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Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 308, 17 October 1888, Page 3

Thinning Flower and Vegetable) Seedlings. The late moist weather will have caused a much stronger growth within the last few days. Seeds sown some time ago will be coming: up strong ; others will require to be thinned out, so as to give more room for the plants to develop. In the growing of flowers and vegetables, overcrowding is one of fcho sins of mo*t cultivators. Sometimes this is brought about through the want of space, sometimes through growers-, not having a knowledge of the space required by each plane, or not understanding that every living plant must have room to grow and develop in, and that if it has not, attenuation rai'Sfc be the- consequence. Timely thinning is one of the greatest considerations ingrowing all plants from seed, and the neglect of it must result in injury to the crop. The young plants, when too thick, become lanky and tender, and when the thinning out does take place, they receive a check from which they take some time to recover. Whenever seedlings form two to four lea\ es they should be thinned, except such ab are required for transplanting; these ought to be allowed to get larger. When thinning, estimate the space required for each plant to fully develop in, and thin so that eventually they >\ ill have thissoace. Sometimes it is a? well at the first thinning to leave two or threu plants on each spot, to give better chances ot a regular ciop. The superfluous ones, can be thinned Inter on.

Rhododendrons-. Seeing an advertisement ask);><; \is,iiors tn £ro and inspect Air C McDonalds rhododendron?, and these bang one of im 7 old favourites. I Nisifced the nuiseiy, and was well repaid by the sight. There is a break planted wibli the.-c plants— in all over 100 varieties. Toe plants are from four to seven feeb in height, and Iroin time to eight feet in diameter. Tiiose \aiieties which were in flower had from 50 to 500 t litmus of flowers fully developed. The name* and colours of fche best of these are as follows : — Captivation, rosy-red, finely spotted; Elog.m*, g-eranium rose, compact truss, crimped edge ; Lawsoniana, blightrosy crimson, eery large truss ; Limbatium, whitemargined, witheiimson : Lindsaynium, bright crimson, a grand truss ; Madame Vande Weyer, white ceubie, pink edge, crimped : Xoseg;iy. beautiful pink free bloomer; Mary Biane, lo&y puiple, black spots; Lady Dorothy Newlle, very tine purple, black spote ; Maje->bicum, fine rote, slisrhtly scented ; Mrs C. S. McDonald, ro^y crim&on, fine m - u^«! and fine foliage, a seedling raised by C. S. McDonald: Madame Madaline, magenta, palecentre, grand truss. These with some of the othur varieties piesented the finest sight which I have beheld since I left Britain. A large number of other varieties are still in bud, and pi omise to give an even better &how than those now in full flower. The floweiing period of this really magn tieent variety of flowering? shrub extends from about the beginning of Auyusc till about the middle of December, so that anyone desirous of seeing the many different varieties at their best should visit Mr McDonalds nurseiy about every three weeks. In many localities aiound Auckthe rhododendron would make one of the most handsome shrubs that could be planted in the gaiden. The .soils they like best are those which are deep and inclined to be moi-<t. In these after getting established they will flourish and cjive an abundant supply of flower" every t-eason, little or no attention requiring to be paid to them.

CodJin JiXoth. (Continued). Mr J. Craig, gardener to (A. B. Owen, Esq.. of Epsom, has furnished me with his expedience of Paris green in the orchard. " La^fc reason,'' he says, "I used Paris green at the rate of one ounce to &ix gallons of watei. In Mi O\ven'° place there are two orchaid?, about fifteen yards apart. In what I ■will call No. 1, T '-yringed with the above mixture, using an ordinary syringe, with the nozzle attached. When applying the water I placed my finger over the nozzle so as to cuise the water to be distributed in as small particles as possible. During the &ca = on I only syringed twice ; the fir^t time the greater proportion of the flowers wei-e set-. After allo-winsj about three weeKs to elapse I s\ ringed the second time. I would also have syringed the third time, but could not obtain Paris green, as the stock was all exhausted in the different Auckland stores. Now, I wish to state the quality of the fruit which was obtained from this orchard the preceding season. I do not think there was above from 15 to 20 per cent of unaffected fruit taken from any of the trees. Last season on all the early apples (particularly the Irish peach), there was nob the slightest sign of the codlin grub when the crop was picked. As I began to pick the intermediate and late crops the grub began to make itself apparent. On the intermediate varieties from about 15 to 20 per cent, of the fruit was affected by the grub. On the late varieties from 20 to 25 pei cent, of the fruit was affected. In the orchard there are 20 trees, about 15 feet high, with a spread of branch of from 15 to 20 feet. No. 2 orchard I had not sufficient Paris green to syringe, so it was allowed to take its chance. This orchard is planted with similar varieties to No. 1. In picking the early varieties there was not more than 20 per cent, of sound fruit ; on the late varieties there was not more than 15 per cent, sound. After reading the above statement of facts the most sceptical on the value of Paris green should be convinced of its efficacy in destroying either the moth or the young larva}, and that two syringings are quite sufficient for the early varieties. But if a greater percentage of sound fruit is wanted on the intermediate and late varieties three syringmecs should be driven, and the third or last syringing should be applied just before the weight of the pmall apples causes the blossom end to turn downwards. As long as the fruit stands upright,syringing may be continued. Afrer the end ourn Q downwards the application will not be so efficacious. In applying the mixture great care must be taken so as to see that a small portion is distributed to every part of the foliage and branches. Another matter to be attended to is the continual stirring up of the mixture so that every drop of the water shall contain its due proportion of the poison. Paris green does not dissolve in the water, the latter being only used as a distributing medium. The specific gravity of Paris green being much heavier than thao of water, if continual stirring: is not resorted to the Paris green will sink to the bottom, and thus greatly increase the strength of the mixture. Through this cause a large amount of damage was done to some trees List season, the foliage being ba<l]y scorched through the carelessness of the operator. The mixture must also be used with caution, as ii any of it is allowed to get on the hands or face it will produce sores by poisoning the blood. To prevent this the operator should rub his hands and face with oil or some other greasy matter ; this will form a covering for the pores of the skin, and will greatly diminish the risk. Paris Green, if used at the rate of to 4 gallons of water, is very effectual in keeping: in check the ravages of slugs and other garden pests, but should never be used on yegeI fables, such as cabbages, as an accident ' might result.