178 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



(June, 



this latter point the anthers or pollen-bearing 

 organs are cut off before they are mature, it 

 being sometimes necessary to part the petals be- 

 fore they naturally expand, in order to do it. 

 The pistil is not always ready for fertilization 

 till a day or two after the flower expands. It is 

 the custom with hybridizers to put some pollen 

 on the apex of the pistil, at once when the an- 

 thers are taken off, as pollen retains its vitality 

 for a long while, but in order to be certain that 

 hybridization is effected, more pollen is put on a 

 day or so afterwards, and very often the flower 

 fertilized with foreign pollen is placed under a 

 gauze bag to keep off insects which might bring 

 pollen from flowers not desirable. 

 Kaspberry Borer. — R. J. S., Philadelphia. 



The specimens of Hornet sent are infested with 

 the raspberry borer. This is the chief cause of 

 the degeneracy of varieties. A new form comes 

 out and for a while is popular, till the borer 

 finds it out. It is then weakened by the insect, 

 and being weak, is easily killed by the Winter, 

 after which it is pronounced "not hardy." 

 There seems to be no remedy but to examine 

 one's plants occasionally, and when traces of 

 the insect's existence are found, dig up and burn 

 the whole plantation in the Fall of the year, 

 and set out new canes the following Spring. 

 And above all, one should examine all pur- 

 chased plants on receipt, and if infested with 

 borers, refuse to receive them. A vigorous 

 policy is required to keep down this pest. 



Forestry. 



COMMUNICA TIONS. 



CENTRAL CALIFORNIA FORESTRY. 



BY T. C. PRICE, FRESNO CITY, CAL. 



The idea of planting forest trees is* steadily 

 gaining ground, especially in Fresno, Tulare, 

 and Mariposa Counties. The timber principally 

 planted here is Blue Gum, (Eucalyptus globulus) 

 and Locust; however, there is more of the 

 former than the latter. The constructing of 

 irrigating canals has wrought a revolution in 

 agriculture in this section, and as the facilities 

 for irrigation have increased there has been a 

 corresponding increase in tree-planting. In a 

 few years the vast plains, which have been here- 

 tofore comparatively treeless, will afford timber 

 for fuel and lumber to succeeding generations. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Forest Fires. — We have always contended 

 that the only way to make timber culture a per- 

 manent success, was not to keep before the pub- 

 lic mere sentimental notions regarding it, or to 

 pick out all the rosy scenes about forestry, and 

 let people get out of difficulties as best they 

 may ; but rather to seek ourselves what difficul- 

 ties there may be, and look for remedies. And 

 among the difficulties we must not lose sight of 

 the chance of forest fires, a difficulty we have 



often alluded to. This trouble is brought more 

 particularly before us, this season of terrible dis- 

 asters from forest fires. For a month we have 

 been writing in an atmosphere of dense smoke 

 from forest fires all around within a circle of 

 four or five hundred miles wide. Thousands on 

 thousands of acres have been destroyed by the 

 fire fiend; and amongst these, forests belonging 

 to some who have been strongly tempted to em- 

 bark largely in artificial forest culturfi, but 

 which temptation they will be now most likely 

 to resist. When alluding to the present aspects 

 of the forestry question in a paper for the Ptnn 

 Monthly, some three years ago, the writer of 

 this pointed out, that some system of forestry 

 insurance would have to be inaugurated before 

 much capital would be invested in it; and we 

 present this point more strongly now. Of course 

 Forestry insurance would have to be on a very 

 different basis from any other class of insurance, 

 — and would have to be made on a broad national 

 basis. But it surely can be done,— 'and if those 

 who are spending so much time on bewailing 

 the fate of forestry some hundred years or so to 

 come, when there shall be no more timber, 

 would give just a little to these practical ques- 

 tions, they would do at least as much service. 



Forestry Census. — Prof. Sargent has issued 

 a descriptive list of all the forest trees of the 

 United States, with blank leaves to each page for 

 those who know of new facts to note and report. 



