72 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jaw., 1900. © 
Look out for insects this month. The scale insects especially will be 
increasing at a great rate, and will need a wary eye to keep them under control. 
The difficulty in dealing with these pests often is that the trees which they 
love the most are tall and difficult to get at. By balancing a long bamboo 
actoss an upright arrangement supported in a cart or wagon, and swinging it 
about like a gigantic fishing-pole, we find it possible to reach trees at 4_ 
considerable height. A photograph of the arrangement will be shown next 
month. In this way the scales on lofty trees can be treated to a dose of resin- 
wash or kerosene emulsion, or, what we use very frequently, kerosene simply 
mixed with the water by means of the mixing arrangement attached to the 
Doncaster spray pump. This method of using kerosene saves a great deal 0 
trouble in mixing, and leaves a very fine film of the oil over the leaves. It is, 
however, best adapted for trees and plants with hard leaves, for we find that it 
injures foliage which is at all delicate. The quantity of kerosene can be 
regulated very nicely by the apparatus, when one has had a little experience 
it, and, of course, a larger quantity of kerosene is used with a tough than with 
a delicate subject. 
Propagate verbenas, choosing only the best varieties. It is better to have 
two or three well and distinctively coloured sorts than a large variety of washy 
colours. They will make a great display by-and-by. The variety known as 
Foxhunter makes a perfect blaze of scarlet, and requires to be planted in @ 
mass, or in a long line ina border, where it shows up well. They like tolerably 
rich ground. 
Palms may be planted out all through the month. If the weather should 
prove at all dry, see that the young trees are shaded, and in planting disturb the 
roots as little as may be. Lawns must be well looked after. Where there is 4 
paucity of labour, which is a common case everywhere in Queensland, these aré 
apt to get out of hand, and January is a month during which it is a most difficult 
task to keep them looking well. We use an ordinary Buckeye agricultu 
mower for the larger lawns, and for the finer lawns a Shanks golf links machine: | 
This is a great improvement on the old lawn mower, as it is provided with 
springs which enable it to “give” with any inequalities of the ground, The 
grass-collecting arrangement has been removed, and the grass is allowed to f 
on the lawn and to remain there. It soon withers up, and becomes a protectiod 
to the grass, not being in the least unsightly. The surface of the ground i 
beds and borders must be kept stirred to a depth of about 3 inches, and weeds 
must be fought. Do not let them seed. 
If you have a kitchen garden—and there is no reason why you should not— 
this is the month to begin operations. And if you have nota garden of vege 
tables and herbs, you cannot make a better new-year resolution than to haye oué 
at once. A very little one will keep you and your family in vegetables for th? 
whole year round. The quantity ae meat which is eaten in this country with 
out the necessary accompaniment of sufficient vegetables is appalling. Ther 
is a Chinaman in Albert street, Brisbane, who has a few square yards of # 
garden, and out of that tiny patch he manages to get in the course of the ye 
a supply of vegetables which, if they were all placed together, would make th? 
owner of many a larger holding stare. The cottager who wants to start # 
vegetable garden may sow the following:—Beans, beets, brocoli, Brusse!* 
sprouts, cabbage, choco, carrots, cauliflower, celeriac, egg-plant, endive, lettuc® 
parsley, peas, radish, spinach, tomatoes, turnips, all sorts of pot herbs, mustart 
and cress at short intervals. Towards the end of the month make another sowité 
of these. You will find the watching of your seedlings, and the care of them! 
pricking them off and defending them against their insect enemies (which best 
them even more persistently than in the case of flower seedlings), a mo 
interesting occupation. 
