i8 97 . 



GARDENING. 



ior 



were very sweet, though not so sweet as 

 the Oka fragrans. My friend says that 

 it bears oblong purple berries. I enclose 

 a stamp so that you may answer bv mail 

 or in your December 1st paper, as is most 

 convenient. M. P. 



Hagerstown, Md. 



The plant referred to is the holly-leaved 

 olive (Osmanthus Aquifolium) which is 

 not infrequently mistaken for a holly; but 

 whereas the holly has alternate leaves, 

 this, like other members of the olive fam- 

 ily, has them in pairs, at opposite points 

 on the stem, so that it may alwaj-s 

 be recognized at sight. Not long since a 

 variegated variety of the same plant was 

 extensively sold in this country as a 

 variegated form of the European hollv. 



St. Louis. W. T. 



[If you turn back to Gardening of July 

 1, 1S93, front page, you will there find a 

 very beautiful picture of Osmanthus illici- 

 folius as it was growing in a shrubbery 

 corner at Dosoris. Your plant (O. Aqtii- 

 folium) makes a bush just like it. Both 

 are Japanese evergreen shrubs of great 

 garden merit where they are hardy. 

 Although under very favorable conditions 

 they are hardy on Long Island the}' can- 

 not be depended on north of Philadelphia. 

 One of their most desirable features is the 

 myriad of tiny white flowers that appear 

 all over them in October and November. 

 -Ed.] 



The Fruit Garden. 



THE SAN JOSE SCALE. 



Readers of Gardening should be on the 



watch for the San Jose scale on stock 



they introduce into their grounds, for it 



is beyond dispute that the pest is widely 



scattered. As correspondent of several 



horticultural and agricultural papers the 



writer has received many letters which 



ndicate that the insect is present in 



ijlmost every State in the Union. The 



hrominent nurserymen have had their 



stock inspected by State officials, and 



jhose whose collections have been found 



lean have had certificates of the fact 



riven to them. Theseare, of course, very 



jatisfactory to purchasers, but still the 



|)oint I wish to make is that every one 



ihould inspect his own stock. A thorough 



nspection of trees and shrubs should be 



nade at stated periods to ascertain if all 



s well. The chief host trees and bushes 



re fruits. The large fruits of all kinds 



nd currants, gooseberries and the like 



re what the pest prefers, though like most 



ther things it has been found to take 



o other trees when fruit were not abun- 



ant enough. Recently there came to 



k a few peach twigs so full of this scale 



hat not a bit of bark was visible. One 



:ale overlapped the other. It was sent 



>r identification. It was with grief I had 



5 write the sender that it was the scale, 



>r in his letter he had stated that some 



00 peach trees through the center of 



is orchard were covered as the twigs 



ere, and the best advice I could give him 



as to dig up and burn the whole lot as 



uickly as he could. But as he had said 



lat apple trees surrounded the peach 



ees.it is more than likely that thewhole 



chard is practically ruined, for once this 



ale gets a lodgment in an old orchard 



will be next to impossible to free the 



e trees of it perfectly. With younger 



;ees,when taken in time, there is a better 



; ance. Besides whale oil soap, kerosene 



and the prepared mixtures now kept for 

 the purpose by the leading commercial 

 houses, Mr. William Saunders, of the D. 

 S. Agricultural Department, Washington, 

 has recently called attention to the old- 

 time remedy of lime ami sulphur, made 

 into a wash and applied to the trees, 

 which is, he says, as good as it ever was, 

 killing fcale insects of every kind. With 

 the fall of the leaf in autumn the trees 

 should be given a washing with this com- 

 pound. This will probably srdhere firinlv 

 e ven up to the advent of spring, but should 

 it seem desirable the work could be done 

 again toward the approach of spring. As 

 this scale is incapable of spreading except 

 as it goes from branch to branch, if newly 

 introduced trees are watched the danger 

 from it is not great. Neighbors' trees 

 are known to have been the source 

 from which slightly distant trees have 

 become effected. The introduction in such 

 cases has been thought to have been 



gicides and insecticides has been forced on 

 all of us. Joseph Meehan. 



Philadelphia. 



ADVANTAGES IN MULCHING STRAWBERRIES. 

 Strawberry beds should not have too 

 much covering over them. I know sev- 

 eral authorities say cover lightly in the 

 beginning of the fall and later give them 

 another dose and cover deep. This is all 

 wrong. A light covering made in Novem- 

 ber is all that is necessar\'. The object to 

 be gained is to keep the frosts from heav- 

 ing the plants out of the ground, and a 

 light mulch answers the purpose. The 

 strawberry is a hardy plant, which can 

 and does withstand a low degree of 

 temperature with impunity. In the spring 

 the light mulch admits the sun early to 

 the plants, through which the leaves can 

 easily pass. If the mulch is heavy it will 

 have to be raked off early in the spring, 



THE FIRST PRIZS LADIES BICYCLE AT THE SARATOGA FLORAL FETE. SEPT 7. 



through the feet of birds as they hop from 

 tree to tree. 



Insects of all kinds as- well as fungi 

 have long been the bane of fruit grow r ers 

 as well as of those having collections of 

 ornamental trees, and spraying with mix- 

 tures which are now known to be effec- 

 tive will have to be systematic. It 

 is a pleasure to add, in concluding, that 

 the possibilities in fruit growing have 

 been largely increased since the use of fun- 



for many of the plants will not be able to 

 break through and then they will die. 

 The success of the bed arises from the 

 many plants and not from the few which 

 have succeeded in pushing themselves 

 through the great mass of mulch. The 

 last advantage gained is in the moisture 

 kept alongside the plants by the mulch — 

 the partial shade — and here I would like 

 to say that it is good policy to fill the 

 alleys deeper with the mulch than on the 



