THE SMALL FRUIT GARDEN. 



20I 



paris green water sprinkled on the foliage 

 before the fruit is formed will oftentimes 

 prevent the attack of these pests for a whole 

 season. Avoid using the paris green solu- 

 tion after the fruit has formed. A small 

 teaspoonful of paris green will make nearly 

 two gallons of the solution. 



White hellebore powder dusted over the 

 leaves will destroy ■ the caterpillar. This 

 can be used after the fruit has formed if not 

 used too liberally on the fruit itself. Dust 

 the hellebore on when the dew is on the 

 leaves, or after a rainstorm before the 

 foliage is quite dry. 



The crop of fruit on raspberry bushes will 

 be increased in quality and weight if a 

 mulch of half rotten stable manure is spread 

 over the ground around the canes, more es- 

 pecially if the weather is very dry and hot 

 when the fruit is swelling. The mulch 

 should be kept an inch or two clear of the 

 canes, and should not be over an inch or two 



in depth. I have mulched gooseberry 

 bushes in very dry seasons, and it has pre- 

 vented to a great extent the fruit dropping 

 from the bushes, as it often does, when the 

 mercury registers 90 to 100 degrees in the 

 shade in July. 



In England where the climate is much 

 more moist than here, it is quite a common 

 practice to mulch not only small fruits, but 

 also dwarf pear, plum and apple trees dur- 

 ing the hot summer weather that often pre- 

 vails when the fruit is swelling. In a small 

 garden the mulching process would not be 

 an arduous task, where grass or lawn grass 

 cuttings or trimmings is available. 



Never waste the soapsuds. These 

 poured around the roots of fruit trees or on 

 the ground around the roots of most vege- 

 tables are very stimulative and beneficial to 

 plant growth of almost every kind, and have 

 a deterrent effect on the increase and attacks 

 of insect pests. 



Destroying the Currant Worm 



L. W. 



''I^ HE currant worm is the great enemy 

 X of the currant ^and gooseberry bushes. 

 The female fly deposits her eggs on the un- 

 der side of the young leaves, in rows on the 

 larger veins. In about ten days they hatch 

 out and feed in companies, soon stripping 

 the bushes of their foliage. 



The usual remedy is powdered hellebore 

 mixed in water, in the proportion of an 

 ounce to a pailful. I have found paris 

 green very effective, one teaspoonful to a 

 wooden pailful of water, but of course it can 

 not be used for the second brood, which 

 often appears when the fruit is ripening. 



There are far too many branches, in my 

 opinion, left on trees, the result of which is 

 small fruit, and expense in picking and in- 

 jury to trees. — (A. Shaw, Walkerton. Ont. 



There is a good opening for a man who 

 will buy a sprayer and contract with farm- 

 ers to spray their orchards at a nominal 

 price say 5 cents per tree. Hundreds of 

 farmers are anxious to have their orchards 

 sprayed, but cannot afford to do the work, 

 and do not know how to go about it. A 

 man with a spraying outfit who will do this 

 work can make a handsome income in the 

 same way that the threshers do in the fall. 

 — (P. J. Carey, Cobourg, Ont. 



My pruning this spring was done in a 

 drastic manner. Many large limbs were 

 cut off that might split off, and all the lower 

 limbs so that air might pass through the 

 trees, also to permit of better cultivation. 

 The wounds were painted about two weeks 

 after cutting, commencing with those ear- 

 liest pruned. I have to await the results, 

 but I have no fear of the outcome. — (A. 

 Shaw, Walkerton, Ont. 



