GARDENING NOTES.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XV, Issue 4898, 10 December 1894, Page 2

GARDENING NOTES.

(For the Wairarapa Daily Times.)

The life of the gardener cannot be considered a happy, one, for to be successful, it means that one interj rainable warfare against insect pests must be kept up. Nevertheless if .all the time anilabour which has been bestowed in the cultivation of the fruit garden,'is not to end in vexation and loss, it is of the utmost importance that fruit growers should, without delay pay. particular attention to that insect pest, which is the arch-enemy of the orchai'dist— t]io codlin moth,' 1 Its operations have now commenced iin sonic parts of the disr tricfc they are nioro advanced than in others, but it will now bo found in all gardens, It will be recognised by a small brown cast on the sido or in the dead flower at the crown of the apple, When found, it is a duty that everyone, possessed of an apple tree, owes to his neighbour to take immediate'steps to.eusure its destruction,

Enormous sums of money are lost to the district every year because some people will persist in keeping their trees as.a breeding ground for the codlin moth. They never take any measures for its destruction. Tkoir apples grow and fall year after year, and the pest spreads into their neighbour's garden, and destroys his fruit harvest, although ho may be making every possible effort to keep bis trees clean. If steps are taken at once fully, 90 per cent of the apples may yet be saved. A syringing. must be made now and subsequent syringings at intervals of about ten or twelve days up to January. Bandages' should also be put round tlio trunk or stem of all apple trees. Thoso persons owning only a few trees, should combino to make a sufficient quantity of the necessary insecticide as otherwise it might bo considered too much trouble to go to, for the sake of a few trees.

By sucli voluntary effort as here suggested it may prevent the Codlin Moth Act being put into force, and so save both large and small fruitgrowers from being continually harassed by Inspectors appointed to see that the act is properly carried out, The insecticide which lias been found to be the most effective, is made as 'follows':—Put six pounds of lime, and four pounds of sulphur into a live gallon oil drum full of water, and boil for one hour, or until the lime and sulphur become to some extent assimilated. This will be known by the mixture assuming a a dark brown colour. Then take a kerosene tin full of water, put into it one pint pannikin full of the lime and sulphur mixture, and add one teaspoonful of. Paris green.. It is then ready for spraying the trees, which should be done with a spray pump or an ordinary garden syringe.