QUESTION DRAWER. 



48: 



the gth October, so if yoa could reply by return 

 post you would greatly oblige. 



Wolfville, N. S. J. D. Sherwood. 



Our experience is that apples packed in 

 boxes carry quite as free from bruising" as 

 when packed in barrels ; indeed when the 

 barrel head is pressed home with a screw 

 press, we often find that ev-^ery apple in the 

 barrel is bruised. But whether we pack in 

 box or barrel there should always be a 

 cushion used at each end to act as a pad 

 and prevent direct pressure. A paper 

 cushion has been invented for barrels, and 

 for boxes we find excelsior or wood shaving-s 

 a capital cushion for top and bottom. All 

 this takes time and trouble from start to 

 finish if we would make money out of our 

 produce. The boxes are made at a box 

 factory of ^ inch ends and half inch sides, 

 knd need no partition, unless thinner sides 

 are used. 



Your Blenheims should pay you well if 

 carefully put up in bushel boxes a season 

 like this. 



The Tent Caterpillar. 



1259. Sir, — The Order-in-Council of 25th April 

 last, pursuant to the provisions of "The Noxious 

 Insects Act " (63 Vic. G. 47) mentions the " Expan- 

 sive Tree Protector" as one of the bands which 

 may bs used for destroying the codling moth. I 

 have been instructed by our directors to ascertain 

 from you where this protector can be purchased 

 and price and what is your opinion of it as com- 

 pared to the other devices. 



Our directors also express surprise that the above 

 Order-in-Council makes no provision for the des- 

 truction of the tent caterpillar, which in our opinion 

 is more destructive and itncontrolable than the 

 codling moth, inasmuch as a man may keep his 

 own orchard free from the former yet have it in- 

 fected from his neighbor's which is uncared for, 

 while on the other hand the female codling 

 moth, being unable to travel, can onlj^ injure the 

 orchard in which she happens to be, so that, if a 

 man keeps his orchard free from them, it makes no 

 difference to him what his neighbour does. 



As a society we have during the past summer 

 taken active measures for the destruction of the 

 tent caterpillar, but feel that our efforts are very 

 much in vain when we have no legal enactments 

 to back us up and compel people to so kesp their 

 orchards that theirneighbors will not suffer pecun- 

 iary loss from their laziness. 



I would also like to know how pf^ison ivy can 

 be destroyed otherwise than by pulling it i:p and 



if it is infectious at all seasons of the year or only 

 at times. 



Gordon J. Smith, 

 Sec'y Paris Horticultural Society. 



Mr. W. E. VVelling-ton, Toronto, is pres- 

 ident of the company introducing" this tree 

 protector, and will g'ive our correspondent 

 full information. 



Can any one g'ive any other method of 

 destroying^ poison ivy except by dig'ging it 

 out bv the roots? 



Summer Pruning the Peach. 



1260. Sir, — Enclosed you should find $1 for 

 my subscription to the Horticulturist. I appreciate 

 it very much and find many helpful ideas in it. 

 I have, however, failed to find in it what I want to 

 know about summer pruning. Last spring I set 

 out 500 peach trees, near Boston, on a worn out 

 sandy farm. The trees were a long time on the 

 way from the nursery and arrived in full bloom. 

 The ground had been ploughed and 500 pounds 

 muriate of potash and 250 pounds phosphoric 

 acid harrowed in per acre. The trees were pruned 

 to a switch two feet high. They made a good 

 start— only ten died. I kept the ground clean by 

 a weeder. In August I visited them and found a 

 great many sprouts or suckers and a luxuriant 

 growth in most of the trees. I immediately began 

 to prune. I cut out weak suckers, the weakest of 

 two or more shoots, leaving the stronger, all 

 branches that were liable to cross or make a too 

 thick head and the tops of all switches that had 

 died, making clean cut surfaces. In other words 

 I cut off fully twice as much as I left. It attracted 

 a great deal of attention because I removed so 

 much at that time of year and almost everyone 

 who passed told me I was simply killing the trees. 

 I shall be very thankful if you can find time to 

 tell me your opinion of such radical summer sur- 

 gery'. The middle of August I sowed cow horn 

 turnips and dwarf Essex rape to be ploughed 

 under about the middle of November. The trees 

 have continued to make a good growth as have the 

 rape and turnips. What I fear is that the pruning 

 will so weaken the trees that they will winter kill. 

 Your opinions will be thankfully received and 

 fully appreciated. 



You will be pleased to know that I again took 

 first prize for cranberries at the Halifax Exhibition. 

 They were raised in Nova Scotia. 



Very truly yours, 

 Eli E. Josslvn, M. D., Philadelphia, U.S. 



Light pruning- of fruit trees may be done 

 at any time of the year ; old Peter Pruning- 

 Knife used to say the best time was when 

 the knife was sharp. Heavy and radical 

 pruning- is better done when the wood growth 

 is in a dormant condition, or else the growth 

 of the tree is liable to be too much checked. 



