THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



12S 



fact those self sown the previous summer are often 

 to be found plentifully in most gardens. To attain 

 perfection they should afterwards be transplanted 

 into an open border, and when of tolerable size, 

 tied up, so as to become white and solid at the 

 heart. 



Creases, mustard and various other salads may 

 be sown as soon as the ground is ready for them. 



Tomatoes. — No garden should be without these. 

 The earliest plants are the best, and as it is an ob- 

 ject to get the fruit ripened as early as possible, it 

 is well to sow some seeds early and protect the 

 young plants from frost till they can be transplant- 

 ed. The best kinds are the Large smooth red and 

 the Yellow Plum. The Feejee and Perfected are 

 two new kinds that have recently, appeared, 

 which we have not tried, but have heard them 

 highly recommended. 



Potatoes. — A few early potatoes, such as the 

 Ash-leaved Kidney^ or Early June, may be plant- 

 ed, and if frost is anticipated after they come up, 

 protect the plants with boards or straw. Plant 

 whole in hills, one potato in each. 



Don't forget to prune up all the small fruits, and 

 tie up such as seem to need it. Clean out and fork 

 over the strawberry and asparagus beds, and get 

 the whole garden into neat and trim order. 



INSECT EGGS ON THE LEAVES OE APPLE TKEES. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: — In March last, I was 

 going through my orchard — a yoimg one — to prune 

 out superriuous branches, when I noticed here and 

 tliere dead leaves adhering to the trees. On taking 

 hold of one to remove it, I found it strongly adher- 

 ing by a silky substance, in which was a number 

 of eggs about the size cf a turnip seed. Thinking 

 it better to get rid of them, I examined all the 

 trees and took off over forty-five of these nests. 

 In some of them, larger eggs had been deposited 

 in the centre of the smaller ones, probably by a 

 jiarasite. Were these nests the dei)0sits of moths? 

 Can you or any of your correspondents tell? and 

 is it advisable annually to examine fruit trees for 

 the purpose of destroying these nests? j. m. 



Canada West, Jan. 24, 1360. 



High Bush Ceanberky.— This slirub deserves 

 all the encomiums in the Genesee Farmer of March, 

 ISGO, p. 06, except one. Its f mil, when fully ripe 

 and soft, contains an acid pulp, in whicli it i-esem- 

 bles the common low cranberry, though inferior. 

 The fruit is sometimes sold as a substitute for the 

 real cranberr}-. No housewife, however, will try 

 to use it but once, in the place of that delicious 

 sauce. The fruit is almost wholly a hard long seed, 

 scarcely coveted Avith pulp, and, when cooked with 

 much sugar, and resembling the true cra'nberry, it 

 sadly mocks the taste. The only use of it is as an 

 ornamental shrub. It belongs to a very ditferent 

 order of plants from the cranberry, the real oxy- 

 coccus. — 0. D. 



LIME FOR FRUIT TREES. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer: — In the February number 

 of the Farmer, 1 noticed an inquiry made by Levi 

 Lebo, of Pa., with regard to the use of lime in 

 orchards. Although I am a young farmer, I think 

 I have had some experience in the culture of fruit 

 trees. But whether Mr. Lebo means to ask for 

 information with regard to using lime in the form 

 o*f whitewash, to be applied to the trunks with a 

 brush, or with regard to using it as a top-dressing 

 around the roots of the tree, I am at a loss to 

 know. 



The practice of whitewashing trees with lime 

 and water, which is practiced more or less almost 

 everywhere, I consider to be very injurious to the 

 growth of the tree. It is true, it will sometimes 

 render the bark comparatively smooth and clean, 

 and destroy, in a measure, the bark-louse. But, 

 although there may be a slight benefit derived from 

 whitewashing trees in this respect, I believe there 

 is a much greater amount of damage done by it. 

 The lime on the bark of the tree stops all the pores 

 and prevents the free circulation of the sap. The 

 tree is stunted from the injury done to the bark; 

 and, if persevered in, the lime on the bark will eat 

 it, and make it become thinner and thinner, until 

 eventually the tree will die. A wash made of 

 weak lye, or of a solution of two pounds of potash 

 to eight quarts of water, and rubbed on the stems 

 of the tree, will prove more beneficial and far less 

 injurious. 



And now wnth regard to using lime as a top- 

 dressing. When it is used in moderate quantities, 

 I consider it very beneficial. This, I think, is very 

 evident from the fact that limestone soils are 

 almost invariably productive of all kinds of fruit. 

 I think I never saw an orchard that was planted 

 on a limestone soil but was very productive, unless 

 there was something very unfavorable to the growth 

 of the trees. Lime will, in the main, promote in an 

 astonishing degree tha flowering and fruiting of 

 almost all plants, because calcareous salts promote 

 evaporation and the concentration of the sap. Air- 

 slaked lime is an excellent manure for fruit trees, 

 as a top-dressing; or if spaded in around the tree, 

 it will render it much more fruitful, where the soil 

 is not too calcareous by nature. But, in all cases 

 in the use of lime, care should be taken not to use 

 it in too great quantities. 



x\nother benefit derived from the use of lime 

 around fruit trees, is the fact of its seriously aftect- 

 ing more or less all kinds of worms and insects 

 that infest the apple tree. Most of the vermin that 

 annoy fruit trees in the summer, remain in the 

 ground during the winter. A quantity of lime 

 spaded in around the roots of the tree will have a 

 good effect toward destroying the canker-worm, if 

 applied in season, and a small mound of lime 

 around the collar of the tree will prevent the 

 ravages of the borer, which almost always enters 

 the tree in the tender bark near the ground. 



The result of my observation and experience, 

 therefore, is that lime is good and beneficial on all 

 soils except calcareous ones, that it will greatly assist 

 in destroying all vermin that harbor in the ground 

 under the tree, and that it is equally injurious when 

 applied to the bark, as it stops the pores and 

 impairs the health of the whole tree. 



Argple, iV. Y., JlarcJi. 2, 1S60. J. F. KANDLE3. 



