SUMMER MEETING. 105 



1. Does the kind of fertilizer affect the fruit ? 



2. Are there any elements in the fruit not drawn from the soil or 

 atmosphere ? 



3. Does the fertilizer ever produce disease of the tree or plant? 



4. Why do our trees need spraying and forest trees do not ! 



5. In Japan the gardens are fertilized with human as well as ani- 

 mal refuse. Americans cannot eat the vegetables. Why ? On the other 

 hand, the fruit trees of Japan are not cultivated and the fruit i,3 good. 

 The answer is the fertilizer. 



6. Would it not be wise in all our farmers and horticulturists to 

 spend the time and labor used in removing the stones in breaking and 

 pulverizing them ? 



What we need for health of plant or tree is original, clean soil. 



H. B. BouDE, Springfield. 



Ottawa, Kansas, February 25, 1895. 

 Mr. L. A. GooDMAX, Westport, Mo. : 



Dear Sir— Referring to the dlscasslon on tbe subject of " Wooly Aphis " at the State 

 ^ortlcultural meeting at Fort Scott, my notes, taken at the time, report you as saying one 

 pint of coal oil to one gallon of water will kill it. Xow I have some trees that are more or 

 less Infested that are stored in my packing-house, and some that are heeled in that It Is In- 

 tended to use In my spring trade. Last fall I dipped them in a solution of concentrated 

 lye and water, taut It was not entirely effective, and while I do not believe In ordinary cases 

 trees not too badly infested are the worse for it, yet I am anxious to send them out free of 

 such pests if possible, and so I write you to learn If my notes are correct, and If so, to ask 

 how to prepare It, and what grade of oil is best, and Is It proper to get a quantity and mix 

 It in the proportions above named, and if not, in what proportions and what process would 

 be best; also, as coal oil is much lighter than water, will It not rise to the top so I lose the 

 mixture? Is there any danger to the tree In the use of this mixture? 



Any Information you can give will be thankfully received. Yours truly, 



A. Willis. 



Answer — While the oil will not mix, yet " dipping" the trees in 

 the oil and water will surely kill the aphis. Use hot water if you pre- 

 fer. Or you can make the regular kerosene emulsion and use it. 



The Fliini Curculio. 



I will give your readers my experience in jarring for the plum cur- 

 culio the past two years. Last year I began as soon as the bloom 

 dropped, keeping it up for three weeks, and could not find a curculio, 

 yet all the while I saw they were stinging the plums. Having never 

 seen one of the little wretches, I was wholly in the dark. In vain I 

 searched all of my horticultural reports to find a cut of them, and 

 asked several fruit men about them, but none of them could give me 

 any light on the subject, so as a last resort I hunted up an agricul- 

 tural report of 1861, in which I found the object of my search, a plain 



