236 



THE CA>7ADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



EARLY RASPBERRIES. 



Samuel Miller, writing to the Rural 

 World, says that the first ripe red rasp- 

 berry was the Scarlet Gem, ripe June 

 11th, and bearing a fine crop of large, 

 handsome, excellent berries. Crimson 

 Beauty , and fetayman's Number 2 

 i-ipened five days later. He states that 

 Crimson Beauty is perhaps the most 

 valuable of the three, though there is 

 very little difference, all are valuable. 



Of the black raspberries, Centennial 

 was the first ripe, Souijegan and Burns 

 a few days later. All three, he says, 

 are valuable ; Centennial the largest, 

 Souhegan the most acid, and Burns the 

 smallest and sweetest. 



He considers the Caroline to be cer- 

 tainly an acquisition, not quite as large 

 nor quite as good as Rrinckle, but near 

 enough to make it valuable. His 

 plants were loaded with fruit, which, 

 he says, " is certainly tine." We have 

 found this variety to be truly an enor- 



MULCHING PLANTS WITH MOSS. 



Peter Henderson says : — " This is a 

 new praetice we began in 1880. It con- 

 sists in mixing the common mos;} of the 

 swamps or woods with about on (v twen- 

 tieth of its bulk of bone dust. This is 

 placed to a thicknesss of an inch or two 

 on the top of the pot. Plants so treat- 

 ed quickly show surprisini,^ health and 

 vigor. It cannot be too highly recommen- 

 ded, whether for the amateur growing 

 a few window plants, the gardener 

 with his full appointed green-houses, or 

 the florist who grows to sell — to one 

 and all we advise it, as it not only les- 

 sens labour, saving a repotting of plants 

 frequently for twelve months, but the 

 vigor of growth and productiveness of 

 fl.ower and coloring of foliage are per- 

 fectly astonishing. The moss mulching 

 process should only be done in summer. 

 If used in winter there is danger of the 

 plants getting too damp." 



mous bearer, but we cannot call the 

 flavor of the fruit sufficiently good to 

 make it valuable. 



PYRETHRUM FOR THE CABBAGE 



WORM. 

 A writer to the Indiarva Farmer 

 says that he destroyed all the worms 

 on his cabbage by the use of Pyi-e thrum, 

 or Persian insect powder. He put a 

 common tablespoonful of the powder 

 into a watering pot holding two gallons 

 anda-ha,lf of water, upon this he poured 

 boiling water sufficient to fill the water- 

 ing pot, stirred it thoroughly and then 

 left it to steep for a few hours. With 

 this liquid he sprayed his cabbages 

 twice a week as long as a live worm 

 could be found, and reports that it was 

 sure death to every worm that got a 

 wettiuGf. 



SQUASH GROWING FOR MARKET. 

 The N. Y. Times publishes a com- 

 munication from Henry Stewart, who 

 seems to have made the growing of 

 squashes a specialty. He advises se- 

 lecting a moist, loamy field, where the 

 moisture is long retained, plowing in a 

 very heavy dressing of manure, after- 

 wards manuring in the hill liberally, 

 giving at the i-ate of forty pounds to 

 the hill after having plowed in about 

 sixteen tons to the acre. He conquers 

 the striped bug and black-flea beetle 

 by dusting the plants with white 

 hellebore, and the squash bug and 

 squash vine borer by spraying the 

 vines with a kerosene emulsion and 

 pouring it on to the stems so ithat it 

 will run down into the soil. This 

 emulsion he prepares by dissolving one 

 pound of whale oil soap in one gallon 

 of hot water, to Avhich is added one 

 pint of kerosene oil and the mixture 

 well beaten into a smooth emulsion. 

 The ends of the running vines are 

 pinched off as soon as they begin to 

 trespass on each oth^r ; this forces the 



