1878.] 



AND HO R TICUL TURJS T. 



^o 



magazine or otherwise, what the insect on the 

 ■enclosed leaf is, and what will rid them from 

 my plants ? My large ivy and some roses are 

 thickly infested." [This is the common green- 

 house scale, and a sponging of whale-oil soap is 

 generally effective.— Ed. Ct. M.] 



Thrips on Azaleas. — C. T. W., Hartford, 

 Conn., writes: ''I have noticed lately that the 

 buds of some of my Azaleas are growing to look 

 like the enclosed ; and while I have no doubt 

 that some insect is at the bottom of the trouble, 

 I have not been able to discover (although I 

 liavn't used a glass) anything of the kind. I 

 have found, accidentally, a very small black fly 

 in the under surface of some of the larger beans. 

 I have never had any experience with the thrip, 

 which I understand is sometimes a great pest on 

 Azaleas; so that if it is this that is troubling 

 me, I am unable to recognize it. If you think 



that the delay will make no dillerence to the 

 plants, please give me what light 3'ou can through 

 the GtARDener's Monthly." [This is a case of 

 thrips, which are generally easily kept under 

 when in greenhouses, by tobacco smoke. Where 

 there is but a plant or two, the hot-water remedy 

 may be tried. The water must not be over 120^, 

 and the plant be dipped in only for an instant. — 

 Ed. G. M.] 



Archbishop Wood Geranium.— A corres- 

 pondent writes, reminding the readers of the 

 magazine that the correct name of this geranium 

 is Archbishop, not Bishop Wood. It is a small 

 matter, but Ave agree with our correspondent that 

 it is as well to be accurate as not. 



Amaryllis and their Culture.— J. H., Jr., 

 Glendale, Mass., would feel obliged if some cor- 

 respondent could tell a little about Amaryllis 

 and the plants related to them, &c. 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



In order to grow good fruit, we need only re- 

 peat in a general way, that trees require as much 

 food as a crop of corn, or potatoes ; but it is very 

 important to keep the feeding roots at the sur- 

 face, and therefore that the very best way to 

 mature fruit trees is by surface dressing. 



Manuring of grapes should be regulated by 

 the nature of the soil. If it be damp — in most 

 cases a bad condition for grape growing — stable 

 manure in great quantities means diseased vines. 

 In dr}' ground, it has a beneficial effect. Many 

 persons of small places have grapes in damp 

 grovmd, or can have none. They must take care 

 to keep the roots near the surface ; never crop 

 the ground about them to destroy the small 

 fibres, if it can be avoided; and even good may 

 often follow, when the vines seem failing, to 

 carefully follow up the roots, lift near the sur- 

 face, and encourage, as much as possible, those 

 remaining there. Wood-ashes, bone-dust, and 

 such like fertilizers are best for grape-vines in 

 low ground. 



All fruit trees like a rather dry, rich soil. On 

 ■a cold, clayey bottom, diseases are usually fre- 



quent. Do not plant deep ; cut off tap roots, 

 and do all you can to encourage surface fibres. 

 Surface manuring is the best way of doing this 

 I after the tree is planted. Do not allow anything 

 [to grow vigorously around your trees the first 

 year of planting, nor allow the soil to become 

 hard or dry. Let trees branch low, and prune 

 a little at transplanting. 



Pruning of fruit trees, wdien required, should 

 be proceeded with at favorable opportunities. 

 We write when required, for in our climate more 

 injury is done by the knife than by the neglect 

 to use it. Gooseberries, for instance, are usually 

 ruined by pruning. In Europe, it is customary 

 to thin out the centre well to " let in the sun and 

 air." Here it is the sun and air that ruin them, 

 by inviting mildew ; and so the more shoots the 

 better. Our country farmers are the best goose- 

 berry growers, where weeds run riot and grass 

 and gooseberries affect a close companionship. 

 Wherever, in fact, the gooseberry can a find cool 

 corner, well shaded from the sun, and with a soil 

 which is never wet, nor yet by any means dry, 

 there will gooseberries be produced unto you. 

 The English kinds mildew so universally as to 

 be almost gone out of cultivation south of the 

 St. Lawrence. Xor, indeed, is it to be so much 



