CORRESPONDENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 130, 28 November 1940, Page 21

CORRESPONDENCE

FLIES ON ELEAGNUS HEDGE.

Hedge, Karori.—The aphis on the hedge are not connected with the: blow-flies. It is quite a common thing for trees of various kinds to be a breeding ground for these blow-flies and they are hard to exterminate— '■ they seem to come from nowhere,, I should, suggest that you spray with kerosene emulsion which would be quite cheap and as effective as "Black Leaf 40" against the aphis. Dissolve lib of soft soap in two quarts of boiling water. Remove from the fire and,

while still boiling hot, add one pint of kerosene and immediately churn the mixture with a syringe. In a few minutes a perfect emulsion will be obtained. For use dilute with tea times its volume of water. The emulsion may be kept in corked bottles till required. CLIPPING MACROCABPA HEDGE. Laburnum. —The best time to clip all evergreen hedges is *in February or March. It should be remembered that macrocarpas are forest trees and while they may stand the unnatural clipping for many years they almost invariably die eventually. The laburnum is probably dying and no cause can be assigned. If it fails to show signs of growth, cut it down and remove the. stump. PRUNING RHODODENDRONS. R.M.H.—The following advice is from a pamphlet of the Royal Horticultural Society on the above subject: "When it is necessary to prune large bushes, cut overgrown branches hard back to the old wood in April (October in New Zealand). It may mean the loss of a season's flowering but much better new growths are secured, than by deferring pruning until after flowering.*