NEXT WEEK’S GUIDE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 41, 18 February 1939, Page 13

NEXT WEEK’S GUIDE

THE FLOWER GARDEN. Plants in window boxes and tubs should have a weekly application of fertiliser when they have filled the boxes with roots. Seedlings such as Iceland poppies need all the air possible and yet be shaded from bright sun; remove the shading in the evenings. Lift the glodioli when the foliage turns yellow; dry and clean the corms before storing. Prepare the trenches for winter sweet peas; the sowing of these should not be delayed if winter flowers are required. Plant lachnalias, freesias and grape hyacinths in good time. Good varieties of double petunias should be selected and propagated by cuttings of the unflowered growths. Watch for buds on the chrysanthemums from now on. as these should show during the next few weeks. THE GREENHOUSE. Where bulbs are required for early flower in pots and bowls, the potting should be taken in hand at once. Where a succession is desired, it is the better plan to pot up a batch every fortnight. Plunge the pots completely in a shady, cool spot out of doors till root action is well advanced. The old corms of cyclamen that are showing renewed growth should be shaken free of the old soil and potted up in pots a size smaller. Shift on the primulas and cinerarias before they become pot-bound. Shift on some young plants of maidenhair fern into larger pots to provide a supply of fronds for winter. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN* Make a sowing of prickly spinach; this should be sown in successional crops from ijow on. Make a good sowing of cabbage and cauliflower for planting out in autumn. Most of the potato crops are ready for lifting; when saving for seed, choose only those tubers from healthy plants. Keep the marrows and pumpkins well watered during dry spells. Permanent crops such as asparagus, rhubarb and seakale will appreciate supplies of liquid manure to build up strong crowns. Lift the runners of kumaras to prevent rooting at the joints. Dust the cabbage and cauliflower plants with sulphur and pepper to to deter the insect pests. THE FRUIT GARDEN. The early crops of apples will be ready for picking; do not delay the picking too long after maturity. , When the raspberry crop is picked the old fruiting canes should be cut out and burned. Loganberries can also be relieved of the old canes and the young growths tied in. Where patches of woolly aphis are showing, use a brush dipped in benzine or kerosene. The budding of fruit trees can be taken in hand; give the stocks a good soaking of water the day before if the soil is dry. ligs require plentiful supplies of water to develop tho fruit; make a basin of earth around the trees and fill up with water.

HOW TO DRY PLUMS USING SURPLUS FRUIT Allow the plums to ripen fully on the tree. It is essential that ail the moisture escapes during the drying process. The best way to ensure this is to immerse the plums for a few seconds in a hot solution, consisting of one ounce of caustic soda to nine quarts of water. This will penetrate the bloom and cause slight cracks to appear in the skin. Care must be taken not to overdo the immersion, or the skins will split. If a very small quantity of plums is being handled, the skins may be pricked lightly all over with a needle, immersion in the solution will then be unnecessary. After soaking, the fruit may be dipped in clear water if desired, but this is unnecessary. Place the plums in single layers on drying trays; hot sunny days with a breeze should dry the fruit in from five to eight days. The drying may be done in an oven with the door left open. Keep the temperature at about 110 degrees until the skins begin to shivel, then let it rise gradually to 150 degrees. As the plums dry, remove them from the trays. Put into a box in which they can be stirred occasionally; t'lis is to “even up" or “condition" the fruit. After several days during which the fruit should become rather moist, again put on trays in the sun for a short time. Then pack the fruit away in boxes. VIRUS IN DAHLIAS Virus diseases—and there are several kinds—may be called a modern development, and are diflicult to control, for they are present in the sap of the plant. Infection is on the vaccination principle, and the various kinds of sucking insects are the greatest factor in the spread of the virus. In the same way, the gardener cutting off leaf or flower from an affected stem then passing to a healthy plant, without first sterilising the knife, may convey infected sap to the healthy plant and thus infect it. It sometimes happens that one of two stems only of a dahlia* plant are affected. These should be cut out and burned, and it would be well to be suspicious of the tubers at the end of the season. The diseases, when infecting low-down shoots, may travel down the main stem to the tubers. In this way some varieties are being killed off. So far, pale flowered kinds seem to be more susceptible than the reds or dark sorts. An important point to bear in mind is that all vegetatively propagated plants, which are infected with a virus disease, will reproduce the disease year after year. This applies to all plants which multiply by such means as tubers, rhizomes, bulbs, suckers, cuttings or grafts. Another point is that virus infected plants do not recover, therefore such plants must be ruthlessly eradicated and destroyed, preferably by burning, otherwise they will remain a source of infection to neighbouring plants.

AERATE THE GARDEN POOL The water in the garden pool must be aerated occasionally to prevent it becoming stagnant. Fish and water plants will become unhealthy, especially in newly-made pools, unless they are given the necessary attention. The best and easier method of aerat-< ing the water in a small pool is to syringe it forcibly three or four times a week. Do not use tap water for the purpose, but take the water in the pool. In new pools, blanket weed is often a source of trouble. This forms masses of green slime which cling together tenaciously. An excellent method of clearing the pool of this slime is to thrust a twiggy stick into the mass and twirl it round until the slime is adhering to it, when it can be pulled from the water. On no account should the pool be emptied and refilled with fresh water, as this will only aggravate the trouble. PLANT AUTUMN FLOWERING BULBS Several hardy bulbs which bloom in the autumn months are suitable for planting in February. Among them are autumn-flowering crocuses and hardy cyclamen. Of the latter choose europeum and hederaefolium. The cyclamen need partial shade, a welldrained site and soil of loam, leafmould and brick or mortar rubble. LILIES FOR THE GARDEN There has been much written and a great deal said in discussing the various aspects of lily culture. So much has been said regarding lilies that the novice must get rather bewildered and think that growing lilies is a rich man's hobby, expensive and calling for expert knowledge. There are some varieties which need special soil and special attention, and a position suited to them. There are some varieties, too, which get the expert baffled when it comes to grow and flower them. However, these are few, and for every one of these there are dozens that can be grown just as easily as any other plant. In any case so far as our judgment is based upon conditions prevailing in England and the Continent; and in many cases grown under glass. Many of the lilies are native of temperate and sub-tropical regions, with a moist damp climate somewnat similar to that experienced here, so that even with these so-called difficult sorts we must withhold our linal judgment until we have at least attempted to grow them here. The lily, like most other plants, enjoys the company of its fellows, and the majority have so far proved themselves fairly easy to cultivate if they have been given a chance to estlblisn themselves and develop without too hard a struggle for existence. The oldest and one of the most widely known is the Madonna lily or, to give its correct name, Lilium candidum. Among the earliest to flower, it is welcome and is taken as typical cl all that is graceful and pure. A native of Persia, Palestine and other countries bordering on the Mediterranean, it has been credited with being a native of most European countries. This is largely due to its being so long in cultivation that it has escaped and made a home for itself in the country of its introduction.

There are several varieties, including one with variegated leaves, but the one which has received most notice is a variety from Salonika and known as L. c.: Salonika. The old type of candidum refuses to produce seed, and it was not until the introduction of the Salonika variety that seed was obtainable. With its fertility, vigour, relative resistan :e to disease and its seed-bearing propensi-

ties, it at once gave ine old variety a new era of popularity. Lilium candidum is seen at its best in. an old-fashioned garden, where it has been allowed to remain undis-

turbed for years. It likes a soil containing lime, and if • any attempt is made to grow it in a lime-free soil, a quantity of lime-rubble or gro ind limestone should be added to the sod. A i crfectly-drained soil is also neeasstuy; a damp, water-logged soil ’s

fstai. Because it flowers early in summer, drought during the middle or end of summer does not seem to affect it, in the least. Rich soil anc manure it does not need—in fact, it is better without them.

The bulbs should be planted with the crown just below the surface, and most important the planting must be done early. This lily is practically evergreen, for directly after the flowers are over the bulb sends up a tuft o£ basal leaves, which persist right thicugh the winter, and from the centre of this tuft is sent up the flower spike the following year. The planting should take place as soon after flowering as possible and before this tuft of leaves is sent up. The best time for planting is January and February. Once planted, the bulbs should be left to get well established, and will not need moving for many years. Perhaps the reason for its not giving better results in many cases could be traced to this. The chief drawback to cultivation of this lily is its liability to that bugbear of lily growers, the fungus disease known almost everywhere the lily is cultivated, and known under several names, such as Lilium rust and mildew. Spray with Bordeaux mixture, lime-sulphur, colloidal sulphur or dusting with flowers of sulphur. It is advisable to spray all liliums during the spring, when the new growths are showing through the grettna.

A dwarf, early-flowering, lily with creel flowers and colours ranging from yellow to crimson is known under the several names of elabans, umbellatum, thunbergianum, dauricum, and davuricum. By many experts these are considered to be one and the same species. There have been a large number of varieties raised from seed of this species. It does best when planted and left to form clumps; it requires a sunny position, the bulbs planted six inches deep, and although it is tolerant of lime it does not seem to require it, doing well without any more than is in the average garden soil.