THE GENESEE FARMER. 



191 



TOBACCO AND THE PLUM CTJKCTJLIO. 



Messrs. Editors: — Being at the liouse of a 

 i friend, in June last, I was surprised at seeing his 

 'I phim trees nearly breaking doAvn with fruit. He 

 - informed me that his remedy was, to take an old 

 tin basin, make a few holes around the sides, near 

 the bottom, and have the basin secured to the end 

 of a pole long enough to pass the dish through all 

 parts of the tree. He then takes some fire and a 

 small quantity of any old refuse tobacco, and puts 

 in the dish ; this smoking, he takes the time early 

 in the morning, while the dew is on, and passes the 

 smoking dish through all parts of the trees. It 

 should be commenced on tlie first formation of the 

 fruit, and continued sis or eight weeks — the oftener 

 it is done, the more sure you will be of saving all 

 your plums: he only smoked his trees twice a 

 week. He says the first few times he could see the 

 insects leaving in a swarm, and soon there were but 

 few to be seen. He says that by smoking while the 

 dew is on, the smell of tobacco will be longer re- 

 tained in the trees, and that for his eight or ten 

 large trees it would take him about an hour each 

 time, and his expense for tobacco was three York 

 shillings. To prove that the insects did not like 

 the fumes of tobacco, his neighbors, only a few 

 rods distant, and who would not take so much 

 trouble, were rewarded by not saving a plum. It 

 would have done you and yoiir many thousands of 

 subscribers good, to have seen these trees, loaded 

 with the delicious fruit, and to know that with a 

 little trouble, and a very little expense, this excel- 

 lent fruit may be preserved. E. 

 Fort Ryerse, C. W. 



WniE FOR GRAPE TRELLISES. 



Editors Genesee Farmer : — Your correspondent 

 Henry Lampman makes the following inquiry in the 

 March number: "Will you inform me whether 

 common No. 8 or 9 wire, or galvanized, is best for 

 vineyard trellises, and what would be the cost of 

 the wire, and how much would it take per acre, 

 the rows being 12 feet apart, and the vines 12 feet 

 apart in the row ? " 



Galvanized wire is much the best for trellises, 

 but, as it costs just twice as much as common wire, 

 it is very seldom used. 



No. 11 annealed wire is in common use for trel- 

 lises, when the posts are not more than 12 feet 

 apart. Nos. 8 and 9 are larger than necessary. 

 The annealed wire must be boiled in linseed oil, or 

 painted with gas tar in which a very little lime has 

 been slaked, to keep it from rusting. 



The amount of wire will depend upon the height 

 of the trellis. If it is six feet high, (the usual 

 height when grapes are grown for table use,) it will 

 require four courses of wire. No. 11 annealed 

 wire is generally estimated at 200 lbs. per mile. 

 "With this information, your correspondent can 

 easily determine the amount of wire he needs. 



The cost will depend upon the market where he 

 purchases. It can now be bought in New York 

 city for six cents per lb. Or, if your correspond- 

 ent should prefer, he can purcliase in Wheeling, 

 Va., bridge wire of the right size already coated 

 with gas tar, E. f. ensign. 



Madison, Ohio, April, 1S5S. 



TO DESTROY THE CURCTILIO. 



Plow your plum orchard the last of November 

 or first of December, before a freeze ; cross-plow 

 and harrow thorougldy in March, or before the 

 freezing is over. If not convenient to plow, throw 

 up the ground with a spade, and pulverise well ; if 

 not hkely to freeze in a short time, sprinkle lime 

 profusely under the trees. Apple, peach and cherry 

 orchards should be dealt with in a similar manner, 

 only once plowing will suffice. When the curculio 

 is very bad, they work on all these kinds of fruit. 

 A portion of them wall fly a considerable distance. 



The advantages of this plan over outward appli- 

 cations are, that it destroys the curculio in his 

 winter quarters, and pays more than four times the 

 cost of labor by improving the trees and fruit, be- 

 sides destroymg many other kinds of insects that 

 bite and sting apples and peaches. The fruit is not 

 so liable to get killed with the late frosts, as the 

 ploAved ground is a conductor of cold, drawing the 

 frost down below the trees. I have seen plowed 

 ground under trees frozen hard, and not a particle 

 of frost on the trees. john johnson. 



Cultivate the Soil arotind Fruit Trees. — In 

 the year 1854, the year of the great drouth here, I 

 had some apple trees standing in a piece of clover, 

 and some in a part of the garden ; those in the clo- 

 ver were worked around once or twice in the early 

 part of the season, and those in the garden were 

 cultivated all the summer. The trees that stood in 

 the clover were so injured by drouth that I had to 

 mulch them, and water them twice a week, and 

 could hardly save them ; while those that were kept 

 clean, and the surface stirred through the season, 

 grew luxuriantly, and appeared to be affected but 

 little by the drouth. These trees had been planted 

 several years. I had a few trees standing in the 

 nursery, two years old from the graft, kept well 

 cultivated through the summer ; they grew seven 

 feet high, and were the admiration of all who saw 

 them. So much for keeping the laud well plowed, 

 and the surface continually stirred and kept fight, 

 during a drouth. A. G. Mullins, Chesher's Store, Ky. 



Large Purple Egg Plant. — A correspondent at 

 Montgomery, Ind., (G. W. Gardner.) thus writes : 



" I must tell you of an egg plant, of the Bound 

 Purple kind, which I raised. It measured 29i 

 inches round from blossom to stem, and 25f inches 

 in circumference, and weighed 7 lbs. 2 oz. If any 

 of your readers have seen anything that can beat 

 this, I should like to hear from them. The bed in 

 which it grew was prepared thus: It was first 

 dug deeply, and made perfectly mellow. Holes 

 were then dug, in each of which was put about 

 half a pint of well-rotted manure, then nearly filled 

 with earth, and the plants set in them, after which 

 they were kept well hoed." 



Pruning Peach Trees. — xi lady who dearly loves 

 good peaches, would like an accurate description of 

 the best manner of pruning young peach trees. 

 Should the oftshoots all be cut ofll" from the main 

 branches? How many branches sliould be left? 

 Should the ends of the branches be cut off, and 

 how much? H. H. M. — Liverpool, N. T. 



