QUESTION DRAWER. 



299 



Kerosene Emulsion. 



1169. Sir, — Please give a receipt for making 

 Kerosene Emulsion. I have several, but cannot 

 understand them, neither can I find any one 

 around hjre who can How many gallons, not 

 parts of water, should I add to half a pound of 

 soap, two gallons of kerosene and one gallon of 

 water. When would you recommend spraying 

 with this ? 



J. H. Helm, Port Hope. 



In making- Kerosene Emulsion we would 

 advise using soft water for dilution. The 

 formula referred to by our correspondent is 

 Cook's, and is as follows : — Y-z lb. hard 

 soap, I gallon boiling water, makes strong 

 soap subs, and add two gallons kerosene 

 while boiling, stir well and an excellent 

 emulsion will be formed. From this stock 

 solution a little may be taken at a time and 

 diluted with soft water whenever required 

 for use. In diluting it is usual to make the 

 kerosene about i-i5thof the whole ; so that 

 if the whole of the stock solution were 

 needed at once, thirty gallons of water 

 should be added. 



But different strengths are used accord- 

 ing to the tenderness of the foliage, and to 

 every quart of the three gallons of stock 

 solution which you take out for use, you 

 may add from 4 quarts to 25 quarts of 

 water ; the latter of course being a very 

 weak solution. 



This is very effective for aphis if used 

 pretty strong. It may be applied at any 

 time in the season, but for aphis it should 

 be appled before the leaves are fully ex- 

 panded and begin curling up, and for oyster 

 shell book louse the best time is the first 

 part of June, when the young lice are most 

 easily destroyed. 



Cranberry Culture. 



1170. Sir, — I write to you to know if you can give 

 me any information on growing cranberries. I have 

 a swampy place which has deep muck, would that 

 be the right kind of soil to grow them? Will you 

 please let me know through your next journal the 

 kind of soil, how to prepare it, how to get the 

 plants, how long before they would bear fruit and 

 if you would think it a profitable business. You 

 will please let me know everything in connection 



with the growing of them, as I know nothing 

 about it myself. The place I have is covered over 

 with grass and shrubs ; water lies on it, but the 

 muck always seems to be wet. 



Orangeville, Wm. Foley. 



Cranberry growing is not always a success. A 

 large bog was made artificially at Walkerville, at 

 very great expense, and has so far proved a 

 failure. But where natural conditions are favor- 

 able, so as to reduce the great expense of establish- 

 ing the plantation, they are usually profitable, for 

 after the bog is once completed and the vines in 

 bearing condition, the culture is simple and inex- 

 pensive. The New England farmer gives the 

 following instructions for preparing and plajiting 

 a patch ; A piece of low, swampy territory is 

 selected to begin with. From this all the trees, 

 bushes, or whatever growth may exist, are 

 thoroughly cleaned out and the roots eradicated. 

 Then the turf or dirt is taken off and the bog 

 ditched and leveled. The old fashioned way of 

 getting the level by the water and straight edge 

 can not be improved upon for accuracy where the 

 bog is well ditched. The level place is then 

 covered with some four inches of coarse sand — 

 some put on five — and the coarser the sand the 

 better, if it will not interfere too much with the 

 growth of the vines. The bog is then ready for 

 the planting of the vines. The only fertilizer em- 

 ployed is to sometimes put a trifle of guano on the 

 top of the plant, which works down through the 

 sand to the roots of the vine. Three years must 

 usually pass before the vines bear fruit, and they 

 are generally not in bearing condition until the 

 fourth year after planting. Some bogs on the 

 Cape are still in good bearing condition that have 

 yielded fruit for more than thirty years. Some- 

 times the vines are mowed down closely, but they 

 come up again and bear more vigorously for cut- 

 ting. The chief attention required is to keep 

 down the weeds and rushes, which are usually not 

 troublesome if not neglected, and to watch the 

 enemies of the vines, the principal of which is 

 what is popularly known as the fire worm. If 

 they get in unobserved, a promising lot will be 

 completely ruined in a few days, and they do their 

 work so rapidly that they are well named the fire 

 worm. Of late years they have been quite de- 

 structive. The remedy for them is a tobacco wash 

 and it generally proves very efficacious if applied 

 in time. The cost of producing a barrel of Cran- 

 berries all ready for market varies from three to 

 four dollars a barrel of 100 quarts. It is safe to 

 put down the average market value at $7.00 per 

 barrel. 



