QUESTION AND ANSWER DEPARTMENT 



Beetle on Cherry Trees 



I am sending for identification a specimen 

 of a beetle that has been attacking cherry 

 and peach trees and defoliating them. — E. 

 W., Kings Co., N.S. 



The specimen sent for identification is 

 a leaf-eating beetle, Galerucella cavicollis, 

 belonging to the same family as the pota- 

 to and cucumber beetles, etc. This in- 

 sect is about one-quarter of an inch long, 

 oval in shape, brownish-red in color, shin- 

 ing but not highly polished. It feeds 

 usually on the foliage of wild cherry and 

 is only occasionally found on the culti- 

 vated varieties. Some other members of 

 this genus are very injurious to the fol- 

 iage of various fruit-trees. Spraying with 

 Paris green or arsenate of lead would no 

 doubt destroy the insects. — Prof. Charles 

 J. S. Bethune, Ontario Agricultural Col- 

 lege. 



Winter Injury to Peach Trees 



What is the matter with some of our 

 peach trees? They were rather severely 

 damaged by winter killing of wood and in 

 May we cut back very hard. They have 

 made large, new growth, but part of the 

 trees have a yellowish leaf, whilst other 

 parts of same tree are normal dark green. 

 In summer of 1908, no yellow leaves ap- 

 peared, after a very mild winter. Slight 

 appearance of yellow leaf "appeared in 1907 

 after a hard winter. The soil is a gravelly 

 one, and trees are three and four years old. 

 The soil has not been cover-cropped. Tho 

 snow lies very badly on it. One or two 

 other growers have the same thing, but 

 cnly in light soils and after winter injury. 

 The trees have all made from three to five 

 feet of strong new wood. — L. Bros., Nahun, 

 B.C. 



It is impossible to say with certainty 

 what is causing the yellowing of the 

 leaves of your peach trees without exam- 

 ination, but it would appear that the yel- 

 lowing of the leaves is an indication of 

 the winter injury which you refer to and 

 which in some cases was sufficiently bad 

 to cause the death of the limbs. Some- 

 times after winter injury the tissues seem 

 to become disorganized and the branch 

 remains unhealthy for some time without 

 actually dying. — W. T. Macoun, Central 

 Experimental Farm, Ottawa. 



The Grimsby District 



1. Is Grimsby a good fruit-growing dis- 

 tiict.? 



2. What is the average yield per tree 

 of peaches, plums and pears? 



3. Can $1,200 yearly be realized from a 

 fruit farm consisting of 200 peach trees, 

 150 plum trees, 40 pear trees, 500 grape 

 vines and one quarter of an acre of straw- 

 berries ? 



4. What is the price per acre for land in 

 Orimsby?— R.H.E., Toronto. 



I. While there are some ^jstrjc^g just 



as good as Grimsby for fruit growing, 

 there are none better, except for apples. 

 No district in Canada produces a greater 

 number of kinds and varieties of fruits 

 and is more free from frosts. 



2. The average yield per tree is a hard 

 question to answer, as there are so many 

 different varieties and they do not all 

 bear every year. It is presumed that 

 "B. H. E." refers to full-grown trees. 

 We have known plum trees in that dis- 

 trict to have from twenty-five to forty 

 baskets on in one year and so with pears, 

 and peaches have been known to yield 

 fifteen to twenty-five baskets per tree in 

 one year, but not every year in any of the 

 cases. The average for one year with 

 another, taking different varieties into 

 consideration, is about six baskets per 

 tree for peaches, plums and pears. 



3. A fruit farm containing the number 

 of trees mentioned would only be about 

 four acres. You could not average $1200 

 a year from it. If the trees all had an 

 average crop on them with high prices, it 

 might be realized, but not every year. 



4. Land in the Grimsby district is very 

 high, good land selling from $500 an 

 acre and more. We heard of one grower 

 who refused $1500 an acre this spring. 

 Orchards were sold this season for over 

 $1,000 an acre. 



Fumigation with Cyanide 



What is the best method of using cyan- 

 ide of potassium in greenhouses?— M. A. 

 R., Halifax. 



Fumigation with cyanide of potassium 

 is one of the most effective methods of 

 destroying the white-fly, but it should be 

 used with the greatest caution as the 

 fumes are fatal to all animal life. Every 

 precaution should be taken against the 

 possibility of anyone entering the house 

 where the gas is being used until it has 

 been dissipated. The house should be 

 tight and so arranged that the ventilators 

 can be raised without entering the house. 

 The gas is produced by the action of sul- 

 phuric acid upon cyanide of potassium in 

 the presence of water. One ounce chemi- 

 cally pure potassium cyanide (98 per 

 cent.) one and one-quarter ouncesi of 

 commercial sulphuric acid and two ounces 

 ' of water can be used for each i ,000 

 cubic feet of space. 



At intervals of from 30 to 40 feet place 

 on the walk a two-gallon earthen jar ; 

 thus, for a house 100 feet long, three 

 jars would be required. In each jar place ■ 

 a proportionate part of the water re- 

 quired for the house and then carefully 

 add an equal amount of sulphuric acid. 

 (Care should be taken not to allow any of 



197 



the acid to come in contact with the cloth- 

 ing). The amount of cyanide for each 

 jar should be weighed out and placed in 

 paper bags. Screw-eyes are then fas- 

 tened in the wood work directly over each 

 jar and through these stout cords are run 

 to the end of the house near the door 

 where they are fastened. To the ends 

 over the jars tie the bags of cyanide so 

 that on the ends of the strings at the 

 doors being released they will drop into 

 the jars. When all is ready close the 

 ventilators ; pass to the end of the house 

 and carefully lower the bags into the jars 

 and close the doors. After 25 minutes 

 open the house for at least half an hour 

 before entering. — Tennyson D. Jarvis, 

 Ontario Agricultural College. 



English Lavender 



Early in the spring, I planted seeds of 

 English lavender. They were very slow in 

 germinating. In June, I transplanted the 

 small plants to a larger box. They are 

 not more than one and one half inches 

 high now (July 23.) I have transplanted 

 them again to the open ground. Can you 

 prescribe for them? — Mrs. W. H. J., 

 Madoo, Ont. 



The English lavender does not pro- 

 pagate very readily from seeds. Seedling 

 plants are very slow growing. The plants 

 will probably do better now that you 

 have planted them in the open ground. 

 If you have several of them, it might be 

 as well to put one or two, singly, in 

 three- or four-inch pots, in good potting 

 soil. The pots should then be planted or 

 sunk in the garden and the plants kept 

 well watered. The plants could then be 

 lifted out and taken into the window in 

 the fall. 



Drying Ginseng Roots 



Is it a diflicult job to dry ginseng .-oots 

 for market P—W. N., Dartmouth, N.S. 



I will give some facts from my per- 

 sonal experience. Last autumn I dug a 

 quantity of roots. When they were 

 washed, I made a bench of boards on 

 the south side of the house. On this 

 bench I spread out the roots. They were 

 exposed to the full sunshine from nine 

 o'clock in the morning until five o'clock 

 in the afternoon. They received this 

 treatment for a week when they were 

 taken inside and spread on a floor up- 

 stairs where they got the draught of two 

 open windows for about ten days more, 

 when they were perfectly dry. Ten 

 pounds were shipped to New York and 

 the price was remitted in about a month 

 from the time that they were dug. This 

 part of the work can be done by women ; 

 in fact, they are more careful than men. 

 — Wm. Gilgore, Peterboro, Ont. 



