BUDS, BLOOM, AND EARLY BIRD 



should be guarded against by making a rule to examine Feb. 

 them at least once a day. The opening of a number I-I4 

 of flowers on each plant may be taken as an indication 

 that all is well, and the work may be consummated by 

 watching for the time when the pollen on the anthers 

 is dry, and then drawing a camel's-hair brush across 

 flower after flower, thus insuring impregnation. If all 

 the flowers set, so that the plant becomes crowded 

 with fruit, it will be prudent to remove some, thinning 

 down to eight or nine berries, which will then swell to 

 a considerable size. 



Peaches and Nectarines. — Culturally, these delicious 

 fruits count as one, whether grown out of doors or under 

 glass. They are not really so hardy as Apples and 

 Pears, but then they are very rarely grown quite in the 

 open, they have the shelter of walls. Even so they may 

 fail if the position is exposed to cold winds, because 

 when chilled by draughts they are predisposed to the 

 attack of a disfiguring and often deadly fungus, known 

 in gardens as blister, and to scientists as Exoascus de- 

 formans. Large, reddish swellings form on the leaves, 

 which presently shrivel and fall, leaving the tree bare. 

 Neither a Peach nor any other tree can be robbed of 

 its leaves without suffering ; it often sustains so severe a 

 shock as to die outright. While pointing out that pro- 

 tection from cold wind is the best preventive of blister, 

 I would add that the spores of the fungus are probably 

 always on hand, and that they can be destroyed by a 

 copper sulphate without the tree being injured, so long 

 as lime is added in sufficient quantity. Here is a recipe: 



BORDEAUX MIXTURE FOR DESTROYING FUNGI 

 \ pound of sulphate of copper 

 \ pound of quicklime, freshly burned. 

 i\ gallons of water 

 87 



