .retain type, as hybrid plants "will invariably throw, hack to one or •ther of the parents if grown from seed. A stronger and more vigorous shrub is also obtained and Mr Scobie iexplaine'd that one of the principal reasons for. the difficulty found by many people in growing boronia, was, that the. plants grown from seedlare subject to what is known as dietback," this heirrg a constitutional •weakness causing them to gradually (Re after about the second year, and for which no remedy is known. With boronia plants propagated fromr cuttings, however, this difficulty ■ is not found) iand ther& should be no reason why these should not thrive until. at least ten years of age, the only trouble to which they axe subject being aphis. This aphis causes a dirty black' .appearance of the stems and branches, and a generally unthrifty

appearance. , Shruibs. should! be examtoedi carefully foe this pest at inter- . vals and where found should be sprayed with forty," which may be used at any time of the year or stage of flowering. Spraying three tiroes a year 'will usually suffice to keep the plants clean:. .Another point emphasised!' in iconnection with the boronia is the necessity of .avoiding ■any disturbance of the root system:. • The plants are sent out with a certain, amount of soil around the roots and enclosed inj, <ai covering of. scrim, 'and during tlhe period in which they are" "balled up," as this process is known, the rootlets penetrate • the scrim, and iare, broken off when it is , so that it is advisable to plant the shruib with the scrim still in position. This breaking off of the rootlets is one of the most frequent causes of bc-ronias failing to thrive in the early stages of transplantation and should hei avofded under all 'circumstances. Oncel the plant is established it is important that .all grass and weeds be kept removed from beneath it as othlerwi&ej the, lower branches i will die. Al double handful of blood and bone manure per year is all the j fertiliser necessary.

, The siame; tare: in; regard to fie roots of shrubs should b» taken with all soft-rooted varieties, which include heaths and it is a safe rule, except where the purchaser knows otherwise, to plant all s(hru|b& in the scrim in which they are received. • ■ A "line in which Mr Sicobie is specialising at present is iauratum lilies, of which-he has now three hundred thousand (bulbs in different stages of development. Four years are necessary to grow a bulb of a commercial size, namely tlhr.ee Inches in diameter, and the nursery is now m ia position to supply 75,000 bulbs per year and it: is intended to largely increase this number. Another five acres of land will be brought in, next year-; and a large extent of .this will be devoted to the growth of lilies for which (there ie ah unsatisfied demand'.

GREEN MANURING. • As will be understood, the correct preparation »f the soil in order to obtain the best possible results is an important factor in the successful growth of plants, but even -then the extent *'gt the manuring done by Mr. Scobig will ~come.;as-.ats -.at surprise to most p»ppleiu : this ,district. It should be mientioned first that the 'land is cultiFated to, a depth of one foot oyer

the* .whole area, being thoroughly worked! to■■•tttiis depth. Last year it was. decided that, a portion of the area under cultivation was going back: a crop'. of lujpins four feet in height >yas arown and ploughed in, this being equal to 35 tons of stable manure to the acre. Following this 'a crop of 'oats was grown and ploughed in, this equalling 25 tons of stable manure:, and', on top of these manurings, five tons of < blood and bone manure and superphosphate in equal proportions were added to the area. With such treatment it is not to be wondered at that cresullts are obtained.. ■ ,'.-., The latest 'installation, at the nursery is a sterilising plant with which the whole of the ground for the full cultivated depth will be sterilised for the purpose of killing all slugs, weeds and other pests. "This is. accomplished by means of. steam pipes, thus salving a very considerable amount of labour. This is a class of farming which is intensive rather than extensive and is valuable m indicating the amount and value of produce which can- be taken off a small 1 area of ground by up-to-date! manuring and cultivation. It is an industry which is perhaps better known in practically every otlher part of New Zealand, wherever the plants and) shrubs produced are sold than it is in Levin, and although it is one which does not allow of very general expansion, still serves & very useful purpose and one which will be siraduially recognised with the passage of time, in demonstrating that tlhere is practically no limit to production from .land unless if be 1 by parsimony in the matter of manuring or working on the parti of the farmer.