216 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



"The worms at the roots of cabbage and cauli- 

 flower plants trouble me as much as anything else. 

 Tlie little black beetles that eat the leaves are bad 

 enougli, but when the plants get fairly under way 

 they do not injure thera materially; but these 

 mean little grubs at the roots are not confined to 

 any particular time. They eat the roots in the 

 seed-bed and when the plants are half groM'n. The 

 earlier cauliflowers and cabbages are most liable to 

 injury. My brother is trying soot as a preventive. 

 In setting out the plants he scatters a little soot in 

 tlie hole. Throw aside all plants that have grubs 

 at the roots, or, if only slightly affected, clean off 

 all the worms. Then stimulate the growth of the 

 plants as much as possible, and trust to good grow- 

 ing weather and the inherent vigor of the plant 

 to resist the grubs." 



" These little white lice on the rose bushes need 

 looking after. They suck out the juices till the 

 leaf turns white. In the green-house they can 

 easily be destroyed with tobacco smoke — smoking 

 them two nights in succession, and giving the 

 plants a good syringing the next morning. But in 

 tlie open ground this remedy is not so easy of ap- 

 plication. The bush has to be covered to keep in 

 the smoke. I have been syringing them with 

 whale-oil soap. This is a certain cure for the rose 

 Lug ; but it does not destroy the aphis. Two or 

 tliree syringings with tobacco-water, however, 

 will destroy them. I mix the whale-oil soap and 

 tobacco-water together. A pound of whale-oil 

 soap and two pounds of tobacco stems, soaked for 

 a few hours in hot water, will be enough for two 

 or three pails of water. One syringing will not 

 kill them, but stick to it for two or three days, 

 tlirowing the water under the leaves as much as 

 possible, and the result will be entirely satisfactory. 

 Nothing improves the foliage of the rose like whale- 

 oil soap." 



" A cheap syringe is much needed. The Ilydro- 

 pult costs $10 or $12, and is so hard to work that 

 no lady can use it for any length of time. The 

 English brass syringes arc excellent, but expensive. 

 "What we want is a syringe that should not cost 

 more than a dollar. I saw one the other day 

 made of tin, which cost only fifty cents, and it 

 answered the purpose very well, considering the 

 price. I am surprised that some one does not in- 

 troduce them." 



"Geokob E. Brackktt, of Belfast, Me, who 

 wrote an excellent prize essay for the Oenesee 

 Farmer on the 'Study of Entomology,' tells how 

 he made a 'squirt-gun' with whioh he syringed his 



trees and bushes on ' wash day ' witli the soap 

 suds. Two or three strong doses, drenching tht 

 trees, vertically, horizontally and obliijuely, com 

 pletely routed the aphides. Here is his descriptioi, 

 of his home-made syringe :" j 



"I bored a hole two feet long, with an inch-and' 

 a-quarter 'trunnel-auger,' through a piece of 2.x5 

 spruce scantling, and pkvned it down, taking ofl 

 the corners, making it eight square, then pluggec 

 one end firmly — this was the cylinder. I thei 

 took a stick an inch through, and enough longe) 

 than the cylinder to be easily grasped by the hand 

 and made a piston from it by winding woolen yari 

 around one end, and fitting it exactly to the bon 

 of the cylinder. A cross-peg was put through th« 

 piston-rod near the upper end to prevent its forcing 

 out the plug; several small holes were then madt 

 through the ])lug, and the syringe was complete 

 This merely as an example : of course it may h* 

 changed to meet the means of all, as regards wooc 

 used, size of bore, &c. There should be severa 

 fine holes through the plug, some of them slanting 

 to the center, so as to cause a sliower of water ii 

 fine streams or jets. 'Poh! that's nothing but i 

 squirt-gun.' Very well, never mind the name, ih 

 it answers the purpose." 



"If every farmer and gardener had such u 

 syringe, and used it freely, the country in a few 

 years would not be "so infested with injurious iu 

 sects, fungi, &c." 



" Strawberries this season are most abundant 

 Never have I seen such a crop as these Wilsons 

 Triomphe de Gand and Early Scarlet. These rowi 

 have been set out three years, and have never beeri 

 renewed, and they still bear enormous crops. Tht 

 runners have been carefully removed as fast as they 

 appeared." 



" I have one plot that was set out last summer. 

 I think about the 1st of August — at least it was 

 after a crop of peas had been taken off the land. 

 The plants were set in rows two feet apart and 

 eighteen inches in the rows. Nearly every plant 

 grew, and now they are loaded with fruit." 



About CnERKT Treks. — The editor of tlie Ger. 

 mantown Telegraph, who is good autliority on 

 such subjects, says: "Persons are continually teH- 

 ing us of the unhealthiness of their cherry trees 

 and the poor crops they furnish. They say they 

 are full of knots, peeling off of the bark, cracking, 

 &c. We reply th.it, to us, the can^e is very plain. 

 No tree requires as tender handling as the cherry. 

 The cracking bark, the knots on the limbs, and 

 other disfigurements, are attributable, we venture 

 to say, nine times in every tt^n, to external injuries. 

 A bruise from the trace of a plow, knocking the 

 dirt off of a hoe or shovel, climhing roughly upon 

 the limbs, rubbing or abrasion by ladder, as well as 

 all harsh treatment by wliich the tree is bruised or 

 skinned, will in a large mnjority of cases, perman- 

 ently damage the tree in the manner complained 

 of." 



