1877.] 



AND HOETIGULTURIST. 



209 



ing Gooseberry, which have promised fruit two 

 or three years, but the worms have spoiled every 

 berry. Can you give me a remedy through the 

 June number of the Gardener's Monthly, and 

 oblige a subscriber?" 



[We know of no insect that injures the fruit of 

 tlie gooseberry hereabouts, to any material ex- 

 tent — though occasionally a "stui.g" fruit may 

 be noticed. If any have had this unfortunate 

 experience, and will give us something definite, it 

 would be very acceptable. We should suppose 

 gathering the berries infested with the egg, and 

 destroying them would keep the insect down. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Trees Injured by Oil. — We have the follow- 

 ing very important communication from Mr. G. 

 R. Dykeman, Shippensburg, Pa. : — " Last Fall I 

 painted with linseed oil, all my tree-bodies in one 

 field— say 600 peach, 200 apple, some pear, 

 cherry, plum, and 100 quince. To my surprise, 

 I find I have killed all the large peach trees, 

 five years planted ; as far as I have exaniined, 

 not one escaping that was painted ; the other 

 trees look all O K. Some peach trees in other 

 places, were painted with refuse lard and linseed 

 oil ; they are all dead, as far as examined — say 

 about two hundred more. I set out this Spring, 

 300 peach, 100 plum on peach, and painted from 

 root to above bud with lard and linseed oil ; 

 have gone over them with soap, and scoured it 

 off; will pass over them again to-morrow. Can 

 I do any better? I notice on the apjDle, where a 

 side limb was taken off, the bark is killed back 

 from the cut, about half an inch all around. Had 

 I better take the oil off the apple, cherry, plum 

 and quince ? I enclose directed envelope ; please 

 reply and inform, and if possible, afford some re- 

 lief to me. 



" P. S. — I suppose I did not state the reasons 

 for greasing the trees. It was to keep the rab- 

 bits off, as well as to kill any bugs that happen 

 to be around. Will you please make enquiry in 

 the next Monthly for similar cases. I will write 

 again, later in the season." 



[We know uf no experiments with peach trees, 

 or stone fruits, as it is rare that the white scale 

 infests them, which is the enemy sought to be 

 destroyed by the experiments with linseed oil, 

 we have noted in our magazine. In those cases, 

 hundreds of apple and pear trees were painted 

 in March, now over two Summers ago, and it is 

 impossible to find healthier trees than they are 

 to-day. The precise reason, therefore, why 



Mr. Dykeman's trees were injured, requires very 

 close examination. — Ed. G. M.] 



May Beetles on the Raspberry. — F. P. W., 

 Passaic, N. J., writes : — " I send you herewith 

 some specimens of a beetle which has appeared 

 in this locality in large numbers, and is making 

 sad havoc with the raspberries of all kinds. Some 

 of my Doolittle's are under bare-poles, they hav- 

 ing stripped them of leaves and fruit just formed, 

 thus destroying the crop for this year. As they 

 have only just appeared, we may be able to 

 check their ravages in some measure, before they 

 have destroyed everything. They stick so tightly 

 that they cannot be shaken off, and they fly and 

 make a noise similar to a June bug. We have 

 put sulphur upon the bushes, with apparent suc- 

 cess, but do not know how it will be in the end. 

 I thought best to inform you, as you will proba- 

 bly know what the pest is, and be able to pub- 

 lish the best method for its prevention and 

 destruction, and thus give a timely warning to 

 those whom it has not yet troubled. Any in- 

 formation on the subject would be thankfully 

 received by mj'self." 



[These are Lachnosterna tristis, a near relative 

 of the L. quercina, or common May Beetle. A 

 drove of turkeys let through the raspberry 

 plantation, would help to keep them down, and 

 the next be^t thing is hand-picking by children. 

 With all this, they will no doubt ravage faster 

 than the remedy will follow, but it is the best we 

 know.— Ed. G. M.] 



The Prickly Comfrey. — E., South Lexington, 

 Mass., writes : — " I have purchased a thousand 

 sets of the Prickly Comfrey roots, and as I see 

 your name connected with it in the public pa- 

 pers, I should be very much favored if you will 

 tell me whether it has any great value?" 



[As a matter of opinion, it would perhaps 

 have been wise to have been satisfied of its 

 value before purchasing; but perhaps it is best 

 to first secure the hare, as the famous cook-wo- 

 man says, before you cook him. In regard to 

 our experience with it, it is correct as stated in 

 public papers, that the writer of this has had it 

 growing in his flower border for a nuhiber of 

 years, and though we can say that it is pretty, 

 we think there are other things more beautiful; 

 and if our correspondent had bought a thousand 

 Geraniums— say of the General Grant — or even 

 a thousand Petunias, we think he would have 

 had a better show for his money than the Prick- 

 ly Comfrey will make.— Ed. G. M.] 



