The Garden June Rains kill Shrubs, promote Tree Growth: The unusually heavy rain which fell in the Shanghai area is reported by the Superintendant of Parks and Public Places in the Municipal Gazette of July 22 to have caused many shrubs in this city's parks to die as a result of the water-logged condition of the soil. Amongst the kinds of shrubs thus affected were Jasminum, Syringa, Forsythia, Exochorda, Pittosporum and Kerria. On the other hand it promoted vigorous growth in many kinds of trees, especially in the cypress, pines, crotons and eucalyptus, while in willows it produced aerial roots. In private gardens it was noticed that the foliage of such big-leafed trees as Firmiana and Catalpa suffered somewhat from the hit dry weather which was experienced in July after the cool wet weather of June. The leaves of these trees wilted badly, in some cases withering away altogether. Evidently the leaves had become accustomed to the excessive moisture and low temperature, and could not readjust to the sudden heat and dryer atmosphere. On the whole, however, the heavy rains of June have had a very beneficial effect in this area on trees, shrubs and perennial garden plants generally, producing luxuriant growth and , and August commences, gardens everywhere appear to be in an unusually good condition for this time of year. Insect Pests Bad this Year in Shanghai: In Shanghai gardens insect pests have been unusually bad this year, especially the caterpillars of various kinds of butterflies and moths. Many shrubs have been thickly infested with the stinging caterpillars of satin moths, while rose bushes and vines have been completely stripped of their foliage by the caterpillars of a certain small moth that looks more like some form of bee or wasp. These pests are extremely difficult to get rid of, even with the use of various well known insecticides sprayed over the plants. Sprays that are made up with petroleum as a base are very effective, but our experience is that they also damage the foliage to such an extent that one might just as well have let the caterpillars devour it. Our own method of dealing with these pests is to watch for them and remove them when they appear. But this can hardly be done on a large scale, especially with our Shanghai coolie-gardeners, who are a lazy lot. A. de C. S.