1878.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



115 



spring ever}' other row will be removed and used 

 for stakes in vineyards, fences, &c. 



The average height is now sixteen feet three 

 inches, and average diameter one foot from the 

 ground three inches, some much larger. Thej^ 

 are as straight and erect as can be desired, and 

 grew in 1877 an average of thirty-three inches. 



"While collecting specimens of the trees of 

 Illinois for the Centennial I found some boards | 

 sawed from a log two feet in diameter which was 

 proven to have laid upon the ground one liundred ' 

 years. One man had known the log to have thus 

 lain during forty years of this time, and he had 

 the information directly from another as to the ! 

 previous sixty years. This was in the extreme i 

 southern portion of Illinois, about twelve miles 

 from Cairo and the Missippi riv<;r bottoms. The I 

 wood is still sound and strong, and susceptible I 

 of a fair polish.'' 



SCRAPS AND QUERIES. 



Hardiness of the Eucalyptu.s. — H., 

 Philadelphia, sends us an extract from a 

 California paper, showing that a Eucalyptus 

 globulus stood in Oregon, and without injury, 

 when the thermometer fell 17° below freezing- 

 point, and asks " why it would not do as much 

 in Philadelphia." We are nearly tired of this 

 Eucalyptus matter. If people want to plant 

 Eucalyptus trees here in the East, we know of 

 no law against it. As our friend, Mr. Price, 

 told us last year, they do not try the experiments 

 at anybody's expense but their own. But if we 

 must answer our correspondent's question we 

 should say, as the child says, "It won't live in 

 Philadelphia at the same temperature as in 

 Oregon, because it won't." Hardiness, as most 

 of our readers know, is not decided by the ther- 

 mometer. 



Natural History and Science. 



COMMUNICA riONS. 



OIL FOR FRUIT TREES. 



I^Y MR. STEPHEN S. PPaCE, FERN ROCK, NEAR : 

 PHILADELPHIA. 



I notice with considerable interest a commu- 

 nication on page 83, of the Monthly, in refer- i 

 ence to the bad effects of the use of linseed oil j 

 on Pear trees, and also notice that the editor is 

 disposed to attribute the trouble to " adulterated 

 oils." 



Now I have most thoroughly tested this sub- 

 ject, with precisely the same results as E. I. B., : 

 and can further advise that when blight sets in ' 

 after the trees have been well oiled, the death of j 

 the entire tree is bound to follow. My last year's , 

 experience was very discouraging. Usually, \ 

 with me, when a tree has become seized with 

 blight, I can arrest its progress by trimming out 

 the diseased parts, which still does very well if 

 the tree has not beei; oiled ; but when it has, no 

 care or attention will save it, and even a slight 

 attack means certain death. , 



My orchai'd is planted on a southern slope, 

 well drained, and the trees carefully looked 

 after. But the destroyer still comes, and this 

 last Summer it took Manning's Elizabeth, j 

 Clapp's Favorite, Flemish Beauty, Buflum, St. \ 

 Ghislain, Madelaine, and others, and those I ! 



have remaining look black and ugly. Some of 

 the trees have been done two years. 



I feel quite certain the oil is pure, as it came 

 from the most reliable druggist I know of, Robt. 

 Shoemaker & Co. I am now experimenting 

 with oil on Marechal Neil Rose, but can tell 

 better later on. 



[This is valuable testimony, and seems to put 

 a solution of the enigma further away than ever. 

 The success of the Mississippi trees under oil is 

 undoubted; and several hundred apple and pears 

 on the grounds of the editor of the Gardener's 

 Monthly were painted with linseed oil from 

 top to bottom, with the very reverse of injurious 

 effects. We have offered our explanation why 

 other people's died, which does not seem wholly 

 satisfactory. We will now ask why these cases 

 should have been so succes.sful. — Ed.] 



THE JAPAN PERSIMMON. 



BY * PJIILADELrnrA. 



The illustration and description of the Japan 

 Persimmon, in your March number, reminds me 

 that efforts to obtain satisfactory information 

 from several sources as to the fertility of the 

 plants offered for sale, have failed. If the Japan 

 Persimmon be a true Diospyros, it is dioecious 

 — bearing pistillate and staminate flowers on 

 separate trees — hence single specimens may not 



