mums for show purposes. After planting do not allow suckers to grow around the base of the plant, and train it up to a stake which has been driven firmly into the ground for the purpose. Examine the plant frequently, and keep it growing by frequent applications of liquid manure, and if the weather be dry, apply plenty of water, and spray with a syringe in the evening. Caterpillars are great enemies to the chrysanthemums, therefore they should be constantly searched for and killed.

Many varieties of beautiful bulbs will flower during this month if the weather has been favourable. Liliums of varieties, gladiolus, and others should be making fine growth and will flower later on. Tie up the leaves of bulbs such as daffodils, &c. to keep them out of the way and tidy, but do not cut them off-just let them wither away-for they are necessary to elaborate material for next seasons flowers and leaves.

In the semi-tropical coastal districts the gardens can be greatly beautified by the addition of palms and tree ferns. They can be planted out during the month if the weather be not too dry. The Lord Howe Island palms, Kentias, or Howeas, are remarkably beautiful and easily obtainable. The fanleaved palms such as our own cabbage-tree, chamaerops of kinds, livistonas and sabals are exceedingly handsome when well grown.

Seedlings of tender annuals and perennials may now be planted out in the open, and seeds may be sown, in the open, of such plants as cockscombs, balsams, portulacas, and sunflowers.

Edgings of grass, box, &c., will grow very quickly now, therefore they should be frequently cut and kept trim. Edgings and hedges badly kept are great eyesores.

Orchard Notes for October.

In the colder districts of the Colony the notes previously given for September will apply to the earlier part of October, particularly the notes relating to the extermination of insect and fungus pests, such as the scab on the apple, pear, and apricot, and the codling moth in the apples and pears. For either of the scab diseases the best remedy to use is the Bordeaux mixture, full particulars for making which are given in the September Notes. The first application should have been given just before the buds burst, and the second spraying should be given just as the fruit is setting. In the case of apples. or pears that have been sprayed with Bordeaux mixture to destroy the scab fungus (Fusicladium), where codling moth is also prevalent, Paris green should be added to the Bordeaux mixture at the second spraying, using 1 lb. of Paris green to every 160 gallons of Bordeaux mixture. This will result in killing two birds with one stone, as the Bordeaux mixture prevents scab and the Paris green destroys the codling moth.

The addition of Paris green to the Bordeaux mixture renders the mixture a strong poison for all leaf-eating insects, so that where caterpillars of any kind, or any kind of leaf-eating beetles or other foliage-destroying insects are troublesome, it pays well to use it, as all such insects are thus very easily and rapidly destroyed.

For the second spraying the Bordeaux mixture need not be more than half the strength of that used at the first spraying, as the results will be just as good and the expense less; also, by using the weaker spray there is less chance of injuring the skin of the young fruit, as the stronger solution sometimes turns the skins of the apples and pears sprayed more or less russety. Should leaf-eating insects of any kind be troublesome, and there is no occasion to use Bordeaux mixture, then Paris green, used alone or with a little lime or soapy water to make it more adhesive, will be a cheap and thorough remedy.

During the month look after red spiders, and as soon as the young insects hatch out from the eggs destroy them either by spraying the trees with resin and soda wash or by well sulphuring the trees with a Vermorel or other knapsack sulphur-distributor. Also watch the mussel-shell scales carefully, to see when the young scales emerge from the mother scales, when they are easily destroyed by spraying with resin and soda. The greedy scales of the pear also hatch out during the month, and are similarly treated.

When the orange crop has been gathered and the young crop has just set, the trees should be thoroughly cleaned, because insect and fungus diseases are now so common on our oranges, that, unless we take radical means to exterminate them, we will have to give up orange culture over a large part of Cumberland, as the crop left to itself will soon become valueless.

The spores of all the various fungus pests, such as scab and black spot of the orange, are on the trees, and they should be destroyed by spraying with Bordeaux mixture before they start into growth on the skins of the young fruit. Rust Mite or "Maori" should be fought by spraying with soft soap

F

and sulphur, or by sulphuring the trees in the early morning by means of a knapsack sulphuring machine. Maori is often confounded with scab and black spot of the orange, especially with scab; but the scab is the work of a fungus and the "Maori" is the work of a small mite, hence these diseases require different treatment, and when both are present, as is commonly the case, it is advisable to spray with Bordeaux mixture, and to sulphur as well. Where dicky-rice (weevils) are plentiful, or where orange caterpillars are doing damage, Paris green should be added to the Bordeaux mixture.

Keep down peach and apple aphis whenever they appear by spraying with the resin and soda wash, as these pests are easily kept in check if taken in time, but once they are allowed to become firmly established, they are very difficult to eradicate.

Young trees require considerable attention during the month, as, by the judicious pinching back of laterals, the main limbs can be covered with fruitspurs, and the energies of the trees may be devoted to growing strong main limbs instead of a lot of laterals, which would in any case have to be cut away the next winter's pruning, and then you get a long bare limb with few, if any, fruit-spurs on it. All grafts should be carefully looked after, and all shoots, except the one left to form the future branch or tree, should be removed. Buds should also be attended to, and no suckers should be allowed to start from below the bud. If the bud is growing crooked, then it should be tied to a stake and kept upright. Where grafts are put on old or large trees that it has been necessary to work over, care will have to be taken that the vigorous growth of the graft does not cause it to be blown off by heavy winds or broken off by heavy birds alighting on it. To prevent this it is a good plan to lash a stout stick firmly to the limb that has been grafted, on the opposite side of the limb from the graft. The stick should be allowed to extend a foot or more beyond the insertion of the graft, and the young growth can be tied to the portion extending, and be thus saved from injury. Keep the orchard well cultivated and free from all weeds or other rubbish. In the drier and warmer parts of the Colony too much care cannot be devoted to cultivation during this and the three following months, as (as previously stated in these notes) the success of fruit-growing in the drier districts of the Colony depends mainly, if not entirely, on the retention of the necessary moisture in the soil, and this can only be done by thorough and systematic cultivation-stirring, not turning the soil.

Should there be any rain during the month be careful to conserve it in the soil by running the cultivators over the land as rapidly as possible, as soon after the rain as it will carry horses. This will prevent a crust forming, and you will be able to keep this moisture in the land right through the summer, and, no matter how severe a drought you get, your trees will not materially feel it. A good October rain, properly handled and conserved in the soil by thorough cultivation, will make the apricot crop a certainty and go a long way towards making the peach crop one also.

Mulch all trees during the month where there is material available, such as bush scrapings-compost heaps-rotton straw, or fine stable manure, as a good mulching will keep the roots cool and tend to conserve moisture in the soil.

Farm Notes.

THE Department constantly receives inquiries for information with respect to various crops, and it is thought that, perhaps, our readers may be interested in the following notes, taken from replies that have been prepared by Mr. A. A. Dunnicliff, of the Department of Agriculture.

HARVESTING RAPE-SEED.

Ripening-Some little judgment is necessary in harvesting the seed crop of rape. The seed-pods of this crop mature irregularly, and, for the purpose of securing the largest yield, some care must be taken in selecting the time for cutting. The pods on the upper portion of the plant ripen much earlier than those on the lower branches, and to give these latter as extended a time as possible cutting should not be made until the former pods are fully ripe, which may be known by their taking a dark reddish-brown colour; beyond this period it is not safe to leave them.

Harvesting-When there is only a small area under seed crop the plants may be cut with the usual bagging or scythe hook, but care must be taken not to shake them much, or the pods will open and shed the seed. They may be left in small bundles on the ground, and turned each day so as to get all perfectly dry, and to allow the lower pods to mature their seed.

Threshing.-If convenient, it is always better to thresh out in the field. When the quantity is large, or field threshing not possible, the sheaves or bundles may be stooked and carted (with sheets inside the vehicle to catch falling seed), and stacked in the usual way. Threshing may be done readily with the ordinary flail, but if done with the threshing machine it must be set wider than for the ordinary farm crops.

A return of 25 to 30 bushels of seed per acre is a good average crop.

NOTES ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE SUN-FLOWER.

THE seed may be sown in drills, 3 feet apart, and the strongest plants only be allowed to stand for growth (say) about 18 inches in the rows.

No special culture is required, except that the crop be kept clean, that it be not exhausted by weeds. If a little "hilling" or earthing up be given when the crop is 2 or 3 feet high, so much the better.

The variety yielding the largest quantity of oil per bushel is the large black, but as the smaller striped Russian is a much more prolific cropper, it is considered the more profitable one to grow. The returns from crops of this variety during the past season, cultivated as above, were on an average £15 per acre, the seed or grain being sold for poultry food, and not for oil extraction, in which respect there is no sale at present.

Seeds may be obtained from any seedsman, and be sown when the frosts are done.

General Notes.

TREATMENT OF BLACK SPOT OF THE APPLE AND MUSSEL SCALE.

MR. P. C. ARNOLD, of Crookwell, writes :-"Last season I thoroughly tried Bordeaux Mixture for black spot of the apple, with the result that I did not lose a single apple through this disease.

Bordeaux Mixture was not successful in destroying mussel scale, which badly affected two of my apple trees two years ago, but twelve months agoI sprayed with sulphur, lime and salt-wash, and it completely dried up the scales. This year I see the scales are slightly spreading on a good many trees, and I am going to spray them with the sulphur, lime and salt-wash, which I also find effective in ridding the trees of red spiders."

OUR FRUIT MARKET.

THE following figures, which have been supplied by the Government Statistician, with respect to the value of fruit in all conditions imported into this Colony during the twelve months ending 31st December, 1895, are of especial interest, and show how great are the opportunities of those fruitgrowers who will set about the production of a first-class article :—

To anybody who has had opportunities of seeing what the real capabilities of this Colony are, such figures come as a surprise. There is scarcely an item in the above list that could not, with the exercise of just the same care as the Californian, the Tasmanian, the South Australian, and other growers use to secure this advantage, be produced in our own orchards.

*NOTE.-The sulphur, lime and salt-wash should only be applied to deciduous trees in winter. For spring treatment of mussel scale and red spider, resin wash is the most

effective.