HORTICULTURAL BULLETINS. 275 



SERVICE BERRY (Amelanchier). 



Only three varieties of this species, all of them of dwarf habit, have so far been 

 planted here. These are, an unnamed variety, designated in our lists as common; 

 one known as Success, and one received from Indiana as Mammoth. 



So far as either plants or fruit are concerned, the dilJerence between these alleged 

 varieties, as grown hori'. is very slight, if even perceptible. 



The fruit is so specially attractive to birds that the entire crop is invariably 

 appropriated by them, even before fully ripe, unless protected by netting or other- 

 wise. Indeed, so decided is such preference, that this fruit might perhaps be 

 profitably planted as the means of diverting the attention of the birds from other 

 fruits of similar season. 



In quality, this fruit is by no means equal to the huckleberry, which it closely 

 resembles. 



CURRANTS (Ribes). 



A new plantation of currants was made last spring, so far as plants were avail- 

 able for the purpose, and at the same time the plants in the old plat were earthed 

 up to insure the rooting of sufficient additional plants for the filling of the new 

 plat next spring. 



March 18, while yet dormant, currants (in common with the entire plantation) 

 were sprayed with a solution of two pounds of copper sulphate in 50 gallons of 

 water. 



April 27, being then in foliage, they were again sprayed with a solution of one 

 pound of copper sulphate in 250 gallons of water. 



May 8, the currant worm {Nematus ventricosus] having attacked the foliage, the 

 infected plants were treated with a spray consisting of one pound of Paris green 

 in 250 gallons of water. 



May 27.— Previous season's trials having shown that liver of sulphur (potassium 

 sulphide), the antidote for gooseberry mildew, is also a preventative of premature 

 loss of currant foliage, the spray of this preparation was also applied to the cur- 

 rant, and this was repeated June 4, June 19, and July 5. 



Later a spray of buhach in water was applied to subdue the second brood of 

 currant worms, which appeared just as the fruit was ripening. 



Aside from the currant worm already referred to, the twig borer (Mgeria tipuli- 

 formis) has been the only troublesome insect this year. A careful search for this 

 insect will scarcely be made prior to the pruning, next spring, though the indications 

 are that (owing doubtless to persistent efforts for its destruction during the past 

 two or three years) its numbers may prove to have considerably diminished. 



In the following table, in the column of weights of single berries, expressed in 

 fractions of an ounce, it will be seen that in all cases the denominator of the frac- 

 tion gives the number of berries in an ounce. The extreme drouth of the season 

 doubtless considerably diminished the weights as recorded. The quality and pro- 

 ductiveness given are relative, being arrived at by comparing each with others of 

 the same species. 



