366 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[December, 



other suitable vessel, and add two to three quarts 

 of boiling water ; stir the mixture until the soap 

 is dissolved, and then add the remainder of the 

 water. This mixture may be applied by means 

 or a syringe in the following manner : Draw up a 

 syringcful and discharge it into the bucket, and 

 when the mixture is agitated draw up another and 

 apply it to the tree. As American blight winters 

 in the soil underneath the trees, it would be ad- 

 visable to have the soil removed from under af- 

 fected trees to a safe distance and burned, so as 

 to entirely eradicate the insect." 



Grafting and Budding. — Mr. Spaulding 

 stated at the late meeting of American Nursery- 

 men, that for applying the wax in grafting, he 

 used fine cotton yarn soaked in hot wax. The 

 yarn is run on a big spool, and then thrown into 

 the hot wax and left until saturated. For budding 

 young trees in the nursery rows, and in order to 

 work low down, he has the earth removed from 

 the stocks immediately forward of the budders, 

 when the bark lifts easily ; but if the earth is re- 

 moved some hours before, the bark ceases to lift 

 freely. If the buds have been timely inserted, 

 the thickening of the sap by exposure causes them 

 to adhere better to the stock. 



Russian Apples. — At the recent meeting of 

 the American Pomological Society, Prof. Budd 

 stated that tlie success anticipated from the intro- 

 duction of Russian apples had not been wholly 

 realized, and the attempts to improve the ordinary 

 race by crossing with the Siberian race were 

 equally unsatisfactory. 



The Lawson Pear. — In some quarters where 

 a terrible racket was heard because we decided 

 that under the rules, Lawson would have to be 

 adopted as the name of this pear, we are now 

 told "it matters little what name is finally given 

 to this Pear." This conclusion is at least a hope- 

 ful sign of final recovery. 



Good use for Bad Sparrovi's. — Mrs. Mary 

 H. Ramsey tells those who mourn over bad spar- 

 rows, through the Montgomery County, Ohio 

 Horticultural Society, that they should do as the 

 English do. Let us have sparrow pie for dinner, 

 and broiled sparrow for tea, and sparrow served 

 for the sick. They are easily caught by placing a 

 few twigs dipped in bird lime about their feeding 

 places. We might thus, at least, hold them in 

 check. 



Olive Culture. — It is sometimes said that 

 Cotton seed oil is so often sold for Olive oil, and 



is indeed as fully equal to Olive oil in the uses for 

 which Olive oil is used, that it does not pay to 

 grow the genuine article. But we understand 

 there is a grove at Cannon Point, Georgia, planted 

 a hundred years ago by the then United States 

 Minister to Spain, that last year yielded 200 gal- 

 lons of oil, selling at prices ranging from $2. 50 to 

 Sio a gallon, and is considered very profitable. 



Pear Blight The point we made recently, 



that scientific men who are aiding us by their re- 

 searches in discovering the causes of plant diseases, 

 do not render us the service they might, because 

 of confusion in identifying what cultivators refer 

 to. What they call " pear blight," for instance, is 

 not in many cases, the terrible foe, " fire blight ;" 

 and hence when they tell us that they have ex- 

 perimented and found that " bacteria " is the 

 cause, we are left in uncertainty as to whether 

 they mean just what we do. 



This is again impressed on our attention by the 

 essay of Prof. Arthur before the American Pomo- 

 logical Society, as reported in the Country Gen- 

 tleman. It is very evident that the diseases or 

 disease he has been grappling with, and which 

 has been reproduced by inoculation, is not the 

 "fire blight," as many of us understand it; and 

 this leaves the question of the origin of the " fire 

 blight " still an open one. 



In a letter to the Country Gentleman, Mr. 

 Charles Betts, of St. Joseph's County, Michigan, 

 confirms this conjecture, that the " Pear Blight," 

 on which Prof. Arthur has made such careful 

 experiments, is not the old " fire blight " which is 

 the great worry of the Pear grower. 



Qualifications of Good Celery. — We have 

 in the fruit catalogues, the distinction of good 

 for market, or good for amateurs. We 

 should have some such distinction among vege- 

 tables. In celery, for instance, there ought to be 

 a distinction between a kind good for the kitchen, 

 and a kind good for the table. For the former, 

 where it may be required for stewing, chicken 

 salad, soups and similar purposes, the actual 

 pound weight for the price is all that need be con- 

 sidered. But for the table one does not desire 

 four or five large and thick leaf stalks, but a 

 dozen or more of them of moderate size ; and for 

 this purpose a variety that produces a large num- 

 ber of leaves on a plant, would be much preferred 

 to one that had but a few, no matter how white or 

 solid these few may be. 



Again, flavor, though not often considered, is of 

 great importance in reference to this division. 



