154 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 



DEUTZIA CRENATA. 



The Deutzia crenata received two 

 years ago is not hardy enough to stand 

 the winter without being covered. A 

 year ago I put a barrel over it, putting 

 in straw around it, it came through all 

 right; last winter I thought I would 

 try it by only putting some straw around 

 it, but it froze down to the ground. 

 W. Walt AM. 



Waupoos, P. Ed. Co., Ont. 



healthy base of a tree worked on any 

 such system. Seeds from our own 

 grown trees are preferable. There is 

 plenty of natural fruit growing through- 

 out the country adapted for this pur- 

 pose ; such seedlings will at least have 

 one or more degrees of acclimatization 

 in their favor. 



As a rule you will find that pear 

 trees of American origin are much bet- 

 ter adapted to our climate than the 

 generality of the soft- wooded foreigners 

 are, and are likely to supersede them 

 in the future. Simon Roy. 



Berlin, April, 1886. 



THE CURRANT BORER. ! 



In March number of the Horticul- 

 turist, I see Mr. E. Robinson, of Lon- 

 don South, asks a question respecting 

 the Currant Borer. Some years ago I 

 was troubled with this pest. I cut off 

 all canes affected and burnt them. I 

 also dug or loosened the soil around 

 the bushes with the garden fork for 

 about two feet all round, in the spring 

 of the year, and let in my hens. You 

 would have thought they would have 

 scratched the plants out of the ground ; 

 but they made a total clearing of the 

 borer, so that I was not troubled with 

 them for years after, and always had 

 heavy crops afterwards. I attributed 

 it to the hens hunting and eating up 

 the larvae buried in the soil. 



Walter Hick. 

 Goderich, Ont. 



DRY EARTH STORAGE. 



BY P. E. BUCKE, OTTAWA. 



Few of us are unacquainted with the 

 mode of storing the white grapes re- 

 ceived from Spain and Portugal in 

 cork dust or chips. The grape itself 

 has no particular merits in the way of 

 flavor, but it has a thick skin, and is 

 known as one of the fleshy varieties ; 

 it is therefore easily preserved. This 

 grape is especially esteemed as a re- 

 freshing article of diet in winter, when 

 close warm rooms are crowded with 

 parched humanity. Could this grape 

 be replaced by almost any of our own 

 during the same season, and in the 

 same profusion, its place would never 

 be missed. Happily we believe we 

 are on the track of a means which 

 points to the end sought for. A Mr. 

 Eraser Torrance, late of Montreal, has, 

 it is understood, made a wonderful 

 discovery as to a new substance for 

 packing fruit. The article, like the 

 cork dust, is both porous and dry. 

 The substance alluded to is infusorial 

 earth, and is composed of shells of a 

 very minute microscopic animal which 

 inhabits the water and liquids of various 

 kinds. The shell is so small that 

 thousands can be lifted on the point of 

 a knife, and if placed upon the hand 

 and rubbed with the finger, are so 

 minute as to enter the pores of the 

 skin. Yet each atom, as it were, is a 

 shell formed of silica. It is claimed, and 

 from the experiments which have been 

 made and investigated by some of the 

 most eminent men in this line in Canada 

 it seems justly that fruit packed in this 

 earth is kept at an uniform temperature, 

 neither heat nor cold will readily pass 

 through it. The air spaces in the shell 

 act in a somewhat, similar manner as 

 the double windows on our houses in 

 winter. It is well known that the 

 dead air space keeps the heat from 

 passing out or the cold from coming in. 

 Considerable experiments were made 



