EDITOR'S TABLE. 



I TAKE a subscriber's privilege to ask you a few questions. I am exceedingly troubled with Moles, who ridge up 

 my grass, and bore galleries in my terraces, beyond all endurance. A heavy rain has just scooped out a great hole 

 in one of the latter; having found its way through a Mole-course, and a kff such rains would entirely ruin my grassy 

 slope. How shall I rid myself of these troublesome visitors? (1) 



Within a mile or so of my dwelling there are quite a number of beautiful young "White Pines, which I contemplate 

 removing to my own grounds this spring. I find, however, a good many dead branches among the green ; csjiec- 

 ially formed leading shoots, which, when quite dead and brown, I find to be completely honey-combed by the borings 

 of some insect, which I was unable to find ; the leading shoot did not seem to have been attacked every year, but 

 at intervals of two or three years, and during these periods a side shoot would rise up and become a leader. I 

 have consulted Emerson- s lit^poH — the only book I have on arboriculture — and can find nothing concerning it. If 

 I transplant these specimens to my own grounds, will my other specimens be infected from them? Is there any way 

 to kill or cure the insect which causes this? There are some thrifty Pines just over a little bill from these ones I 

 epeak of, say forty or fifty feet high, which do not seem to be afTected. I send you enclosed specimens of the dead 

 wood and also of the live wood, which seems to bo just beginning to be affected. 



I find, on close examination, a small white grub with a brown head, ensconced in the holes. I suppose be 

 is the cause of the injury; you will probably find more on breaking the dead sticks. I have, however, enclosed a 

 specimen in a paper cone, which you will find in the box. Can you give me his antecedents, history, and cure? (2) 



Also, with the rest, I send a living branch, with what seems to be some sort of a Wooly Aphis adhering, which 

 has stinted the growth of the new shoots above? (.3) 



Is it the same disease which so troubled Mr. Sargent, of Fishkill, a year or two ago, and gave him so much 

 alarm? I have since seen a communication in \he HorticulUtrist^ from a lady, stating that she had succeeded in 

 eradicating the pest, by copious showerings of tobacco-water. David L. Jvnso^.—Birmiii (//tarn, Ct. 



(1) "We have known Moles to be driven off by bits of cod-fisli placed in their runs. We pub- 

 lished the following remedy in our volume for 185.3: "Take 1 lb. of bean-meal, 3 oz. of slacked 

 lime in powder, -J oz. of powdered verdigris, and 4 oz. of essential oil of Lavender. After mix- 

 ing thoroughly the powdered part of this composition, incorporate the oil. With a little water 

 work the mixture into a dough. With this form balls the size of hazel nuts; they will harden 

 after having been exposed to the air for twentj'-four hours. Introduce them twenty or thirty 

 feet apart into the Mole's runs, or one ball may be dropped into the hole of each Mole-hill, tak- 

 ing care to cover it up immediately. The smell of these ingredients is so offensive to the 5!ole, 

 that he immediately deserts his ground. The mixture is, at the same time, a violent poison for 

 iloles. Rats, and all such vermin." 



(2) The grub in the branches of White Pine enclosed, is " The White Pine Weevil," described 

 by Prof Harris. He says: "Its eggs are deposited on the leading shoot of the Pine, probably 

 immediately under the outer bark. The larvse hatched therefrom, bore into the shoot in various 

 directions, and probably remain in the wood more than one year! We know of no remedy 

 likely to prove effectual ; but would advise the removal and destruction of all branches attacked 

 with these borers, on the first indication of their presence. 



(-3) The branches sent are also badly affected with the Wooly Aphis — a great pest — the 

 same as described by Mr. Sargent, to which you refer. 



Violets, for Wiktek Bloom, in Hot-Beds. — I should be obliged by some information respecting the proper node 

 of cultivating Violets for winter bloom, in hot-beds; what time they should be planted in the beds to secure an early 

 and constant bloom duriag the winter; the proper kind of soil they require; and whether, for the second planting 

 the new shoots should be separated from the old, and the new only planted ; and if so, at what time this separation 

 should be made. I have tried them for two years without much success. The plants look healthy enough, but have 

 shown very little bloom, and that very late. Subscribee. 



To prepare plants for winter forcing, the young side shoots be taken off in April, and planted 

 in a bed of prepared soil — say equal parts of leaf mold, sand, and good garden loam, with a 

 slight admixture of well rotted cold manure. Shade from the mid-day sun, and water occasion- 

 ally overhead with a fine rose. Ilere the plants will soon get well rooted, and may be transplanted 

 into anotlier bed to prepare them for potting or frames where they are to bloom. This bed should 

 be prepared as above, and the plants should be set in roAVS two inches apart and six inches in 

 the rows. Give them plenty of space, so that they will not get drawn up andw eakened; for in 

 this state they -will not bloom freely or strongly. All runners should be kept down, and the soil 

 moved frequently, and an occasionally overhead watering be given — protect also from mid-day 

 they cannot bear this. About the latter end of August, or first of September, the 

 be lifted from the bed, with balls, and potted or placed in frames. The earth used in 



