206 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



June, 



624. Dog Noisance. Notify their owners to 

 keep them at homo or else you wiU shoot them. 



738. Layering Strawberry Plants in Pot. 

 When a lot of Strawberry plants are wanted for 

 a new bed, all that is necessary to do is to fill pots 

 two or three inches in diameter with soil, and 

 "plunge" or plant the pot just to the surface 

 level, placing the unrooted "runner" of the 

 .Strawberry plant on the top of the soil in the 

 flower pot, and laying a small stone or clod on it 

 to keep it in place. The runners so treated will 

 form plants in two or three weeks. 



B88. Sowing Strawberry Seeds. Sow the seeds 

 on the surface of fine, rich, sandy loam moder- 

 ately backed in shallow seed boxes. Sift over 

 the seed one-eighth of an inch in 

 depth of the same soil, and place the 

 boxes in a cold frame, sheltering 

 them with a whitewashed sash. Keep 

 the soil rather moist but not satu- 

 rated with wat«r. It will be well to 

 rub a little very dry packing moss 

 through a a sieve and over the boxes 

 with a very thin layer of this to aid 

 in retaining a moist surface. The 

 young plants should appear in about 

 two weeks. If the seed is sown early 

 in spring the young plants may be- 

 come large enough to plant out in 

 their permanent bed early in autumn 

 but when the seed is sown as soon as 

 the fruit ripens, they rarely become 

 sufliciently large for transplanting 

 the same season. In this case it is 

 best to leave the boxes in the cold 

 frame until spring.— E. S. G. 



From this tent they sally forth semi-daily 

 and forage on the green and tender Apple 

 leaves. They are voracious eaters and will 

 oftentimes destroy the foliage of large trees 

 in a short time if not disturbed. 



When the Caterpillar is matured, or their 

 food gives out, they leave the tree and seek 

 some sheltered spot in which to spin their 

 cocoons. These cocoons are light-colored 

 and may be seen under the rough bark of 

 trees, about fences or other protected places. 

 They remain in these for the length of 

 something like three weeks, then come forth 



The Bigarreau Cherries; A 

 New Variety. 



The cliiss of Cherries known as 

 the Bigarreaus has always been 

 a favorite one with growers and 

 consumers. A chief reason for 

 this is found in that strong dis- 

 tinguishing mark of the class, 

 namely, a very firm flesh. For 

 who does not prefer to handle and 

 eat a firm Cherry that is other- 

 wise delicious than one which is 

 soft and liable to become mushy. 



The list of varieties in this class 

 is not very extended, but in it is 

 included such favorites as the 

 Rockport Bigarreau, Napoleon, 

 Elkhorn or Tradescant's Black, 

 and the Yellow Spanish. Of these 

 the Elkhorn is the best late 

 Bigarreau generally known, for 

 although the quality is not the 

 highest, it is so handsome, pro- 

 ductive and so pleasant as a 

 dessert fruit that it is decidedly valuable. 



One object of this article is to call attention 

 to a recent promising addition to the list of 

 Bigarreau Cherries, namely, the Windsor. 

 This Cherry was originated by James Dougall 

 of Windsor, Canada, who placed it in the 

 hands of EUwanger & Barry for dissemina- 

 tion. It is described as being of large size, 

 liver-colored, resembling the Elkhorn or 

 Tradescant's Black Heart, but ripens three 

 or four days after that variety, and is other- 

 wise quite distinct. The flesh is firm and 

 said to be of fine quality; the tree hardy and 

 prolific. A variety possessing such qualities 

 should prove very valuable for both market 

 and family use. 



Pests of the Orchard. 



G. SIMONS, HILLSBOROUGH CO., N. H. 



Every fruit grower is familiar with the 

 web nests of the Caterpillar, and the dam- 

 age which is liable to occur if the nests are 

 left unmolested. This pest is well known, 

 yet its habits are not so well understood. 



The eggs are laid by a yellowish-brown, 

 night-flying moth in .July and August. She 

 lays her eggs in oval rings round the smaller 

 twigs, which contain several hundred, 

 and are covered over with a mucilaginous 

 substance, which protects them from the 

 wet and serves also for food for the young 

 when they hatch. In the spring when the 

 weather gets warm they come forth and 

 commence at once to weave a tent home. 



A NEW BIGARREAU CHERRY. THE WINDSOR. 



to lay their eggs as before described. 



If the Caterpillars are allowed to go on 

 and multiply, as they do incredibly fast, 

 they may in a few seasons increase to such 

 an extent as to entirely destroy the foliage 

 of trees, the effect of which is deplorable, 

 and at the period of the season when the 

 leaves are most important to the tree and 

 growth of the fruit. 



How can they be destroyed ? The winter 

 season is a good time to destroy the eggs, 

 which can be readily seen on the sinall trees 

 and lower branches and removed by the hiind. 



If they have been neglected and allowetl 

 to hatch, attack them with the hands, a 

 stick or brush and destroy them. They are 

 not very early risers and may be found at 

 home in the morning, so it is well to give 

 them an early call. If they have gone on a 

 foraging expedition call earlier next time. 



The Wild Black Cherry is a favorite tree 

 with the Caterpillar. The tree is quite com- 

 mon on careless farmers' grounds and is 

 of no use except to breed Caterpillars. All 

 Wild Cherry trees should be cut down. 



Poison the Plum Curculio. 



D. B. WIER. 



There seems to be no doubt whatever but 

 what the Plum Curculio (Cottntrathchis 

 ne.iimphdr) can be well nigh exterminated 

 everywhere, and regular crops of stone fruits 

 grown, by simply spraying the trees with 

 arsenical poisons {Paris green or London 



purple) in water. (1) As soon as the buds 

 begin to swell in the spring. (3) Again two 

 weeks after the petals' fall; (3) then after 

 three weeks again. (4) To have perfection, 

 the trees should be sprayed as soon as 

 through blooming with a weak kerosene and 

 soap emulsion; this will destroy the Leaf 

 Lice (ApfiidtF) and Plant Bugs (Hcmiptcra) 

 that puncture the young fruit and cause it 

 eventually to rot. 



A Michigan gentleman told the writer 

 recently that he had in his door-yard two 

 large thrifty European Plum trees. They 

 bloomed every year, bttt the Cur- 

 culio laid her eggs in nearly every 

 Plum each year and all the fruit 

 that was not wormy rotted be- 

 fore ripening. Spring before last 

 I sprayed the trees thoroughly 

 once with London purple in water 

 about two weeks after the blos- 

 soms fell. That year they matured 

 so great a crop of the finest fruit 

 that I was obliged to prop up every 

 branch. But to my great sorrow, 

 the great crop of fruit so ex- 

 hausted the trees that the next 

 spring both were dead. The 

 spraying seemed to kill nearly 

 every Curculio, scarcely a fruit 

 showed her ovipositing mark, and 

 the Plums all ripened without rot. 

 This shows two valuable les- 

 sons. (1) Spraying has proven a 

 success for this insect, (2) and that 

 an over-burdensome crop of fruit 

 is deathly to a fruit tree, espec- 

 ially a Plum tree. 



These sentiments are exactly in 

 line with sense, reason, and my 

 experience with Plums, and es- 

 j pecially our Wild or Native Plums. 

 jf For these Plums have been 

 ) through all past time the natural 

 ■^ food plant and breeding place of 

 the Plum Curculio. This beetle 

 passes the winter invariably in 

 the beetle state, holed up like a 

 woodchuck in some secure place, 

 and emerges in the spring very 

 hungry; she at once seeks her 

 natural food plant, these Plums, 

 on which to feed, seemingly 

 in preference of all other trees 

 if they are to be found . She usually reaches 

 them before they bloom, then just before 

 the blossoms open is the time to spray the 

 trees, and thus kill nearly all of them. 



But it has been determined that for some 

 reason that many of the beetles do not lay 

 their eggs in the fruit until June. Why this 

 is the case we have not determined, perhaps 

 it is because they are not old enough, hence 

 the necessity of late spraying, for it is prob- 

 able that these late ovipositing beetles reach 

 the trees at a late date. 



It is reasonable to suppose that the native 

 Plum being her natural food plant, and if 

 they are within her reach, that about all the 

 Plum Ciu:culios will gather on them. But 

 also, if they are not within her range, that 

 she will be forced to accept allied plants of 

 the Almond family, to which the Plum be- 

 longs, such as the Cherry, Peach, Apricot, 

 etc. , and also lay her eggs in their fruits. 

 It is of course possible that the Cherries, be- 

 ing so near the Plums, that they may be as 

 acceptable to her for food as the Plums, but 

 it is hardly probable. Therefore, it seems 

 entirely reasonable that if we have plenty of 

 native Plums in and around our orchards 

 of other fruit trees, that by spraying the 

 Plums we will destroy the Plum Curculio 

 sufficiently for all practical purposes, and 

 protect iill other fruits from her destructive 

 work. All evidence and experiments so far 

 in this line show conclusively that, if we ex 

 pect to have good sound fruit that we must 

 spray our fruit trees. 



I 



