A'OTES AND COMMENTS. 



169 



*■ I have no use whatever for the Japans, ' 

 said he. They are not good enougli in qual- 

 ity, and he had found them almost as sub- 

 ject to yellows as the peach. He had con- 

 siderable experience with them, but it was 

 all unfavorable. He had tried an orchard 

 first of Abundance, and then of Burbank, 

 but had finally rooted them out entirely. 



In growing Reine Claude he had found it 

 apt to die of severe cold when root grafted 

 or budded in the nursery, and thus having 

 its own trunk. He much preferred this 

 plum top worked on the Lombard, which 

 gives it a good healthy body. 



PLUM ROT. 



Hoii' do yon destroy plum rot ? 



In reply to this question Mr. Woodward 

 stated that he began by gathering all the 

 mummy plums found remaining on the tree 

 in early spring, and burned them up. Then 

 he sprayed his trees with weak Bordeaux, 

 say 2 oz. to 50 gallons of water. 



Would it answer to plow them under ? 



No ; not nearly so well. They should be 

 burned up, and thus the spores will be total- 

 ly destroyed. Some varieties are much more 

 subject to rot than others, and he had given 

 up growing certain varieties, particularly the 

 Washington, on this account. 



LIME AND SULPHIR. 



MR. WOODWARD would make this 

 without boiling, by using caustic 

 potash ; and so far as tested it was just as 

 effective as the boiled mixture. The same 

 proportions of lime and sulphur were used ; 

 the lime was put to slake with hot water, and 

 the sulphur added while slaking. After this 

 was done, one-half pound of potash or one 

 pound of caustic soda was added to every 

 pound of sulphur. We were all much in- 

 terested in hearing of any simpler method of 

 making this valuable lime and sulphur wash 

 than by the troublesome method of boiling, 

 even if a threshing engine be convenient. 



SMALL HOSE BEST. 



ORDINARILY the spray pump makers 

 provide a hose altogether too large. 

 The smallest usually furnished is y'2 inch, 

 and when one has high trees to reach the 

 weight of hose is unnecessarily heavy. Mr. 

 Woodward never uses a hose larger than ^ 

 of an inch in diameter. He elevates it by 

 means of a bamboo pole, to the top of which 

 he wires the hose, and continues it down for 

 four or five feet. This he finds much more 

 convenient than using the extension rods 

 furnished by the pump makers. 



SHALLOW CULTIVATION IN SUMMER. 



CONSTANT cultivation was advocated 

 by Mr. Woodward to open up soil to 

 influence of sun and air, and to conserve its 

 moisture by a shallow dust mulch all sum- 

 mer. 



How deep tvould you cultivate in sum- 

 mer ? 



" I would not stir the soil more than twO 

 inches below the surface," said Mr. Wood- 

 ward. " Just deep enough to keep down 

 the weeds. I would not use a plow at all \n 

 an orchard if I could avoid it, but when 

 necessary I would use a four-furrow gang 

 plough early in the season."' Deep plough- 

 ing, especially when the trees are in full leaf, 

 cuts oflf millions of those little feeding roots 

 which take up soil nourishment, and which 

 should not be disturbed at that season. 

 These are of annual growth, and so small 

 that they escape the notice of the ploughman, 

 but it is these tiny root hairs that are essen- 

 tial to tree and plant growth, and not those 

 great branching underground stems which 

 serve merely to anchor the tree and enable 

 it to stand against wind and storm. 



WORK OF THESE ROOT HAIRS. 



TO discuss these minute organisms the 

 aid of a pocket magnifier is needed. 

 They form in the growing season in great 

 muTibers. developing just behind the root 



