198 



THK CAN API AN HORTICULTURIST. 



experience does not yet enable him to 

 say. Differences in soil may ca\ise differ- 

 ence of opinion on this point. 



QUESTION DRAWER. 



FUNGOID SPOTS ON APPLES. 



Deaii Sir, — I have about fifteen 

 acres of apple orchard all told, some 

 old, some in their prime, and some 

 bearing for the iirst time this year, and 

 the a])ples, one and all. with hardly an 

 exception (except the Duchess of Olden- 

 burg) are covered with blotches and 

 cracks. My trees are all well tended 

 and pruned, and the soil is in a first- 

 rate condition for crops, but the apples 

 are dreadful. What can I do 1 I am 

 myself inclined to heavily manure them 

 with bone dust and wood ashes. I did 

 mulch them all heavily this year with 

 barn-yard m anu re . 



I am going to put down some 

 dwarf pears and Duchess apples, would 

 you recommend planting in the fall or 

 spring I 



The apple trees are all well loaded 

 with apples, but such apples ! ! If this 

 is to happen in a good year, what will 

 they do in a bad 1 Can you suggest 

 any probable cause or any possible 



remedy ^ 



I am, yours faithfully, 



George Bunbury. 

 Oakville, Out. 



Reply. — The report of the com- 

 mittee on those scabs on the apple is 

 anxiously expected. You will probably 

 do best to plant in spring. 



INSECTS. 

 Dear Editor, — I send you a leaf of 

 a St. Lawrence apple tree, on the reverse 

 side of which you will notice a number 

 of animalculas which are perfect strangers 

 to me. The ants drew my attention to 

 them. I attempted to kill the ants 



before I noticed these customers. I 

 hope they will survive the journey. 

 They cannot be the production of the 

 ant, and therefore I conclude that the 

 latter is as useful in the garden as the 

 aunt is (sometimes) in the hou.«ehold. 1 

 may add that the ants survived an appli- 

 cation of coal oil and carbolic acid (one 

 ounce to the pail). 



Yours truly, 



Thomas P. Furan. 



Aylmer, Que., Aug. L3th, 1884. 



Answer. — The animaculse are the 

 black aphis. They are easily kept in 

 check by syringing with tobacco water. 

 Steep some tobacco stems or leaves for a 

 few hours in warm water, and apply the 

 water with a garden syringe. The ants 

 feed on an exudation from the aphis, 

 not on the aphis themselves. 



PROPAGATION OF CLEMATIS. 

 Please let the readers of the Horti- 

 culturist know how the Clemati, Jack- 

 manni, &c., may be propagated. I 

 fancy by layers, and if so, when should 

 they be put down. If by layers, would 

 " serpentine " layering be the best ? 

 Yours, Robert Stark. 

 Woodstock, August IStti. 



Answer. — They are usually propa- 

 gated by grafting on seedlings of C. 

 lanuginosa, growing them under glass. 

 They can be more slowly propagated by 

 layering after the wood has become 

 sufl&ciently ripened, so that the layers 

 will not damp off. The manner of 

 layering, so long as the emission of roots 

 is facilitated, is of no moment. 



RIGHT TO THE WATER. 

 My Dear Sir,— In your August 

 numV)er is a short article on irrigation. 

 I have about twenty acres of fruit trees 



