286 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Dec. 



HORTICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. 



CONDUCTED BY P. BARRY. 



Insects. 



Among the multifarious obstacles against which 

 the cultivator of the soil has to contend, none are 

 more vexatious or more annoying than destruc- 

 tive insects. Excesses of rain and of drouth, of 

 heat and of cold, hurricanes and hail storms, pass, 

 along leaving ruin in their track. Their effects 

 are soon outgrown and forgotten, but Insects are 

 perpetually knawing and blighting from the 

 opening of the fruit bud until the return of win- 

 ter — preying alike on the germ of vegetable ex- 

 istence beneath the surface of the soil and the 

 full grown tree that has outlived several genera- 

 tions of men. 



Nothing can illustrate more forcibly the mys- 

 teriousness of the designs of Providence, than 

 the fact that a tiny insect, too small for the dis- 

 cernment of the human eye, can completely baf- 

 fle the power and intelligence of men. But fee- 

 ble and fruitless as our most earnest and best 

 directed efforts may, in many cases, be, we must 

 not fall back or despair ; on the contrary we 

 must go on, persevere — that is the word — avail- 

 ing ourselves of all the aid that the sun light of 

 science, and the practical details of experience, 

 may shed on our path. 



What we wish to direct attention to now is that 

 a vast deal may be done towards the destruction 

 of insects while in their winter abodes. They 

 burrow either in the soil, among fallen leaves or 

 rubbish, or have woven themselves nests on the 

 bodies and branches of trees, in forks of limbs or 

 crevices of the bark ; fallen fruit, too, are usual- 

 ly tenanted by them. 



Now what is there in our power to do ? Why, 

 we can dig and throw up the soil of our gardens 

 in such a way as to expose it as much as possible 

 to the influence of frost. Around our fruit trees 

 we can do the same. We can gather and burn 

 or place in a fermenting heap, where all insect 

 life will be destroyed, all fallen leaves, stems of 

 annual plants, &c. We can examine every 

 tree on our premises carefully, and remove all 

 nests that have been woven in them during the 



past season ; every crack and crevice in the 

 bark from the base to the top should be visited 

 with all possible minuteness, and their sly ten- 

 ants dislodged. Scraping and washing should 

 also be done in season. All this we can do, and 

 we know from experience and numerous exam- 

 ples we have met with, that such labor does not 

 fail to receive its reward, while its neglect will 

 be sure to incur many a weary hour of unavail- 

 ing labor next summer, and many a sad disap- 

 pointment. 



Remember that the man who allows insects to 

 revel and multiply at pleasure in his garden and 

 orchard is no less a nuisance than he who grows 

 a field of thistles to sow his entire neighborhood 

 with. There should be a law imposing a severe 

 and equal penalty on both ; but we trust that the 

 general growth of taste and improved culture will 

 render such laws unnecessary. 



New American Seedling Clierries. 



The past year has brought to notice several 

 new and valuable seedling Cherries. No less 

 than seven varieties, originated by Prof. Kirt- 

 LAND, of Cleveland, O., have already been noti- 

 ced in the Horticulturist and other journals. — 

 Several of these we know to be excellent, as we 

 saw and tasted them last summer — though too late 

 to see them all. We shall give a description of 

 some of them soon. 



Dr. Herman Wendell, of Albany, a distin- 

 guished amateur horticulturist, has fruited a seed- 

 ling of his own raising, said to be very beautiful 

 and of excellent quality. It is named 



WENDELL'S MOTTLED BIGARREAU. 

 We find a handsome, colored, steel engraving 

 of it in the " American Journal of Agriculture 

 and Science." It has also been been described 

 in Hovey's Magazine, and the Horticulturist. — 

 The following description 

 we take from the latter jour- 

 nal: — "It is of large size, 

 regular obtuse heart-shaped; 

 dark purplish red, becom- 

 ing nearly black at full ma- 

 turity, and mottled with 

 small dark streaks or points; 

 suture marked with a dark 

 line half way round. Stalk 

 of moderate length, set in a 

 round and regular depres- 

 sion. Flesh firm, crisp, well 

 flavored, and the pits small. 

 Ripens about the season of 

 Downer's Red." 



This cannot but prove a 

 desirable addition to the list 

 of cherries. Originating in 

 Albany, it must be hardy — and coming to matu- 

 rity when most of the better varieties are gone, 

 will render its possession a desideratum. 



