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THE GARDENERS' CHRONICLE. 



[June 22, 1912. 



The Week's Work. 



THE HARDY FRUIT GARDEN. 



By F. Jordan, Gardener to Lady Nunburnholme, 



Warter Priory, Yorkshire. 



THE KITCHEN GARDEN. 



By Edwin Beckett, Gardener to the Hon. Vicary Gibbs, 



Aldenham House, Hertfordshire. 



Broad Beans. — Where this vegetable is In 

 request over a prolonged season successional 

 sowings may still be made, selecting varieties 

 of the Broad Windsor type It is essen- 

 tial, when sowing at this season, to have the 

 .ground thoroughly prepared. The best plan is 

 to form trenches at a depth of about 18 inches, 

 placing in the bottom at least 1 foot of good, 

 half-decayed farmyard manure. The crop should 

 never be allowed to suffer for want of water, and 

 immediately the young growths appear above the 

 ground a good mulching should be applied. Plants 

 of earlier sowings should have the point of the 

 main shoots nipped out immediately a fair num- 

 ber of blooms have formed. Guard carefully 

 against the presence of black aphis, which is 

 always troublesome to Beans at this season of 

 the year. A thorough syringing with a strong 

 solution of soft soap and water will destroy the 

 aphides and do no harm to the plants. Some 

 kind of support should be afforded the plants; it 

 is a capital plan to place stout stakes at intervals 

 on either side of the row and to stretch stout, 

 soft cord on them. 



Celery. — The earliest plants of Ce'e-y are 



sufficiently advanced for blanching. The simplest 

 and most efficient method of doing this is 

 to use brown paper, a band of which 

 should be placed not higher than the youngest 

 visible leaves. The paper should be tied 

 in position by means of stout pieces of raffia. 

 Three tiers of paper, applied at intervals 

 of about 10 days, should suffice. The crop should 

 be kept well supplied with water, both overhead 

 and at the roots. The plants should receive 

 frequent applications of liquid manure and soot. 

 Continue to make further plantings for winter 

 and spring supplies as land becomes available ; 

 though it is convenient to plant in single rows, 

 it is often necessary to economise space by plant- 

 ing two or three lines in a single trench. 



Seakale Beet.— This is a most useful vege- 

 table during the summer and autumn. To ensure 

 ■a constant supply, several small sowings should 

 Tbe made at intervals. Afford the plants every 

 encouragement, that they may make a rapid and 

 good growth. The ground should be enriched 

 with manure and the plants given copious sup- 

 plies of water, both at the roots and overhead. 

 The leaves should be drawn together carefully bv 

 three stout sticks placed around the plants and 

 bound with strong bands of raffia to prevent the 

 wind damaging the growths. The plants will be 

 much benefited if a good surface dressing of spent 

 manure from a hot -bed or old Mushroom bed is 

 applied. 



Peas. — Continue to make successional sow- 

 ings of Peas in well-prepared trenches. The seed 

 sown should be double the number of plants re- 

 quired, and the seedlings should be thinned later. 

 Autocrat and Masterpiece are both excellent 

 varieties for late cropping, and seldom fail to give 

 good results in any locality. Attend to the stak- 

 ing and mulching of plants of earlier sowings, and 

 see that they do not suffer for the want of mois- 

 ture at the roots, or, in all probability, mildew 

 will develop and do a great amount of harm to 

 the crop. 



Radishes. — Small sowings of the best 

 varieties should be made every 10 days in a fairly- 

 sheltered position ; protect the seeds from birds, 

 and water them frequently in dry weather. One 

 of the best all-round varieties for summer and 

 autumn use is a selection of French Breakfast. 

 It is of first-rate quality and always pleasing in 

 appearance. 



Seakale. — Owing to the dry spring, newly- 

 made plantations of this vegetable have made but 

 little growth. Every encouragement should, 

 therefore, be given to induce the plants to develop 

 good crowns by the autumn. All except the 

 strongest growths should be removed, fertilisers 

 applied, especially during showery weather, and 

 the surface soil kept constantly stirred with the 

 Dutch hoe. In dry weather drenchings of liquid 

 manure from the farmyard wiU be of much value. 



Insect Pests. — Aphides, caterpillars, and 

 other insects that attack fruit-trees have become 

 very numerous, making their eradication a matter 

 of difficulty. The recent storms have done much 

 good in cleansing the shoots and foliage of some 

 of these pests, and this cleansing, in conjunction 

 with the soaking of the ground, will prove benefi- 

 cial at once, helping materially in the swelling of 

 the fruits, and enabling the trees to make fresh 

 growths and develop fruit-buds for next year's 

 crop. Do not neglect to apply summer washes to 

 keep insects in check, as, by timely attention, the 

 latter may be easily exterminated. Autumn and 

 w r inter are the best seasons to combat insect pests, 

 as the eggs and chrysalids are then destroyed. 

 Notes should be taken now of trees badly in- 

 fested, so that they may receive special attention 

 later. American blight (woolly aphis) is a com- 

 mon pest of Apples at this season. The creature 

 increases rapidly, especially when established on 

 old trees. Syringe the trees with one of the 

 summer washes as soon as the blight is detected, 

 as, later in the season, many of these aphides 

 develop wings and take up their abode in new 

 quarters. Wasps, woodlice and ants all cause a 

 great deal of injury to ripening fruits, and every 

 effort should be made to destroy them. They 

 may be killed by cyanide of potassium dissolved 

 in water : the liquid should be kept in a bottle 

 tightly corked. Soak a little wool with the 

 poison and push it into the mouth of the hole 

 which the insects haunt. Paris green or other 

 dry poison mixed with meal may be used to 

 destroy woodlice ; this should be placed in drain- 

 pipes or similar receptacles, and always used 

 before the fruits are ripe. Ballikinrain Ant De- 

 stroyer is effective with ants. Vaporite may 

 be used to destroy or dislodge them from the 

 roots of trees and the foundations of walls. 



General Remarks. — Use the hoe diligently 

 in all fruit quarters, as the surface of the ground 

 will have become quite hard in many gardens 

 after the recent rains. As opportunity affords, 

 continue to tie the shoots of Peaches and 

 Nectarines, pinching the lateral growths as the 

 work proceeds. Morello Cherries w 7 ill require 

 attention, guarding especially against black aphis. 

 Advantage should be taken of fine mornings and 

 evenings to use the garden engine on all wall 

 trees to thoroughly cleanse them from filth and 

 insects. Barren trees should be syringed occa- 

 sionally with an insecticide; it may appear a 

 waste of time to give attention to fruitless trees, 

 but next season's crop will largely depend on 

 proper attention being given to this and other 

 small details during the summer months. 



FRUITS UNDER GLASS. 



By E. Harriss, Fruit Foreman, The Royal Gardens, 



Windsor. 



Pineapples. — The more forward fruits of 

 the Queen variety are ripening, and the culti- 

 vator should endeavour to extend the fruiting 

 season over as long a period as possible. Those 

 plants on which the fruits are colouring may be 

 removed to a house where the atmosphere should 

 be kept cool and dry; if another house is not 

 available, they should be placed all together at 

 the coolest end of the house in which they are 

 growing. Shade them during the hottest part 

 of the day with tiffany. Manures must be 

 withheld from plants which are ripening their 

 fruits, but the roots must not be allowed to 

 suffer from want of water. Later plants which 

 are developing their fruits should be fed 

 liberally with manures. The atmosphere should 

 be kept moist and the plants lightly sprayed 

 with tepid rainwater twice daily. Suckers 

 which are not required for increasing the stock 

 may be removed. In order to have a good 

 batch of suckers ready for propagating next 

 month, the old stools should be placed in a 

 position near to the roof -glass, and be kept well 

 supplied with moisture. 



Pines Planted Out. — Pineapples planted 

 out must be carefully watered and syringed. As 

 a rule, the plants mature their fruits very irregu- 

 larly, for whereas one fruit may be ripening, 

 that of a neighbouring specimen may be only 

 half developed. Plants with fruits ripening 

 will require little moisture at the roots till the 



fruits are cut, and the latter must be kept dry, 

 or they will split. Should the crowns on the 

 later fruits show a tendency to grow too freely, 

 they should be stopped carefully. The plants 

 which were put out in the spring will now be 

 thoroughly established in the soil. They should 

 be examined at least once a week to ascertain if 

 water is required, but stimulants will not be 

 necessary for some time to come. The plants 

 should be encouraged to grow freely. During 

 very hot weather, fresh air should be admitted 

 to the house early in the morning, opening the 

 top ventilators only, closing the pit again early 

 enough in the afternoon for the sun's warmth to 

 raise the temperature to 95° or 100°, after spray- 

 ing the plants and charging the house with 

 moisture. 



Successional Plants of Pines.— Young 

 plants of the Queen variety which were potted 

 early in the year are fairly well rooted. The 

 majority of these plants, if well grown, may be 

 expected to fruit next year, but every encourage- 

 ment must be given them to develop strong and 

 healthy growth. They should be examined fre- 

 quently to see if the roots require water : when 

 moisture is needed, soak the soil thoroughly. 

 As the roots become more plentiful and growth 

 advances, stimulants may be afforded at an in- 

 creased strength. Weak soot-water applied occa- 

 sionally will cause the plants to have a healthy 

 appearance ; a little soot may also be mixed with 

 the water when syringing in the afternoons. At 

 this time of year fire-heat must not be used to 

 excess, and, during warm, genial weather, may 

 be dispensed with altogether. The excessive 

 use of artificial heat is injurious to the plants, 

 and is often the cause of premature fruiting. 

 Admit plenty of air early in the morning, when 

 the weather is favourable, but take full advan- 

 tage of the sun's rays by closing the pit early in 

 the afternoon after syringing the plants. Attend 

 to the potting of young plants before they be- 

 come pot-bound, and plunge them in a fairly 

 warm hot-bed near to the roof-glass. Water the 

 plants carefully till the roots are active, and en- 

 courage them to grow freely during the summer. 



PLANTS UNDER GLASS. 



By Thomas Stevenson, Gardener to E. Mocatta, Esq., 



Woburn Place, Addlestone, Surrey. 



RlCHARDIA ELLIOTIANA AND R. PeNTLANDIL 



-These Aroids are very showy subjects and 

 suitable for the warm greenhouse. Unfortu- 

 nately, the plants are somewhat shy in blooming ; 

 they need considerable attention after tne 

 flowering is over, requiring to be kept in a 

 moderately warm house for a time after this 

 stage, and fed with fairly strong liquid manure 

 until such time as the foliage shows signs of 

 maturity. When the leaves commence to wither, 

 the plants should be placed on a shelf in full 

 sunlight and dried off very gradually. By this 

 treatment a greater percentage of bloom is 

 obtained than is usually the case. Unlike the 

 common Arum Lily (Iiichardia africana), these 

 plants do not develop offsets freely, therefore 

 propagation in this way is a very slow process. 

 But a stock may be raised easily from seeds, 

 which may be saved from one or two in- 

 florescences and sown as soon as they are ripe. 

 The seeds will soon germinate : the seedlings 

 should be kept growing in a warm house and 

 treated much in the same manner as are seed- 

 lings of Amaryllis. The variety Mrs. Roosevelt, 

 though not so rich in colour as these species 

 (being cream or primrose-yellow), is a very desir- 

 able plant, being much hardier and very much 

 more florif erous ; the plant will do quite well in 

 a cool-house, and, when liberally treated, it 

 makes a very fine subject for the conservatory 

 during the summer months. 



Fuchsias.— Where there is plenty of head- 

 room available in the greenhouse nothing is 

 prettier, when trained up the rafters or pillars, 

 than a well-grown plant of Fuchsia. If ^ is 

 desired to have plants for this purpose next 

 season, a number of the young free-growing 

 Fuchsias should be grown on in pots, training 

 the shoots to wires underneath the rafters. AH 

 the blooms should be removed as they appear and 

 the side-growths stopped close. It is astonish- 

 ing how much space the plants will cover in a 

 single season, and, if the house in which they are 

 growing is not too cool during the winter, 

 they may be kept growing actively all througn 



