THE APPLE SCALE, OK llAUK LOUSE. 



by hcatlnnf ; when cool or just warm enough to spread, a very thin coat is to bo 

 applied with a brush to all the afTccted parts. An advantage of this remedy is, 

 that it may be applied at a leisure time, late winter or early spring, when the tree 

 is in a state of rest; to facilitate tlie operation, it will be well to first thorougldy 

 prune the tree. This composition forms a varnish, wliich readily cracks wlicn the 

 sap begins to flow and the bark to expand, admitting the air to the liark. In tlie 

 course of the summer it peels off, carrying the scales — now dead — witli it, and 

 leaving a clean surface. Notwithstanding this treatment conflicts witli long re- 

 ceived opinions, trees thus treated have not only survived, but have grown — this 

 the second season — well, and ))()rne good crops of fruit. The wash proposed by 

 Dr. TTarris, or any strong caustic application made while the insect is yet young, 

 will doubtless be effectual in destroying them. The objection to the use of these 

 remedies is, that to be of sufficient strength to kill the insect, it will also destroy 

 the foliage, and thus seriously injure the tree; and then, too, as the insects do not 

 all hatch out at once, more than one application is necessary, or enough are left 

 to soon cover the tree again. 



CONE OF ABIES NOBILIS.* 



We present this month the portrait of the cone of Abies nobilis, or noble silver 

 fir. This magnificent tree was introduced to Britain by the lamented Douglas, 

 in 1831, who discovered it on the mountains of Northern California, and which, 

 above all others, excited his admiration. Judging from young specimens, it is 

 likely to display similar beauty in a cultivated state. In its native forests it 

 attains a height of 180 feet, the branches spread horizontally, and are produced 

 with the same uniformity of arrangement as those of the Araucaria excelsa, or 

 Norfolk Island pine. The density and fine incurvature of its foliage divest the 

 tree of that stiffness which characterizes most of the tribe to which it belongs, 

 and impart much of that agreeable gracefulness so well defined in the Deodar 

 cedar and Hemlock spruce. It is perfectly hardy in our climate, and should be 

 one of the first trees planted as a single specimen on a lawn. It is the Picea 

 nobilis of Loudon (whose arrangement of the pine family is now generally fol- 

 lowed), and the Pinus nobilis of Douglas. 



* See Frontispiece. 









