THE POET'S MISSION. The Garden.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 392, 10 August 1889, Page 6

THE POET'S MISSION.

The Garden.

Suggested ox Reading Mr Wills'& Poem Extitled "Titk Poor's Mission," July 20rn, 1389. The poet's mission is to sing o£ lovo And beauty in its choicest aspects here ! It maj' be that no sweeter thoincs above Woo the angelic lyres to linger near. In rosy yovith what is there so inspires The tard to sing, albeit in simplest lays? ! Lovo is Uie motive principle that fires The soul tb song in lite's* Elysiun days. The grace and splendour of this bouthernsky ; The ocean'b breeze-kjssed wavelets in tlieir 1 glee ; 1 The charms of rural scenery that vie i In beauty each with each, so dear to nic : These, are the poet's thcnios, and these combined In ■woman's loveliness are here enshrined. A. W. Hurry. July 29th, 1889.

Stocks and Scions for Grafting. 1 As the grafting season is juab approach- J ing, a few words upon the best way to treat j stocks anil scions may be of value to fchoso ' who may want to increase their stock of fruit tree?. Stocks • Anyone who may possess a few stocks which thoy may intend to graft this season should have such stocks lifted and moved to a fresh position from that in which they may have been growing r in during the last twelve months The U lifting and moving will greatly curtail the c strong root action which would be sure to 'f occur on stocks which aie nob transplanted, q If stocks are lifted now ami placed in nur- f scry rows they will soon get established, I and when the giafting season arrives the s sap will rise in tho usual course, and when > they are cut back to apply tho graft, the < ilow of sap will not be so strong as it < would have been had the stocks been j allowed to remain in the same position as ] last year. Consequently, when tho scion | effects a union it will nob be so likely to 1 rush away with too strong or rank growth j in the fir^fc season. I have always held the ! opinion that tho iirst season's growth of a fruit tree in a great measure toretolls what , class of treo the future will produce. When a scion is applied to a stock not moved during the preceding winter it is apt to produce a , strong rank giowth which may take a few years of careful cultivation to biinginbca good fruit bearing &tato again. Where the stock has been moved it takes tho roots some time before they can send up laige quantities of sap. Thus the scion gets established and commences to grow and increasos in strength in about the same rate as. the root", giving a much better chance ot producing a young tree with shorter joints with wood oi .\ much hardier and closer grain. A tree of the above class will coiuo into fruit-bearing mi, a much earlier period than tho stiong rank one, and will not give «> much trouble in tho after cultivation. For the same reason, all tiees that have been budded last season and lu'ne taken should also be transplanted, and, if possible, thoy should be planted in their permanent positions, as this will oavo one transplanting, which will considerably lessen labotn. Many times L have seen stock which was budded in the autumn left all the preceding season in the same position. Where such a system was adopted, the result was that, as spring advanced, the full head of loots not only developed tho applied bud, but also a large number ot other buds on the stock, causing them all to grow lapidly till, of course, the disbudding takes placo Whenever thisisdone, instead of perhaps about half-a-dozen shoots taking upand developing the large quantity of cap pent up, thewoik of developing is left to ono shoot, and that shoot, the one which was applied to the stock. Thi<= shoot would soon attain a size, with long joint*, and wood of a sofb, stringy character, not at all adapted for a good fruit- pi educing tree. At the -arne time, it is strange to «ay a large number ot planters preter such trees, a& they think that in either piuchasing or growing such trees it shows good cultivation. aSTow, either in raising or purchasing trees it would not be from the si/c of the growth that I would make a choice. It would be medium-sized trees which showed by the bark that tho wood wa? ot a hard firm growth, well ripened jfi". The^e are the class of trees which in my estimation would in the near future be the best and most prolific for the ordinary cultivator to try and produce or purchase, and the attainment of this cla«s of tree can bo greatly £\ssi-ted by properly handling stock for grafting, or judiciously transplanting yoiu bud stock the winter after the bud has taken. J also believe that if moro attention were given to the class of stock suited for each variety we thould nob see so many unfruitful trees in our orchards. Scions for grafting should also receive special attention befoie they are wanted for the purpose of working on the stock. Many persons think that it is of no use troubling about the scions or grafts until they are wanted, and all they have then to do is to tako them oft the trees and apply then). jN"o\\ ,to do so, in a large number of instances places the scion in a much more advanced position than tho <»tock, especially when the scions are taken from large - growing trees. These tree 3, from not being interfered with at the root, ha\e, in most instance?, the sap in strong movement through the «hoots long before the sap get= a fair start in thenewly-plunted stocks. To make a greater certainty of success, the positions should be reversed, the stock should be in a mote advanced position than the scion. The way bo hi ing this about ie, about a month or six weeks before the ecions are wanted, they should be cut from the parent tree, tied up in little bundles, and the names of the varieties correctly put upon them. Afterwards they can be heeled into the ground, and the butts or cut part- covered up with soil. In this state they will keep perfectly well until wanted for grafting. Hy the above method scion« may be kept quite fresh and in an almost dormant state till long after the «ap has begun an upward movement. Another matter that a cultivator should take especial care in while procuring scions foi grafting is to see that tiio parent tree from which they are Laken is in a perfectly healthy condition, as disease in the parent h sure to be reproduced in the young tree, and this in all cases should be avoided, if possible. While cutting shoots for scion?, also see that the wood is as nearly ripe as possible, and that it is not lank, strong wood, <as the rank, strong wood i.s almost sure to reprocuce itself. The best wood of all to choo=e is medium shoots well rinened, with buds close together and well developed, ao this class ot wood is almost sure to reproduce a thrifty tree. To give an idea of the importance for truib production the quality of tho scion may possess, it is only necessary for the operator to graft a flower bud on to a stock so as to produce fruit the first season ; where ho may choo&e a graft from a strong growing seedling that has never produced fruit, and it might be a few years before this would produce fruit ; therefore, if possible, always take tho scions from trees that are already producing fruit. Another thing that considerably affects good crops is whether the variety suit& the locality. Many trees will do well in some localities and aspects, and will do nothing whatever in other.?. This is a question which greatly affects the productiveness of our orchards, and it is a question that few can answer, whether a given variety will succeed in any district until it is tested. The ordinary cultivator should try and procure as far as possiblo such varieties an have already been tested in the district in which he resides.

Asparagus Beetle. We are informed that the common asparagus beetle appeared the fjasfc summer in such n urn bore in New Jersey that the owners of some rather extensive' plantations of this excellent vegetable have almost concluded bo abandon ifcs cultivation in consequence of tho depredations of the insect named. It seems almost unaccountable that any cultivator of asparagus should not know how to quickly destroy this well-known pest, inasmuch as ifchnabeen

published hundreds of times d\mng the past twenty years. The remedy is dry caustic lime acavterod over the plants iin tho morning when wet with dew. The larva of the asparagus beetles is a small, soft, naked, thin-ekinod grub, und the least particle of lime coming in contact with this causes almost instant death. If the grubs are killed there will be no ■ beetle?.