SOCIETY OF CENTEAL ILLINOIS. 227 



formed fruit is formed. When not injured, the plant will give fruit 

 of good form. 



I will close here, believing that there are other causes not yet 

 noted. Perhaps Prof, Forbes will convince us that the Thrips, when 

 in abundance upon the flower, are a cause of malformation of the 

 berry. I await his paper with much interest. I also believe that he 

 who would produce perfectly formed strawberries must take intelli- 

 gent notice of the cause of "strawberry buttons." 



HAED PROBLEMS IN HORTICULTURE. 



BY C. N. DENNIS, HAMILTON. 



Excessive drouth, or wet, blight, borers, canker-worms, curcu- 

 lio, codling moths, leaf-rollers, aphis, mice, hard winters, hail-storms, 

 cyclones, etc., are but the A, B, C of horticultural troubles. For 

 some of these there are preventives or remedies, and for some none. 

 Drouth may be alleviated by a thorough culture. In the preparation 

 of the ground for any kind of fruit, I would plow deeply, and run a 

 subsoil plow below that (not throwing the subsoil on top), thor- 

 oughly pulverizing or loosening the ground from twelve to sixteen 

 inches deep. Then give thorough and frequent stirring of the 

 ground, forming what is termed by some a "dust mulch." 



This deep loosening of the soil allows the roots to go deeper and 

 avoid the surface heat. Again, in a wet season subsoiling allows a 

 surplus of water to escape quicker to tile or natural outlet. 



For blight, when thoroughly understood, that is, whether it is 

 animal or vegetable, bacteria or vegetable fungoid, we may find a 

 preventive in Paris-green or arsenic, or in lime or sulphur. Borers 

 may be prevented or driven off by thorough cultivation and some 

 wash, or killed in infancy by care and labor. Mice will seldom 

 trouble orchards or trees unless a cover of trash is on the ground; 

 and, if found to be numerous, poisoned grain, placed under some 

 cornstalks or straw, will catch many of them. Canker-worms may 

 be killed by spraying, and so may the codling moth. But the curcu- 

 lio may prove to be proof against this, and require to be jarred off 

 and killed. Hail-storms and cyclones are among the unmanageables, 

 and the only way I know of is to stay out of their way. 



Severe winters, I fear, have to be bear more than their share of 

 the blame in the hard problems. To illustrate, an ap])le tree is 

 planted (perhaps in poorly prepared ground); it makes out to live 

 the first year, and is exposed to an excessive hard winter, and dies. 

 This would be winter-killed. Again, poorly prepared ground, 

 mangled roots thrust into a little hole not half big enough to receive 

 them properly, and the ground allowed to bake, or if cultivated, the 

 tree is barked by the singletree, and this in the hard winter dies. It 

 is winter-killed. Again, if the tree is properly handled, well planted 



