NOTES AND COMMENTS. 



orange, but much lighter yellow, and 

 higher flavor. Said to cook tender in 

 five minutes. 



Mr. Harold Jones of Maitland, sends 

 us for this number the first of a series of 

 articles adapted for fruit growers north 

 of the St. Lawrence river. The first is 

 on the Cultivation and Care of Or" 

 chards, to be followed by articles on 

 Fertilizing, Trimming, Harvesting, Grad- 

 ing, etc. 



Strawberry Plants for new planta- 

 tions should be well chosen. Only 

 those formed by runners should be used, 

 and of these the first formed are the 

 best. It is injurious to a bearing plan- 

 tation to allow the plants to run freely, 

 because the last formed will produce 

 little fruit, and cause the variety to "run 

 out." The very best plants are those 

 first formed on a young plantation in 

 its first year. 



The Harlequin Bug. — Prof. John- 

 son, of Maryland, says that this insect 

 which is so destructive to turnips, 

 radishes, cabbage or mustard, is very 

 difficult to kill, as it does not eat the 

 foliage but simply sucks the juices. 

 The insect has a particular fondness for 

 mustard, which is planted as a trap crop, 

 and the insects are afterwards destroyed 

 by strong kerosene wash. He suggests 

 the use of kale as a still better trap, be- 

 cause it can be planted in the fall, and 

 being already in leaf in early spring 

 will catch the early appearing insect. 



" A Fashionable Flower. — A fine, 

 new carnation has been raised by George 

 Nicholson, Framington, Mass. It is a 

 beautiful pink color, and is named Mrs. 

 E. N. Lawson, after a Boston woman. 

 The papers state that there was consid- 

 erable competition among florists for 

 the purchase of this variety, one of ihem 



a Bostonian having offered $5,000, and 

 a Chicago man $6,000. We should not 

 advise the owner to hesitate long over 

 such offers. 



Spraying for Fungi is seldom as it 

 should be, and, when failure results, the 

 first grower declares it a useless waste of 

 time and money. Usually the lazy 

 method is followed, of riding about the 

 orchard and squirting a light spray on the 

 outside leaves in passing ; this is a most 

 superficial method to be sure. The 

 thorough method, and the only paying 

 method, is to have the nozzles carried 

 under the trees, or elevated on poles 

 among the branches, by a man walking, 

 who sees to it that every leaf and every 

 branch is covered with the mixture, and 

 this at least three or four times in the 

 season. 



If the Grape Pruning was left un- 

 finished in the fall, we would advise that 

 the work proceed in mild weather. 

 With Concords and such vigorous 

 growers, almost all the young growth 

 needs removing, to about two buds from 

 the main arm. With slower growers 

 like Wilder we would advise the cutting 

 back every other shoot at two years of 

 age. 



Crude Petroleum is recommended 

 as an insecticide by Prof. J. B. Smith, 

 in Entomological News. Kerosene was 

 too strong to be safely applied, but all 

 experiments with the Crude Petroleum 

 had been successful, without doing any 

 injury. He had first tried on pear tree 

 affected with San Josd Scale, painting 

 every part ; then a dozen similar trees, 

 then entire orchard of Ben Davis apple 

 trees was sprayed with Crude oil, and 

 all these experiments were successful in 

 killing the insects without injuring the 

 tree. The Ben Davis apple trees were 



77 



