THE QUESTION-BOX. 233 



QuESTioisr. In regard to the borer, do you think it is any 

 use to rub soap around the bottom of the trees ? 



Dr. Fisher. With about half the labor that it costs to 

 put the soap round the trees, you can kill every one of them. 

 It is nonsense for any man to cover up his face, and try to 

 believe that nobody can see him. I never saw an insect that 

 would not lay its egg somewhere. If you drive it out of 

 one place, it will go into another. The best way is to kill it 

 wherever you find it. The habits of the quince-borer are 

 the same, but it is not the same insect. 



THE QTJESTION-BOX. 



For the purpose of giving an opportunity for miscellaneous 

 questions upon farm topics not embraced in the programme, 

 a box was provided for the reception of such questions, and 

 a time assigned for answers to be given by experts upon the 

 subjects to which such questions related. 



The secretary read the first question as follows : — 



What is the cause, and what the remedy, for rust on the 

 leaves of Timothy-grass in the first year of its growth? 



Professor W. G. Faelow (of Cambridge). The rust on 

 Timothy-grass is the uredo state of Puccinia (/raminis, — the 

 same species which attacks grain. Unfortunately there is no 

 remedy. Most European botanists think that the disease is 

 carried to the grain or grass by the barberry, on which shrub 

 a secondary stage of the fungus is found : consequently they 

 advise cutting down all barberry-biishes in the vicinity of 

 grain-fields. 



The next question is. Which is the proper time to manure 

 an asparagus-bed, — spring, or fall ? How heavy a coating 

 should be given; i.e., how many inches deep? Assigned to 

 Capt. Moore of Concord. 



Capt. MoOEE. I can see no material difference between 

 applying manure in the fall or the spring. Before a fall ap- 

 plication, the crop of the next year is practically made : the 

 buds are already formed, and there is root-power enough to 

 grow the crop. You apply the manure chiefly for the future 

 good of the bed. Eight to ten cords of partially-rotted 

 manure is sufficient. It is more than is ordinarily used by 

 good growers in my neighborhood ; but that is not an inch 

 deep, or any tiling like it probably. 



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