1885.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



365 



should be done, cannot be told outside of the or- 

 chard to be pruned. In the old times, we had 

 pictures and written sketches of just how to 

 prune a tree, which no one could follow, because 

 no two orchards will bear just the same treat- 

 ment. The grape can be brought nearer a gen- 

 eral rule — but, even here, little more can be said 

 than that we do not want to retain weak shoots, 

 and we do want the strong ones — we do not want 

 the whole length of the cane which we preserve, 

 but we shorten in proportion to its strength ; we 

 want always to keep our annual shoot as near the 

 ground, or as near the main stem, as possible, and, 

 therefore, in pruning, we study to so cut as to give 

 the lowest ones all the encouragement we consis- 

 tently can, keeping in view our desire to get a full 

 crop of fruit the coming season. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



A PLEA FOR THE HOE. 



BY RUSTICUS. 



Of late there seems to have arisen a prejudice 

 against the hoe. I belong to the opposite party. 

 I know too well the advantages of a thorough use 

 of the hoe, to hold it in light esteem. Certain 

 agriculturists, who claim to be good farmers, I 

 doubt not, have announced themselves as above 

 using it. I think they do not "know it all," yet. 

 The hoe gets where larger implements can not. 

 With an intelligent man behind it, it does very ef- 

 fective work. I begin with it early in spring, and 

 keep at it until frost, and think I make it pay. 



Let me give a little of my experience. Last 

 spring I planted some Everitt's yellow dent corn 

 among my new strawberry plantation, for shade, 

 and to use it as a winter protection. I purposely 

 planted it for hoe cultivation. Throughout the 

 season I plied my hoes faithfully. The corn grew 

 fourteen feet high, and bore twelve-inch ears ; 

 hard to beat with a plow, Mr. Editor. In my 

 gardens I cultivate more with the hoe than with the 

 plow and cultivator, and raise fine vegetables. I 

 hoed nearly all of my corn land. My Defiance corn 

 yields 126 bushels per acre — estimated, that is. I 

 waged war upon the weeds in that giant corn, hoe- 

 ing portions of it several times. The corn is turning 

 out remarkably well. I have never seen it sur- 

 passed. Do not abandon the hoe. This corn is 

 admired by all who see it. I cut 20 hills square 

 of it, 1% shocks, and shucked out I2'< bushels, 

 corn measure — 62 ears made a bushel. Ordinarily 



it takes 100 to 120. I tested ten varieties of im- 

 proved field corn this year, using the hoe on 

 nearly all of it, believing as I do, that it adds to 

 the yield. It is generally thought so. My corn is 

 very fine, and much of it due, I hold, to the 

 hoeing. 



Perhaps the Germans use the hoe more inde- 

 fatigably than any one, and see what gardeners 

 they are. I sometimes say they can make a for- 

 tune where another man would starve. There is, 

 perhaps, no other farm implement that can be 

 made to pulverize so well as the hoe. A loose, 

 disintegrated surface soil is one of the cardinal 

 points of good husbandry. There comes a time 

 when the gardens will not admit of the cultivator 

 and plow, from the spreading vegetation. But 

 the hoe can always be worked. When I dispense 

 with the former, I find abundant use for the hoe ; 

 indeed, would not consider I was gardening, were 

 I not to bring it into service. The continuous 

 loosening of the soil, especially after beating rains, 

 is of prime importance. This the hoe can do 

 throughout the season. After corn has been laid 

 by, weeds will appear, which should be destroyed 

 with the hoe. The most skilful cultivation does 

 not eradicate all the weeds in the hills of corn. 

 This the hoe can do, and should be made to do. 

 A vigorous use of the hoe this year has given me, 

 or at any rate, materially helped, corn fourteen 

 inches in length, and weighing over a pound and 

 a half; stalks fourteen feet high, blades over six 

 inches across. I say of the hoe, "multum in 

 parvo." An admirable improved hoe, is the hand 

 cultivator. I regard it as a decided advance. 

 It will do the work ot six to ten men, and as 

 effectually as the hoe. I find it invaluable. 



Lexington, Ky. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Bark Insects on Fruit Trees.— The London 

 Garden says : " For destroying Moss or Lichen 

 on fruit trees, there is nothing better than lime 

 thinned to the consistency of whitewash, and 

 strained through a fine sieve or thin canvas to ex- 

 clude all rough sediment. It will then be ready 

 for applying to the trees either by means of a 

 syringe or garden engine. For the destruction of 

 scale and American blight I have tried many in- 

 secticides, but have found nothing better nor so 

 cheap as soft soap and paraffin oil prepared in the 

 following manner: to make four gallons of the 

 mixture, take half a pound of soap and half 

 a pint of paraffin ; place them in a bucket or 



