Hortlcutura Clippings.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 227, 5 November 1887, Page 7

Hortlcutura Clippings.

The Willow.— Professor Sargent, director of the Arnold Arboretum, of Harvard' College, estimates that five foreign trees are planted in New England to one native. Yet, of all foreign trees introduced into America, the willow alone, he thinks, has qualities not possessed in a greater degree by some native. The European oak and. the Scotch, Austrian, and Corsican pines all dio at about the time when they should be at their prime, and the Norway spruce, ( at a corresponding age, is decrepit and unsightly. Gloxinia Culture.— ticeds should be sown in spiing on light sandy soil in pans ; they do not lequiro any .soil over them, but a pane of glass may be placed over tho pan. The soil to be moistened from below, nob watered overhead. When large enough to be hauled with safety, the seedlings should be pricked into pans of sandy peat and leafmould, and kept well watered. Alter this they may be tianofeirod when ready into 2Ain. pots using for them the same soils, but eoaiher than for seeds, and from these they may bo removed into sin. pots, in which they will form nice plants and flower freely. To grow large specimens, it is bcs,fc to begin caily in the year with healthy young tubers of the previous season's growth. The soil .should be lich, porous, and light ; plenty of water may be given A/hilst giowlh is vigorous, and the temperattue should always be tropical, but never close and stufl'y. the rust disease, so fie quently seen on these plant,-*, being the result of a clo.^c atmospheic combined with heavy syringing. A shelf in tho hot-house near the gla^ will be found the best position for gloxinias. Pyiamid Goosebeny Bushes. — Although the naturally low-^picading and .spineguarded gooseberry is rarely seen as a tapering pyiamid, it may bo giown in that svay so as to look much nioie dttiacthe than in its ordinary state, and its fruit may bo gathered, without stooping, ascomcniently as that of an espalier pear or apple tree. We have recently .seen a gaiden with several ot iU walks boidcred by very pretty specimeiift of ctect goo.-.ebenies and standard red currant trees alternated, the gooseberries simply tied to a .slender iron "stake lising about 7ft. above the surface of the ground, and pruned so as to giadually diminish from, base to top 10 a meie point. The base of each cone w.v about 15in. in diameter, and the whole poifectly furnished with fruiting spurs. Summer pinching of the <^hoot^ is practiced to prevent the plants getting out of shape, and al-o to induce fruitf ulnc^s, and thuy aie neatly pruned in winter. The kind bi">t suited for this woik is the rough i led ; it seeing to make the handsomest pyuunidsand is also a my desirable kind foi eating or pie-crying. Blaclibemj Cullui c.— They do be*!; on light soils and in sunny e\po->iucs. With partial shade on moist, hea\> land, the canes are apt to grow too late, and the I heavyjrobts lind them unripened and unable to cnduie the winter. Warm, welldrained, but not diy, compost soil is best. On dry, haul soil the fruit often either pennies befoie maturity, or is only a bunch of tasteless seeds. In the piopaiation of the soil, plough deep, thoroughly loosening, if possible, the subsoil. It an opportunity is given, the roots of the blackbeiry are ; great foiagcr-. Tt demands meikm ness, rather than lichne.ss. With the latter if; ' grows too rank. In iield cultiue the rows of blackberries should be from six to eight feet apart, and the plants set three feet apart in the iosv^>. It will take about 1,800 plants for an acie. It is best to give the 1 canes support. Tin* can be done by posts and fence wire. The blackberry requires and amply repays for management and culture, both of which it needs. If the canes are allowed to grow tall, and then cut oft with shears, they have few, if any, lateral branches, and pioduce meagie crops. The best way is, when in rapid growth and about three or four feet high, pinch off with the lingers the terminal bud. Cultivating Young Orchards. — Stirring or loosening the ground in many youngorchards wheie the .soil is thin with a compact substratum beneath is the means of. cutting off many young roots with the plough. Young fruit trees ha\e seldom any roots to part with, consequently every rootlet that the plough seveis tends to letard the growth of the tree ; but where the soil is so porous that most of the roots strike deep and spread out below the range of the plough, that implement may be used for working the soil. However, none but a careful and intelligent teamster should be permitted to work around fruit trees with iiPLy implement ; and several feet around each tiec the plough should not be allowed to run more than 2in. deep. The entire soil where an orchard is gi owing should be either mulched, or cultivated, or harrowed over so frequently that all vegetation will be kept in check. Maize, sorghum, mangel wurzel, onions, sugar beet, potatoes, turnips carrots, or beans may be cultivated between the rows every year for ten years, but the ground around each tree, as far as the branches extend, should be left entirely free from vegetation. Great) care should always be used in keeping all implements from wounding the trunks of the young trees, as a careless booby will often do many pounds worth of damage with the swingle-trees of the plough or horsehoe. A fork is far less liable than a spade to in juro the roots in stirring the soil about them, and therefore should always be used in preference to the latter implement. After fruit trees have commenced bearing the soil should not be touched with the plough within a distance of eight feet from them.