Secretary's Budget. 375 



strong, or without continual stirring. The crudest and least pure 

 oil, being heavier and less inclined to float on water, is best. Two 

 or three tablespoonfuls to a gallon of water is strong enough to 

 kill any of the above named insects. For bugs on wood work it is 

 used unmixed, and brushed over like paint into every crack. On 

 some tender growth it may prove hurtful, even if largely diluted. 



PEARS ON APPLE TEf:ES. 



Pears grafted on apples usually thrive wonderfully for a few 

 years. The grafts are short-lived, however, and only two or three 

 limbs of an apple-top should, therefore, be set to pears. Pears 

 thus grown are commonly very large. It is the practice of some 

 I'ruit-growers to raise pears in this manner for fairs. 



PROTECTINfT FRUIT FROM BIRDS. 



If the birds are stealing your cherries, hang several old tin 

 cans, in which you have bought canned fruits, in the trees, and 

 hang a small stone or a piece of metal in the can as a tongue, sus- 

 pending it so that the least breeze will agitate it. The unusual 

 and unexpected noise will scare any intruders. — Rural World. 



TOBACCO. 



Tobacco is good for something I do believe, better than for a 

 man, or a he-goat, or a nasty green worm to eat. It is doubtless 

 one of the best of insecticides. I would therefore advise gardeners 

 and fruit-growers to plant this spring a hundred or more plants and 

 grow to use in that way. But take care in handling it ; don't get 

 any of it in your mouth, or its smoke in your nostrils ! — T. G. in. 

 Prairie Farmer. 



WEEDS ON WALKS. 



A writer in an English exchange destroys moss and weeds on 

 walks and drives by giving an annual dressing of salt. Sometimes 

 it is gently sprinkled with water to dissolve and make it more effect- 

 ive. ' ' Managed in this way, weeds, moss, and all other vegetable 

 confervse disappear after the first rain, and the walks are left as 

 bright and fresh looking as if they had been newly gravelled, and 

 remain in that very pleasing and desirable state throughout the sea- 

 son. Of course, it will only do to use salt where there are dead 

 edgings or grass verges, as however carefully it may be applied, it is 

 almost sure to injure the box, which soon shows how much the salt 

 disagrees with it by the yellow color it turns." 



There is a wide difference in apples this year. Those who were 

 so unfortunate last year as to have no apples in their orchards, find 



