The Canadian Horticulturist. 279 



The ^^'ragg trees have been planted five years, and are this year heavily, 

 laden with fruit. This variety has no very great merit to commend it that we 

 ■can see, for the tree is scarcely as thrifty as the Late Kentish, and the fruit is no 

 better, if as good. Possibly it is hardier, and possibly more productive ; cer- 

 tainly this season it does outbear that variety. 



The color is a darker red than the Kentish, and the flavor scarcely as good. 

 A small cluster is shown in the accompanying photogravure. 



The harvesting of the cherry crop is not so great a difficulty as many 

 imagine. A good man will easily gather fifty quarts a day, and with some 

 varieties, such as the Napoleon, he will gather one hundred quarts, or more. 

 The usual cost of picking cherries, therefore, is from i In cents to 2 cents per 

 quart. 



They are usually packed in six or eight quart baskets, but this season we 

 packed the finest in a more fancy package, viz., in boxes with sliding covers, 

 holding about three quarts each. The cherries were packed from the bottom, 

 paper of a suitable color being first laid against the lid. The cherries are 

 rowed neatly against the top, and the box turned over and bottomed. 



The accompanying engraving shows one of these boxes packed, and the 

 sliding cover removed, standing upon others closed. These are crated — six in 

 a crate — and find ready sale at fancy prices. 



The Peach Tree Aphis. — The peach tree aphis, a species of plant lice, 

 has, in many instances, seriously injured the peach seedlings in the nursery rows 

 and one and two-year old trees in the orchards. It is seldom that they cause 

 serious injury to the older trees. This aphis is a small, dark brown or black, soft- 

 bodied insect, about one-twentieth of an inch in length, and has a beak through 

 which it sucks its food. A few of them, the males, are provided with wings, but 

 the greater number are wingless. They feed upon the juice of the tree, and can 

 frequently be found in large numbers upon the under side of the limbs all through 

 the winter season. As soon as the tender leaves begin to unfold in the early 

 spring, they concentrate their attacks upon them, and very often entirely des- 

 troy the first that appear, thereby greatly injuring the growth of the young trees. 

 I have successfully destroyed these plant lice by spraying infected trees with a 

 decoction of tobacco water, made by steeping i lb. of tobacco in 3 gallons of 

 water. The stems of the tobacco may be used for this purpose. The kerosene 

 emulsion has also proved effectual. This is made by dissolving i lb. of hard 

 soap in one gallon of boiling water. After removing from the fire add i gallon 

 of kerosene oil. Pump this mixture through a force pump back into the same 

 vessel until it assumes a thick creamy consistency. This mixture must be diluted 

 with 13 gallons of water before using. These plant lice are seldom found upon 

 the limbs of the trees in the summer, as they migrate to the roots where they 

 remain during the hot season, returning to the limbs during the early fall and 

 winter months. — M. H. Beckwith, Delaware Experiment Station. 



