BENEFICIAL RAINS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20235, 20 April 1929, Page 5 (Supplement)

BENEFICIAL RAINS.

RAPID VEGETABLE GROWTH

Thc splendid warm rains that have fallen during the past week have proved all that could be desired for crops in all stages of development. Recentlyraised crops especially, aro row milking rapid growth and will need extra care in thinning out. As advised in last week's notes, one should take advantage of present favourable conditions for transplanting and filling up any blank spaces in the rows. As soon as the soil is again in a satisfactory condition for working, no time should be lost in hoeing and loosening up the surface between all growing crops. The more tho ground has been worked and the finer and better condition, it is in at. tho time of growing, the quicker it. becomes beaten down and solidified by heavy rains. If left in this condition (he crops soon cease to make satisfactory growth. ERADICATING WEEDS.

With crops that are well advanced, lightly forking or turning the soil over with the spade is the best means of treatment. as all weeds between the rows arc buried. With the more recently sown crops, however, or where the seedlings aro only just above the ground, hoeing is preferable and should be done while the soil is fairly dry and workable. , Ground that has been properly worked and manured should now be in the best possible state for the planting out of cabbage, cauliflowers and other colworts, as well as silver bec(, lettuce and similar crops. In sowing or' planting lettuce for autumn and winter use, greater success will bo attained by forming raised beds in warm, sheltered positions. If healthy young plants arc obtainable, it is safer to plant tlieso than to raise seedlings, for although the plants invariably succeed better when allowed to develop where sown, the greatest difficulty during the autumn and winter months is in protecting them from the ravages birds and slugs during the seedling stage. The seed, it is true, can be protected from small birds l/v stretching black cotton over the beds, but to protect the young plants from slugs, persistant dusting with lime is necessary from (he time the plants appear above the ground, until they aro sufficiently strong to resist attack.

LAND FOR POTATOES. All land selected for the planting of potatoes for the very early ciops should now have attention. The ground requires to be deeply broken up, in order to allow a free outlet for surplus moisture. It is naturally important that only situations least subject tu severe frost be chosen. Land having a north-easterly aspect and of sufficient elevation to catch the earlymorning sun -s invariably the best. if the land is sheltered from the south and westerly winds so much the better, so long as the plants arc in no way shaded from the early morning sun. Ground that has been selected for fresh plots of rhubarb should be roughly broken up, so as to allow the soil to pulverise and sweeten before the time of planting. For this crop the ground cannot be too deeply trenched, or too well supplied with decomposed stable or other animal manure, while even well-decayed vegetable matter can be used to advantage.

THE PLANTING PERIOD. The time for planting extends from autumn to early spring according to the varieties grown. For the winter-cropping rhubarb, the plants can be set out fairly early in autumn, while the summer varieties can be safelv planted any time up to the end of August. The winter-crop-ping variety, though in most instances not quite as largo in the stalk as the summer variety, is superior in flavoui, and though generally termed winter-rhu-barb is almost a perpetual cropper. By planting some of the winter and summer varieties there will be little diffisoris of the year. ' Both varieties, howcully in maintaining a supply at all seaever, require deeply-worked well-manured soil.' The rows should be three feet, apart and the plants set at least, two feet apart in the lows. In planting, the crowns should be kept lovel witli tlio surface, as the plants have a tendency to sink below that level.

TN SECT ICI DAL FLOWERS. WET OR DRY SPRAY. One branch of the chrysanthemum familv supplies the pyrethrum of commerce, the dried flowers or flower-buds of which, ground to powder, have certain insecticidal properties. The use of uvrcthruni as a domestic insecticide has been known for a considerable time; Dalmatian, Persian and Caucasian insect powders consist cf the ground flowers respectively of Chrysanthemum cinerariaefolium and Chrysanthemum coccincuni, the former in particular having been grown in Dalmatiii and Japan for a number of vears, and its cultivation has steadily spread to almost all parts ot the woild. Pyrethrum insecticides arc very toxic to most insects, which they kill or paralv.se bv contact, and they have tho additional and very great advantage of being harmless to man and domestic animals. On the other hand, they arc very quick to lose their toxic, properties when exposed to the air, anu in the crude condition have been found to vary so' greatly in strength that the production of an article sufficiently standardised for general horticultural use has been exceedingly difficult, if not impossible. However, the value of pvrethrum for certain purposes, and specially its Jiarmlessness to everything except insects, has again attracted attention, and the more recent Swiss and French work indicates that its disadvantages may be mitigated, if not overcome, by improved methods of cultivating the plant, and subsequently of extracting its active principles.