242 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[August, 



cent, of nutritive matter He appears to think, 

 and we have no doubt he is right, that the 

 unctuous feel of these earths originally suggested 

 the idea of their nourishing qualities, and, once 

 commenced, the eating has become a confirmed, 

 and in most cases a diseased, taste." We suspect 

 this is simply some newspaper reporter's story, 

 who was desirous of earning his money by get- 

 ting up a novel paragraph. The earth which 

 comes to this country around the roots of Japan 

 lilies is placed there by the Japanese to prevent 

 evaporation. These bulbs, so treated, come in 

 excellent fresh condition. Some of this material 

 was given by the editor to one of the leading 

 microscopists of the Philadelphia Academj'^ of 

 Natural Sciences, who reported that the organic 

 materials had been added to the earth, for the 

 purpose of binding it; just as in grafting clay 

 the old school added horse droppings or cut 

 straw. The idea of making an " infusion " of 

 any "silicious" material for soup, is especially 

 rich, whatever richness the soup may have. 



Pear Comte de Lam ay. — Though a small 

 fruit, this variety is highly praised as a good 

 autumn pear in England. 



A Lover of Pears. — It is said of Col. Wilder 

 that every morning in the year he regularly 

 enjoys his dish of well-ripened pears from his 

 own orchard. 



Josephine de Malines Pear. — It is not un- 

 common to find letters from America, in Euro- 

 pean magazines, which tell very strange things. 

 But a paper of another sort is one in the Garden 

 of May 8th, by Mr. H. Hendricks, of Kingston, 

 New York, on pear growing in the United States, 

 whicli is very intelligently written, and is alto- 

 gether a model for transatlantic letter writers. 



We should not, however, have placed Josephine 

 de Malines at the head of our winter list ; but as 

 the opinion of an intelligent and evidently con- 

 scientious writer, itis worthy of great respect. He 

 says : " In winter sorts, strictly speaking, we 

 have first and best of all Josephine de Malines, 

 which, in its season, is superb and delicious, fit 

 for the most discriminating palate. It is large 

 and very productive, growing in clusters; flesh, 

 light salmon color; tree hardy, but moderate in 

 growth, owing to a tendency to overbear. I 

 have kept fine specimens of this pear into April 

 in this latitude. 



Scale on Orchard Trees.— As already stated 

 in our magazine, the writer of this applied pure 



linseed oil to the scale on hundreds of his apple 

 or pear trees with complete success, while others 

 who have tried it complain that it injures their 

 trees. Here is a modification of the plan by 

 Mr. Tidmarsh, of the Grahamstown Botanic 

 Garden in South Africa. The readers will under- 

 stand by " paraffin " what we know merely as 

 "coal oil:" '' Into a round-bottomed iron pot put 

 eight pounds of soft soap and two quarts ofparaffin 

 oil ; place the pot over a rather slow fire, consist- 

 ing of embers only; with a stout stick, vigorously 

 stir the mixture, till the soap has absorbed the 

 ivhole of the oil; to the resulting paste add 20 

 quarts of water, boiling, if convenient; the mix- 

 ture can now be left to simmer till the whole of 

 the soap is dissolved, the result being a milky 

 fluid, with little or no oil visible on the surface ; 

 the pot may now be taken off the fire, and stood 

 aside till the liquid is cooled down to about new 

 milk heat. The mixture may now be applied to 

 the infected trees, a garden syringe being used 

 for the purpose; the application should be so 

 managed that every part of the tree may be 

 covered with a thin film of the mixture ; to effect 

 this with as little waste as possible, screw on to 

 the syringe, before using it, the rose end having 

 the smallest holes; from which drive the mixture 

 with force through and about the foliage and 

 branches of the trees. When the plants to be 

 dressed are in pots, let the branches of the trees 

 be held over some vessel, such as a tin bath or 

 a packing-case with a zinc lining, in order that 

 waste of the mixture may be avoided as much as 

 possible. Before removing the plants from over 

 the vessel, shake the branches so as to dislodge 

 any superfluous mixture, then place the plants 

 in a horizontal position, till nearly dry, and thus 

 prevent the oily matter running down the stems 

 of the plant into the soil. Any portion of the 

 liquid that may not be used at the time of making 

 will keep good for months ; a scum will form on 

 the surface, but that will disappear on again 

 warming and stirring it. This mixture is not at 

 all difficult to concoct, but to hisure a good 

 result it is absolutely necessary to strictly observe 

 the few words printed in italics. It is hardly 

 necessary to observe that the number of pounds 

 of soap and quarts of paraffin and water are 

 simply quoted as proportions, the number of 

 gallons of mixture made at any one time must 

 be in accordance with the number and size of the 

 trees requiring dressing." 



Apples for the South. — At a recent meeting of 

 the Texas Pomological Society, Mr. T. V. Mun- 



