Weekly Mail

BY MR. J. MBIE, $ MARC-AM ABBEY, GL AMOK G-AN 8 HI RE ¡ ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. Ni-mes of Flo.vera.—"J. A. S." (Oxford).—Only one little blue flower found in box, and it was, I icgret to say, too m ich elirimk to name correctly. Pony with Skin Disease.—"Elloccmbe."—I fear any outward application will not do much good. A course of medicine prescribed by a qualified veterinary sur- geon is most desirable; see remarks on putting hordes out to grass in recent ism" This would, no dovbti. be highly beneficial to yours. Price oi Plants.—J. W."—The foxgloves I wrote of cannot, I fear, be bought from any one, but you can get all the other pants you name from Messrs. B. S. Vvillia '3 and Son, Victoria Nurseries, Upper Hclioway, Loudon, Your g«ttLig them from there will a JC the carriage you wish to avoid. The plants will cost Is. or Is. 6:1. each. The Pyroci'itha, not Berrying.—"J. Woodward."— Some years they do not fruit, but they do so ;is a rule, but the blossom should be fully exposed to the sun, and not shaded with foliage; you should also see that the plant is well watered at the root while in flower and at the time the berries ought to be forming. Notes received with thanks from Mr. A, Hamer and flower and at the time the berries ought to be forming. Notes received with thanks from Mr. A, Hamer and Mr. W. Taylor. Eggs for South Africa.—"Mrs. E. H. Pracly.I am 1Jleased to hear you enjoy "Uural Notes" in South ,Africa. and hope you may find some of the hints they contain of some use to you. I do not, as a rule, undertake any commission for readers, but as you are situated, I will gladly do as you suggest, and a trustworthy firm who understand packing eggs for ex. port will attend to your order, which, I hope and think, you will find quite a success, as I do not know of any reason why the eggs should not hatch out very well, although hatching is now out of ieason in this country. Radish not Bulbing.—"W. Young."—There are two censes for your radish not bulbing, one is that the soil in which you sowed the seed is much too rich the other is that your plant8 are growing too close together. A firm soil containing very little manure is the most suitable for radish. They should not be grown in a shady place, and they ought all to 00 from two to three inches apart. If you will grow them in this way in future, you will haye no difficulty in getting them to bulb early and well. Food for Goats in Winter.—"Atchison."—Goats do very well with the same kind of food in wiuter and all the year round as sheep and cattle-grass and any kind of green stuff cut and put before them, if kept in eoiitiue-iient, or they may be turned into a field and alla-ved to remain there, and in winter they may receive hay and straw, or, if giving milk, a few oats and any" kind of artificial fool 'recom- mended for cattle. Peat moss litter would probr.bly be the cheapest bedding material you could use in or i:ear a town, and straw is also suitable, but one goat will not require much tedding. Red Cabbage and Peas.—"J. T. Butehr.AlI kinds of vegetables are making a great deal of superfluous growth this season, and many red cab- kge are composed as yet more of large outside leaves than hard centres. The Jotter will form in time, but you should ph-nt them in soil that is only moderately rich, and if you find that they do not heart sufficiently in this you can feed them with liquid. They should also have plenty of space to develope without sluàing each other. I do not know of anv pea that is called the "kidney beau pea." A pod 6im in length and liin. wid; is a good one, and it you would please to send nM two or three pods I may be able to give you the (errect name. The India-rubber Plant Unhealthy.—'A Reader for Fifteen Years."—I do not reply by post, unless in urgent or special cases. The india-rubber plant is always disposed to run up with a long stem and only have a few leaves en the top, and when it gets into an unhealthy state like yours it is a long time before they cant be improved to any extent. It will be better in the open air until the end of September than in your room, and as it will never make a pretty plant in its present form I advise you to cut the stem over at 6in. up from the soil and let it throw out some new growths, which it will soon do. Keep the soil at the roots moist, but not over wet, as its having no leaves for a time will reduce the demand for water. Tomatoes not Fl.uiting.H. S. T.Vebb's Sen- sation" is one of the most prolific and best tomatoes in cultivation. As a rule, it is clustered with fruit, and when your plants only produce one fruit each, there must be a mistake in their culture. All tomatoes are most prolific when grown in a some- what poor soil, fully expo'ed to the light, and not too far from the glass, with plenty of fresh dry air circulating amongst the foliage and fruit and if you submit "Sensation" to this treat- ment it will give you a splendid crop of fruit. Here we. grow a.ll "our tomatoes in ten-inch pots, as the quantity of soil these hold just suits their require- ments. As to quantity of foliage, they do not make a great deal of useless growth in them, and they produce abundance of useful sized fruit. Diseased Tomatoes —"H. A."—The fruit you send is affected with the disease that is common loathe tuimto. Tt appears in almost, eiery ii stance where tomstops are gro-v.i, but it is me ell worse in some rases than others. Mere we have a diseased fruit now and again, but very few. Yours is rather a. bad case. It is produced by giowing the plants in a great quantity of soil, which is more apt to be- come excessively wet than a small quantity that soon becomes well filled with roots. A damp atmos- phere is preatlv in its favour, and too much liquid at the root, when it in not requirsd in the earlier stages cf their growth, will produce it as quicky as anything. As you say you give your plants nlentv of liquid, I think this has produced the disease. The remedy is treatment .opposite to what I have said produces it, and let them have ,-uentv of fresh.air. Last year, when it was so dry, there were very few diseased tomatoes, but tnis set son I fear it will be very troublesome. Strawberry Culture. Judging from all I hear, 1894 will not be regarded "as a. good strawberry year. The plants sta,rt,ed early into growth and pro- duced abundance of bloom, but the frost, which was somewhat general and severe in May, destroyed a great deal of the blossom or crippled it so much that many of the crops were extremely light., and not a few failures altogether. This is very wjsoourag- ing to growers, but I can point out that the strawberry crop, as a rule, is not a failure, and no one ought to be deterred by the. results of this season's work from going on growing them in the moat careful way possible. All admit that the strawberry is one of the best of all fruits, and anyone who did not like them is unheard of. It is undoubtedly the most choice fruit that can be grown in the open or in a small garden with tike greatest success, and a bed or some i extent ought to be found in every garden, no matter how small it may be. Old Strawberry Plantations. A common mistake with strawberries is to keep the plants too long. When properly managed, they are most fruitful the tirst and second year, or when one and two years' old. In some cases where the 'soil was extra suitable this might extend to the third year, but certainly not longer. Only this rule is rarely observed, and it is no unusual th-Lig to find strawberry plants occu- pying good, positions in gardens that are six or more years old. These may look luxuriant and have plenty of leaves, but they are not prolific. I have often been told by owners of such that their strawberry plants were in fine health, but the fruit was so small scarce. And they could not understand it. but the explanation is simple enough—the plants merely being too old. There is no plant 'that re-produces itself more freely than the strawberry. At this season the young plants form in hosts around the old ones, and afford abundance of material for growing new plantations. It is, there- fore, not the expense of buying in n.ew plants that need prevent anyone from renewing their strawberry bed when it ought 1,0 ;J cone. Position and Soil for Strawberries. Early and mid-season kinds should be grown in surmy positions. Plants intended to fur- nish very early fruit cannot be planted in too good a position to secure sun and be sheltered, and they ought to be planted on a SOUCII borrael- or some such place. Others may be put in tihe open quarters, and late ones may be planted where they are not fuUy exposed all day long to the sun. They then furnish a long succession of fruit, -which is very desirable if the fruit is required for dessert axid the house table- It is a mistake to re-pknt strawberries on the same ground as tloy r-^s&tly occupied. Give them r. new site- each time. A soil neither too bear*- nor too light suits them best, but a light soil weii m-snured will grow them, and a *bt Smi&vt soil will also suit them if it is "1 'nul They will also succeed in y on. gardssi soil, sseh &a ia to be i found everywhere, and they are so accom- modating in this way that no one need say they will not plant 'strawberries owing to their soil being unsuitable, as I never knew them to fail from that cause. The fruit will be undersized and deficient in flavour in a poor, shallow soil, and before planting the ground ought to be well manured and deeply dug. Manure from a stable or a cowshed is the best for them, and the soil should be free from the roots of any weed that might be troublesome afterwards. If a new plan- tation is made without preparing the soil success may follow, but it can-not be guaranteed. The Beat Varieties of Strawberries. There are far too many kinds. Three- parts of them ought to be discontinued. In some catalogues of strawberries alone I count upwards of 100 sorts, and they may, per- haps, all be slightly distinct, too, but I can assert that all are not prolific or good in quality. Some of them are pecuii-I 't., !co, as they will fruit oapitally in one garden or district and fail to do so in another. Of that I have had personal experience, as some varieties I have been induced to plant here, owing to seeing them so fine elsewhere, have failed to bear anything like a crop but I would not recommend any of these, and what I am in favour of only are the sorts j that do well no matter in what garden they are' planted. One of the best of this class is the variety named Laxton's Noble. I have recommended this annually for years, and I do so still. All who cannot afford to grow many sorts, and have'only room one, should grow Noble. It has a fine con- stitution, is enormously prolific, is very early, of huge size, and very good iia 'our. Th;; is altogether a first-rate strawberry. Of others with a good all-round character, I would recommend Vico-mtesse. De Thury, President, and Competitor, which, with Noble, are the bast for town gardens- Of new sorts I hi.ve this season tried Guntou Park, Lord Sufrield, and Royal Sovereign, but I do not consider one season's experience sufficient to warrant anyone in recommending astra w- berry,, especially as these sort's are now _,)e -a:. being sold at Is. a plant in maay cases. If I were adding another variety I would name Waterloo, which is a useful-late sort to the season with. Securing the Plants and Planting. Those who are beginning strawberry grow- ing may be able to get some young plants ,_Lf L fro-rt i friend; if not, they must buy them, and now or varieties not now possessed should be securea in the same way. Nursery- men offer them largely. I notice Noble, for instance, offered by a respectable firm at 15s, per 100 in pots and 2 s. per ciozeu m same, while plants lifted from the open ground without potting are 3s. 6d. a hundred or 6d. a dozen-only a halfpenny each, a DTi( that surely brings the best of straw- berry plants within the reach of aH. Of the two sets of plant's, those in pots are the best, as they can be sent a distance without the plants or roots suffering and be- planted in their new quarters without receiving the least check. The other!, too, may be planted successfully, but it will take them a little successfully, but it will take them a little to get over the change. Those wir. have plenty of runners on their own plants neea have no difficulty in forming new beds, as they have only to get the soil prepared and lift the plants from one part and plant them in another. In planting put them in rows, and, if 18in. or 2ft. is allowed irom row to row and 1ft. from plant to plant, they will have ample space. In planting home-raised plants always secure a large bail of soil to the roots, and transplant them witn this entire, and in all cases water them freely at ihs root until they have become established. If good plants are put out at the end of July c" early in August, and well treated, so as to ensure plenty of growth during the autumn, they will bear a full crop in May or June the following sea-son. I have had ten months' old nlaliÜ of Noble produce lib. of fruit, a.nd thers is no rev.son why anyone should have to wait to the second year before securing a crop ef strawberries, although in former ""times thev always did so. J After Attention. Weeds win soon appear in the new straw- berry plantation. It is a favourite place for them, and many beds fail from the weeds being allowed to grow. They should De cleaned off frequently and from the first. If the soil seems a little loose about the necks of the plants any time in the autumn, tread it firmly round them, as th.* plants winter much better in a firm than a loose soil. Should September be a very dry month it may be necessary to water the plants at the root. Very soon after planting them, young plants will begin to form round the new ones. These are called runners, as it is only desirable to get one plant to grow, all these runners should be cut off weekly until they cease to form. By doing this the main plant will be much strengthened. Old Strawberry Plants. Where beds were formed last year the plants ought to be in good condition still. If runners were required from, them to plant more these will soon be secured, and then the old plants should be cleared of every runner Cut them close off to the plant, hoe the surface of these between the rows, and clear everything on I) that each of the old plants will stand clear. The crowns that will bloom and fruit next year will be strengthened, by this, and they will also benefit by being exposed to the sun and air. Do not allow any more runners to form on then throughout the autumn. If the oil was properly prepared at the time these plants were planted it should not be in poor ccrdition now, but if it is from any cause spread a little half-decayed manure between the rows and fork it a little under the sur- face as soon as the runners and weeds have been cleared. If some of the foliage on the main plants is somewhat decayed do not cut it oil, as it will not harm the plants, but cutting it off might do so. Strawberries in Pots. Strawberries that are forced in pots to fruit u'-iaer glass, before the open sir ones are ready, are prepared at this" time. The same varieties that I have recommended fo* tJw open will force very well. The plants are obtained by digging up some of the runners round the old plants and potting them into 3in. pots. The string-like growth that connects the runner with the old plant shou d not be cut until the young plant has rooted in the pot. Their being attached to the old plant is a great assistance to them. And this is the way that plants are prepared that are offered in pots. When they have rooteJ into the small pots freely they should be potted into 6in. pots, and it is in these that they produce the best crops of fruit. Use good, rich soil in potting, and make it very firm. After potting water them well and place them in the open, where they will be fully exposed to the sun. Do not allow any young plants to form on them, and water them daily, if required. In September they may receive liquid manure, and every atten- tion should be given them that will -induce them to grow into strong plants before the winter. Peaches in the Open Air. The summer of 1893 was the best I ever experienced for open-air peaches. The fine spring enabled the fruit to form early, and the hot summer caused them to swell and ripen to perfection. This year the crop is almost as good, but the quality is likely to be deficient. They are not swelling as they did last year, and, whatever the weather may now be, they cannot attain the high quality of last season. When open-air peaches are too late in ripening they gene- rally fail to gain any flavour, nr, at least, sufficient flavour to be termed It flne peaeh, and, they should all be well matured, or I nearly so, by the middle of September. At present they should be assisted towards this by tying all the long shoots down to the wall or along on the top of the old shoots that are leafless, If the shoots are altogether crowded, remove the weak ones and expose each fruit as much as possible to the sun and air. In fact, every one should be fully exposed at. once, as this will give them colour and flavour, and, if water is needed at the root, give liquid guano. In bright, dry weather the trees and fruit should be syringed or moistened over every afternoon, as this also assists development of wood and fruit. Nectarines should be treated in the same way, and, 'if protected with a net, do not put it on more than one thickness. Spuirrels are extremely fond -of peaches, -and will soon remove dozens of them if not. checked. Peaches should never be grown on any wa.lls excepting those facing east or south, and the latter is the best aspect. Surplus Cockerels. "Henwife'' writes:—"I have this season reared 508 chickens. I have not yet counted how many of these are cockerels and how many pullets, but many of them are now atta,ining an excellent size for the table, and I will sell some of them weekly for this pur- as I do not approve of keeping too many cockerels, because I have proved that they are profitable to keep so long as they are. growing and becoming mois weighty, bat so soon as they are fully grown, and they are kept on week after week, or it may b: month after month, as many are, they are a loss to their owners. Let me illustrate this by saying that, suppose a cockerel was fu'Jl-slized now a.nd worth 3s.—a- price I receive for my best birds—and the same is kept for several months at a cost of oci. a week, imagine what an extra. outlay that is to the owner, while the price wouid not be any higher in three months than it is to-day. It is this consideration that has for many years induced, me to sell all my surplus cockerels as soon as ever they are ready for the table. I advise others to do the same. I select what birds I want for breeding pur- pose" before killing too many. These are kept by themselves a.nd receive more means of taking exercise than those intended for the table, and they are also fed on less fattening food. In selecting for the table from the batch set apart for this purpose, i invariably kill the largest first, and I am very careful not to kill any of them before they are quite ready. As to pullets, some of these are killed too, especially any one that is deficient ijit certain points, audi rather than overcrowd my yards I would kill some of the best as well, which I often do but there is not the same loss in keeping pulletw after they are fully grown that there is with cockerels, as the pullets soon begin to lay when in that condition, and if they are of a good laying strain they will always pay for the time they are kept up to two years old at least. I find when my fowls are offered in the market in prime condition and nicelv trussed that I have nothing to fear from foreign or any other competition." 7.t