1885.1 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



261 



over the grass plants and keep them pressed 

 firmly in the soft earth when the thaw comes. 

 Coarse weeds must be drawn out by hand next 

 summer. 



A White-leaved Honey Locust. — "J. G.," 

 Tipton, Mo., sends a white-leaved Honey Locust. 

 He saw the small plant first in 1884, and it is now 

 34 inches high, and still retains its variegation. 

 He would like to know whether it is likely to be a 

 good novelty, and how to propagate it ? 



Just how much value there may be to a varie- 

 gation, no one can decide till they see a tree or 

 plant of some size. Nothing, for instance, is more 

 beautiful than the white variegation of the Box 

 Elder, as grown in Europe ; but in America the 

 white burns out, and no one cares for it. Then 

 much depends on the exact shade of the variega- 

 tion, and the form of the leaf that is variegated. 

 In short it depends on whether the tree will keep 

 healthy under the variegation, and whether it is 

 likely to "strike" the beholder. If it is a "striking" 

 novelty, it would be valuable. The texture of the 

 leaves sent seems strong, and probably it would 

 stand the sun better than the Negundo. The cor- 

 respondent may persevere with his care of it, with 

 some hope that it may prove worthy of general at- 

 tention. It ought to graft very easily on seedlings 

 of the common Honey Locust. Nurserymen have 

 no difficulty in grafting the weeping and other 

 varieties on this stock. 



Trees for Public Squares. — Boys will be 

 boys, and remembering this fact a correspondent 

 makes the good suggestion that trees for public 

 squares or streets in a large city should not be 

 kinds that by fruits or flowers offer temptations 

 too great to be resisted in fruit or flower. 



Wearing Out of the Suspension Holes in 

 Zinc Labels. — Mr. Joseph Perkins, Cleveland, 

 Ohio, remarks : " A correspondent recently ob- 

 served that he was troubled with the wearing of 

 the eyelets in zinc labels. We obviate that vexa- 

 tious result by having two holes (say three-fourths 

 to an inch apart) punched in the label, and by 

 running the wire through the two holes, and with a 

 good twist all wearing is prevented." 



Grass for a Lawn. — A correspondent at 

 Staunton, Virginia asks; " What is the best lawn 

 treatment? Is there anything better than .^grostis 

 stolonifera to mix with our common Blue Grass for 

 a lawn ?" 



[There is no benefit in any lawn mixture. If 

 you sow a dozen kinds together, in a few years 



there will be only one kind left, because the one 

 that is best suited to the soil will crowd out all the 

 rest. If the soil is damp, stiff, or clayey, sow the 

 .'Vgrostis ; but as we remember the soil of Staunton 

 generally, we should incline to sow Blue Grass 

 pure and unadulterated. — Ed. G. M.] 



Hardy Cacti. — Mr. Bassett, Hammonton, N. 

 J., asks: " Is there any cactus with brilliant red 

 flowers, sufficiently hardy to stand our winters ?" 



" Opuntia Rafinesqui blooms freely here in any 

 sandy waste, and 1 would hke to find some red 

 variety to grow along with it. Would it be possi- 

 ble to produce a hybrid between O. Rafinesqui 

 and some of the red ones ?" 



[Echinocactus phoeniceus, a deep crimson, is 

 probably hardy in New Jersey, and E. Simpsoni 

 with Mamillaria vivipara, both from the Rocky 

 Mountains, and quite hardy, are "red" ones also. 

 There is a variety of O. Rafinesqui, named by Dr. 

 Engelman, O. Rafinesqui oplocarpa, with flowers of 

 light straw, but shading to orange red at the base, 

 from which a very dark Opuntia Rafinesqui might 

 perhaps be obtained by selection, and perhaps by 

 hybridization as suggested by our correspondent. 

 —Ed. G. M.] 



Dahlia Stem Borer. — E. S. Miller, Wading 

 River, L. I., N. Y., says: "I was surprised that 

 you never heard of the Dahlia stem borer. Twenty 

 years ago it used to trouble me. It would bore 

 out the stem when from six inches to a foot high. 

 Of course the stem died, when the buds from below 

 the borer's track would grow, making a much 

 shorter season of bloom. I have not seen it late 

 years, though I grow usually ;< to i acre of 

 Dahlias." 



And W. A. Manda, Botanic Gardens, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., adds the following: "The Dahlia 

 stem borer you mention in your last Monthly, 

 came to my notice in my early apprenticeship in 

 Bohemia, and then again in Vienna, Austria, 

 where it was even more destructive than in the 

 former place. I have not seen anything of this 

 enemy in this country yet, though we have some- 

 thing over five hundred Single Dahlias planted 

 out this summer, some of which are really beauti- 

 ful. • In my native language we call this borer 

 ' Skvor,' what would be the 'Earwig' in English. 



" The best way to destroy this pest is to take a 

 small flower pot, fill it with dry paper loosely 

 about one-third of the pot, and then suspend in- 

 verted among the plants. They soon find this out 

 as a good dry hiding place, and are easily caught 

 by inspecting the pots early in the morning." 



