368 



TEE OARDENEB'S MONTHLY 



[December, 



MUSKINGUM PEAR. 



BY R. J. B. 



This fruit which seems to do well in the north 

 «ast, is not considered valuable in the vicinity of 

 the city of Zanesville, Ohio, on the Muskingum 

 river. Since the finer varieties have become 

 known it has been passed by. The opinion of 

 the writer, formed from what he could learn 20 

 years ago, was that it was one of the old time 

 fruits, like Orange Bergamot, &c. Recently he has 

 conversed with a gentleman who was secretary 

 of the Muskingum Valley Horticultural Society, 

 a year or two ago, (and whose father is now 

 president of the same) ; and he stated that after 

 full discussion the society discarded it; its chief 

 faults being insipidity and mealiness. 



THE PLUM CURCULIO. 



BY P. H. POSTER, BABYLON, L. I. 



I wish to write to the public through your 

 progressive Monthly, how we cheated the little 

 Turk out of some Purple Favorite Plums, this 

 year, by casting air-slaked lime over the tree 

 nearly every morning for six weeks ; the conse- 

 quence is, we have quite a quantity from two 

 trees, which we never had before. Another idea 

 may prove of benefit; no rotten plums, as here- 

 tofore. 



[The plums were well earned. The easiest 

 plan we know to get plums is to put a fence round 

 the Plum orchard, and keep fowls therein. Throw 

 grain or other very small feed under the trees, 

 *nd let them scratch away for dear life and the 

 chance is there will be cheap plums. — Ed. G. M.] 



JUNE-BUDDING PEACH TREES IN TEXAS. 



BY B. 



My June-developed peach buds, where T cut 

 the tops entirely off", are many of them dying ; 

 but where the young tree was small enough to 

 bend over, or, where large, was first cut partly in 

 two (as in plashing osage hedges) and then 

 lopped over, the buds and stocks are all doing 

 well. For years past I have adopted this plan 

 in treating summer-budded roses; and one sea- 

 son I budded some fine quinces with pears, 

 layered the quince limbs early, making the top 

 of the curve just above the bud, and both pear 

 buds and quince layers grew well. But the top 



of peach stock is not worth saving, and an up- 

 ward cut, halfway through, will allow the top to 

 lop over without further care, and keep up a 

 healthy flow of sap. Where cut off", disease or 

 death in our hot, dry climate, is inevitable. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Westerx Grapes. — New seedling grapes come 

 in once in a while from the West, only to excite 

 astonishment East that any one appreciates 

 them. When examining these, we think people 

 have scarcely an idea how the grape has been 

 improved. Some of these would have been 

 popular fifty years ago, but are hardly endurable 

 now. 



The Tomato Disease. — The Gardener's Chron- 

 icle says that the identity of the Tomato fungus 

 with that of the Potato fungus — the Perenospora 

 infestans — is now undoubted. 



Disease in California Cherries. — The Cali- 

 fornia Agriculturist says : 



"Several cherry orchards about San Jose have, 

 within the last two or three years, showed the 

 presence of some disease which has alarmed and 

 puzzled the orchardists not a little. The trees, 

 one by one, in portions of the orchard, would 

 commence dying at the top. The topmost 

 limbs would die first, and so down till, in some 

 cases, the entire tree would die. In others, after 

 a few of the main limbs died, the trees would 

 take a new growth from the bottom limbs and 

 show signs of recovery. We have visited several 

 orchards and undertaken to ascertain the cause. 

 No orchardist could accoimt for the trouble." 



[We find the roots of many trees that are 

 sick injured by gophers, but much doubt whether 

 such injuries, however harmful, would result 

 in the appearance as described. — Ed. G. M.] 



Lime and the Potato Beetle. — The Garden- 

 er's Magazine tells its readers that when the 

 Potato Beetle makes its appearance in England, 

 not to use the favorite thing on the other side — 

 an arsenical preparation known as Paris Green 

 — because it injures the soil, while dustings of 

 hot lime benefit the ground, and are equally effect, 

 ual and less dangerous. All this so positively 

 rendered, reads funny to an American. 



