188(1. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



207 



tree aforenamed, asking; the doctors what was 

 the matter with those trees. When to my sur- 

 prise David Petitt of N. J., pronounced them 

 genuine cases of yellows. 



I can tell you it caused no little merriment in 

 the crowded room of Del. Fruit Growers. Not 

 one ever hearing, much less seeing a case of 

 genuine yellows, as we have learned of it through 

 books and papers in other sections. 



I explained how the trees I exhibited did come 

 in that condition, and further all I knew about 

 the Aphis from careful observation. I have read 

 all the information I can get on this insect. I 

 must say that even Prof. Riley does not say 

 much about its habits, &c. Of all insects I ever 

 saw, it is the most wonderful. 



I have dug up peach roots that were six to twelve 

 inches deep in quite wet red soil, when the sur- 

 face of the ground was cold, almost frosted. Thou- 

 sands, yes millions, almost, in some cases were on 

 the roots, the smallest so small as to be hardly seen 

 with the naked eye, yet brought under a micro- 

 scope, even the small ones were awful looking 

 sap suckers. I have placed roots covered with 

 these insects in bottles of cold water almost to 

 freezing, leaving them in it for thirty-six hours, 

 removed them, placed in warm sunny place, and 

 in half an hour many would ci'eep off; but after 

 exposing them forty-eight hours all appeared 

 dead. I should like to ask some of you doctors 

 how they propagate so rapidly so deep in the 

 soil ; appear to do so down even six to nine 

 inches deep, and when weather moderates, 

 come right up, suck out the starting buds, hun- 

 dreds and thousands on a single bud. I once 

 used tar to save a lot of young valuable stock, 

 the enemy came so strong out of the ground as 

 to cover the tar and bridge over, and make the 

 stocks appear all black. One week linished up 

 the most vigorous stocks. ^Miid winters and fol- 

 lowed by w-et, cold springs, suit this great enemy 

 of the peach. ]M r. Aphis appears to glory in slight 

 frosts; even a freeze don't budge him; down to- 

 ward zero fixes him. If soil is frozen deep for 

 a long time in w^inter they are not apt to do 

 much damage the following spring. 



Repeated doses of the foul stuff tobacco gives 

 them enough, but then you have to wait until 

 they appear on the surface, while many more 

 are sucking the life out of the roots that you 

 can't reach. 



Aphis can't stand clear, hot sunshiny days; 

 in June and July they usually all disappear, but 

 ah ! what a mark they leave in their track. 



PROTECTING YOUNG APPLE TREES 

 FROM BORERS. 



BY JAMES M. IIAYKS, DOVER, N. H. 



The apple tree borer (Saperda biviUata) is the 

 most destructive insect in our young apple or- 

 chards. More trees are killed by this insect in 

 New Hampshire than in any other way. In 

 large trees there seems to be no better method 

 of destroying them than by using a knife and 

 wire. But with small trees that are just set or 

 are but a few years old, the following method of 

 protection was adopted by a friend of ours hav- 

 ing a young orchard infested with these insects, 

 which he found quite successful in keeping them 

 away. 



Having some strips of wire screening such as are 

 used for windows, he put them around his trees, 

 bringing the ends together and fastening them 

 as stove pipe is fastened, leaving a space between 

 the tree and screening of about an inch, which 

 was filled with waste cotton. This will last four 

 or five years and proves an effectual remedy. 



THE SWEET PIPPIN APPLE. 



BY J. G. YOUNGKEN, RICHLANDTOWN, BUCKS CO., PA. 



I write to you in regard to a seedling apple 

 that has been in cultivation about eighty years, 

 and has some very valuable qualities. So I send 

 you a specimen of it, and would like to have your 

 opinion about it. I think the apple has some very 

 valuable properties, and thought it was my duty 

 to bring it to notice. The Sweet Pippin apple 

 originated on the farm of the late Samuel Min- 

 ninger, of Richland Township, Bucks Co., Pa. 

 The trees are straggling growlers, somewhat 

 spreading or drooping. They form medium 

 sized heads ; wood grayish. They are very 

 hardy and profuse bearers every other year, and 

 the apples adhere firmly to the trees, do notdrop 

 off like most apples do. and they will not be blown 

 off by hard winds and storms. They are in 

 season from December to June, will ripen up 

 like oranges, will not wilt and shrivel like most 

 apples do, and in June they will be just as sound 

 as in the fall, and as yellow as oranges. I saw 

 eighty bushels on a heap the other day, and you 

 could not see a specked one nor a rotton one on 

 the heap. Young trees in the nursery ought to 

 be top grafted to form good trees. 



[The true value of an apple, or for the matter 

 of that, any fruit, depends on a great many 

 things more than any editor can find out by ex- 

 amining a specimen of the fruit in his office. All 

 we can say is that the specimen sent by Mr. 



