Il6 THE NEW HORTICULTURE. 



roots will be seen. That photograph was taken October 14, 

 and shows how densely a peach tree will cover itself with foliage 

 in the course of years if let alone ; and yet the very finest 

 fruit comes every year from the interior of the trees, where on 

 cultivated ones it would always rot. 



I will now make a few remarks on, and some suggestions 

 as to how best to combat insects and other pests. Among 

 the latter, rabbits and mice are the most destructive, especially 

 where snow covers the ground in winter. Undoubtedly the 

 safest protection would be wire cloth or netting, the lower 

 edge sunk in the ground ; but an infallible protection here 

 is a thick coat of Indurine, or cold-water paint, applied 

 for about eighteen inches up the trunk, scraping away the 

 soil and daubing it well around the collar. Dissolve two 

 ounces of bitter aloes in a little hot water and stir it well 

 into the paint, and for mice add several ounces of Paris 

 green. Five pounds will make nearly a gallon, and when 

 well applied it will stick perfectly for a year and no rabbit 

 or borer will ever touch the tree. As to insect pests, the ex- 

 periment stations give the common formulas in their bulletins, 

 which are otherwise of little value, being mostly old straw 

 threshed over for years; but thus far no effective preventive 

 against the curculio and plum gouger have been found, jar- 

 ring the trees being about the best. But that is tedious, and 

 last year I hit upon a remedy that completely protected all 

 my fruit. Knowing from experiments with lime on vegetables 

 that all insects have an aversion to white, and also to the 

 smell of carbolic acid, I slaked one peck of strong rock lime 

 and then added fifty gallons of water, after which I mixed 

 five pounds of the cold-water paint, adding water little by 

 little and stirring thoroughly all the while until the mass was 

 a dough, resembling perfectly one made of flour. That is 

 the only way to mix that paint, for if poured into water, or 

 much water is poured on the paint, it is impossible to make it 

 mix. I then added more water to the paint, stirred well and 

 poured into the barrel, again stirring thoroughly. Having a 

 bottle of creoleum handy, I poured about a gill into the 

 barrel, which gave the wash a strong smell of carbolic acid, 



