262 



POPULAR GARDENING. 



September, 



Some Insect Notes. 



BY CLARENCE M. \VEED, OHIO AOR. EXPERIMENT STATION. 



It took US just three hours to go over a 

 half acre patch of Currants and Gooseberries 

 this year with a Nixon barrel machine on 

 runners, and spray the bushes thoroughly 

 with hellebore. We used a pound to fifty 

 gallons of water. A man, a boy, and a horse 

 were needed for the work. It took two bar- 

 rels of the liquid and hence two pounds of 

 hellebore to go over the patch once. 

 We sprayed twice, May .5th and Ifilh, 

 and kept the Cxirrant-worm thoroughly 

 in check. This is as simple a matter as 

 applying Paris green for Potato beetles, 

 and works just as well. 



I hear of many who use Paris green " 

 or London purple both for Currant- 

 worms and Cabbage-worms. I believe 

 its use in either case is inexcusable. 

 Hellebore for the former, and pyre- 

 thrum for the latter are all sufficient, 

 and are vastly safer than these min- 

 eral poisons. 



The punctured Grape-beetle is re- 

 ported as doing damage in some parts 

 of Ohio, eating the foliage and young 

 fruit. Hand-picking just at dusk is the 

 only remedy known. 



At my suggestion, a correspondent 

 in Northern Ohio sprayed his Grape- 

 vines and Peach trees with a mixture 

 of one peck of freshly slacked-lime to 

 a barrel of water, to prevent the injury of 

 Rose-bugs, and found the preventive a suc- 

 cessful one. Soon after the treatment the 

 bugs left the sprayed vines and trees and 

 emigrated t« those not treated. 



The practice of spraying orchards with the 

 arsenites is gaining ground in Ohio, and ex- 

 cellent results are secured. The application 

 has killed the canker-worms very thorough- 

 ly in a number of large orchards with 

 which I am acquainted. 



placed over some soft dry Moss on the bot- 

 tom; cotton wool is objected to as being too 

 heating in warm weather and Is not so elas- 

 tic as Moss; when packed, this is then placed 

 in the square, shallow hamper, as shown, 

 and the lid closed down. 



This mode of packing is used for transit 

 by rail from places at a distance of about 

 twenty miles, where the railway employees 

 are accustomed to handling the goods. 



How they Pack Market Grapes 

 in Europe. 



It may be well to look beyond our own 

 country for a moment, and see how this im- 

 portant part of Grape growing is managed 

 elsewhere. In so doing we cannot do better 

 than glance at the European practices, re- 

 ferred to in "Barron's Vines and Vine Cul- 

 ture," from which we have taken the liberty 

 to re-engrave the annexed illustrations: The 



remarks refer, of course, to handling the 

 species peculiar to Europe. 



"When from two-thirds to one-half value 

 is not infrequently lost by bad packing, it 

 at once becomes evident that a cheap, sim- 

 ple, and expeditious method is of the first 

 importance, as the prices realized, greatly 

 depend upon the condition in which the fruit 

 is received in market. Regular growers 

 of Grapes for markets seldom make any 

 mistakes of this sort, but deliver their fruit 

 in good condition, packed in baskets spec- 

 ially adapted for this purpose. 



Of Grape baskets used in Covent Garden 

 Market, Fig. 1 represents a tlat hamper, in- 

 side of which is a bi^sket in which the 

 Grapes are placed, this basket being gener- 

 ally used for displaying the Grapes in shop 

 windows. The Grapes, when cut, are sim- 

 ply placed in this basket, stalk end up- 

 wards, a layer or two of tissue paper being 



Below is shown what is termed a 'han- 

 dle basket,' recommended by Mr. Webber, 

 an extensive shipper, as suitable for travel- 

 ing from gardens where only the surplus 

 stock is sold, and no regular supply is sent to 

 the market. This basket is used for the 

 transmission of all the Grapes from the 

 Channel Islands; no packing is ever used 

 beyond a sheet of paper; the handle is found 

 useful to lift by, and it also serves as a 

 guard, preventing any other packages from 

 being placed upon the Grapes. In the Chan- 

 nel Islands service they are packed on the 

 steamer in layers ten or twelve deep, hur- 

 dles being used to separate them from each 

 other, and are generally received in excel- 

 lent condition. They leave Guernsey by 

 the steamer at about mid-day, being deliv- 

 ered in London the same evening in time 

 for market the following morning." 



P.ear Blight and Grape Rot 



SAMUEL MILLEU, MONTGOMERY CO., MISSOURI. 



In the above, we have ijerhaps the two 

 worst evils in the whole category of troubles 

 and diseases, combined, to contend with. 

 Were it not for these, the growing of 

 Pears and Grapes would be plain sailing; 

 but as it is, the thing seems very precarious, 

 and up to this time no one has discovered 

 a safeguard against them. 



For the past five years I have kept my 

 Pear trees in sod, gave the ground salt and 

 ashes, washed the trunks with whitewash 

 containing sulphur. The latter was omitted 

 the past spring, and whether its omission 

 has anything to do with it or not, one thing 

 is sure, I have had more blight within the 

 last six weeks, than in the past live years 

 put together. 



The first tree that was attacked, was some 

 Le Conte trees three years old on a Cucklin's 

 Hybrid tree — a first cousin to IvC Conte, and 

 upon which buds there was no fruit. In 

 most cases it only struck the yonng shoots, 

 but in one instance back so far that I had to 

 cut off some fruit with the blight. Another 

 Le Conte grafted on common Pear blighted 

 some also. This too, has fruit, so that we 

 may get to know what the fruit is like 

 when grown here. 



White Doyenne, Hericart, Buerre Super- 

 fine, Vickers (not Vicar of Winkfield), 

 Clapp's Favorite. Bartlett, Doyenne D'Ete, 

 ihe latter the worst of all. Bloodgood, 



Seckel, Buerre Clairgeau, Kieflfer, Cucklin, 

 Chenilla, Sheldon, Lawrence and Duchess 

 D'Angouleme are free from it. 



All the above are here in rich soil, only 

 about ten feet above the Missouri river 

 bank, eastern slope, while an orchard of 

 some fifty or si.xty trees, including eleven 

 Le Contes, three years planted on a north 

 slope 1.50 feet elevation are entirely free, all 

 as bright as a new pin. 



It is not long that a blighted branch 

 can be seen here, for the knife and saw 

 are freely used as soon as noticed. One 

 handsome Doyenne D'Ete, that had 

 about a peck of fruit on it nearly fit to 

 pick, now looks like the dog that had 

 his tail cut off just behind his ears. 

 Quite recently I saw an article advis- 

 ing to cut off the blighted part, and 

 then cut through the bark down the 

 limb for some distance. 



My impression is that it is caused by 

 electricity when the atmosphere is in 

 a certain condition, and that there is 

 no safe preventive in existence. My 

 plan is to plant every year, if one tree 

 dies outright I plant two, as I will 

 have Pears if the thing is possible. 

 '' I, this season, picked five bushels of 



fine Bloodgood Pears from one tree 

 planted about 12 years ago. Have a 

 Clapp's Favorite that once blighted 

 nearly to the ground, but which re- 

 tained a sound shoot, that is now a fine tree, 

 and has about two bushels of as fine fruit 

 as one can wish to see. 



The Vicker's Pear mentioned above is 

 almost unknown, yet is to my taste about 

 the best, equal to Seckel, and three times as 

 large. While on this subject I will say that 

 my Pears at the last thinning, when a little 

 over half grown, are put away in a cool dry 

 cellar, they will become eatable. Bartlett 

 and Seckel in particular. 



The Grape rot is about as vexed a question 

 as the Pear blight, and it takes about the 

 same kind of an atmosphere to cause them. 

 One peculiarity is that one variety will rot 

 one year while another beside it is free. 

 The next season the very reverse may be the 

 case. This season, Garbea, the earliest 

 Grape I have is clean and nice, while last 

 year they nearly all rotted, while Marsala, 

 that never rotted before has rotted this 

 season. 



That vines growin'g on trees are less liable 

 to have their fruit rot is a general belief in 

 which I myself formerly joined, but now 

 know better. A vine of Cyuthiaiia running 

 on a Peach tree has rotted tor three years 

 now, while on the rest of the trellise they 

 are free from it. I attribute the rot of 

 Marsala to this cause also, as it is over 

 shadowed somewhat by a Peach tree. 



Elvira has rotted scarcely any. Dr. Wiley 

 a splendid medium sized Grape of excellent 

 quality is as clean as gold this season, as it 

 always has been heretofore. 



As to preventing rot, all the dusting and 

 solutions I have tried, wont do any good 

 unless done in time. Sacking even must be 

 done early to be effective. All that I sacked 

 in time are now sound, but being called 

 away to court as a witness, just when the 

 Grapes should have been put in, the evil got 

 the start of me, and many that I put in are 

 rotten in the sacks. 



There is a certain stage of the Grapes' 

 growth when it is liable to be attacked, and 

 that 1 believe to be as soon as they are the 

 size of small sized Peas with the larger 

 Grapes, and at halt that size for small ones. 

 When I did the last sacking the Triumphs 

 were about the size mentioned, and there 

 is not a rotten berry in any of the sacks, and 

 they are in splendid condition. 



I can show clusters here where the sack 

 is torn at the top and the berries exposed are 

 rotten, while inside the hunch is sound. 



