JVotcs and GlcaniuQ-s. 



349 



For years I slaughtered the curculio whenever he could be found; my prun- 

 ing-knife became a scalpel for the extraction of the excrescences from my diseased 

 trees, but all to no purpose. The ground was strewn with premature fruit, and 

 wherever I cut away the unsightly black knot, hydra-like there appeared another 

 to fill its place. Looking at the whole subject, I must pronounce the curculio a 

 success, and the plum a failure. 



The wheelbarrow remedy may be applied to advantage on small trees, and 

 patient hands may save a small portion of the fruit by extracting the egg of the 

 insect ; but plums will never find their way to the mouths of the million until the 

 black knot and curculio shall disappear, or some method, at once efficient and 

 practicable, shall be discovered to check them in their work of destruction. 



Tlte Volusia Orange. — The orange is a rare fruit to find described and illus- 

 trated in a horticultural journal ; but I am glad to see the products of every part 

 of our country brought to the notice of your readers. There is no reason why 

 they should not be, and certainly you have secured a noble specimen. 



Reminiscences of tJie Massachiise'tts Horticnltiiral Society. — Now that this 

 series of papers is finished, I may say, Mr. Editor, that I concur most fully in 

 the belief with which you introduced them, " that the labors of this society have 

 had a widely beneficial effect, and that a corresponding interest will be felt in its 

 history." Certainly it must be most encouraging to those who are now found- 

 ing horticultural societies in different parts of our country, to look back and see 

 from what a small beginning this most prosperous society has grown. It is true, 

 that in the multiplication of thriving and active horticultural societies those of 

 Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, the oldest in the country, have lost something 

 of their cotnparative importance, as has also the London Horticultural Society, 

 the prototype of both ; but the true lover of horticulture, while losing notliing 

 of devotion to his favorite society, will never feel a single emotion of envy or 

 regret at seeing it even overshadowed by younger associations, as these old 

 societies may some day be by the vigorous and energetic, though youthful organ- 

 izations of the West. 



I could wish that the modesty of the writer of these interesting Reminiscences 

 had not been so great as to induce him to withhold his name, for it would at once 

 be recognized as that of one more active, perhaps, than any other, at least in the 

 preliminary measures for organizing the society. Bis?narck. 



Transplaxtixg Raspkerries. — The raspberry is very easily transplanted. 

 We have set them successfully when they have made shoots two inches in 

 length, though we would prefer to do it earlier. It is best to cut the tops well 

 down ; and care must be taken not to injure the young shoots, just pushing from 

 the roots, which will form the bearing canes for next year, especially of the 

 Black Cap family, which seldom has more than one such shoot. 



Oraxges in Califorxia. — Oranges are so cheap in California, that the 

 crop is hardly worth gathering. The yield is very large, but the fruit is of 

 smaller size than usual. 



