MISCELLANEOUS. 567 



his work upon currants? I have not a doubt of it. The same writer says also 

 that cultivators of smaU fruits recommend Fay's Prolific currant as a healthy 

 and vigorous grower, productive and easily picked from the bush, and as a rule 

 making fruit-buds under cover of every leaf. Then it must be a good one to 

 raise. I think the best plan of applying the Ume, or any powder, upon cur- 

 rant bushes, more especially upon fruit trees, would be to have a bellows like 

 painters use to put sand upon their painted work, putting the powder in the 

 hopper, the wind carries it out freely. The nose must be quite long for fruit 

 trees. 



5o Currant Worms, New Way of Destroying.— The Kalamazoo 

 (Mich.) Telegraph gives a plan of destroying the currant worm, or caterpillar, as 

 some call them, discovered accidentally by a piece of woolen rag having been 

 blown into a currant bush by the wind, which was found to be covered with 

 these leaf -destroying pests. Pieces of woolen cloth were then placed in every 

 bush, and the next day the worms had almost wholly taken to them for shelter. 

 In this way every morning they were taken out and destroyed, and the rag 

 replaced for a new crop, until completely used up. If this fails to reach all, use 

 the lime dust, or some of the solutions with the syringe or atomizer. See " Cur- 

 rants and Gooseberries, Setting Out, etc. 



6. Currant Worms and Rose Slug, How to Destroy with 

 Hellebore.— I. For the Currant Worm.— There are many persons who from 

 the certainty of hellebore to destroy them, claim it the best remedy yet known. 

 If to be used, the American Agriculturist tells us how to do it. It claims, also, 

 that if used in this manner it is perfectly safe. As to the way of using it it says: 

 " Place a table-spoonful of the powdered hellebore in a bowl; pour upon it a 

 little boiling hot water; stir so as to wet every particle, then add more water, 

 stir well and pour into a pail; then rinse the bowl and pour the washings into 

 the pail, which is then to be filled with cold water. Thus prepared, the mix- 

 ture is to be syringed over the bushes. Two, or at most three, applications will 

 finish the worms, and it would be difficult to find a safer or more effective 

 remedy. Success with this, as with all similar things, depends upon applying 

 the remedy early. Those who will take the pains, and where there are but few 

 bushes it is advisable to do so, can avoid much of the necessity of poisoning by 

 destroying the eggs of the caterpillar. These are laid upon the underside of the 

 lower leaves of the bushes, and the leaves themselves may be plucked and 

 burned, or the eggs crushed between the thumb and finger." 



Remarks.— This would be about at the rate of 1 lb. of the hellebore to 

 25 gals, of water; and if this much is needed, and it is put into a barrel contain- 

 ing this much water a day or two before it is to be applied, first pouring boiling 

 water upon it in a pail, etc., as if the bowl was used, then stirring it 2 or 3 times 

 daily, it will be ready for use; but cover up carefully, that nothing may drink 

 of it and be thus also destroyed. 



II. For the Rose Sing.— The same strength of the solution of the hellebore 

 will also destroy the rose slug, generally, by a single application, if thoroughly 

 done; but if one apphcation fails apply again more thoroughly. 



