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THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



USE OF CRUDE PETROLEUM IN ORCHARDS. 



'HE varying and sometimes disastrous 

 results obtained from the use of 

 refined petroleum on growing' trees, 

 as an insecticide, and especially against the 

 San Jose scale, have led to the suspicion 

 that the crude product might be less vari- 

 able and drastic in its effects. But so far 

 as it has been used it would appear that we 

 yet have much to learn, before we can with 

 safety, recommend the application of the 

 crude product to the different varieties of 

 fruit trees. That it is efficient in destroy- 

 ing the San Jose scale if it is brought in 

 contact with this insect seems now quite 

 probable. But the hundreds of dead trees 

 that mark the areas where it has been indis- 

 criminately used, point very clearly to the 

 fact that great caution is necessary, and no 

 one is, as yet, able to say just where safety 

 comes and danger begins. Then too, when 

 no permanent injury is apparent, as in the 

 case of the seedling apples on the ground of 

 the Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 who can say that this unatural retardation 

 may not, after the first application, prove to 



be a menace to the life or general vigor of 

 the tree? It is well known that in nature 

 these retardations sometimes occur, but 

 nature seldom, if ever, covers the bark of 

 a tree or shrub, and then only in part, with 

 vegetable growths like lichens, and even 

 these are known to be detrimental, a smooth, 

 clean bark being always desirable. In the 

 use of refined petroleum, one of the most 

 perplexing phenomenon observed was the 

 fact that, equally careful applications made 

 by the same person, with the same grade of 

 oil, would give almost opposite results. 

 Hence recommendation of the refined product 

 for general use has in many cases resulted 

 disastrously and brought no little disrepute 

 to the entomological fraternity of this coun- 

 try. The most that can now be said for 

 the refined product is that a ten or twenty 

 per cent mixture with water constitutes a 

 fairly successful summer wash and destroys 

 the young scale, thereby checking the in- 

 crease and spread until applications of 

 whale oil soap mixtures can be made. — 

 Prof. F. M. Webster., Ohio Experiment Station. 



OUR COBOURG MEETING. 



vS we go to press we are more and 

 more assured of a large and enthusi- 

 ^ astic gathering. A large collection 

 of Pan-American apples will be shown on 

 the fruit table, many of them harvested in 



1900. An interesting feature of the meet- conferred 



ing will be the announcement of the names 

 of those Canadians who were fortunate 

 enough to win medals and diplomas for 

 fruit at the Pan, and each one will receive 

 a beautiful banneret, in proof of the honor 



