1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



581 



trees. They were planted 18 years ago, and are 

 now giving large yields of honey almost every 

 season; but just after the honey-flow is gone, 

 several kinds of caterpillars pitch in, and would 

 entirely denude the trees of foliage if allow- 

 ed to push things after iheir fashion. Our 

 remedy is to get out the spray-pump that we 

 used for spraying my fruit-trees, and give them 

 some of the same solution — the Bordeaux mix- 

 ture and Paris green. The next morning after 

 the application is made, the worms will be sick; 

 and by night they will be dead and dying. It 

 is some work to sweep their filthy carcases off 

 from the walks, but that ends the mischief. 

 You can easily tell when they commence, if 

 you keep an eye out for the excrement dropped 

 on the ground, especiallyon the sawed flagging. 

 When the worms are small this is just a little 

 black powder, not much larger than gunpowder. 

 They grow so enormously, however, that in 

 two or three days, if not attended to, the black 

 balls will be almost the size of peas, and at this 

 stage .the trees are injured very rapidly. I 

 have tried dusting the foliage with the dry- 

 powder gun. but it has not as yet succeeded as 

 well. Perhaps if put on when the dew is on 

 the leaves it would answer all right. But the 

 trees are so large we should have to climb up 

 into each one to get the dust all through the 

 top. On this account we have used our spray- 

 ing-machine, with a gas-pipe extension so as to 

 get, say, 20 feet high. Take care of your shade- 

 trees in front of your home, and remember that 

 a stitch in time will save nine. This is just the 

 time of year when these depredators may be 

 expected. 



There is another kind of caterpillar that 

 scatters all over the branches during the day- 

 time, but wad themselves together in a compact 

 ball at night. If you look for them early in the 

 morning you may find them in this compact 

 ball, and destroy great quantities of them at 

 once. The way I do is to dig a hole in the 

 ground with a hoe; then clip off the branch if 

 it is not too large, wh^re the bundle of worms 

 is lodged: drop them into the hole, and cover 

 them up before they can wiggle apart. Do not 

 let your trees be denuded of foliage after they 

 have given you a bountiful crop of fruit. The 

 leaves have an important work to do in prepar- 

 ing the tree for fruiting another season. 



OUR HARVEST-APPLE TREE. 



Some thirty or forty feet from our front door 

 there is a beautiful little harvest-apple tree 

 that has this year given us its first crop. It 

 blossomed full, and we sprayed it. commencing 

 when the leaves were first starting, and con- 

 tinuing until the apples were as large as hick- 

 orynuts. The consequence is. the tree has been 

 decently loaded with the most beautiful, fair, 

 perfect apples I ever saw in my life. When 

 they were of the size of crab-apples I began to 

 fear the tree could not perfect all of its fruit; 

 so I drew half a one-horse wagonload of old 

 rich compost, and covered the ground all over 

 a little further than the branches extended; 

 and we have had the most luscious harvest- 

 apples that anybody ever saw— that is, in my 

 opinion, you know. Just before g>^tting per- 

 fectly ripe they assume a waxy whiteness and 

 transparency that makes them look almost too 

 good to be left alone. 



Do you think I am getting a good way from 

 my beefsteak diet? Well, I am very happy to 

 tell you that I have been eating at least half a 

 dozen of these luscious apples almost every day 

 since they were ripe, and without any trouble 

 whatever. I keep up a goodly quantity of 

 meat, however, at each meal; then I pick my 

 apples right from the tree, paring them care- 

 fully, and eating them very slowly. I am sure 



clean perfect apples picked right from the tree 

 are more wholesome than stale fruit, or fruit 

 that has been bruised in handling— certainly 

 more wholesome than fruit that has been start- 

 ed to decay by a worm at the core. And, by 

 the way, I have not found a single wormy apple 

 on that whole tree. This reminds me that I 

 have been told our good friend Prof. Cook first 

 suggested and carried into effect the idea of 

 spraying with Paris green to kill the codling- 

 moth. Is it not about time that we who grow 

 fruit should tender him a vote of thanks? A 

 bronze monument to his memory after he is 

 dead may be all right; but I believe he will be 

 better pleased with just a word or two of recog- 

 nition before he dies. 



Now, if you haven't a harvest-apple tree to 

 delight the heart of wife and children— yes, 

 and grandchildren too— get about it and fix a 

 place right now, and then plant one or more 

 trees at the right season. Do not be sparing of 

 some good compost. By the way, Mrs. Root 

 suggested, when I was manuring the tree so 

 liberally, that the manure might be worth more 

 than the crop of apples. But I think she has 

 changed her mind, for she enjoys and admires 

 the tree as much as any one of us. She said a 

 few days ago that not one of the apples should 

 be sold, for the family could take care of all of 

 them. And another thing, that half-wagonload 

 of old manure will show its effect on the tree 

 for a good many years to come. You can make 

 an apple-tree boom by the same sort of care 

 and fertilizing that you can a strawberry-plant. 



ALSIKE CLOVER. 



The presjnt season of 1896 is certainly earlier 

 than almost any record; but with the abun- 

 dant rains all through the month of July, we 

 have some unusual states of affairs. For in- 

 stance, alsike clover sown last spring is now in 

 full bloom, and stands high enough to afford a 

 good cutting for hay. T. B. Terry told me, 

 while I was at his home, that his medium clo- 

 ver had been cut once, and I saw that it was 

 almost ready to cut again: he will probably get 

 three eood cuttings in all from it this season. 



CRIMSON CLOVER. 



""'Some readers may have wondered why The 

 Riiral New-Yorlter stands by crimson clover 

 in the face of eo many reports of partial or 

 complete failures. One reason is that we have 

 often observed the marvelous ability of this 

 plant to stool or spread out when once started 

 in the spring. We have seen half a dozen fields 

 that seemed, on April 1, to be entirely killed 

 out, start suddenly into such a rapid growth 

 that, by the middle of May. the ground was 

 well covered. Last week, Mr. L. D. Gale, of 

 Chautauqua County. N. Y., made a quite un- 

 favorable report as to crimson clover. Here is 

 his final report, which we print here in full, as 

 it is in line with the position The Rural has 

 often taken: 



I must admit ihiita few strag-g-ling crimson-clo- 

 ver plants will make a wonderful showing' if left to 

 do their best. They can spread out equal to a ban- 

 tam hen on a sitting of eggs. Where I thought there 

 was scarcely any left, tlie ground is covered. It is 

 a surprise to everyone seeing the field, to know 

 wliere the clover came from. May 16 I hitched up 

 the horse and drove over to tlie field with Mrs. Gale; 

 she thouglit the blossoms so handsome that they 

 would add beauty fo tlie l)ou(iuet, so we gathered 

 some and put thcni with other tiowers. What was 

 our surprise to find, in four or five days, that the 

 clover had grown so as almost to hide the other 

 tiowers ! Very few iioney bees were seen at this 

 time A fine rain had come on the Monday follow- 

 ing (it had been ratlier too dry here). I did not see 

 the field again until May 21, five days later, when I 

 went to the Held to plow it. I was surprised again; 

 some of it was so thick and heavy that it bothered 



