1883.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



209 



best season for planting fruit trees in Southern 

 California depends much upon the soil, location 

 and kind of fruit. Serious losses often attend too 

 early planting in low bottom lands from excess of 

 water. March and April are perhaps the best 

 months for planting on bottom lands, while higher 

 and drier lands may be planted earlier, as soon as 

 the soil becomes thoroughly wet to work well. Care 

 should be taken not to plant too close, and irriga- 

 tion should be carefully used, for if applied too 

 freely the fruit will be large and juicy, but of in. 

 ferior flavor. 



Kind of Fruits to Plant. — The most profitable 

 fruit to grow is the olive, next to that the orange, 

 lemon and lime, then the grape for raisin and 

 wine, then apricots, peaches, pears, plums and 

 other temperate fruits. As much of an assortment 

 as possible should be grown so as not to be de- 

 pendent upon one kind, although no one place will 

 produce every kind of fruit to perfection. Apples, 

 pears and plums are best suited to strong alluvial 

 bottom land, if a little clay the better, while the 

 cherry, peach and apricot do best on a higher and 

 lighter soil. The temperate fruits, excepting grapes, 

 do best near the seacoast, but grapes, oranges and 

 olives require for perfection the warmer and 

 drier air of the interior. Grapes and olives grow 

 and flourish in a soil almost too poor for anything 

 else, but it must be light and the situation elevated 

 and warm. 



It will not be necessary here to describe the best 



methods of planting and cultivating each fruit. 



This must be learned by the orchardist practically. 



Some general information regarding the starting of 



an orchard will be sufficient. More than this must 



be learned by examining the best orchard, and 



exercising fully the Yankee privilege of asking 



questions. 



(To be concluded.) 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



Destroying the Cabbage Caterpillar. — 

 There are plenty of methods of destroying the 

 cabbage caterpillar, but most of them cost more 

 than the cabbages are worth. A friend of ours 

 employed a boy last year to kill them with a pen- 

 knife, and thought it as cheap and effectual as 

 anything he had tried. Most other remedies take 

 time in preparation before beginning work. It is, 

 however, well to place on record all that has been 

 done. At the New Jersey experimental station it 

 has been found that the fumes of benzine, as well 



as the liquid, caused almost instant death, but when 

 applied to the cabbages, small, whitish excres- 

 cences appeared on the leaves. 'Hot water applied 

 to the cabbage destroyed a portion of the worms, 

 causing also the leaves to turn yellow. One ounce 

 of saltpetre and two pounds o( common salt dis- 

 solved in three gallons of water formed an appli- 

 cation which was partly efficient. The most satis- 

 factory remedy tested, however, consisted of a mix- 

 ture of half a pound each of hard soap and kerosene 

 oil in three gallons of water. This was applied Au- 

 gust 26, and examination the following day showed 

 many, if not all of the worms destroyed. The 

 growing cabbage presents such a mass of leaves 

 in which the caterpillars may be concealed that it 

 is hardly possible to reach all the worms at one 

 application. It is of importance, therefore, to re- 

 peat the use of any remedy at frequent intervals. 



KiEFFER Pear. — Very warm discussions con- 

 tinue in our exchanges in regard to the merits of 

 this pear. Mr. Hovey makes a very fair summary 

 of some of the points in the Massachusetts Plough- 

 man. The fact is that it is really a good addition to 

 the list of pears, and may be the parent of a very 

 valuable race. Its great misfortune is that it re- 

 ceived exaggerated praise from its introducers, who 

 have no right to complain when the reaction errs 

 on the other side. 



Mr. Yeoman's Pear Orchard.— The celebrated 

 eight acres of dwarf pears at Walworth, New 

 York, noticed in our pages years ago, still consti- 

 tute a triumph in dwarf pear culture. According 

 to a recent visit of a correspondent of the Rural 

 Home, " the pear trees have been planted a good 

 many years, but they have been so persistently 

 headed back that the highest branches are hardly 

 beyond reach, while the trunks are four or five 

 inches in diameter. They have yielded a fine rev- 

 enue for many years and have some fruit this 

 year." 



Figs in the Old World. — Mr. W. B. West, of 

 Stockton, gives the following account to the Pa- 

 cific Rural Press : 



" The Smyrna fig remains upon the tree until it 

 falls off of Its own accord, which occurs when 

 nearly cured. To complete the drying, the figs are 

 spread out in the sun upon a layer of dry grass for 

 a few days. During this time the fruit attracts in- 

 sects, which deposit the eggs that produce the 

 worms so often found in the imported fig. No 

 doubt the California grower, with more enlight- 

 ened treatment and appliances, will be able to do 

 away with this serious objection to imported fruit. 



" After the figs are sufficiently dried, they are 



