158 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



tree oil, but could nev^er ei-adicate it 

 entirely. When first I heard of the 

 gas tar cure I was afraid to use it, 

 bearing in mind my former misfortune ; 

 but after seeing a friend use it suc- 

 cessfully I determined on taking my 

 present charge, and finding one of the 

 vineries well stocked with my old 

 enemy, to give it a fair trial. I merely 

 removed the loose bark, and did not 

 wash the rods in any way ; I then ap- 

 plied the tar at the rate of one part to 

 six of clay, working it well into all 

 crevices with a stiff brush, over the 

 eyes as well as the canes. The result 

 is no injury to the Vines, but an almost 

 entire annihilation of the enemy, only 

 one here and there having been seen 

 this summer. It is, however, a despei'- 

 ate battle when none escape, and I feel 

 confident by following the dressing up 

 this winter, I shall see the last of the 

 pest. I might add that except where 

 mealy bug is present, I never dress 

 Vines with any mixture whatever ; I 

 prefer to give the rods a good washing 

 with soap and water, cleanliness in my 

 opinion being more conducive to good 

 health and robust growth than stopping 

 the pores up with clay, soot, and other 

 unsightly mixtui-es. — C. J. White. 



I gave the tar and clay-dressing a 

 trial on some Vines in an eai-ly house 

 that were badly infested with bug. 

 They were merely washed, the loose 

 bark removed, and then painted with 

 the mixture, using one part gas tar to 

 three parts clay and water, keeping the 

 mixture well stirred. The mixture was 

 well worked in with an ordinary paint- 

 brush over every part of the rods, in- 

 cluding the eyes, without any injury to 

 the Vines, which started well and have 

 bome a good crop of fruit. Finding 

 the Vines broke strongly and appeared 

 none the worse for the application, we 

 treated the other two vineries the same, 

 except that we did not wash the Vines 

 or in any way clean them before apply- 



ing the mixture, and T am glad to be 

 able to state that there has been but 

 very little bug seen in either of the 

 houses this season. Indeed, I never 

 before saw the Vines so clear of the 

 pests as they are at the present time. 

 I intend to give them a similar dress- 

 ing this winter, which I believe will 

 entirely eradicate the bug. I should 

 state that in previous years the Vines 

 had been washed and dressed in the 

 usual way and paraffin had been freely 

 used when cleaning the houses. — S. T, 

 H., in The Garden. 



SWEET CORN. 



X. Y. Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 Geneva, N. Y., April 12, 18S4. 



In 1883 we grew at the Station 

 twenty-six varieties of sweet corn. As 

 the matter of earliness in this garden 

 crop is an important one, we kept 

 record of the appearance of silks in 

 each variety, as indicating to a certain 

 extent the corresponding periods of 

 maturity. It would have been prefer- 

 able to have noted the period when the 

 eai's were in condition to use on the 

 table, but this we could not do as it 

 was important that we should not 

 destroy any poi'tion of our ci'op. 



The seed was planted on May 1 6, and 

 the figures indicate the number of days 

 from this date to the appearance of the 

 silking of the first plant in each lot. 



Silked in days from planting. Date. 



Early Marblehead 56 July 11 



Easly Narragansett 61 " 16 



Pratt's Early 61 " 16 



Early Minnesota 62 " 17 



Tom Thumb 62 " 17 



Dolly Dutton 64 " 19 



Crosby's Early 68 " 23 



Wyoming 68 " 2.3 



Early Orange 69 '* 24 



Darling's Early 69 " 24 



Golden 70 " 25 



Rochester 70 " 25 



Early Dwarf 71 " 26 



Moore's Early Concord 72 "27 



Squantum 72 " 27 



Black Mexican 76 " 31 



