OPEN LETTERS. 



389 



and differ little in appearance throughout 

 their lives. When at rest they coil their 

 bodies. They are omnivorous feeders. 

 Sometimes their food consists of grubs, 

 worms and slugs ; and sometimes such 

 cultivated plants as mangolds, potatoes, 

 cabbage roots, and even the roots of cereals 

 Once in a while we hear of them eating ears 

 of Indian corn and strawberries. The eggs 

 are laid in holes in the ground in the spring, 

 and it is possible that the adults are carried 

 from one place to another in mulches and 

 manures. 



Many remedies have been tried. Traps 

 are possibly as practicable as any. Poisoned 

 baits of bran or potatoes, or mangolds have 

 been used to advantage. 



A dressing of fresh gas-lime to the soil 

 has been recommended. 



Thorough cultivation of the land, and 

 clean farming, by the removal of old rotten 

 roots and rubbish, will also pay where the 

 land becomes infested. 



Killing riustard By Spraying. 



1305. Sir, — I saw an item in the press about 

 some man teaching the farmers how to kill wild 

 mustard by spraying it with some chemical solu- 

 tion. Can you give me the formula? 



A Subscriber at London. 



France, then in England, and latterly in 

 Canada, both at the Dominion Experimental 

 Farm, Ottawa, and at the Ontario Agri- 

 cultural College, Guelph. show conclusively 

 that growing wild mustard (Brassica sina- 

 pistrum) can be killed by spraying the 

 plants with a two per cent, solution of 

 copper sulphate or bluestone — one pound of 

 bluestone being dissolved in 5 gallons of 

 water. 



With an ordinary spray pump the infested 

 plots may be sprayed. A fine nozzle should 

 be used, and the application made on a clear 

 day in June, just as the mustard is coming 

 into bloom. If applied carefully, the blue- 

 stone solution will not harm crops of oats, 

 barley or wheat, in which the mustard is 

 growing. In cases of severe infestation, 

 where hand pulling is clearly out of the 

 question, this method of spraying should 

 come quickly into general use ; for, although 

 the mustard seeds in the ground are un- 

 touched, the plants which come up are pre- 

 vented from re-seeding the ground. It 

 becomes, then, merely a question of a few 

 years before a badly infested plot becomes 

 clean, if the plants are sprayed annually. 



W. LOCHHEAD. 



Recent experiments, carried on first in O.A.C., Guelph, Aug. 2nd, 1902. 



#^jeit %i:X\zxs 



The Elm as a Shade Tree. 



Sir, — Fifty years ago at a meeting of the 

 Horticultural Society of New York, a Mr. 

 Stephen Ainsworth, a fruit grower south of 

 Rochester, arose and said, ** Fellow fruit 

 growers plant trees as beginners that will 

 bear grief well." It is one of the best 

 speeches I ever heard at a meeting of horti- 

 culturists. It was very brief, but full of 

 meat for digestion and consideration. Mr. 



A. McNeil in your August number calls 

 attention to the American Elm as a shade and 

 ornamental tree. It is beautiful, majestic, 

 hardy, attains great size, is as free as any 

 from insects, worms and other pests, holds 

 its foliage well, the best shade tree in 

 America, will branch high and therefore not 

 darken front windows, will form a lofty arch 

 over the street if planted on both sides. 

 And over and above all it bears grief well. 



