188 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



inches of loam this year to raise the level of a bed 

 or border where trees are planted. Next year an- 

 other six inches of old mortar, or sand, or coal 

 ashes. Perhaps the next year a high bank for 

 ferns, and so on, to remove the roots of the trees 

 further and further from the atmosphere and sun- 

 shine. This causes gouty swellings in the branches, 

 tlien canker, then barrenness. By-aud-by some 

 of the branches die, the stem dies on one side, 

 more branches perish, and the head of the tree 

 is prettily spriugled with dead spray, and feeble 

 shoots do not grow at all. Now ring it near the 

 bottom, and make the ring complete all round, and 

 at least four inches wide. This will hasten the 

 death of the tree, and you may have the pleasure 

 the next year of cutting it down and obtaining a 

 cartload of firewood as a reward for your perse- 

 verance. 



There are quicker methods, such as cutting a 

 tree down, and soaking the roots with sulphuric 

 acid, etc., but these are not artistic, and they make 

 an end of the matter too quick to be amusing. — 

 Slow processes are to be preferred, such as destroy- 

 ing the surface-roots, tearing off the bark,_ carving 

 your name, and the names of all your friends on 

 the stem, painting the stem and branches with 

 ordinary house paints in which there is plenty of 

 white lead. Always allow young trees to be used 

 on washing days to tie clothes lines ; such a ser- 

 vice is worth having, as it tends to bruise the 

 bark, and draw the tree aside out of the perpen- 

 dicular, which is a nice strain on its roots, and very 

 advantageous. Above all things, when transplant- 

 ing, make short work of it. Just open the soil 

 around the tree, and chop at its roots freely, and 

 then tear it out of the ground. It is sheer waste 

 of time and strength to loosen every root with a 

 fork, and lift it without injuring a fibre. 



THE CUBRAKT WORM. 



At a late meeting of the Fruit Growers' So- 

 ciety of Western New York, the subject of the 

 Currant Worm was discussed, and remedies for it 

 were suggested, the two most prominent were 

 slacked lime and a solution of whale oil soap. The 

 lime was said to be a complete remedy. 



In connection with this we should like to ask 

 the question whether or not this worm really does 

 any mischief to the currant bush or crop ? We 

 say really^ because while it apparently does injury, 

 we never have in our own crop realized any. We 

 have had constant crops, year in and year out, for 

 about sixteen years upon the same bushes, without 

 paying the least attention to the worm, believing 

 its operations to be pretty nearly up to the pruii,- 

 ing required by the habits of the currant. 



Last fall a-year we removed a number of old 

 currant bushes, some of the single stalks being 

 nearly as tl'ick as a man's arms, among which the 

 worm had always been allowed to have full sway, 

 which were so souni and healthy that they didn't 

 know they had been disturbed, and went on bear- 

 ing abundantly. The sarae'appears to be the case 

 with the removal of as many more last fall, being 

 now as full of fruit buds as possible. 



Currant bushes, however, should be pruned 

 whenever they require it. Very old wood and all 

 unnecessary succors should be removed. By thus 



thinning out the bush the fruit is much larger and 

 finer. 



So writes Colonel Feeas of the Germantown Tele- 

 graph. It is very evident that tlie gooseberry 

 saw-fly has not visited our friend's bushes. When 

 it does he will no longer ask '• if the worm really 

 does iany mischief to the currant bush or crop." 

 In this section the caterpillers, if left alone, will de- 

 vour every leaf from the bushes. They are a great 

 pest. He maj* congratulate himself that they bave 

 not yet visited his garden. 



THE PEST OF THE APPLE ORCHARD. 



The following seasonable remarks are from the' 

 Maine Farmer : 



It becomes our duty once a year to warn our 

 readers upon the approach of the borer, that pest 

 of the orchard, and we do it, not that they need 

 information about his destructive habits, and a 

 remedy theretor — but that they may be reminded 

 of this knowledge already gained, and put it in 

 practice, for all of us are apt to need reminding 

 thereof: hence, " line upon line, and precept upon 

 precept " is necessary. 



The habits of the insect, the time and manner 

 of its depositing eggs, and its destr-uctive eft'ects 

 are well known. How to detect its appearance in 

 the tree, and to compel him to leave, or, what is 

 better still, to prevent the beetle from depositing 

 its eggs in the bark, is the information most sought. 

 Constant watchfulness must be relied upon in the 

 former case ; and the place where the borer enters 

 the tree is detected by the chips or borings which 

 he has made. This entrance place found, he may 

 in most instances, be reached by a wire fitted for 

 the piirpose, and dislodged from his quarters. As 

 to a remedy for the latter we copy the following 

 from an article in the Register of Rural Affain^ 

 for 1863, from the pen of Dr. Asa Fitch, the first 

 entomologist, and one of the most practical horti- 

 culturists in the country : 



" To repel this beetle from depositing its eggs 

 upon the bark, the tree, the latter part of May, 

 should be rubbed with soft soap, or have some 

 other alkaline substance applied to it. Five years 

 ago I treated half my young trees in this maimer, 

 and the following spring not a borer could be found 

 in any of them, while of those to which soap was 

 not applied, the major part had young borers a 

 quarter of an inch long in them, fifteen of these 

 worms being found in a single small tree. I have 

 continued to apply soap to the same trees each 

 year since, but have occasionally found borers in 

 some of them. I am inclined to think, if soap is 

 ap[)lied the latter part of May, and repeated if 

 copious rains occur to wash it off before the end ol 

 June, the trees will never be attacked by this in- 

 sect. Dusting the buts of the trees thickly with 

 air-slacked lime bids fair, from experiments which 

 I have recently commenced, to be more eflicacioui 

 than the soap. If, notwithstanding these precau- 

 tions, any worms become established at the root of 

 the tree,' they should immediately be ferreted out 

 and destroyed. This can be done much more 

 i easily when they are young and small, as they art 

 I then lying in ordirecUy under the bark." 



