80 



THE GARDENEWa JdONTHLY 



[.l/«>».7/, 



In the first place after the nest is discovered, all 

 the holes but one are stopped up, in which a 

 machine somethin<>- like our smoking machines 

 for greenhouses with a pipe attached to one side, 

 and a bellows on the other is inserted. On the 

 pipe end some sulphur and rags are placed in 

 the machine, which is kept burning by working 

 the bellows, the smoke of the sulphur entering 

 the nest and destrojdng ants and eggs together. 

 In a few days the escaping ants will make new 

 nests, mostly in the open field which are easily 

 destroyed. As a general rule the industrious 

 gardener will have them soon under control and 

 will only have to keep an eye on those coming 

 over from his neighbors. 



Very few people have an idea how destructive 

 these insects are ; as they mostly work at night 

 the damage is only discovered when too late. I 

 have known them to clear trees of their leaves in 

 one night, if nothing would suit them under- 

 neath. They are very fond of cal)bage and all 

 plants belonging to that family. 



JUNE BUDDiNC PEACH TREES. 



BY CHARLES BLACK. HIGllTSTOWX, K. J. 



Allow me to correct your answer to W. K. S. 

 in regard to June budding. The mode practiced 

 by nurserymen is to cut the buds from the .young 

 growth made the same season prior to the time 

 of budding, say from the first to the twentieth 

 of June. They can be used quite young and suc- 

 culent. The seed is planted as early as possible 

 in Spring and plants are budded as soon in June as 

 possible, from four to six inches above the ground. 

 The 1)uds inserted same as in common budding, 

 and tied with cotton twine instead of mat as in 

 common budding. There are many details about 

 it. If W. K. S. wishes to know fully about it I 

 will give him full particulars by sending him a 

 small tree with the operation all performed, 

 which will give him a much more perfect idea 

 than I can do with my pen. 



plant. But I can tell you that I have seen the 

 fattest and sleekest cows and horses that it has 

 ever been my lot to witness, regaled from 

 the smallest patch of land that it is possil)le 

 to conceive capable of sustaining the same 

 number of head in the worst possible con- 

 dition, if at all. I hesitate to make the state- 

 ment of the number of times it can be cut and 

 the immense yield it will give. But I will only 

 say if it will grow in this climate anything like 

 it does near Epping Forest, then it will prove a 

 most valuable acquisition to those living near 

 large cities where land is high. Should you wish 

 the result of my observations in England for the 

 past three or four seasons, I will give you them, 

 as they were what induced me to import it for 

 our own use, and for introduction here. Of one 

 thing I am very clear that it is not all valuable 

 alike. 



[There are few more intelligent or conscien- 

 tious culturists in our country than Mr. Grieves, 

 and what he may have to say on this very inter- 

 esting topic will have a more than upual interest 

 to our readers. — Ed. &. M.] 



_••«> 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



PRJCKLY COMFREY. 



BY MR. J. GRIEVES, PATERSON, X. J. 



1 herewith send you a few roots of the genuine 

 prickly comfrey which I imported a few weeks 

 ago, with a few remarks of what I know about 

 it as a forage plant in England, where I have 

 seen it grown and used for several seasons while 

 visiting in the Fall for my health. I cannot tell 

 you to a nicety just how much it will produce 

 per acre, nor can I tell you the yield of a solitary 



Peach Yellows. — We have been favored 

 with advance sheets of the Michigan Pomologi- 

 cal Society's last meeting in which was a pro- 

 longed discussion on the Peach Yellows. An 

 interesting letter from Mr. Byron D. Halsted. 

 who has made minute fungi a close study, was 

 read, in which he says: "The peach curl is 

 caused by a fungus, Ascomyces deformans, but 

 that this is the same species as the yellows I do 

 not know." The " curl " fungus has nothing to 

 do with the yellows, which, as already stated in 

 our magazine, is caused by the mycelium of a 

 species of Agaricus. It rarely develops into a 

 perfect "toad-stool," though in the writer's care- 

 fully conducted experiments he has bred them. 

 The spawn attacks health living roots and per- 

 meates the tree through all its j)arts, and the 

 " filaments of some fungus " found in the wood 

 by Mr. Halsted, \\ ere 'probably of this spe- 

 cies. Budding therefore will communicate the 

 disease. A knife used on a diseased tree may carry 

 it, the fallen leaves of a diseased tree blowing 

 under a healthy one will carry the threads into the 

 soil, and the peach stones of a diseased tree may 

 travel and carry the fungus a thousand miles. In 

 an orchard where the diseased trees exist the 



