332 



THE GARDENERS' MONTHLY 



[November, 



■course ; but that, once started, soon becomes as 

 great a stream in the new as in the old channel. 



Apple trees have a habit, when old, of pushing 

 out sappy shoots along the main branches. These 

 should be cut away, in addition to a similar thin- 

 ning, as recommended for the pear. 



Dwarf apples and dwarf pears should be ex- 

 amined now to see what the borer is doing for 

 them. This is the time when they do the most 

 destruction, as they are boring down into the stems 

 for winter protection. A cut with a jack knife up 

 and down the stems, so as to avoid girdling as 

 much as possible, is the most certain destruction. 

 Then, if in spring, before the parent insects begin 

 to work, oiled paper, or rather tarred paper, be put 

 about the stem near the ground they can be kept 

 out. It is strange that with so little time as borer 

 hunting takes, so many thousand trees should be 

 allowed to die from their attacks every year. 



Above all, for both apple and pear orchards, we 

 bespeak a liberal dressing — a top dressing of some- 

 thing or another. If no manure is to be had, even 

 common road sand will be found fo have a bene- 

 ficial influence. 



Poverty of the surface soil is oftener a cause of 

 fruit failure than "grass," "change of climate." or 

 many imaginable ills, brought up from some 

 ghostly cavern of thought, to cover up the poverty 

 of pocket or of industrial inclinations. 



Strawberries are much better when protected 

 through the winter, no matter how "hardy " they 

 may be. Very coarse, strawy manure is the best 

 material, which can be raked off in early spring. 

 A few inches is sufficient, just enough to keep 

 the sun off" when frozen, which all our readers 

 know, by this time, is the chief cause of loss by 

 frost. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



DESTRUCTION OF INSECTS. 



BY T. B., TRENTON, N. J. 



I have noticed of late, in your invaluable jour- 

 nal, there has been a good deal said about the 

 destruction of animals and insects most annoying 

 to the garden and farm, and having been, the 

 greater part of my life, engaged in battling with 

 these vermin, I mean from time to time to give 

 you some account of my experience in these 

 matters. For, I think I know the great value and 

 importance of the subject to the public generally. 

 If I have made any discovery or improvement in 

 these matters, it certainly shall not be hid. 



I do not think it is generally known that, that 

 much abused Ailanthus tree, both leaves and bark, 

 is a very good insecticide, nor that the Thorn 

 Apple, or Jamestown weed (Datura Stramonium) 

 is much better. I have found the dust of Stramo- 

 nium leaves fully equal to, or rather better, than 

 any of the patent articles sold in the shops — but I 

 do not apply it to cabbages. Let these leaves be 

 collected and dried in time, and rubbed or ground 

 into a powder, and kept dry until spring ; and let 

 every farmer make his own insect powder. 



I tried at one time salt water, lime water, sala- 

 ratus water and tobacco water, decoction of Ail- 

 anthus and ditto of Stramonium. I had my 

 caterpillars, etc., arranged in groups along a board, 

 wet them equally all over, and while most of the 

 other things killed in five and six minutes, the 

 Stramonium water killed in four minutes. This 

 plant is widely diffused, and 1 believe within the 

 reach of all. And this is another great advantage 

 to the farmer, he has not far to go to look for his 

 remedy — very often has it growing near his place. 

 This will be found excellent for driving the slug 

 from cherry and apple trees, but the tree must be 

 wet and the dust blown on with a good large pair of 

 bellows. 



[Our correspondent has our best thanks for these 

 very useful hints. — Ed. G. M.] 



AN INQUIRY CONCERNING PEAR BLIGHT. 



BY WM. CREED, ROCHESTER, N. Y. 



I recently saw an April number, 1878, of the 

 Fruit Recorder, in which there is a quotation 

 from the Gardeners' Monthly concerning the 

 good as well as the destructive action of linseed 

 oil upon pear trees, showing the opposite experi- 

 ence of two separate experimenters ; and to which 

 a note of the editor is appended stating that the 

 trees, well spoken of in th^ Monthly, were at that 

 time still models of health after two summers had 

 elapsed. 



From reading the above, at this late date, I am 

 induced to ask if the said trees still hold out in 

 health and thriftiness as then represented ? My 

 object in asking this is that I feel confident that 

 to stop the ravages of pear blight, it must be by 

 means of some outward application not yet ma- 

 tured or discovered, but will come in time, and 

 counteract its bacterial origin, which is now 

 generally admitted, and so far, has produced no 

 champion able to refute this m.ost recent theory of 

 the disease. 



With respect to the use of oil, if one party's ex- 



