S56 



THE CA.NADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



to take two years for the operation, 

 cutting half of the roots each year. 

 Such trees may be removed in safety, 

 especially if a good share of the top is 

 removed at transplanting. — American 

 Agriculturist for October. 



PYRETHRUM, OR CHRYSANTHEMUM 

 COEYMBOSUM. 



This is a robust herbaceous plant 

 with elegantly cut foliage and white 

 and yellow flower heads, know also 

 in gardens as Pyrethrum corymhosum. 

 Under cultivation it grows about 4 feet 

 high, and probably higher in rich soil. 

 It is as hardy and persistent as the alli- 

 ■ed species, G. Parthenium, syn. Pyre- 

 thrum parthe7iium, of which the Golden 

 Feather is a variety. In a wild state 

 it grows from 1 to 3 feet high, and it is 

 a common plant in Central and Southern 

 Europe, ranging from Portugal to Swit- 

 jzerland, Austria, and Turkey. 



The insecticide and insectifuge quali- 

 ties of the dried and finely powdered 

 flowerheads of different species of Pyre- 

 thrum and the harmlessness of the pow- 

 der to man, to other animals, and to 

 plants,have long since been known. Used 

 against various household pests, under 

 the names " Persian insect powder" or 

 "Dalmatian insect powder," it has hit- 

 herto been put up in small bottles or 

 packages and sold at high prices. The 

 so-called Persian powder is made from 

 flowers of Pyrethrum, carneum, and P. 

 Toseum, while that from P. cinerarice- 

 folium, a native of Dalmatia, Herzego- 

 vinia, and Montenegro,is more generally 

 known as Dalmatian powder. Some 

 interesting experiments made during 

 past year on different insects by Mr. 

 William Saunders, of London, Ontario, 

 show that the use of this powder may be 

 satisfactorily extended beyond the house- 

 hold, while a series made by Professor 

 Riley in the summer of 1878, with the 

 same powder on the cotton worm, show- 

 ed it to have striking destructive powers, 



j the slightest puff* of the powder causing 

 ' certain death and the almost instant 

 dropping of the worm from the plant. 

 Repeated on a still more extensive scale 

 the present year at Columbus, Texas, 

 the powder proved equally satisfactory 

 in the field. 



Here, then, we have a remedy far ex- 

 ceeding any other so far known in eflic- 

 acy and harmlessness to man and plant, 

 and the only question has been to reduce 

 its cost. Mr. Milco, a native of Dal- 

 matia, has been cultivating the P. ciner- 

 aricefolium in California in constantly 

 increasing area for the past three years, 

 and deserves great credit for his efforts 

 in introducing it. The insect powders 

 made from the California grown flowers 

 have proved to be very efiective. — 

 Scientific Am,erican. 



' THE BANANA. 



A slight descriptioii of the banana as 

 it is seen growing may be interesting 

 to some who enjoy its delicious sub- 

 stance without knowing what form it 

 presents during the primary stages of 

 its growth. The stem of the plant is 

 not woody, but consists of the footstalks 

 of the former leaves wrapped round 

 each other, and it rises to the height of 

 twelve or fifteen feet. The leaves are 

 very large, of a long, oval form, five or 

 six feet in length and beautifully green 

 in color. The middle rib of the leaf is 

 tough and strong, but the rest of its 

 substance is thin and delicate, and is 

 easily torn by the wind alone, in a di- 

 rection at right angles with the rib.' 



The manner in which the fruit is de- 

 veloped is quite interesting. From the 

 midst of the leaves, and at the top, ap- 

 pears a large, smooth, purple cone, 

 hanging down gracefully at the end of 

 a stalk. The flowers are all wrapped 

 up in this cone, which consists of a 

 large number of closely packed spathes. 

 By-and-by the uppermost of these 



