The Garden,

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 428, 14 December 1889, Page 3

The Garden,

Bx HORTIS.)

Moisture. The grateful showers received early in thi s week will bave produced a marked effect on all manner of vegetation. Where during the dry weather there \vas nothing but stagnation in growth through the want of moisture, plants will now begin to put out strong shoots. Anyone who may not as yet have planted out tender plants in the borders, should have it done at once, so that they may be able to get some benefit from the late moisture before it is all evaporated. The moisture will also have had she effect of starting into active growth all manner of weeds, and care must be taken to get rid of them while they are small. Late crops which require to be earthed up should be done at once, before the soil gets hard and dry again.

Summer Pruning. Whatever course has been adopted with regard to pruning, summer pruning or pinching back of the shoots must be resorted to, by removing all superfluous shoots and by a judicious pinching back of others which are making too much growth, with the object of causing them to form into spurs. The pinching back will also keep the centre ofjthe tree free of a superabundance of foliage during the summer and the allowing of a freer distribution of light and air to such fruit as may be in the centre. By this summer piuning we may also force the tree to produce a btronger growth where needed. Say, for instance, about the end of November or beginning of December we take a branch with two young shoots — the one very weak the other very strong. Stop the weak one, first, and allow it to push two or three buds into leaf, then stop the strong one. Before the latter can again break into leaf the shoots on the weaker one are grown, and are more able to grow on the sap than those which are merely bieaking bud on the strong shoot. Then suppose we only leave two new shoots to come from the weaker, and three or four from the stronger. The balance of strength will be restored in a very short time by this extra drain upon the resources of the strong shoot. By the autumn, the tree should be furnished with six shoots of about nearly equal strength. Take, for instance, again, that the strongest is stopped fiist and allowed to break into three or four shoots before you stop the weakest ; the eftect will be the reverse. The three or four new shoots on the stronger, having the start of those on the weaker, will not only keep ahead till the end of the season, but it is not unlikely that they may draw the bulk of the sap and starve out the weaker and later shoots. If we could stop the growth of a strong shoot until such time as the weaker shoot had attained a similar strength, and then allow both to grow on equal terms, all would go well, but we cannot stop growth for one instant. As soon as we pinch back a shoot, if only by breaking oft a bud. the next bud below will immediately yield to the force of the rising fluid and start to grow. The art of summer pruning is based on a knowledge of this fact. The proper period of the year to begin to summer-prune is about the beginning of December, just after the shoots have made a few inches of growth. In dealing with trees a few years old yon must recollect that all trees are inclined to make their growth from the extremity ot their branches, and would also produce most of j their fruit buds there if allowed, and when entirely left to themselves will soon attain a considerable height, with long naked branches. Any fruit produced is near the extremities of those branches. Now, all this can be obviated by a judicious system of pruning. Not one unnecessary branch need be grown, and the tree can be kept in the best form which may suit the variety. Every limb can be from top to bottom furnished with fruit spurs which will produce fruit of an equal quality all over the tree. In fact, the full forces of the tree can be utilised just in whatever direction the cultivator may desire. In operating upon the tree each cultivator in a large measure mu^t be guided by the circumstances attached to each tree. Leading shoots may be dealt with as follows : — Take off about one-third of a weak shoot, or only one-fourth if the shoot be of a\erage strength, and merely the point if it be strong. The upper buds on each shoot will usually break again, when during the autumn they can be again pinched. Where lateral or breast shoots break and grow, the utmost endeavour must be made to pinch these back so that they may form into fruiting spurs. Summer pruning is the best of all methods of pruning, and when the tree begins to grow shoots which are rank and strong, resort must at once be had to root pruning, so as to correct Ihis strong growing tendency.

Garden Notes. " Forest, grassland, tillage and highway," remarks the " Connecticut Courant," " may all be made clean and beautiful as a world wide garden if we work together to make them so." "Orchard and Garden" believes that "pruning now should be done with the thumb and finger, pinching off unnecessary buds and regulating the growth of the tree as desired. "Rub off all shoots which will not be wanted when they grow large. None of their vitality should be allowed to go to waste in the production of unnecessary limbs." I have never found a more profitable vee for bean or pea straw, of which I have a good deal, pays T. H. Hoakins, than to apply it as a mulch and manure around both fruit and ornamental tree?. It decays quite rapidly, but clings together so that the highest winds do not disturb it. When decayed it gives as rich a dressing as any manure, meantime killing all grass and weeds. It needs renewing about once in three years. It is paid, according to the "Agricultural Epitotnist," that elder stalks, with leaves attached, covered over the pquash, cucumber, melon and other plants will drive the bugs in the opposite direction, and it is also stated that placing the stalks in the plum tree will make the curculio go. The remedy is simple and can be easily tested, so we advise those who have plenty of elders in the fence corners to give them a trial. " Garden and Forest " quotes this simple method of testing the quality of a pear. Write a name with pen and. ink upon the dry skin of the fruit. If the ink is quickly absorbed, leaving clear, sharp lines, the quality of the fruit is good, if the skin does not absorb the ink quickly, and the lines are blotted, the quality is inferior.

Thinning Fruit. Now is the season for thinning fiuit. It should be done early, so that none of the growth may be wasted, but all be concentrated in what is left on the trees or vines. It is the formation of seed that is most exhaustive. Develop less seed, and the tree can perfect a much greater amount of what to man is the more valuable portion of the fruit.

Restoring Potted Plants. To restore unhealthy plants first ascertain the cause of the tro efec-

fcive drainage and injudicious watering stand first. Sometimes the drainage, once good, becomes clogged. See that there are no worms at the roots and that the soil is sweet and porous. Insects are often the consequence rather than the cause of the disease. Plants have a limited period of existence, which varies greatly in different kinds ; when one has run its coui-se better lei it die and start a young one.

Planting Celery. If planting celery this month, have in mind the fact that it is a plant which needs a great deal of moisture. Consequently, choose a piece of low land which is naturally somewhat damp. If there are no appliances for watering, such as tanks, hose, etc., a good location may be found beside an open ditch or small run from which water may be easily taken by means of a small pump. Very good ones, such as are sold for sprayiner trees, may be had for a small outlay, which, with a hundred feet of inch hose, will do duty over a considerable extent of ground.

Stick to the Country. Young men who live on farms had better remain there. No other vocation offer- such opportunities for health and independence. As long as a man is familiar with agriculture, cattle- raising and domestic industries, although he may be poor in money and articles of luxury, yet the substantive necessaries of life are within his reach. It is only when man loses his direct dependence upon food-producing Mother Earth ; only when he forsakes the furrow in the field and passes beyond the reach of Nature, who offers him bread and fruits, milk and honey, game and fish ; only whsn he shuts himself up behind the city walls and gives up his share of forest and stream, and procures his lood by an exchange of the product of his labour for the gifts of nature monopolised by othesr ; it ia only at this period that the possibility arises for a very few to accumulate great wealth, and for a large majority to sink into absolute poverty and distress. A country consisting of free tillers of the soil is never poor.