THE HOUSE GARDEN

Te Ao Hou, October 1956, Page 55

THE HOUSE GARDEN Tender annuals should now be planted, continue to plant out Dahlias, those previously planted should be staked and tied. Sweetpeas should be at their best. Continue hoeing ground around established plants to eradicate weeds. At this time of the year violets will be nearing the conclusion of their season, lift young offsets from the parent plant and set out before the weather is too hot and dry for successful establishment. Aphids will now appear and should be controlled by an application of Nicotine Sulphate. The total of live births in the Maori population last year was 5,807, a birth rate of 43.64 a thousand population. This compares with a European birth rate of 24.85 a thousand of population. These figures have been published by the Statistics Department, which comments: “The Maori birth rate is considerably higher than the European rate, and has remained fairly constant over the past 15 years. In recent years there has been a considerable improvement in the Maori death rate, and it is now not very much higher than the European rate. The infant mortality rate, too, has fallen considerably, but it is still three times as high as that for Europeans.” At the end of last year the European population of New Zealand was 2,029,390 and the Maori population was 135,365.