EDITORIAL NOTES. 



shown by Wallace & Co., of Illinois, and in 

 it the pressure is furnished by compressed 

 air made by a gear attached to one of the 

 hind wheels of the wagon. Where the or- 

 chard is 40 rods or more from the filling 

 point, it is claimed that enough pressure can 

 be pumped up to spray out a tank full with 

 the additional power gained by going from 

 tree to tree. We thought the gas sprayer 

 the finest instrimient, but no doubt the Wal- 

 lace machine will be much more economical 

 in running. The difference in first cost is 

 not great, the former a little less than $100, 

 the latter a little over that amount. 



Fig. 2747. A Topiary Garden (See page 55.) 



How San Jose Scale Spreads 



AT an interesting Farmers' Institute 

 meeting at Grimsby in January, Mr. 

 Smith, of Burlington, gave an interesting 

 talk about the dreaded San Jose scale. He 

 had observed that certain trees, such as the 

 Greening apple and the Japan plums, were 

 especially subject, while other kinds, such as 

 the Kieflfer pear, are comparatively exemnt. 



Now it is usually supposed that these tiny 

 scales are carried by the wind, or upon the 

 feet of birds, from one orchard to another, 

 but if so, why should one kind of tree es- 

 cape and another be infested? Mr. Smith had 

 found that the male scale is winged, and his 

 observations have led him to the conclusion 

 that this male carries the infant wingless 

 mites and places them upon such trees as are 

 the most congenial. If his inference is cor- 

 rect it reveals a wonderful degree of intelli- 

 gence in such a tiny brain. 



For winter and early spring spraying he 

 advised the lime sulphur spray, and for 

 summer the kerosene emulsion, i gallon of 

 kerosene to 7 of water. 



Onion Mildew 



MR. A. J. COLLINS, of Listowel, asks 

 what is the trouble with his onions. 

 For two years past, after growing nicely for 

 some time, they seem to get a check, cease 

 growing, and the tops turn brown and rusty. 

 Several others in his neighborhood make s 

 similar complaint. We referred this mat- 

 ter to Prof. Lochhead, O. A. C. Guelph, for 

 his opinion, and have received the following 

 in reply : 



I am of the opinion that the cause of the 

 death of the onions to which Mr. Collins 

 refers is the downy mildew of the onion, a 

 fungus which under certain conditions is 

 quite destructive. The disease shows itself 

 first by the yellowing of the leaves in 

 patches. These patches soon become cov- 

 ered with a whitish mildew, changing soon 

 to light lilac. Eventually the whole leaf 

 becomes affected and dries up, leaving noth- 

 ing but a stalk between the bulb and the base 

 of the leaves. The white mildew, as first 

 noticed on the patches of the leaf, consists 

 of the fruiting body and summer spores of 

 the fungus. The spores are soon liberated 

 3nd scattered by the wind to other plants m 

 the patch. In. the fall, however, another 



