210 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY, 



[July, 



vantage, that it has the benefit of all its roots, 

 none being disturbed. Again, the peach tree 

 loves plenty of nutritious food, so long as it is 

 not allowed to over bear. In orchards the owner 

 is very apt to be niggard of necessary food. If 

 he does keep the grass down, and puts on a little 

 manure, like as not he will make the tree share 

 it with some other vegetable crops. Yet if he 

 keeps his hoe harrow going continually, cutting 

 oflf half the roots and letting the potatoes get 

 the food the other half ought to get, he still 

 thinks his peach orchard well cultivated. In- 

 deed, in many cases the peach grower has no 

 other idea about a tree being well cultivated, 

 than the fact that he sometimes calls a hoe har- 

 row a cultivator. They were well cultivated 

 because he kept the " cultivator" running ! The 

 peach tree in the fence corner has the advantage 

 of the rotten weeds and trash often thrown 

 there — of old briers and weeds that grow and 

 rot there — of the wash from the higher ground 

 which the rains bring there and can carry no 

 further. In short, the fact that a tree so often 

 does well in a fence corner, and so bad under 

 " cultivation," is simply that it has found good 

 cultivation in the fence corner, and bad cultiva- 

 tion in the field. 



Grapes in Australia. — The Phylloxera is sadly 

 destructive to the vineyards of South Australia. 



Filberts in California. — Filberts are grown 

 somewhat extensively in California, but great 

 trouble is found with the worm in the nut. It 

 is the larvae of Curculio nucum. 



The Tobacco Crop. — It w^as noted in these 

 columns recently that after a careful investiga- 

 tion as to the influence of tobacco on students, 

 some of the academical bodies of Europe had 

 refused to admit students addicted to its use. 

 Since then an investigation has been had at 

 West Point, with the result that its use is to be 

 hereafter forbidden to the cadets. But we have 

 not heard that there has been a less acreage 

 planted, or that the growers are seriously dis- 

 turbed about the final disposition of the crop. 



Olive Culture. — This tree, grown chiefly for 

 olive oil, is particularly adapted to dry climates. 

 At a meeting in Australia recently, there seemed 

 to be the same varying experience as among 

 their fruit growers— some make it pay wonder- 

 fully and some lose money. Mr. T. Hardy, of 

 Adelaide, said many people were deterred from 

 planting olives on account of the time it took to 



grow trees. To lose the use of the ground for 

 eight or ten years seemed to be a long time, but 

 he suggested a plan by which the trees might be 

 grown and the ground made use of at the same 

 time. He would plant the largest-worked trees 

 to be obtained, at about seventy to the acre, and 

 fence each tree round with a guard by driving 

 in a circle of barked wattle or mallee stakes six 

 or seven feet long at eighteen inches from the 

 tree, and from four to five inches apart, and se- 

 curing them round near the top with fencing 

 wire in two or more rings. The ground could 

 be cleaned round inside the guards once or twice 

 a year, by lifting one or two stakes, or as may 

 be required, and a space of one foot round 

 outside the stakes might be dug with the spade. 

 The land in this way could be pastured with 

 sheep or cattle from the first. 



Peach Culture in Australia. — By the Mel- 

 bourne papers we learn that, '' Peach growing 

 will in this neighborhood soon be a thing of the 

 past. The blight seems worse than ever, and is 

 communicated to plums and apricots growing 

 in the vicinity of the affected trees." 



Large Seckel Pears. — A correspondent of the 

 Jouimal of Horticulture makes the astounding 

 statement that he has seen Seckel Pears in Sus- 

 sex, England, as large as Louise Bonne de Jersey, 

 and he writes of Winter Nelis as if it be smaller 

 than the Seckel. 



Substitute for Coffee. — Substitutes for tea 

 and coffee have not been great successes. Noth- 

 ing has replaced the originals in popular esti- 

 mation. It is said that an African tree, Stercu- 

 lia acuminata, is the most promising of all pro- 

 posed substitutes. It has more caffeine than 

 coffee — but whether public taste is equal to the 

 chemists' report, remains to be seen. 



The Rogers' Grapes. — It is remarkable how 

 long these old varieties hold their own. Three 

 that have been somewhat neglected are rising 

 in popular estimation. These are Lindley, 

 Herbert and Gaertner. 



Cherry Stocks. — It is found by experience all 

 the stronger growing cherries do as well at least, 

 and many better, when growing on the Mahaleb 

 Stock; but the Early Richmond, Morellos, and 

 others of that class, have finer and more abun- 

 dant fruit on the Mazzard wherever the soil is 

 suited to the Mazzard stock. 



Pine Apples.— The Pine Apples we buy as im- 



