1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



235 



ing Cereus, because they happen to bloom at 

 night. The original night-blooming Cereus is C. 

 grandiflorus, which is as sweet as sweet can be. 

 It is such lessons as these which teach us that 

 though botanical names are hard to learn we can- 

 not do without them. — Ed. G. M.] 



Floweri.ng of Cactuses. — The first of six 

 buds on Cereus McDonaldii flowered on the 6th 

 of June with Mr. Macaulay, Ellsworth, Kansas, 

 and about the same time one was opening with 

 Mr. Pfifer, of Danville, Virginia. The simultanity 

 of flowering in Cactaceous plants has always 

 seemed surprising to the writer of this. Of several 

 plants of Echinocactus multiplex, a very common 

 kind with beautiful rosy trumpet-like flowers, all 

 opened their blossoms the same day in a German- 

 town collection. 



The Greenhouse Rose Beetle.^A lady of 



Madison, New Jersey, writes : " Will you be kind 

 enough to give in the magazine an accurate 

 description of the rose-bug mentioned by Mr. Hen- 

 derson on p. 170 of the June number? Is it the 

 same described by Parkman's ' Book of Roses,' 

 p. 37 ? I have often heard here of the damage 

 done in greenhouses by the rose-bugs, but I have 

 never found two gardeners who agreed in describ- 

 ing it." 



[The rose-bug or beetle referred to is not the 

 " rose bug " so common in gardens, that eats the 

 flowers of mock oranges, roses and everything else 

 that comes in its way, which is the one referred 

 to by Parkman ; but a newly discovered pest of 

 the rose grower under glass. It was first named 

 Aramigus Fulleri by Dr. Horn in 1876, and is 

 described and figured and a full account of its 

 behaviour given by Prof. Riley at page 310 of 

 G.\RDENERs' Monthly for 1879. — Ed. G. M.] 



Fruit and Vegetable Gardening. 



SEASONABLE HINTS. 



The grape-vine at this season will require atten- 

 tion, to see that the leaves are all retained healthy 

 till thoroughly ripened. It is not a sign of health- 

 iness for a vine to grow late ; on the contrary, 

 such late growth generally gets killed in the 

 winter — but the leaves should all stay on, to in- 

 sure the greatest health of the vine, until the frost 

 comes, when they should all be so mature as to 

 fall together. Frequent heavy syringings are 

 amongst the best ways to keep off insects from 

 out-door grapes, and so protect the foliage from 

 their ravages. 



Many kinds of fruit trees that have arrived at 

 a bearing age, may perhaps be growing very 

 vigorously and producing very little or no fruit. 

 Those who have read our remarks in past num- 

 bers will understand that whatever checks the 

 wood-producing principle, tends to throw the 

 plant into a bearing state. For this purpose, 

 summer pruning is often employed, which, by 

 checking the most vigorous shoots, weakens the 

 whole plant, and throws it into a fruitful condition. 

 The same result is obtained by root-pruning, with 

 this difference, that by the last operation the 

 whole of the branches are pioportionately 



checked — while by pinching only the strong- 

 growing shoots, the weak ones gain at the expense 

 of the stronger ones. Presuming that the branches 

 have been brought into a satisfactory condition in 

 this respect, root-pruning may now, this month, 

 be resorted to. We cannot say exactly how far 

 from the trunk the roots may be operated on, 

 so much depends on the age and vigor of the 

 tree. In a luxuriant, healthy tree, one-fourth 

 may be safely dispensed with. In a four-year-old 

 standard pear tree, for instance, the roots will 

 perhaps have reached 4 feet from the trunk on 

 every side. A circle 6 feet in diameter may then 

 be cut around the stem, extending 2 feet beneath 

 the surface. It is not necessary to dig out the 

 soil to accomplish the result ; a post spade, or 

 strong spade of any kind, may be driven down 

 vigorously, describing the circle, and doing the 

 work very effectually. Of all trees, the peach is 

 as much benefitted by root-pruning as any. 



As soon as your vegetable crops are past 

 kitchen use, clear them out. Never suffer them 

 to seed. In the first pl.\ce, a seed crop exhausts 

 the soil more than two crops taken off in an eat- 

 able condition ; in the next place, the refuse of 

 the kitchen is likely to produce degenerate stocks. 

 Good seed saving is a special art by itself, always 



