206 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[July, 



think it is. Early initiated, as the writer was 

 when a boy, into the practical order of the prun- 

 ing-knife and spade, he has since worked out 

 many a problem "the God of nature," seemingly, 

 left him to solve. And what in the course of time 

 I have physically or mechanically done for the j 

 benefit of horticulture and arboriculture, which I 

 nature left undone, are visible facts which no- ! 

 body can deny. That Divine Providence intended i 

 the members of the gardening fraternity to do for 

 trees what they could not do for themselves, is I 

 evident, from His having put the first made man i 

 in a garden to look after them. And thus, from 1 

 ante-figleafian times until now, the pruning-hook 

 has never ceased from cutting and trimming ; 

 trees. The conditions, Mr. Coleman mentions, 

 have often come under my notice, and, as he 

 sensibly advises doing, have many times done i 

 with marked advantage. 



I remember some time ago another wiseacre | 

 gave his opinion about the same subject. His j 

 remarks, if not exactly foolish, were at least 

 somewhat funny. The sceptical gentleman I 

 allude to thought it would be as sensible an act 

 to make longitudinal incisions in his leg, as it 

 would be in the bark of a tree. Whether he had 

 a timber leg, or a wooden head, or both, he made 

 no mention. But I strongly suspect there was 

 something ligneous about the superstructure or 

 he would have known it was the trunk, instead 

 of the limbs, which were to be bark-slit. 



In Japan, we are informed, it was no unusual 

 thing for a man to slit up his trunk. But they 

 had another designation for the operation — 

 Hari-Kari is the name. That the effects of slit- 

 ting would vary much on the trunks of trees and 

 man, even Mr. Skeptical is well aware. But as 

 neither he nor any one else in this country is 

 likely to try the experiment, life being too short 

 and business too pressing, let us turn to Shaks- 

 peare, and learn what they did in his day. 



See King Richard II., Act 3, and hear what 

 the honest and old gardener said when lamenting 

 the fate of his fallen king : 



"And Bolingbrooke 

 Hath seized the wasteful king. — Oh ! what a pity 



it is. 

 That he had not trim'd and dress'd his land, 

 As we this garden. We at this time of year 

 Do wound the bark, the skin of our fruit trees ; 

 Lest being over-proud with sap and blood. 

 With too much riches it confound itself: 

 Had he done so to great and growing men, 

 They might have lived to bear, and taste 

 Their fruits of duty. All superfluous branches 

 We lop away, that bearing boughs may live : 



Had he done so, himself had borne the crown, 

 Which waste of idle hours hath quite thrown 

 down." 



As the philosophical horticulturist is supposed 

 to have " wound the bark, the skin of our forest 

 trees," sometime between June, 1377, and Septem- 

 ber, 1399, it must be admitted he was wise after his 

 generation. Even from so long ago as Shaks- 

 peare's time, between 1564 and 1616, the opera- 

 tion was performed by practical men, just as it 

 is by skillful orchardists now. It seems to me 

 that while I continue to admire the wisdom of 

 King Richard's ancient bark-slitter, it would be 

 proper to exclaim, " Bravo ! Old Gardener." 



THE PEACH APHIS. 



BY D. S. MYER, BRIDGEVILLE, DEL. 



I notice you frequently write about the Peach 

 Yellows. We know but-little about the yellows 

 here ; in fact I do not know that I can say I could 

 certainly point out one single case of the 

 yellows. 



I will relate the following, thinking it may be 

 of some interest to your numerous readers. 

 Some six or eight years ago the Peach Aphis 

 visited us in unprecedented numbers, destroying 

 most of the young trees one year planted, and 

 severely injuring some two year and older trees. 

 The effects on the trees visited by them was 

 plainly visible, the leaves turning yellow and 

 not having anything like their usual size ; many 

 trees dying outright, others so weakened as to be 

 entirely worthless. That -season, at the time 

 that Hale's Early Peach was beginning to ripen, 

 the Milford, Del. Fruit Growers' Society invited a 

 number of the Farmers' Club of New York and 

 some Pennsylvania Profs, on Insects ; also the 

 late David Petitt of N. J. (said to be the best 

 farmer of N. J.). My memory fails to give the 

 names of the prominent doctors who met at 

 jNIilford. I was invited to meet with these 

 gentlemen and the Fruit Society, so I prepared 

 myself as best I could. Taking a spade and 

 grubbing hoe I marched off first and dug up two 

 or three of the two year peach trees, root and 

 branch, that had been covered literally black 

 with the Peach Aphis in the spring, but had dis- 

 appeared on approach of hot weather, letting 

 some of the branches be on with the leaves, and 

 the roots as left by the Aphis. Taking the peach 

 tree branches with me, when I was called upon 

 to '^ive mv store of information, I presented the 



