284 3Iissouri State Horticultural Society. 



and thirty to one hundred and fifty degrees for a moment, then out 

 again ; if necessary, several times. Or make a tubful of Paris 

 G-reen water — a teaspoonful to two and one-half gallons of water — 

 and dip your trees into it before planting ; allow every crevice in 

 the roots to receive a share of the Paris Green water. Examine 

 the trunk at the roots with a sharp-pointed knife for a bOrer. 

 Examine the body for a mouldy look, which would indicate the 

 woolly aphis. A wash made of one pound of concentrated lye to 

 two gallons of water ; apply carefully with a rag or brush over the 

 whole body — not on the roots as they are too tender. Examine 

 and destroy all eggs, no matter how small, from the body and 

 branches. If your eyesight is not the best, use a small pocket- 

 glass, for some of the eggs of the most troublesome insects are not 

 much larger than a pin point. If your tree dies under the treatment, 

 feel delighted you escaped your enemies. If it lives, you will be 

 thankful for a healthy tree, and you have not put an enemy in your 

 orchard that will work your ruin. 



>f 



A FEW FACTS. 



Many persons ignorantly believe that roots literally eat their 

 food, and that in conseqence, it should be placed in immediate 

 proximity to them. But the thoughtful cultivator knows that all 

 fertilizing material must first undergo a disintegrating and decom- 

 posing process before it passes into a liquid a'nd vaporish state, 

 when, and not before, it is in a suitable condition to enter into the 

 vegetable organism. So a top dressing of plant-food is carried by 

 the rains down to the fine fibres, to be taken up through their 

 . minute pores, and assimilated. 



As a pretty, generally accepted ^ule the agent that produces 

 wood-growtli will not secure a i'lne crop of fruit ; and on the con- 

 trary a large crop of fruit is frequently at the expense of vigor. 

 The two extremes are rarely if ever combined during a single 

 season. The thoughtful cultivator, however, with an eye to profit, 

 will use his best endeavors to produce a happy medium in both 

 productiveness and growth. Success is more certainly assured by 

 preserving our orchards in a perfect state of health, but liow best 

 to do this apparently simple task, is yet debatable. 



So far as I am informed, no harm has arisen from applying an 

 alkali wash of some sort to the stems and branches of our trees, 

 which in addition to the destruction of insects, acts as a fertilizer 

 to the soil. Whitewash is a simple and inexpensive coating for the 

 bark, and is beyond question of undoubted utility. These ideas 



